> But basically the whole point of doing something in software is to automate things that are labor intensive.
I see where you're coming from but that's quite an oversimplification, don't you think? Software that drives a computer's graphic card, for example, which in turn gets used to run software that enables a physician to explore a 3D MRI, are just two examples of tasks that do not consist of automating manual labour.
(You could probably pay a lot of painters to paint a lot of pictures but hooking them up to the MRI might be a little difficult).
There's a lot of software that achieves new things, rather than old and well-known things really fast and without involving hands or a human brain.
I prefer to avoid discussing ethics on forums like HN, so I won't comment on whether or not working on software that puts people out of work is "the right thing to do" -- suffice to say that, if you wish to avoid doing that, there's plenty of room to do it while still doing your job as a software engineer.
> There's a lot of software that achieves new things
Precisely. And the only way those new things are thought up is if someone has the time to dedicate to the task. If that person instead has to spend 12 hours a day foraging for berries just to stay alive, then they won't have time to build 3D MRI code.
The gains to productivity brought about by mechanical -- and now digital -- automation have lifted billions out of poverty and extended their lifespans by decades. I agree with GP that the only purpose for software is to automate a human task. Lucky for us, software is doing things that humans can't do at all (or would take years of effort, in the case of your MRI picture).
I see where you're coming from but that's quite an oversimplification, don't you think? Software that drives a computer's graphic card, for example, which in turn gets used to run software that enables a physician to explore a 3D MRI, are just two examples of tasks that do not consist of automating manual labour.
(You could probably pay a lot of painters to paint a lot of pictures but hooking them up to the MRI might be a little difficult).
There's a lot of software that achieves new things, rather than old and well-known things really fast and without involving hands or a human brain.
I prefer to avoid discussing ethics on forums like HN, so I won't comment on whether or not working on software that puts people out of work is "the right thing to do" -- suffice to say that, if you wish to avoid doing that, there's plenty of room to do it while still doing your job as a software engineer.