…and you were working on something that had the potential to cause widespread devastation…would you continue to develop it? Or would your conscience get the better of you and would you stop working on it?
There are so many examples of man made things which have caused so much devastation or have the potential to: Nuclear weapons, TNT, Nerve agents, Agent Orange etc.
Here’s a quote from J. Robert Oppenheimer (the guy who helped develop nuclear weapons)
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“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that one way or another.”*
So, if you were working on something that you knew could be used in the worst possible way by others… would you continue to develop it? Could you live with the idea that something you created had the potential to cause so much pain and suffering?