Facebook per se? No. But I'm a math grad. Yet I ALSO have this ability to read English (and Spanish and some Portuguese, but I'm not here to brag.) Wow. Look at that, I've mastered a couple different sets of syntax that enable semantic understanding.
And there are books written in English that talk to the social history of the species. History, physics, etc, being subsets of English syntax (or other "human languages") tailored to describe specific semantics.
A casual look at what happened over the years as various social bubbles suddenly slammed into each other; Columbus and Americas, repeated conquering of Europe and further east.
Doesn't seem a stretch to think "information network could be used for malicious shit." And it has been for years, depending on who talk to (content piracy, trafficking, AI guided weapons, etc) before Facebook. So there's a plain history in contemporary times too. No need to dig that far back into history.
And it's not advocating for binning the abstract research, or avoiding making these things concretely. It advocates for fostering a conversation about the potential pitfalls.
Like programmers do before considering a change.
Deep knowledge of the specifics isn't necessary, IMO. We code heads are already aware of "change in system may have bad side effects. Let's avoid it as much as possible." Emotional consideration is already there.
This thread is devolving into childish attitudes about having to be part of society. Division of labor taken to its extreme, leads people to just disregard they are a part of a bigger picture (society). What did Adam Smith have to say about such things? All the way back in the 1700s. And he had no where near modern formal training. Seems rather spot on here.
I think you inferred a whole lot that isn't there on some pretty trite grounds.
It plainly advocates for a peer-review process. It's not advocating for the researched themselves to become a hardcore utilitarian over their work.
And you're focused on "programmers". This is about computer science research. You're speaking more to nerds that hide in their basement, not academics figuring out more refined AI algorithms, which is mostly math.
When I was a kid, closing my eyes would generate fractal-like patterns. They'd get stronger if I lightly pushed on my closed eyelids or rubbed them.
I got older and started seeing psychedelic art and such, and was like "Ah, others see this stuff too."
I never got into the voodoo/mysticism that is often peddled. Always figured it was some sort of light penetrating the liquid layers of my eyes still still, or something. Illuminating them just enough to make out that, but not the rest of the physical world.