SmarterEveryDay
4 HN recommenders · recommended in 12 months, 2019–2022
28:11 · 2.6M views · Mar 3, 2019
Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day explains Multi-Domain Operations through footage from his last mission at RIMPAC 2018. He covers missile and torpedo testing and interviews military leaders about the cyber and information domains.
HN cites it for an insider's look at defense work and at how the military thinks about information operations and cyberspace.
17 comments from Hacker News
I see the point but it is a narrow and modernist characterization of other minds on the matter. A lot of perfectly decent people do defense work and don't really need the paychecks (the famous Youtuber SmarterEveryDay comes to mind). Here are a few reasons why: 1) Many work on oft maligned technologies because they simply see no moral conundrum. It's common to see tools as amoral, and believe moral responsibility in the use of tools for good or evil lies solely with its wielder - not any inventor or refiner. 2) Or, they may see their work as their moral duty as a competent professional in a society fending off morally worse alternatives. This is the patriotic or "necessary evil" view. 3) A few utilitarian engineers see the refinement of technology in and of itself as always a subtle moral good, as they believe the elimination of inefficiency is the primary reason why humanity no longer suffers as much as it used to. There's also the assumption that the development of any kind of tech leads to unanticipated benefits to other areas of life (this is a common demonstrated pattern in defense R&D). 4) There's also the classical Greek justification of Eudaimonia. Simply doing what one does best is seen as the most moral thing one can do, as it eliminates any outward and internal dishonesty about ones self. PS: Here is a great video by SmarterEveryDay explaining what he does and why this video
Check out this video by 'smertereveryday': this video He has access to a 4 star general who gives him a little too much information. The first screen in the video is that it has been approved for public release. The military understands the situation. You can see why they are purchasing internet data. I don't see the problem. Who exactly has been punished by this? Or even snowden? NSA is spying on everyone? But is there people in prison for this? If so, were they people who did need to go to prison? You can pretty much bet every country has 'lawful intercept'
That's really just the result of the decreasing trust within society. "Bowling Alone" is a good book that tries to explore the underlying reasons for this development, that started some time in the 1960s. The current "war" in cyberspace probably contributes to it as well. Here is an interesting interview with a US four star general about that new area of conflict: this video
Sadly, that is very likely a main reason. Political discussion isn't so much about the exchange of views anymore, but about "winning" and "destroying" the other side. And there is a reason for that. There is an interesting interview with a US 4-Star General about the topic of "controlling the public" in cyberspace: this video
The educational Youtube channel SmarterEveryDay made a video about his day job as a military rocket engineer. It's an insightful how-and-why explanation for those wondering why there aren't more conscientious objectors: this video