Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!limbo!taylor
From: jhess@orion.oac.uci.edu (James Hess)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Questions about censorship in comp.society
Message-ID: <1808@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 28 Feb 91 19:12:11 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
Organization: University of California, Irvine
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Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

It seems to me that it is impossible to talk about the social
implications of computing without recognizing that these implications
have political aspects.  I agree with Dave that general discussions of
justification of war belong in other groups.  Discussions of the impact
of computers on war and other political processes belong here.  (Such as
the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference.  This might include
discussion of the structure and funding of the computer industry and
research as it relates to various political processes.  The question of
whether or not employees of the industry are aware of the social and
political aspects of computerization belongs here.  I don't believe that
discussion of individual morality is best addressed here; an agile
imagination can relate any type of employment to moral implications.
For instance, is working at MacDonald's support for the destruction of
South American rain forests?

I think Dave has some authority and responsibility to keep the newsgroup
focused, but maybe redirecting the discussion is better than cutting it
off except in cases of extreme divergence.

Jim Hess

P.S.  Dave recently returned one of my submissions on the apparent
tendency of libertarians to be engineers and computer scientists.  If
there is such a relationship, and it is connected to the methods of
analysis or types of systems studied by computer experts, I think it has
a place here.  I re-posted it on alt.individualism, however, and am
having great fun with it there.  I don't feel censored; it is reasonable
and possibly more efficient for forums to specialize.