Perhaps that was the author's intent. But influencing without sabotage is perhaps relevant to our modern world, especially to the HN crowd - because weapons systems are likely to become more autonomous.

If you're working on a battle robot - no longer just a science fiction concept - paying serious attention to the systems that prevent it being an indiscriminate civilian-slayer could be seen as ethical engineering, compared to leaving a project in the hands of people who care less about such things.