Coding for the Future

Recently I realized something. I’m a coder. I’m a professional developer in training. I’m thinking more and more about how to design software to be efficient and user-friendly. Woah! But then I realized something else. What kind of developer am I going to be?

As Developers we are coding for the future.

Culture, society, human interaction- these have all been shaped by technological advances. Some good, like the telephone, and the high-five. Some bad like fedoras, and elevator music. But most are grey areas that are only defined by the ones using them. Things that come to mind are the cotton gin, and the acoustic guitar. There’s nothing worse than that one guy at the party who decides to play Wonderwall. But then also Chet Atkins exists. You see where I’m going with us?

When the founders of the internet built the first languages to communicate I don’t think they were worrying that one day some Chat at a party would use a computer in his pocket to pull up the lyrics for Wonderwall to aurally assault innocent party goers. Seriously, I hate that song.

The internet is an amazing tool. There is no doubt about that. But as with any tool it can be misused. It can bring people together from across the globe, but it is an uncomfortable truth that sometimes that is a bad thing. With the rise of hate speech we must question what our role in it is.

The Trolley Problem

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics. The general form of the problem is this:

You see a runaway trolley moving toward five tied-up (or otherwise incapacitated) people lying on the tracks. You are standing next to a lever that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track, and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, there is a single person lying on the side track. You have two options:

1. Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.
2. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

Which is the more ethical option?

How does this relate to code? The trolley is the user who is barreling towards misusing our beautiful code. They’re about to share the equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater. We, the developer, are the Trolly Operator. Do we do nothing and allow the trolley to spread dis-information or hate speech? Or do we pull the lever, redirecting the user and restricting their ability to share inciting content?

There is no 100% correct solution

Like many things in life, this is a grey area. There are many factors at work in this equation and I’m not going to pretend to be smart enough to tackle all of them. But I personally believe that as developers, who are actively shaping the way the average person experiences life, we have an ethical responsibility to make the internet a safe place for everybody. As in code, we need to set our end goal and figure out a way to get there. As long as we strive, as a community, to create a diverse and rich user experience we will be moving in the right direction.