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It genuinely does suck and is *bad* that it feels like there’s almost nowhere to go for people who 1. Want to work on robotics (like drones) and 2. Don’t want to build weapons.

Drones and other robots do have a huge number of civilian and society-benefiting uses. We need ways for talented people to be able to work on those applications, without having to compromise their morals to build weapons for ICE (and similar malignant buyers).

robotics and autonomous systems aren’t bad in and of themselves, but as long as we exist in an authoritarian capitalist system where these things are used mainly to oppress and surveil the population, people will continue to throw rocks at drones and bully those delivery robots

There was a period between 2013 to about 2024 or so where it seemed to me like it was going to be possible to have a very viable career in purely civilian and socially-beneficial drone mapping and data analysis work. Not so much now. Perhaps we can get back there, I don’t know.