Hi, As technologists, we hold a great deal of de-facto power, and therefore I think it is reasonable, if not morally obligatory, to be careful and conscientious, as well as promulgating kindness and respect for human life and our world.
Therefore, I do not oppose any "statement for peace" (even besides the very one-sided situation with Russia/Ukraine it obviously alludes to, I think everyone sane agrees that mechanized mass death is generally bad). However, I do feel like a "statement" is nothing but virtue-signaling (and rather vacuous virtue-signaling, at that). If one truly supports peace, hand-wringy futzing about on mailing lists will accomplish nothing; the least one could do to make their word meaningful is to, for example, contribute to humanitarian efforts relieving human suffering in the region. Furthermore, the tools of computer science, together with the general privilege afforded by the technology jobs I and most of you have, give us opportunity to make real positive change beyond this. I hope that everyone thinking about ways to help will consider such more-meaningful efforts. I regret I could not comment any of this on Twitter. I have been blocked pre-emptively from the account, and actively refused explanation as to why. Ian
