An interesting read to be sure. Definitely some valid points, However, before we lynch or demonize the Engineers, I'd like to offer a rebuttal.

The article demonizes and laments that the Engineer has no sense of ethical self-moderation, while not at the same time acknowledging that our society is driven by financial success, and the incentive structure which rewards capacity to facilitate capital growth has as it's inputs the wills of those with the most capital at stake.

Taking the article seriously, if the Engineer is an amoral tool, the tool is being guided by the hand that guides the majority of capital.

Mind, the Engineer is reacting to the same forces as everyone else. They have a certain set of skills, and the willingness to apply them, and are driven by the same desire to achieve success in life.

To make use of his/her skills to create and make real, the Engineer needs tool, fuel, means of production, workspace, necessities of life for him/herself and anyone else he/she works with. In our society, this is rationed out by access to, and ability to acquire capital based on the promise of positive value output or indirect contribution in some way to positive value output at some time.

What the article seems to be wishing for is that Engineers stop making things that can be used for evil. That they choose worthy outlets of their power to utilize the technology to further anything that could potentially be used, yet reject anything with the capacity to limit the freedom of it's beneficiaries.

I don't think anyone, most of all engineers, want engineers calling those shots. If nothing else, no one else has any conception of just how burdensome it is to be capable of feeding forward models of your own actions through a mind sufficiently honed with enough engineering know how. It can completely paralyze you. The making of things is trivial. Detail and clarity of thinking is needed, yes. However, once you start asking the really tough questions of engineering, is where the nightmare fuel comes from.

What will other's do with what I would create? Hell, if you want a good example of an illustrative piece of art that should be seared into every engineer or scientist's head, look into The Protomen, Act II
The Father of Death.

Look into Dr. Frankenstein, look into Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1984 Brave New World.

Would you prefer not to have the Internet?

Pharmaceuticals?

Gene therapies?

Robotics?

We (Engineers) hear the cries of those around us, and walk a razor's edge.

"We want safety!"

"We want convenience!"

"We want to be able to spread information!"

"We want strictest secrecy!"

"We want freedom from drudgery, misery, hunger and disease!"

"We want freedom from 'the System' being able to compel us!"

"We want to be brought together and be heard!"

"But not by them!, and don't want to be silenced."

How to hit the right balance of enablement, while keeping the worst potential outcomes at bay? You can't account for it in the process itself, and once the genie is out of the bottle, it's out. No going back. Once you proved it can be done, everyone else knows they can do it.

The hardest thing as an engineer, is to use what faculties they've been gifted with, to guide their actions in ways that keep the "me and mine's" happy and alive without sacrificing one's conscience to the gods of financial expedience.

As long as the survival of the Engineer, and the survival of those around them is underpinned by fiscal constraints, Mammon will guide the invisible hand.

That's the system that we chose. This is the outcome that decision creates.

A bit fatalistic? Maybe. But it's what we've all got to work with, and suggestions for alternatives never seem to pass the test of getting past the action filter of political viability to gain any momentum that can produce a successful alternative.

Do the world a favor. Get your priorities straight and communicable, and build consensus. If you want it, it'll be made. Just don't expect the maker's to be omniscient, or to be particularly in favor of putting their heads on the block when someone unscrupulous comes around and starts ruining things for everyone.