Re: Why the "social contract" should not be endorsed

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

Jean Louis, 22/02/20 23:52:
> Now imagine the freedom for North Korean leaders to run the GNU
> software to launch nuclear rockets towards Boston, USA. Would you be
> in agreement on it?

Let's use a more concrete example (because it's actionable, unlike 
fictional lawsuits in North Korea): are General Atomics or Lockheed 
Martin free to use GNU software within their weapons? Are we in 
agreement with it, even if they're used to conduct extrajudicial 
killings abroad or to kill civilians?

And the answer is: yes of course I agree they can use GNU software, 
especially if they publish all the software used on their drones and war 
planes under GPL. Is this an embarrassing ethical conclusion? Not at 
all: if the software were under GPL, it would be more transparent about 
what kind of ethical decisions it makes. That would empower democratic 
processes to decide whether such weapons should be used or not. (It's 
not democratic for the GNU hackers to decide whether a state should wage 
war on another, even if it's tempting.)

Federico