This is one of the few reasons I dislike living in the area I do, defense contractors are basically the only ones nearby hiring for engineering roles. Luckily I work remotely, but if that ever changed and I couldn't find another remote position, I'd probably have to move. I'm not about to sell my soul.
Same for me, except IT.
Its pretty much either work at The Base or Geek Squad. One of these options pays enough to leave the area.
Am getting a niche going for elderly centric IT help.
All we have is elderly here 🤷 take that over jarheads
Id take the jarheads tbh. They can usually follow instructions and admit it if they don't know what they're doing. Civil Engineers were always a fun tech support call, too.
Sounds like good honest work but i don't think id have the patience for it long term
Fair.
I'm not the smartest tech person. Don't really have a passion for it, but for whatever reason listening to an elderly prattle has never been draining. If I can turn airplane mode off for those fuckers and write them instructions on how to send an email I'll take that over actually working lol
Or, and hear me out, get a job and suck at it.
Found the Boeing recruiter!
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department", says Wernher Von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical
Say rather that he's apolitical
Making rockets wasn’t his department either.
The US wouldn’t let Von Braun go testify at Dachau. To this day there’s a lot of whitewashing. But he knew how those rockets were made.
The number of people defending Lockheed Martin here is staggering, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the apparent makeup of Lemmy's population
I'll make this very, very simple: working for a well-known defense contractor who brags about making bombs is bad. Working for Lockheed Martin is unethical.
Working for a large corporation (Microsoft) that funds or supports wars (Israel) is also bad, but not as bad as Lockheed Martin, the company that actually builds the bombs that are bought with the dollars that Microsoft sends to Israel
Working for any company that could theoretically contribute economically to a war is bad, but not as bad as the previous two examples and is more or less unavoidable for working people
Paying any kind of tax (especially in the US) ultimately funds wars, and so isn't good either, but it's not as bad as any of the three above options, and no one can avoid it (except billionaires of course)
To add, "There's no ethical consumption under capitalism" applies to your labor, as well. The phrase is meant to provide perspective, and shouldn't be used as an excuse to do whatever.
I'm not particularly happy with everything the company I work for does. Especially the actions of the people at the top. But it's not notably worse than any other Fortune 500.
Lockheed, though? It's bad in a more fundamental way.
I had a friend in a difficult position, deciding between high pay at Buy N Large or the opportunity to work on insanely cool shit for Death Inc.
Ultimately he chose Death Inc, and the reasoning was along the lines of "This might kill a hundred people, but at least it'll kill them specifically. I can't even conceptualize the harm Amazon et al. do on a global scale to entire populations without even trying".
Made me think. I didn't have a very good answer to that.
those bombs will kill far more than just a hundred people, far more than he can ever conceptualize. the consequences of those deaths will shape the world more than the extra microsecond an engineer could shave off of an internal Amazon function
Also, "if I don't make this thing that will kill a hundred people specifically, they'll just use something that kills more people with less precision / more casualties."
How is precision weaponry "insanely cool shit"???
I mean it's impressive from an engineering standpoint
Technically if you think about it, he’d be saving innocent lives, since non precise weapons have more collateral damage. Might as well make bombs accurate and hit the right targets.
The "right targets" tend to be innocent lives as well. Besides, who said anything about precise weaponry? These days, it's all about AI, where precision is actually not the goal
Anduril has had many, many recruiters desperately trying to get me to work for them. On the surface, what they make does sound incredibly cool: embedded systems/operating systems for autonomous robotics.
The only problem is those robots happen to be death bots (and Palmer Luckey, who makes me want to stay far, far away).
To be honest i think its one of these industries that should never be private. Why do we think it is a good idea to have people profit from war in such a direct way?
Because wherever there is a possibility to make massive amounts of money, those with power will push and push and push to be in control of it.
And which benevolent corporations IS acceptable to work for?
no ethical consumption under capitalism etc etc but… there are companies that don’t make a profit by murdering middle eastern people
That number is shrinking alarmingly fast
I worked in the analysis tool division of a company that built civilian and military jets when I was fresh out of engineering school.
I didn't feel too bad about it because I was making commercial aircraft quieter and more efficient with my work. Then, the Iraq war started up and they told me I had to work on the engine for the F22. I started looking for a new job that day.
Now I work in planetary defense and don't feel guilty about it...
I'm pretty sure "planetary defense" just means more imperial offense.
Technology under capitalism is a force for exploitation, violence, control, etc.
@uuldika@lemmy.ml is right. I hunt and track asteroids. If I'm offending on behalf of an empire with this work, the empire is humanity and the offense is against chunks of rocks in space
I'm offended on behalf of myself. You are the reason I cannot reasonably assume humanity will die off in a meteor strike that allows nature time to heal.
But then it was a long shot anyway...
"planetary defense" usually means tracking and maybe deflecting asteroids that are likely to hit Earth.
Yes, I spent the last 20 years developing a very particular kind of chemical agent that is tailor made to dissolve an eight-year-old's testicles. But I assure you we only intend to use it in self-defense.
I have no idea how the Israelis got seventy of them.
At MIT in the 1980's it was called, "Get your fingerprints on the murder weapon."
"I refuse to work in defense. I'd rather my work wasn't used to blow anyone up" is a line I've used in multiple job interviews. I like to think the hell I end up going to at least has chilly weather and/or really good AC.
I volunteer in my free time so that more Russian occupiers will be eliminated. I’m very proud of myself.
Not all countries are the USA btw. Most countries use their defense budget to actually defend themselves from external very real threats.
Pretty sure most countries use their defense budgets to steal the shit out of the population.
Working for Social media companies or health insurance companies isn’t any better as far as destroying the world and mass murdering people by proxy
The education system functions to indoctrinate, privilege, and filter.
If there's one thing that I learned from grad school, it's that talented people will be made dependent and subservient to death and doom for money... But more importantly because that's the social system they've been funneled into. They don't see any alternatives.
I completely lost respect for an intern when I found out he was going to a weapons company next.
I used to be opposed to working in the defense industry. Based on my experiences, I have reached the conclusion that the only ethical outcome is the extinction of humanity before we make this planet uninhabitable for all other life. The sooner the better. Maybe raccoons won't have billionaires, fascists, microplastics, etc. We should give them that chance. That's why I work for a defense contractor now.
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
