[celticninja]

Defense is the sanitised version.

Let's say you program code for a hellfire heat tracking missile. Now sure you can tell yourself it's only going to be used by the good guys but really you know at some point your code is going to be responsible for someone innocent getting killed.

So there's probably that bit of people with morals and a conscience who have an issue with the 'defense' industry.

How exactly does your drone defend? Does it do it by being a good offense?

That may give you an idea of why you are getting judged.

[piratesAndSons]

How many degrees of separation need to exist before your culpability drops to nearly zero?

One degree? Two? Three? Someone cashing a paycheck from Facebook or Google can tout how the company is connecting people, which is like military folks saying they work in defense.

I feel like almost no one working at a for-profit company can truly escape the principle of do no harm.

The fact that I lean into the positive aspects of my work is just natural. Everyone does the same thing, since every product has both good and bad aspects.

[celticninja]

If you make bolts in a factory and some of those bolts are used for an aeroplane, some of which may be bombers it's probably negligible. If you, like the OP, are creating a drone with the specific effect of being a weapon, then I think I'm on safe ground saying there is no separation. You are actively making the world worse.