🚀 go-pugleaf

This message is from Alfred Beebe <BEEBE@venera.isi.edu>
 and was received on Tue Aug  5 15:48:09 1986
 
Dear Dave,

	A friend sent me a forward of your message.  I don't have the time
to go to great lengths at the moment, but I did quit working at Hughes
Missile Systems Group about 3 years ago because I began grappling with the
issue of the larger significance of what I was doing as opposed to the nitty
gritty technical details.  The key psychological aspect of my situation at
Hughes was the pronounced isolation, mostly self-imposed, which kept me
from sharing my thoughts and feelings with co-workers.  The upshot was
I locked up in self-debate and wallowed in a kind of paralysis of initiative 
which kept me there a year or two more than I needed to be.

	I came to that work from teaching and a degree in pure math and I 
very much wanted to learn a new field in applied math.  So it was very hard
to come to the conclusion that in spite of any progress in learning a new
field, the primary significance of my work was that I was creating a
missile.  I began questioning the entire social framework of technical
work and began to take the view that most technical people were no more
than pawns in someone else's technical agenda.  That technical agenda was
largely dictated by major social institutions like governments and 
companies and much less by "pure scientific" criteria like the pursuit
of knowledge.

	In the summer of 1983 several of us started Aerospace Engineers/
Workers for Social Responsibility in Los Angeles.  Our main purpose was
mutual support and outreach to other people in military technical work
who were concerned about similar issues.  If you're in the San Francisco
area you're probably familiar with the Center for Economic Conversion
(Joel Yudken, a former Lockeed (?) engineer is there) and Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility (Severo Ornstein, Gary Chapman
and others).  And there are of course others around the country.

	AE/WSR's current project is to put together a survey of technical
workers in military work to get a profile of their motivations for doing
the work and their social, political and ethical attitudes.  One of our
primary goals is simply to promote discussion of the issues.

	Good luck with your discussion group.