The Google Engineer Manifesto is Right…

Grrrrrobert
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

UPDATE: The experts are beginning to speak and it turns out that at least as far as the science goes, he is very right. Link from google cache because the internet is hugging the site to death.

UPDATE II: Nope he gets it. I am so disappointed in everyone on here who critiqued the him without reading him. From James Damore himself on this video : “Maybe if we want to make tech a more female friendly environment we should recognise that some women are different than men in these ways, & so if we want to make it more accessible to women, then maybe for example cooperativeness which is higher in women than men, we should make the workplace a place where you can actually thrive if you are cooperative.”

…in in at least one important sense. Here’s the incomplete thought that everyone is jumping on.

Men are far far more suited, on the average than women, to do this kind of work which they are capable of doing well. What he actually wrote was

  • “Men’s higher drive for status — We always ask why we don’t see women in top leadership positions, but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs. These positions often require long, stressful hours that may not be worth it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life. Status is the primary metric that men are judged on 4, pushing many men into these higher paying, less satisfying jobs for the status that they entail. 4 For heterosexual romantic relationships, men are more strongly judged by status and women by beauty. Again, this has biological origins and is culturally universal.”

Put down your pitchforks or fuck off back to your safe space, and read to understand before you reply.

Let’s step back. Why would men be far more suited and what does that mean? What do I mean by it?

Here’s what I mean by it. Men will work to the detriment of everything else in their lives. Family, self, friends. Men will give the company that they work for everything and more for the chance to get ahead.

Ahead of whom? Other men.

Why? Men will compete with others until they die for no other reason than to compete. Women make choices that are better for them personally. Some men choose their work über alles. Not even all of them. But enough. (There are also women who are like this, apparently there are not enough of them.)

This means men will create more profit for the company. They are better tools, better cogs, better drones. Not better people. Not even better coders or engineers. But as parts of the machines, they are better. Better primed to be better at ignoring one set of important things for another.

In a system where you are free to blow the curve by outworking everyone to your own detriment, men excel. It seems built in.

That’s true. It’s one of the reasons why modern life with all it’s riches is so empty to so many.

The big five psych references that the Googler referred to in his manifesto, seem to say men are just better. As opposed to better suited in a system that rewards self destruction.

Men will chop wood all day long, just to make sure they have a bigger pile of wood than they guy at the other end of the forest. A woman might ask, why are you chopping so much wood? Don’t we have enough wood now? His answer, look as his pile! Get out of the way!

This is not something Google or any other company wants to get out. As long as people see benefits in the outcomes in this system. As long as success comes from outworking their co-workers. Especially to the detriment of the rest of their lives, this will not change. The ones who will destroy the curve, will keep that bar raised for everyone else.

I don’t have an answer to the problem. But on this issue, he was right. But not for the reasons he might have been saying. It’s not that men are better, it’s the system itself that favours behaviours that men tend to more than women. Google benefits from this. They know it. Don’t be naive. They don’t want it to change. No one in Silicon Valley really does.

Also. He was right about at least one other thing. He did write that outing any of these ideas would get someone fired. He’s been fired.

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