Friday, October 1, 1999: Ethics and principle

[NonsenseWords]

[Arloest]

Ultimately, of course, Stephan is correct.

[datherman]

Unless his position gets outsourced, of course.

Yay for fragile job security.

[Bocaj Claw]

This strip is really dated, now. This was me being all bitter about the fact that, in 1999 and 2000, it seemed like if you worked in computers, you were pretty much guaranteed to have money thrown at you. A lot of geeks of my acquaintance actually seemed to be getting big heads.

In hindsight, I should have just let them have their moment.

[Tom_Radigan]

The death ray isn't such a hot idea either. There was a scientist who had designed a special gun for Saddam Hussein which had the capability of shooting very big projectiles into Israel. He wound up being assassinated by Iraqi agents. (This took place not too long before the original Gulf War.)

[Bocaj Claw]

That sounds more like artillery than any kind of death ray.

[Tom_Radigan]

That sounds more like artillery than any kind of death ray.

Yes, that is true. But I figured that building a death ray, if it works, might end up with a similar outcome for the inventor.

[Bocaj Claw]

We should cancel all weapons research in the US then. I'd hate for leading scientists to be killed by Iraqi agents.

[Tom_Radigan]

We should cancel all weapons research in the US then. I'd hate for leading scientists to be killed by Iraqi agents.

The man in question was actually a Canadian freelancer. Also, Saddam is now out of the picture for good.

[Arloest]

I've got to hand it to you, Tom, you're probably the only person on this board who could turn a discussion about this strip into a discussion about foreign weapons proliferation.

[Tom_Radigan]

I've got to hand it to you, Tom, you're probably the only person on this board who could turn a discussion about this strip into a discussion about foreign weapons proliferation.

Well, Stephan did mention the idea of building a death ray as opposed to becoming CEO of a computer company, presumably as an alternative way of becoming rich. I brought up the Iraqi gun as a way of saying that the idea of building weapons to become wealthy can backfire.

Also I should mention that the scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla actually built a death ray machine, though all it did was put out a weak beam of harmless light. Unfortunately he was going insane by that time.

[Muninn]

He wasn't insane, just perceiving everything at such an advanced level that the ordinary world he'd left behind were blind to his genius.

[IceDragon]

I've got to hand it to you, Tom, you're probably the only person on this board who could turn a discussion about this strip into a discussion about foreign weapons proliferation.

Well, Stephan did mention the idea of building a death ray as opposed to becoming CEO of a computer company, presumably as an alternative way of becoming rich. I brought up the Iraqi gun as a way of saying that the idea of building weapons to become wealthy can backfire.

Also I should mention that the scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla actually built a death ray machine, though all it did was put out a weak beam of harmless light. Unfortunately he was going insane by that time.

The Iraqi guy was just an example of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness