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Er, who is claiming "all research at Google is pointless and should stop until reform"? Presumably not the person who was trying to do and publish research at G
by geofft 6y ago
Er, who is claiming "all research at Google is pointless and should stop until reform"? Presumably not the person who was trying to do and publish research at Google?
(Are you confusing this with her email that said that participating in Google's feel-good diversity and inclusion work, specifically, was pointless and should stop, so that people could focus on their real jobs - such as research - instead of wasting time placating unknown managers?)
Anyway, my theory re your question is that Reddit and HN are usually pseudonymous, and so you have no idea whether the person saying something actually knows anything about Google or actually participates in the industry. The norm on Twitter is to use your real identity, and so comments from Googlers and ex-Googlers are boosted there. On Reddit and HN, good-sounding first-principles arguments are boosted. The two models are better at different kinds of discussions.
- thinkingemote 6y agoA bit of a mixup I think. Good to clarify it. The Google walkout blog demands all research needs reform (but no stop) but the email did specify that specific field to stop.
- geofft 6y agoYeah, the email was clearly written amidst frustration and isn't the world's most polished piece of prose, but I think it's pretty clear that the thing it's saying you should do is stop writing DEI docs that meet OKRs and are aimed at an internal audience, not stop doing research: > What I want to say is stop writing your documents because it doesn’t make a difference. The DEI OKRs that we don’t know where they come from (and are never met anyways), the random discussions, the “we need more mentorship” rather than “we need to stop the toxic environments that hinder us from progressing” the constant fighting and education at your cost, they don’t matter. [...] > So if you would like to change things, I suggest focusing on leadership accountability and thinking through what types of pressures can also be applied from the outside. For instance, I believe that the Congressional Black Caucus is the entity that started forcing tech companies to report their diversity numbers. Writing more documents and saying things over and over again will tire you out but no one will listen. (It seems to consistently use the word "paper" instead of "document" for research.) And Jeff Dean's reply identifies that she was asking to stop the DEI work, not to stop research: > I also feel badly that hundreds of you received an email just this week from Timnit telling you to stop work on critical DEI programs. Please don’t.