Should computer science researchers disclose negative social consequences?
I agree that it&#x27;s unlikely that anyone can predict broad, long-term consequences of any particular technology. On the other hand, the people who design Facebook or mobile games to be maximally addicting definitely understand something about how their software is affecting society. It&#x27;s not a huge leap to go from &quot;I&#x27;m pretty sure that certain people will become obsessed with this,&quot; to &quot;It&#x27;s probably harmful for lots of people to become obsessed with this.&quot;<p>If a person can predict the consequences of design decisions well enough to get paid for it, they&#x27;ll probably have some idea of potential negative consequences as well.