Tech Ethics

Software engineers have superpowers. They can create IT systems (facebook, youtube, google search, google maps, tiktok, whatsapp, instagram, etc.) that fundamentally change how society works.

What is the software engineer’s responsibility when creating such IT systems?

Is the software just a tool, and all responsibility is on the user?

Or is the software something more than a tool, a fabric of human interactions, that becomes so fundamental in people’s everyday life, that people grow dependent on it.

I myself am a software engineer. In my day job, I create IT solutions that impact the life of millions or even billions of people. I work on Google Maps. Previously I worked on Google Search.

So, these questions are not just abstract theoretical questions for me, but questions I ask when making important decisions every other day.