Trust is Earned

Ken Thompson subtitles this article with the following: “[…] Perhaps it is more important to trust the people who wrote the software.” This person is speaking the truth—give him a beer; I invite if he fancies!

Maybe I will skip the many stories I have of broken hearts. What I won’t skip, though, is a very particular story of mistrust in our industry. With that, I am referring to a recent news breakthrough: that of Frances Haugen whistleblowing Facebook’s truest interests on profit before public good. First things first, I mean, we all kind of knew that; how can anyone trust a man that wears too much sunscreen? No, okay, it is healthy to have a nice skin care routine. Memes aside… let me rephrase that: how can anyone trust a man who is attempting to force indigenous landowners out of ancient property to increase his’? Or, more remarkably, a man who previously referred to “people who handed over their data” as “dumb fucks”? I could go on, like how Facebook content moderators feel little support in both financial and emotional terms, or Cambridge Analytica, but then it would get embarrassing to the point of cringe.

As contested, criticized, and historically inaccurate Hannah Arendt’s Banality of Evil thesis is, I believe she is right in saying that an individual, together as a society, can do evil things without being evil. That is, individuals can let evil through by just “following orders”, or utterly denying/ignoring humanity’s greatest quality: that of thought and reflection. Clearly, men like Zuckerberg (many other billionaires too) and acolytes have denied such quality. As always, it is on us to place value on the virtue of trust if it is to mean something and do anything at all.

As software engineers, we work with languages of the machine kind. A language, nonetheless, and lo and behold: we deal with the potency of shaping the digital (and psychological) lives of many others. Then, I firmly believe that it is our ethical duty to shape it in a way that is diverse, inclusive, and respectful. To achieve that, we must not do evil. Do not do evil directly by doing evil deeds, and indirectly by denying the gift of introspection.

Trust is not a given—it is earned.

 

Dresser, S. (2018, April 23). What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? Aeon. Retrieved from: https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

Messenger, H. & Simmons, K. (2021, May 11). Facebook content moderators say they receive little support, despite company promises. NBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/facebook-content-moderators-say-they-receive-little-support-despite-company-n1266891

Newton, C. (2019, February 25). The Trauma Floor: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America. The Verge. Retrieved from: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona

Raphael, L. (2018, March 20). Mark Zuckerberg Called People Who Handed Over Their Data “Dumb F****”. Esquire. Retrieved from: https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zuckerberg-called-people-who-handed-over-their-data-dumb-f/

Staff Writer. (2020, July 20). We Have No Problem with Mark Zuckerberg’s Sunscreen. GQ Middle East. Retrieved from: https://www.gqmiddleeast.com/grooming/mark-zuckerberg-sunscreen-white-face

Thompson, K. (1984, August). Turing Award Lecture: Reflections on Trusting Trust. Communications of the ACM, 27(8). https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf