Innovations & technologies

Silicon Valley defense contracts will really hit ‘em where it hurts

Won’t someone please think of the shareholders? That’s the question Kevin Roose posed in a recent New York Times column, “Why Napalm Is a Cautionary Tale for Tech Giants Pursuing Military Contracts.”

Silicon Valley has been under heavy fire lately. By now, Facebook’s faults need no introduction. And Google’s problems are so numerous it’s hard to know where to start—from censorship for China to artificial intelligence for drones. Consequently, the search engine long ago stopped adhering to its unofficial motto: “Don’t be evil.”

Twenty-first century advances have ushered in more new moral dilemmas that many tech employees feel compelled to respond to. “Much of our most cutting-edge technology is dual-use,” former Bulletin editor Elisabeth Eaves explained last year. “It could be used for good, or it could be used to help kill people.”

Roose acknowledges “this is a debate worth having.” But he wants to focus on a “more pragmatic” question: “Could Big Tech’s decision to pursue controversial defense and law enforcement contracts be a financial mistake?”