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Is software political? (www.jstor.org)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In this paper the author highlights how both engineers and social scientists misinterpret the relationship between technology and society. In particular he attacks the narrative, widespread among engineers, that technological artifacts, such as software, have no political properties in themselves and that function or efficiency are the only drivers of technological design and implementation.

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[+] redisdead -24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It wasn't political until a bunch of terminally online people can't deal with a gendered pronoun made it political.

Telling a bunch of socially inept people to go pound sand is not a political act.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

My friend it is you who is socially inept. Trans people are not basement dwelling "politicals" most of us are just normal every day folks with jobs and partners etc. who just want to be respected to the same level that everyone else is.

I have never even heard of this browser but it's clear the maintainers have priorities of pushing an agenda rather than designing software to meet end user requirements and I wish them well and hope they can learn to set aside their ideology.

Fundamentally it also doesn't even have to be about that either, gender-neutral is a factual grammatic term and it's silly to suggest using gender-neutral pronouns is some sort of political act.

If anything it's Andreas who made it political by taking it so personally in his head, which he did because of political bogeymen in his head, he got triggered by a term and now the chuddie defense force rushes to his side in the latest culture war battleground.