Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 481 posts

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#191

Post by MagicAndi »

Jerry2 wrote: post #172
21 wrote: post #5

Obligatory Taleb comment: "Think tanks are natural lobbies w/a facade of "research" Their cover allows them to censor dissent from monoculture" https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/902859415375798274 OT: I'm curious how many hours will this post survive on the front page

>OT: I'm curious how many hours will this post survive on the front page Not long. HN heavily censors any criticism of Google and yet any blog post from one of the official Google sites stays on the front page for a whole day.

Isn't this more the effect of Google employed engineers downvoting criticism of their beloved Google, and upvoting the Plex approved propaganda?

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#192

Post by CobrastanJorji »

derping69 wrote: post #177
kbenson wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not sure what your definition of bribe is Well, if it's the actual definition [1], then you didn't exactly prove anything. 1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bribe

Definition from your link 1. "money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust" 2."something that serves to induce or influence" Eric Schmidt spending millions to create groundwork isn't a favor? You think Google wasn't trying to influence the Obama white house during those 427 visits? from wikileaks "He’s ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc. He w…

Do you consider every political donation to be a bribe? You may very well be correct, but a definition that includes nearly every corporation or wealthy individual may not be particularly useful as a term.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#193

Post by sweep4r »

creaghpatr wrote: post #121
blfr wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this "Think Tank" is literally a propaganda office Is that really different from any other think tank or the NYT itself?

NYT's David Brooks is on their board of directors so not really. Might want to see the other members as well. https://www.newamerica.org/board/

Wow, the CEO is the son of George Soros. This think tank is like the reincarnation of the devil.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#195

Post by jcoffland »

ex3xu wrote: post #175

I recently picked up a book called, "No Wall Too High", the translated man who escaped from a Chinese labor camp under Mao Zedong. In this book, during his time in a re-education camp in Lijiang, the author relates seeing the story of Yang Shukang -- a man whose crime was simply writing a letter to the central leadership in Beijing saying that two thousand people had starved to death in his town of Jiuhe during the g…

Great story but I fail to see the connection. This is a case of don't shit where you eat. If you want to speak out against Google then don't belong to an organization funded by Google.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#197

Post by tptacek »

defen wrote: post #184
idlewords wrote: post #22

In a tweet, New America claims this is false, and will release a statement soon: https://twitter.com/slaughteram/status/902874942433263616

Prediction: strenuous (truthful) denials that Google/Alphabet were in any way involved with this. Left unexamined: the role Eric Schmidt played in his personal capacity. For people to argue about: whether there is a difference between Eric Schmidt working in his personal capacity to benefit Google/Alphabet vs Eric Schmidt acting as an official representative of Google/Alphabet

Pretty solid prediction.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#198

Post by Jesus_Jones »

CalChris wrote: post #170
rpedela wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the article say Google, not Schmidt, gave $21 million to the think tank?

I wasn't responding to the article. I was responding to fowlerpower 's comment: > The thing is that Google has absolutely gone down questionable path from their early days. And as for the article, it says: > The New America Foundation has received more than $21 million from Google; its parent company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt; and his family’s foundation since the think tank’s founding in 1999. So yes, Googl…

I think they are indistinguishable here. Google and Schmidt both gave money, Schmidt is the executive chairman of google, so there's no distance between them.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#199

Post by matt4077 »

zero_shift wrote: post #187
matt4077 wrote: post #25

90 points in less than an hour. This guy's fight for his right to be wrong is surprisingly energising to this community. I'm even sympathetic to the criticism of Google. But for the life of me I can't figure out why this particular employment dispute gets this sort of billing... Arguably the US government (an entity endowed with something literally called "the monopoly on violence") just pardoned someone who build an…

The cynical explanation: 1. We work in tech, and some of us have already developed opinions on Google. We have small worlds and in them some things seem disproportionately large. 2. Most posters are American. Examining how the US state uses violence is never going to be comfortable for them. 3. Decades of misinformation have created a layer of innuendo and whataboutism around acts like whistleblowing and certain kind…

I think you're the first person I can ever tell that you're not actually as cynical as you may think :)

The cynical explanation–and this is just purely hypothetical–is (for a pathologically cynical mind) that a Google engineer who gets fired after circulating a call for unionising, or complaining about the lack of day-care options on campus, wouldn't even register within this community.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#200

Post by 21 »

jcoffland wrote: post #195
ex3xu wrote: post #175

I recently picked up a book called, "No Wall Too High", the translated man who escaped from a Chinese labor camp under Mao Zedong. In this book, during his time in a re-education camp in Lijiang, the author relates seeing the story of Yang Shukang -- a man whose crime was simply writing a letter to the central leadership in Beijing saying that two thousand people had starved to death in his town of Jiuhe during the g…

Great story but I fail to see the connection. This is a case of don't shit where you eat. If you want to speak out against Google then don't belong to an organization funded by Google.

That organization doesn't say on it's website "we are a Google PR firm", or "we will never criticize Google", they imply they are an "independent think-tank not influenced by money".
Post reply on HN