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Google Grapples With Fallout After Employee Slams Diversity Efforts (npr.org)
An anonymous reader shares a report from NPR: In a 3,300-word document that has been shared across Google's internal networks, an engineer at the company wrote that "biological causes" are part of the reason women aren't represented equally in its tech departments and leadership. The document also cited "men's higher drive for status." The engineer's criticism of Google's attempts to improve gender and racial diversity has prompted two Google executives to rebut the lengthy post, which accused the company of creating an "ideological echo chamber" and practicing discrimination. Wide sharing of the document has highlighted struggles with gender equality and the wage gap in the tech industry and particularly at Google, which was sued by the federal government earlier this year for refusing to share compensation amounts and other data.
But in contrast, the document's author -- whose identity hasn't been publicly released but who claims to work at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters -- accused Google of having "a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence." Not enough has been done, the engineer said, to encourage a diversity of viewpoints and ideologies at Google. The author also faulted the company for offering mentoring and other opportunities to its employees based on gender or race. The engineer began the document by stating, "I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don't endorse using stereotypes." The message ended with a similar sentiment -- but with the added notion, "Stereotypes are much more accurate and responsive to new information than the [company's] training suggests." In addition to the responses made from Google's VP of Diversity, Integrity and Governance, Danielle Brown, former engineer Yonatan Zunger, and Google VP of Engineering Ari Balogh, senior developer Sarah Mei wrote: "This guy almost certainly thinks of himself as a 'computer scientist,' but he does exactly what you're not supposed to do as a scientist. He draws a conclusion favorable to his ego, and then works backwards from there, constructing an argument to justify it. [...] This google dude literally works at the company that made it _trivially easy_ to locate relevant social science research."
But in contrast, the document's author -- whose identity hasn't been publicly released but who claims to work at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters -- accused Google of having "a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence." Not enough has been done, the engineer said, to encourage a diversity of viewpoints and ideologies at Google. The author also faulted the company for offering mentoring and other opportunities to its employees based on gender or race. The engineer began the document by stating, "I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don't endorse using stereotypes." The message ended with a similar sentiment -- but with the added notion, "Stereotypes are much more accurate and responsive to new information than the [company's] training suggests." In addition to the responses made from Google's VP of Diversity, Integrity and Governance, Danielle Brown, former engineer Yonatan Zunger, and Google VP of Engineering Ari Balogh, senior developer Sarah Mei wrote: "This guy almost certainly thinks of himself as a 'computer scientist,' but he does exactly what you're not supposed to do as a scientist. He draws a conclusion favorable to his ego, and then works backwards from there, constructing an argument to justify it. [...] This google dude literally works at the company that made it _trivially easy_ to locate relevant social science research."
These are the opinions of a single person, not Google itself. They shouldn't have to deal with fallout because he's got dumb opinions.
Free and open debate.
They aren't "spurious and generalizing claims", they are statistical descriptions of behavior over a large population of individuals.
Yes, statistics shows that women tend to be more openly cooperative. Individuals vary significantly, but on average the conclusion holds.
Yes, statistics shows that men tend to be more concerned with status. Individuals vary significantly, but on average the conclusion holds.
This is exactly what he said - on average, these things are true.
Your sort of reaction to supposed stereotyping is throwing out the baby, along with the bathwater. Studies show that stereotypes are often decently accurate for a group as a whole AND over overridden by knowledge of individuals when that is available, serving to produce a combined more accurate worldview than tabula rasa or pure stereotype rejection (see "Stereotype (In)Accuracy in Perceptions of Groups and Individuals", Jussim, Crawford, Rubinstein).
Statistics is a way to learn things about populations, not individuals. Stereotypes are descriptions of populations in the same way. As long as you can understand that, they serve a useful purpose. In this case, Google is so determined to counter stereotypes that it now only acknowledges them, it allows them to direct its behavior. That needs to stop, and instead treat their employees like individuals - rather than walking talking identical population samples.
Purple people would tend to be a target for the Purple People Eater, making them quite the liability... just sayin'
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
It isn't like Google is:
Conspiring with autocratic nation's Great Firewalls
Doxxing internal critics
Fighting against free speech
Hiding important content
Getting in bed with corrupt political candidates
Trying to subvert the political process
Enforcing ThoughtCrime
Demonetizing any Youtube performers on the Right
Rewriting queries to favor their own services
Manipulated searches to hide politicians' dark deeds
Coming up with exotic Tax avoidance schemes
Supporting Terrorists' information sharing
Do no evil, right?
Almost all of his post from within Google has been completely altered for posting in the Media. References removed, no support for arguments, etc. I'm not sure we can say what is showing up in the media is even his arguments, since all the support material has been amputated.
This is hardly an open discussion.
the man's opinions are perfectly reasonable and well-argued.
They are well-argued, I'll give you that. And they certainly sound reasonable if you have only a superficial understanding of the issues. And that's the problem.
It's all old, tired arguments that have been comprehensively refuted before. For example, he states that women are more neurotic and less able to deal with stress. We know that isn't true, because we have studied it in great detail.
When this is pointed out, people are accused of being "autistic" and "screeching".
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
He wasn't doxxed
Yes he was. For obvious reasons, I am not going to link that.
he didn't lose his job
His critics are demanding that he be fired.
and there is a healthy debate over his document.
He is enduring brutal, public, ad-hominem attacks by Google management ridiculing his competence as a programmer.
In fact the only people not taking about the content of the document are the conservatives complaining that people aren't taking about the content of the document.
Horseshit.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Citations?
Citations?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
It's all old, tired arguments that have been comprehensively refuted before. For example, he states that women are more neurotic and less able to deal with stress. We know that isn't true, because we have studied it in great detail.
Wrong! According to
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/know-your-mind/201306/the-stressed-sex-1
women have higher rates of anxiety and depression than men. The article does not claim that claims that women are "less able to deal with stress", but it does claim that women are generally more "stressed" than men.
Your claim that these are "old, tired arguments that have been comprehensively refuted" is a bald-faced lie.
Spoke a little too soon. He's been fired, dox'd and blacklisted along with threats against his personal safety.
I've yet to see anyone upset by this document discuss it in a calm and reasonable way, mainly useless gender studies graduates getting angry on twitter and refusing to discuss it, because "discussing it validates it" and "muh bigots". The irony of that last one is pretty sad.
Unless you completely ignore all forms of social media, this guy is getting completely shit on with very little "healthy" debate.
The man has a PhD in Biology from Harvard for fucks sake, and he's called the ignorant one for stating scientific facts.