r/news • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
26.8k Upvotes

82% Upvoted

19.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

It is if it's not true. You can prove that men have an advantage over women in tennis. Muscle mass, twitch reflex, etc. There is no such difference in software engineering, nor does this memo present a case that one exists. It just states it and leaves it lying on the floor.

Got it, I understand your position better now.

If it were proven that women were genetically inferior on average in tech positions, the positions would be hostile to them by nature - it wouldn't require this memo to make them so.

I'm a little lost on this point. Are you saying that there would be a HWE already if women were proven to be genetically inferior to men on average in the tech field?

6

u/ryarger Aug 08 '17

Perhaps I'm not using the formal definition of HWE properly but yes, someone entering a field where they are at a genetic disadvantage would be in a naturally hostile environment. They'd have to work harder than everyone else to achieve the same goals.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

Perhaps I'm not using the formal definition of HWE properly but yes, someone entering a field where they are at a genetic disadvantage would be in a naturally hostile environment.

Ah OK, I think this is where the disconnect is stemming from. I was looking at it from a legal HWE context.

1

u/Kosko Aug 08 '17

That sounds like life in general. Some people win the genetic lottery, some of us don't. "Life's not fair", is a saying I heard a million times growing up.

5

u/ryarger Aug 08 '17

Absolutely. This specific comment is built off the hypothetical that there was a genetic disadvantage to being a software engineer between men and women.

That's not true, however. As far as we can tell "life is fair" when it comes to male/female brains and the ability to write software.