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In the interest of eliminating implications, you included a period at the end of that quote, which suggests there's nothing else to that statement. In point of
by jjulius 6y ago
In the interest of eliminating implications, you included a period at the end of that quote, which suggests there's nothing else to that statement. In point of fact, the full sentence is:
>"Though he did not mention the firings in his farewell note, they influenced his decision to resign, people familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity."
A farewell note is a formality for many people. I'd wager, given that this article discusses his previous statements on the matter, the firings did influence his decision. Having said that, it seems that he's departing as professionally as he possibly can, without blowing things up on the way out. Prospective employers won't have to be afraid of him making a scene even if he disagrees with them.
- refenestrator 6y agoI would really like to hope that "people familiar with the matter" means Bengio off the record, and not some non-Bengio person with an axe to grind... impossible to know, I guess.
- whimsicalism 6y ago? Commenting on the reasons someone made a decision doesn't mean that they have an axe to grind, any more than "anonymous aide familiar with Biden's decisionmaking says X" means that this anonymous aide has it out for Biden.
- gowld 6y agoThis isn't someone speaking on background for the figurehead. It's a coworker injecting their own opinion/advocacy.
- whimsicalism 6y agoBased on...? You're presuming what they are saying is untrue.
- prepend 6y agoThat seems more reasonable than assuming an anonymous source is right.
- sudosysgen 6y agoIt really isn't. If he really did leave for this reason this is exactly how you would expect it to be communicated, and if he didn't not only would the timing be suspicious, but there would probably be an actual reason for leaving given.
- prepend 6y agoThe problem here is that you’re right and this is a likely way we’d find out. But it’s also lots of other possibilities. So assuming that it’s true is not a good idea since there’s no evidence that it’s true.
- sudosysgen 6y agoThere is evidence that it is true - the timing, his defence of Timnit (which worked under him), the anonymous sources, and the deliberately vague resignation letter. To me, that it is true seems much more likely than the reverse.
- refenestrator 6y agoI didn't mean an axe to grind against this guy, necessarily, I meant in regards to this whole politically-charged sideshow. And "anonymous presidential aide says X" is always a political axe-grinding act. Those people don't just say things without an agenda. Historically, it's either someone testing a messaging line with prez approval or an act of factional warfare within the administration to try and shape the narrative.
- rahimnathwani 6y agoThat sentence was added to the article after GP's comment. You can see the original sentence, with the period, here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210406202729/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-google-research-bengio/google-ai-scientist-bengio-resigns-after-colleagues-firings-email-idUSKBN2BT2JT https://web.archive.org/web/20210406202729/https://www.reute...
- jjulius 6y agoI appreciate the clarification and stand corrected, re: my statement on OP's own implication. That also explains why it appeared to be mis-quoted elsewhere in this thread.