Quite the opposite - the developers of many platforms, say social networks to take an example, have a lot to answer for in the way their "useful projects" have actually had large negative side effects.

I think you're really reaching if you think that someone not spending all of their time on directly productive pursuits that affect the lives of others materially is somehow a problem.

I'd honestly be hard pressed to come up with an idea for a technology I could create tomorrow that would have a real positive impact on humanity (as seperate from say, slightly improving some obscure programming tool). Those problems are political.

I'd say that, generally speaking, we have a moral responsibility not to use any skills we might possess to cause harm to others.

Beyond that, yes. I taught myself to program, and I am still learning. I taught myself to draw and paint, and I am still learning. I taught myself to write fiction, and I am still learning. I learned these skills because I enjoy creating through them, and creating things is what I've found makes my life worth living. I create for fun and for profit (necessary to survive) and, yes, to help others—but if you think you can cast moral aspersions on me or anybody else because we aren't pursuing those three outcomes in a proportion you personally find acceptable, my recommendation for you is to take a step back and get some perspective.

It might not come to you immediately. Likely, you will have to work at it.

Maybe you should be spending less time on HN and more time doing things which are socially responsible.

I have no problem if you spend some time on pointless stuff, I do it too. I have a problem with the edonistic status quo where to decide a new project the norm is to suggest to do "something you like" instead of "something that is needed". You're pretending that there's a debate and it's 50-50, while the reality is that the perspective is totally skewed towards programmers' amusement.

I program things that others need all the time.

That's my day job, as a contractor or salaried worker.

In exchange, I get money which I can give to others in exchange for things I need.

You seem to be suggesting that everyone is effectively 'at work' all of the time, and that every activity they do should be chosen based on some sense of virtue. That's a recipe for burnout in my books.

Ah ok, if you actually do something useful at work, that's different. Most people develop useless software at work. You must be privileged or maybe you work for some non-profit. I hope you get a decent salary because these days it's very hard to work on relevant things and get paid well.

Please put your replies to comments under the comments, not next to them. You can always get a reply box by clicking on a comments timestamp.

Just to clarify, you can also reply to a comment directly from the thread by clicking the Reply link under the comment.

However, for any comment that is a direct reply to one of your own comments, there is a "cooling off" period of several minutes before the Reply link and reply box are available.

chobeat, if you don't see these reply options, please wait five minutes and then refresh the page.

You don't have to wait if you click on the timestamp. That's what the comment you're replying to is saying - there's a workaround to the timeout.

Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you for the correction!