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Having read Damore’s memo, I would not describe it that way. Odd, but I saw videos of Google and YouTube execs soon afterwards talking at conferences saying so

Having read Damore’s memo, I would not describe it that way. Odd, but I saw videos of Google and YouTube execs soon afterwards talking at conferences saying some of the same things that were somehow so terrible in the Damore memo. In particular, they stated that they were doing about as well as the education pipeline could allow, and they also speculated that there might be changes to the work environment which could make jobs more desirable to women. Linking a study about toy preferences in monkeys (no matter its merits) is a long way from supporting the claim that Google’s management stats were just reflecting a shortage of qualified people. That hardly strikes me as an intellectually robust summary of the memo.

acdha 8y ago
> That hardly strikes me as an intellectually robust summary of the memo. Try going through it to extract a coherent thesis and then look for the citations, noting how few of them there are at all, how many are secondary sources, and especially how big the gaps are between the things being claimed and what the cited evidence actually supports. Damore is not a very good writer but he’s proficient in the Gish Gallup – if you’re not reading carefully easy easy to careen from point to point without asking how well each one is argued.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  It's like we're reading two different memos. I'm going to guess you're one of those "all gender differences are machinations of the patriarchy" ideologues? There are plenty of intelligent people who are fine with the idea that there are biological gender differences. There is plenty of evidence, the balance of which also finds that men and women are equally intelligent on average. https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exagge... http://www.overcomingbias.com/2018/09/sexism-inflation.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2018/09/sexism-inflation.html Here's an interview by James Damore by feminist LianaK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFLoKa8FdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFLoKa8FdA He's not a monster or a raging sexist. He and his memo certainly didn't warrant the hysterical mass staying-home that happened shortly after the media kerfuffle. (In retrospect, I'm actually happy the whole reaction happened, though it is a shame an innocent man lost his job. This event can be preserved for future generations and studied and evaluated for what it really was -- and for how ridiculous and dishonest it was.)

acdha 8y ago

> That hardly strikes me as an intellectually robust summary of the memo. Try going through it to extract a coherent thesis and then look for the citations, noting how few of them there are at all, how many are secondary sources, and especially how big the gaps are between the things being claimed and what the cited evidence actually supports. Damore is not a very good writer but he’s proficient in the Gish Gallup – if you’re not reading carefully easy easy to careen from point to point without asking how well each one is argued.

stcredzero 8y ago
It's like we're reading two different memos. I'm going to guess you're one of those "all gender differences are machinations of the patriarchy" ideologues? There are plenty of intelligent people who are fine with the idea that there are biological gender differences. There is plenty of evidence, the balance of which also finds that men and women are equally intelligent on average. https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exagge... http://www.overcomingbias.com/2018/09/sexism-inflation.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2018/09/sexism-inflation.html Here's an interview by James Damore by feminist LianaK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFLoKa8FdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFLoKa8FdA He's not a monster or a raging sexist. He and his memo certainly didn't warrant the hysterical mass staying-home that happened shortly after the media kerfuffle. (In retrospect, I'm actually happy the whole reaction happened, though it is a shame an innocent man lost his job. This event can be preserved for future generations and studied and evaluated for what it really was -- and for how ridiculous and dishonest it was.)