Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
The Google Manifesto grossly generalizes, and is therefore ridiculous.
But considering all that's been written about it, I ran across one odd contradiction in many criticisms.
The benefit of diversity is bringing varied viewpoints and backgrounds to work, which obviously aids efficiency and creativity. This is, of course, because these people are different from each other to some extent. Why then do so many of the same people who rightly argue that point flip out when someone highlights the differences?
Men and women are different to a degree. So are people from Kansas and NYC, or people who are gay, straight, and bisexual.
Damore's piece was bluntly stupid in suggesting women are by nature unsuited to tech. But his critics should be careful not to argue any reference to differences between men and women is heresy. A more subtle assesment, like the article you cite, of those differences makes the case for diversity.
Sadly, I doubt the loudest voices in the debate over this "Manifesto" will read her, or consider anything beyond the most blunt arguments. Which, as always, pervert, simplify, and eclipse the discussion worth having.
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God knows I will never argue you're the most subtle thinker around, but you've put your finger on one very basic point that fundamentally eluded Damore, which is that even if there are differences, the combination of two viewpoints might be more powerful than either by themselves.
Damore was heading where the testosterone-addled right wing nutcases always head: women ought to make my sandwich, blacks ought to hoe my crops, sure, some might be helpful here and there, but not most of them, and, hey, I could use a sandwich. Yet, the mere fact that he couldn't figure out the benefits of diversity means he really kind of sucked at the job for which he thought he was biologically suited.
Damore and his defenders, like David Brooks, end up separated from the armed mob at Charlottesville by very little. Each of them are seeking to assert an innate superiority.