philosophy

So David Weinberger gave an interesting keynote this morning, entitled "Is drupal moral?". It was engaging and funny, but I ultimately felt that his conclusion (as I read it) was fairly weak. Essentially, he finished off by asserting that Morality is engaging that that is different from you. Therefore, Drupal is moral, because it provides a means for doing so.

My take is that drupal is amoral. Like any other tool, it can be used for diverse purposes, of differing moral value. For instance, the white supremacist movement could use Drupal to build a social network and engage its members just as easily as Habitat for Humanity can use it to further its mission.