
Did James Damore really deserve to be fired for what he wrote? (P. Singer) - chappi42
http://www.nydailynews.com/amp/opinion/google-wrong-article-1.3399750
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where_do_i_live
This is pretty hilarious - I don't know what very liberal people might think
when Peter Singer - one of the most liberal moralists out there - writes in
defense of James Damore.

As a very liberal person myself, seeing this gives me a bit of hope that
perhaps other more extreme liberals also give this another look and take down
the outrage a little bit. Very interesting.

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forkLding
In my opinion, James was fired because it made business sense for Google just
like how Facebook copied Snapchat stories, the memo he made would have
endlessly disrupted daily Google operations and angered female engineers or
managers he worked with and not much innovative in terms of technology would
come out in the end. If he was more interested he should have sent a petition
to the higher ups and discussed his concerns. In the end, my opinion just like
Google's 20% free time for employees, it all makes business sense at a certain
level.

Edit: If anyone disagrees, pls downvote with a comment, if theres just a
downvote it hurts my poor internet feelings, also I will take it as meaning
that there is nothing wrong with my argument, I appreciate a good argument and
dialogue and not customary trolling.

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Artistry121
If you listen to his conversation with Jordan Peterson he states he originally
sent it only to a diversity committee. After a month of not hearing anything
back he posted it in a skeptics group at Google asking them to comment.

But I agree it makes business sense. Censorship of possibly truthful ideas
makes business sense at the company that generally gatekeeps the internet.

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forkLding
ok true, I've only seen his other interview with Stefan and stopped halfway
because it was pretty long

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rdlecler1
The media's uncharitable twisting of the memo's message is that 'women are
biologically unfit to be engineers'. That's not what the memo was saying but
if you want to take that loaded interpretation then it's also the case that
'men are not biologically fit to be engineers'. The fact of the matter is, is
that people, men or women, also don't have the set of inmate psychological and
personality that predispose them to choose an engineering career. And when we
narrow that to Google engineers, then this is really about a group of people
who are at the margin, not the mean. It's also the case that 1% of the
population are psychopaths, yet they represent about 20% of the CEOs (and 25%
of prisoners). Does this mean that if you're not a psychopath that you're
biologically unfit to be a leader? Of course not.

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exodust
Agreed but I think the confusion comes from the world "ability". Any threat to
the opportunity to have equal ability in a particular discipline beyond our
control (say because you were born a man and therefore will start with lesser
ability in [xyz]), will be a theory met with opposition.

If on the other hand we're talking about differences in preference only,
leaving ability out of it, the argument is harder to criticise.

Either way, it's crazy he was fired for the memo, it sets a dangerous
precedent for staying silent unless your words are pre-approved.

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throwaway12124
If Peter Singer thinks it was wrong, you've got a tough road ahead of you
justifying what you've done.

(Full disclosure: Singer is one of my personal heroes.)

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lovich
For someone whose never heard of him, what did Peter Singer do to earn your
admiration?

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sn9
He's one of the world's most pre-eminent bioethicists.

His writings on animal welfare (e.g., _The Way We Eat_ ) and fighting poverty
(e.g., _The Expanding Circle_ , _The Life You Can Save_ ) are fantastic and
should be required reading.

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mariushn
Hi, would you please add your email in profile? Would like to followup with a
question. Thanks!

