4 ms·

Weird they don't say how many employees signed this letter. I guess saying ".02% of Googlers send letter" doesn't have quite the impact as an unstated number of

Weird they don't say how many employees signed this letter. I guess saying ".02% of Googlers send letter" doesn't have quite the impact as an unstated number of employees. Also interesting how they bring up diversity figures when talking about Timnit leaving, but not that these employees are trying to get Megan Kacholia fired or demoted...yes that's right - a Woman in a field composed mostly of Men(to borrow the article's rhetoric). Not only that, but a Woman with Children of Color.

pseudalopex 6y ago
"In a message sent to Pichai and others that linked to the letter, Alex Hanna, a senior research scientist on the Ethical AI team, said it was sent on behalf of her team. A source familiar with the team said it includes roughly a dozen members."
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  12/200000 = .006%, so I guess I over-estimated how many people signed.
  - pseudalopex 6y ago
    Why would you expect people outside her team to sign? Would you respect their opinions if they did?
    - esyir 6y ago
      Because it would indicate wider support within the company I assume.
  - GVIrish 6y ago
    That's a strange way of looking at things. The other 199988 employees aren't on her team. If they had circulated their letter widely and then only got 12 signees then we could say only 6 thousandths of a percent supported the letter.
- spicyramen 6y ago
  In my experience teams with little work have time to do this "activism"
  - thenightcrawler 6y ago
    man, this is her own team, this isn't some abstract very removed issue , this people she worked with advocating for her.
    - notsureaboutpg 6y ago
      Yeah but her own team will probably be the most likely to advocate for her. Go to any university in the US right after a prof is denied tenure. His students will inevitably protest this decision the loudest. Also, what were they supposed to do after she sent an email to a huge listserv at the company telling all her subordinates that they should not participate in the company's D&I initiatives and should essentially quit working there? You can't pay people to tell your own employees to stop working for you...
    - hnxs 6y ago
      maybe her departure affects their promo cycles
  - fatbird 6y ago
    Thanks for threadshitting!
kevingadd 6y ago
Firing someone is not automatically bad if they happen to check particular boxes. It's the other way around: Firing someone because they happen to check particular boxes is an issue. If someone is actively bad at their job or is sabotaging others in the workplace, it's quite reasonable to demand their resignation regardless of their sex, age, or family situation, even if it's unpleasant.

pseudalopex 6y ago

"In a message sent to Pichai and others that linked to the letter, Alex Hanna, a senior research scientist on the Ethical AI team, said it was sent on behalf of her team. A source familiar with the team said it includes roughly a dozen members."

oh_sigh 6y ago
12/200000 = .006%, so I guess I over-estimated how many people signed.
- pseudalopex 6y ago
  Why would you expect people outside her team to sign? Would you respect their opinions if they did?
  - esyir 6y ago
    Because it would indicate wider support within the company I assume.
- GVIrish 6y ago
  That's a strange way of looking at things. The other 199988 employees aren't on her team. If they had circulated their letter widely and then only got 12 signees then we could say only 6 thousandths of a percent supported the letter.
spicyramen 6y ago
In my experience teams with little work have time to do this "activism"
- thenightcrawler 6y ago
  man, this is her own team, this isn't some abstract very removed issue , this people she worked with advocating for her.
  - notsureaboutpg 6y ago
    Yeah but her own team will probably be the most likely to advocate for her. Go to any university in the US right after a prof is denied tenure. His students will inevitably protest this decision the loudest. Also, what were they supposed to do after she sent an email to a huge listserv at the company telling all her subordinates that they should not participate in the company's D&I initiatives and should essentially quit working there? You can't pay people to tell your own employees to stop working for you...
  - hnxs 6y ago
    maybe her departure affects their promo cycles
- fatbird 6y ago
  Thanks for threadshitting!

kevingadd 6y ago

Firing someone is not automatically bad if they happen to check particular boxes. It's the other way around: Firing someone because they happen to check particular boxes is an issue. If someone is actively bad at their job or is sabotaging others in the workplace, it's quite reasonable to demand their resignation regardless of their sex, age, or family situation, even if it's unpleasant.