Google Diversity Memo Roundup 2

Why Google was wrong: Did James Damore really deserve to be fired for what he wrote?
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/google-wrong-article-1.3399750

"Pichai did not specify which sections of the memo discussed issues that are fair to debate, and which portions cross the line. That would have been difficult to do, because the entire memo is about whether certain gender stereotypes have a basis in reality. Damore argues that there is evidence to show that women, when compared to men, tend to:

-be more interested in people

-be less interested in analyzing or constructing systems

-have higher anxiety and lower tolerance of stress

-have a lower drive for status

-be more interested in balancing life and work

Damore is careful to point out that the evidence for these claims does not show that all women have these characteristics to a higher degree than men. He says that many of these differences are small, that there is significant overlap between men and women, and that “you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions.” He shows this with a graph, too. He says that to reduce people to their group identity is bad.

There is scientific research supporting the views Damore expresses. There are also grounds for questioning some of this research. In assessing Google’s action in firing Damore, it isn’t necessary to decide which side is right, but only whether Damore’s view is one that a Google employee should be permitted to express."

Why I Was Fired by Google
James Damore says his good-faith effort to discuss differences between men and women in tech couldn’t be tolerated in company’s ‘ideological echo chamber’
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/why-i-was-fired-by-google-1502481290

"I was fired by Google this past Monday for a document that I wrote and circulated internally raising questions about cultural taboos and how they cloud our thinking about gender diversity at the company and in the wider tech sector. I suggested that at least some of the male-female disparity in tech could be attributed to biological differences (and, yes, I said that bias against women was a factor too). Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai declared that portions of my statement violated the company’s code of conduct and “cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”

The Google Memo: What Does the Research Say About Gender Differences?
https://heterodoxacademy.org/2017/08/10/the-google-memo-what-does-the-research-say-about-gender-differences/

"The recent Google Memo on diversity, and the immediate firing of its author, James Damore, have raised a number of questions relevant to the mission of Heterodox Academy. Large corporations deal with many of the same issues that we wrestle with at universities, such as how to seek truth and achieve the kinds of diversity we want, being cognizant that we are tribal creatures often engaged in motivated reasoning, operating within organizations that are at risk of ideological polarization.
We’ll write a separate post next week on the memo’s assertions about the value of viewpoint diversity at Google. But first, in this post, we address the central empirical claim of Damore’s memo, which is contained in its second sentence."

By Firing the Google Memo Author, the Company Confirms His Thesis
http://reason.com/archives/2017/08/11/by-firing-the-google-memo-author-the-com

"Most of the mainstream media refers to the former Google engineer's leaked internal memo as the "anti-diversity memo." Recode calls it "sexist." And Google fired James Damore for "perpetuating gender stereotypes." But in reality, the problem isn't diversity; it's that a senior software engineer admitted, perhaps unwittingly, to pondering three of the most scandalous thought crimes of contemporary American society.

The first crime is proposing that a meritocracy might be healthier for a company than bean-counting race, ethnicity and sex. The second is pointing out that ideological diversity matters. The third and most grievous of all is suggesting that men and women are, in general, physiologically and psychologically different, and thus they tend to excel at different things."

Googler fired for diversity memo had legit points on gender
http://amp.usatoday.com/story/548518001/

"But what did the memo actually say about diversity in tech? And was it wrong?

The most incendiary part of the 10-page document was the assertion that gender disparities at technology companies, including Google (where women hold 20% of tech jobs and 25% of leadership positions), are due at least in part to biological differences. Damore has been assailed for supposedly saying that “women are unsuited to tech jobs,” dismissing his female co-workers as “unqualified tokens,” or “demanding (an) end to inclusion of women” and minorities. But the memo says nothing of the kind. At most, Damore argues that because of innate cognitive and personality differences, a 50/50 gender balance in the tech sector might be unrealistic.
The memo also argues that expanding diversity is good, but that Google is going about it all wrong — for instance, by offering gender- and race-exclusionary support programs, favoring “diversity” hires, and promoting hypersensitivity to “unconscious bias” and unintentional offenses. And it suggests alternative strategies, such as drawing more women to software engineering by making some of those jobs more people-oriented, more collaborative and less stressful (though Damore notes there are limits to such change).
Is Damore right about sex differences? It’s complicated."

5 Things to Know About James Damore's Google Manifesto
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/08/09/5-things-to-know-about-james-damores-google-manifesto/

Google CEO After Firing Engineer: ‘People Must Be Free To Express Dissent’
http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/08/google-ceo-right-after-firing-engineer-people-must-be-free-to-express-dissent/

Okay, Google: How Do You Prepare A Country For Totalitarianism?
http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/09/hey-google-how-do-you-prepare-a-country-for-totalitarianism/#.WYsCmmD7OvE.twitter

Read YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki’s Response to the Controversial Google Anti-Diversity Memo
http://fortune.com/2017/08/09/google-diversity-memo-wojcicki/

So, about this Googler’s manifesto.
https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/so-about-this-googlers-manifesto-1e3773ed1788

"I actually recently left Google for entirely unrelated and actually really-good-news reasons which you can read about here. So when all of this broke, I was just as much on the outside as everyone else, and I know what was written in this only because it leaked and was published by Gizmodo.

And since I’m no longer on the inside, and have no confidential information about any of this, the thing which I would have posted internally I’ll instead say right here, because it’s relevant not just to Google, but to everyone else in tech."

Quillette Magazine (@QuilletteM) 5:16 PM on Tue, Aug 08, 2017:
We have been informed that our website is down due to DDoS attack
(https://twitter.com/QuilletteM/status/895046114180608001?s=03)

Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) 8:47 PM on Mon, Aug 07, 2017:
Great. Google took a stand for women of PoC, showing that blatantly sexist and racist attitudes aren't tolerated.
(https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal/status/894736707773493248?s=03)

No, the Google manifesto isn’t sexist or anti-diversity. It’s science
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/no-the-google-manifesto-isnt-sexist-or-anti-diversity-its-science/article35903359/

"By now, most of us have heard about Google's so-called "anti-diversity" manifesto and how James Damore, the engineer who wrote it, has been fired from his job.

Titled Google's Ideological Echo Chamber, Mr. Damore called out the current PC culture, saying the gender gap in Google's diversity was not due to discrimination, but inherent differences in what men and women find interesting. Danielle Brown, Google's newly appointed vice-president for diversity, integrity and governance, accused the memo of advancing "incorrect assumptions about gender," and Mr. Damore confirmed last night he was fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes."

From @conor64: The most common error in media coverage of the Google memo is calling it "anti-diversity."
(https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/894987588112699392?s=03)

Not to be confused with Google Link Diversity https://goo.gl/EfRQE6

You can review the first Google Diversity round up by going here: https://steemit.com/google/@rainmakerrep/google-diversity-roundup