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Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

nytimes.com

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

#321

Post by wavefunction »

mcguire wrote: post #103
blfr wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google was fantastic and contributed greatly to breaking the iron grip Microsoft had on the industry. They also completely changed the way we use the Internet, pushed network and security technologies forward and to the end user, and made sure iPhone/iOS have a worthy competition in the smartphone market. It is very sad that they went down the censorship path. Especially since the open web made Google Search a viable…

Anyone remember when they bought DoubleClick, one of the most reviled companies on the net?

One of their competitors?

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

#322

Post by squarefoot »

zentiggr wrote: post #7

And we are shown again that Google is now large enough and has enough enough influence that it's only serious opponent is the EU. A continent. Do no evil indeed.

The EU has no chance, as does any country in the world. Google will simply buy one nation at a time just by offering services to people through governments, which will turn into more exposure (votes) for the politician in power who makes the deal. That politician will of course never bite the hand who feeds him/her.

"Thanks to our last deal with Google, now we have fresh water and comfy chairs in every public transportation bus, and the ticket price was cut half!".

"Thanks to Google Books, now all kids whose family income is under X will receive a free ebook reader and free school books".

...etc.

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

#323

Post by dang »

tiggybear wrote: post #272

Why is there no SJW outcry over this like there was for James Damore? Why are google employees not threatening to quit their jobs over this? Are the progressive employees at Google only progressive when it comes to gender?

Would you please not post generic ideological rants to HN, or unsubstantive comments in general? Those are not what this site is for:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#324

Post by kbenson »

metaphorm wrote: post #244
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

it's not a very convincing argument to quote the dictionary at someone who is clearly trying to make a more sophisticated point about political and cultural attitudes w.r.t influence peddling and interaction of money and politics.

The supporting evidence of their argument was two separate items, that Eric Schmidt set up a data company for the sole purpose of getting Hillary elected, which is entirely unsupported by the reference they provided, and that Google visited the white house a lot, which while supported has nothing to do with bribery when taken by itself.

I took "depending on your definition of bribery" to be implying that these visits indicate some behavior akin to or equal to bribery, and quoting the definition as a succinct way to note that they aren't equivalent at all as currently explained. I thought that was sufficient because unlike you I did not interpret that comment as clearly trying to make a more sophisticated point, but as trying to allude to misconduct from facts which have entirely benign explanations. It's possible there was misconduct, but assuming so from the information presented is not a way to have a rational discussion on the topic.

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

#325

Post by visarga »

quickben wrote: post #235
matt4077 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this, like, cynicism completely decoupled from reality? Google invests a lot of money and time in a myriad of projects with altruistic motivation. Google summer of code, $100 Million per year for non-profits, OSS releases such as tensorflow or Chrome, google.org and on and on. Of course you can say that this is motivated by PR objectives. But then you're creating a situation where they couldn't do anything righ…

And then you have Bill Gates going: this year, I'm going to eradicate disease X from the planet for all humanity because I have the money. That's altruism. Research into self driving cars, on a closed platform, is a PR move.

> Research into self driving cars, on a closed platform, is a PR move.

Google has the largest contribution in advancing the state of the art in AI. That benefits humanity in many ways, SD cars being just one of them. They are also working on healthcare, robotics and reasoning agents. All these things will be a boon for humanity. Discoveries are discussed in the open.

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

#326

Post by kromem »

gaius wrote: post #304
islanderfun wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OT: I agree Google has become monster-ish. But when this talk comes up, I can't help but think Amazon is just as if not more of a monster. Especially the employee horror stories and now slashing Whole Food prices. While its awesome for it's customers, I'm worried about long term effects. /r

I can easily choose to avoid Amazon - they aren't seeding the entire internet with sly tracking technologies. They are a logistics business that makes money by moving stuff from warehouses to customers. Similarly Apple wants to sell you an iPhone and a laptop and Microsoft wants to sell you an office suite and a database. Real companies with real products and services. But Google's ONLY business is stealing and selli…

Really? Go ahead and avoid anything hosted on or using AWS.

Might be a bit difficult, and you may reconsider Amazon's scale relative to Google.

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

#327

Post by josteink »

blfr wrote: post #84
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google was never good. They only ever did what they thought fit their strategy at the time, to allow them to grow and make more money.

Google was fantastic and contributed greatly to breaking the iron grip Microsoft had on the industry. They also completely changed the way we use the Internet, pushed network and security technologies forward and to the end user, and made sure iPhone/iOS have a worthy competition in the smartphone market. It is very sad that they went down the censorship path. Especially since the open web made Google Search a viable…

> Google was fantastic and contributed greatly to breaking the iron grip Microsoft had on the industry.

Now Google has the iron grip instead, and over the entire internet.

Tell me again how this was an improvement.

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

#328

Post by belovedeagle »

hwillis wrote: post #230
CPLX wrote: post #15

This isn't a problem with Google, it's a problem with the establishment left in the United States. There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. The reasons why are many, but of course they typically distill down to the incredible power of money to influence people, of which this is an example. The side-effects of there being no credible labor party in our political system manifests, in part…

There's one anti-corporate idea that I've always thought was interesting but AFAIK isn't discussed by anyone: small-corporation libertarianism. In general libertarians are too concerned with government but almost all of them (plus neoliberals and many financially conservative folks) can agree that competition is at least one of their most important economic tenants. Competition is balanced against economies of scale…

> should be split up

It may be weird that no one is arguing that (maybe it's just no one you're listening to, or being allowed to listen to, though?), but it's not weird that it's not libertarians. The notion that some people shouldn't be allowed to form voluntary associations with others because they got "too large" is anti-libertarian.

That said, "libertarianism" and "anarcho-capitalism" are becoming too synonymous. As a libertarian (but not an ancap) I have no love lost for big corporations; I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments that monopolistic corporations are bad for society in general. However, because we must stand on principles instead of feels, the relevant principle here is that we have no right to interfere with others' affairs simply because they've chosen to pool their resources into free association, massive or otherwise (assuming they are not interfering with others' liberties, and I don't think there's a genuine argument now that they are).

All hope is not lost, however: there is reason to believe that these monopolies derive much of their monopolistic power through the state (e.g., via regulatory capture) and thus by reducing the power of the state we will actually achieve the desired benefit (breaking up monopolies) without infringing on anyone's liberties.

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

#329

Post by [deleted] »

visarga wrote: post #325
quickben wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you have Bill Gates going: this year, I'm going to eradicate disease X from the planet for all humanity because I have the money. That's altruism. Research into self driving cars, on a closed platform, is a PR move.

> Research into self driving cars, on a closed platform, is a PR move. Google has the largest contribution in advancing the state of the art in AI. That benefits humanity in many ways, SD cars being just one of them. They are also working on healthcare, robotics and reasoning agents. All these things will be a boon for humanity. Discoveries are discussed in the open.

[deleted]

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

#330

Post by dbingham »

specialist wrote: post #144
CPLX wrote: post #15

This isn't a problem with Google, it's a problem with the establishment left in the United States. There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. The reasons why are many, but of course they typically distill down to the incredible power of money to influence people, of which this is an example. The side-effects of there being no credible labor party in our political system manifests, in part…

"There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics." I note that you said "corporate" vs "capital(ism)". Thank you for making the distinction. Most liberals I hang with favor a Sander-esque version of capitalism meets socialism. Balancing capitalism (ready access to capital), competition, open markets with a strong safety net and democracy. Balancing rewarding achievement and merit with ensuring…

The Next System Project is a similar think tank doing a lot of investigation into what this idea (and others) look like when implemented on the scale of a whole economy.

https://thenextsystem.org/

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