Earlier quoted context omitted.
You didn't address my questions. You've given some instances where you don't believe you have enough information to draw a conclusion, but where you also admit you don't have all the information that the employer did. Is your claim that PBS, the New Yorker and the NYT did not investigate? In other words, why is your reaction to take Lizza or Smiley at their word when they say that their employer is lying, but not tak…
My exact point is that in these cases it seems like the employer in question announced that they believed the accuser before looking into both sides and the evidence. How do you think this does not illustrate that? How is one supposed to come back from your employer making these kind of statements while you are being investigated? ## Edit: @joshuamorton Can't reply to your comment below so doing it here. Honest quest…
The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
231–240 of 280 posts
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
But I'm not making it into a cartoon. You're suggestion is to take minorities and segregate them into specific majority-minority teams. Here's a definition of "ghetto" from a Google search: > put in or restrict to an isolated or segregated area or group That is absolutely what your proposal entails. Consider the outcomes of this proposal: > I'm sorry, we don't have any $minority teams working on $area_of_expertise ri…
> segregate them into specific majority-minority teams Again, you mischaracterize what I said: "I believe this can be done by hiring competent minorities into teams [2], where although they are a minority in general they will not be on their team. These teams should not only be that minority as you in a truly inclusive system can't define people by a trait." Where I in the follow up comment say: "... the teams are no…
Pointing to quotes cannot do this. You need to explain how what I'm saying is a mischaracterization. To be clear, your suggestion is
> hiring competent minorities into teams, where although they are a minority in general they will not be on their team.
My claim is that is that
(1). This means hire minorities solely into majority-minority teams.
(2). Hiring minorities solely into majority-minority teams is a form of segregation.
Just restating your original suggestion does not address either of these claims, you need to do something to show that (1) or (2) is false. I believe the reason that you have not done this, and have instead resorted to restating your original claims is because you are unable to reject either of these claims. Instead you are attempting to obfuscate this fact.
I'm familiar with the research about the harms of being a minority and the impact it can have on performance, but as far as my claims about segregation go, those arguments are irrelevant. And that's why I previously said that they were a distraction. If you want to show how my interpretation of your claims is false, you need to show that either claim (1) or (2) is false, and so far you have not done that, you've simply restated your thesis.
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Oh, so just garden variety tech feminism then. Dismissing opnions you disagree with as inconsequential or belonging to some agenda is essentially the core of political correctness. (At least if with the definition of "things hard to talk about", rather than which words to use). > So what specifically do we need to do in tech? What to do isn't the problem. Not only can you find far better writing on the subject in t…
> For a women to have be able have the same experience they would have to engage in a largely male dominated culture ... I'm not so sure about that. While my initial contact with programming was via other boys in school, most of the following journey I spent absorbing knowledge from faceless entities on the internet. I think that kind of development is quite common among the early starter/hobbyist programmer types. M…
> [...] otherwise I think hacker culture is pretty ungendered in the interactions of its members.
I think a large part of the culture can be very macho, even stereotypically so, and that arguing over programming and something like martial arts can be very similar. But it depends on where you look of course.
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you asking for examples of the mob-like behavior? And lack of due process? Here are some: -Duke Lacrosse, Rolling Stone, Columbia-guy,... In the Lacrosse case there were legal repercussions in terms of the behavior of the prosecutor AND private entities ie. Gang of 88 issuing that infamous letter. Similarly in the Rolling Stone and Columbia cases. False witch hunts like these are indeed relatively uncommon..but t…
All three of those examples significantly predate the metoo movement, and I'd argue that none lacked due process: - Lacrosse, due process was followed, but the prosecutor acted in bad faith. - Rolling stone: The police investigation cleared them, there were no charges or anything, the story was considered a hoax/fake/discredited ~2 weeks after it was released. - Columbia mattress guy: Found not responsible by the uni…
Sure they predate #metoo but they are part of the same laudable impulse: to hold sexual predators accountable-often in the court of public opinion. I fail to see why you would make a dichotomy between them and this moment. Maybe this one is larger?
Before we continue: I am not lawyer and I am going to refer to due process roughly as "When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law." (wikipedia for due process)
Perhaps we should smear the meaning of due process a little bit for this discussion. I do not want to be too legalistic. Could we not expand our discussion to include due process on the part of media? I.e. skepticism, verification, basically making sure stories are well sourced and are as true as is possible given reasonable constraints. In short, good, professional journalism in the sense of Woodward and Bernstein.
Now onto the core of your comment. You are mincing your words very very finely. Due process was 100% violated in each of these cases.
Lacrosse-The prosecutor was DISBARRED and JAILED (briefly). Crystal Mangum LIED. MIKE NIFONG LIED. Just because justice won out in the end doesn't mean there were not significant due process violations during the case. Maybe lying isn't a violation of due process in the strict legal sense. But it sure as hell is a miscarriage of justice and that should be very frightening.
Those falsely accused still experienced real and lasting damages including being harassed verbally on campus by protestors, being shamed by faculty members. The press leapt to judgement and turned a bunch of rich, privileged, smart(?), white boys into monsters.
To me this case is incredibly concerning-because if rich white male lacrosse players can be falsely accused and have their lives turned upside down and possibly destroyed...what chance do the less fortunate members of american society have? how many poor black men, innocent of any crime, are rotting in overcrowded prisons? How many innocents are on death row? I think we have a duty to be cautious...I would rather we let some guilty escape than we punish innocents. I don't know where I would draw the line in terms of numbers.
Fun fact: one of the duke lacrosse guys now works for the innocence project.
-Rolling Stone: There are people who still believe that story...
-Columbia mattress guy- and no ONE cares. people still talk about that accuser as doing a profound service to the moral ethos of the republic. That guy's reputation was shattered. He had his education interrupted and experienced real damages.
Franken: Yeah.
Re: your last part. This could be partially my fault for conflating due process in a legal sense and due diligence and good journalistic practices a la Washington Post. I agree- those people exist and they need to be convinced otherwise.
Look- I just posted in another comment thread advocating for and supporting the fact that in the American press people have substantial freedom to make accusations and shame malefactors. It is essential to safeguarding our liberties. I treasure that right. However, that right imposes on us, as citizens and readers, certain responsibilities to ensure we do not falsely accuse and shame the innocent. I think that duty is simply to be restrained and be calm and reserve our strongest opprobrium until we have a reasonable degree of certainty. If you are ever accused of a significant crime or misdeed (in court or in the press) I am sure you would hope that you yourself be extended that same privilege.
Honestly do we really have any point of argument? I mean come on- do you really think duke-lacrosse didn't have due process issues? If so we need to talk more about the facts of the case.
Here is my tldr: false accusations are real, they do happen, and so I think it behooves the public to weigh the strength of an accusation and ponder the merits of each individual case before looking for witches to burn. Alternatively, sexual abuse/harassment are a real problem and I think all of us, men,women,non/binary, children, should be introspective about how our own actions can make things worse for victims and easier for predators. Most people accused of crimes are guilty.
Similarly, when we let false accusations stand we empower those lunatics who really and truly do believe that every accuser of roy moore is a paid liberal shill and that women should be returned to a state of powerlessness and legal bondage. This is not an academic point-I go on the /r/The_Donald to see what they are like and people there really and truly believe that.
edit2: I didn't really talk in detail about lacrosse/mattress but they had problems.
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you asking for examples of the mob-like behavior? And lack of due process? Here are some: -Duke Lacrosse, Rolling Stone, Columbia-guy,... In the Lacrosse case there were legal repercussions in terms of the behavior of the prosecutor AND private entities ie. Gang of 88 issuing that infamous letter. Similarly in the Rolling Stone and Columbia cases. False witch hunts like these are indeed relatively uncommon..but t…
All three of those examples significantly predate the metoo movement, and I'd argue that none lacked due process: - Lacrosse, due process was followed, but the prosecutor acted in bad faith. - Rolling stone: The police investigation cleared them, there were no charges or anything, the story was considered a hoax/fake/discredited ~2 weeks after it was released. - Columbia mattress guy: Found not responsible by the uni…
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
All three of those examples significantly predate the metoo movement, and I'd argue that none lacked due process: - Lacrosse, due process was followed, but the prosecutor acted in bad faith. - Rolling stone: The police investigation cleared them, there were no charges or anything, the story was considered a hoax/fake/discredited ~2 weeks after it was released. - Columbia mattress guy: Found not responsible by the uni…
edit: sorry if I wrote too much. I guess I got excited. Sure they predate #metoo but they are part of the same laudable impulse: to hold sexual predators accountable-often in the court of public opinion. I fail to see why you would make a dichotomy between them and this moment. Maybe this one is larger? Before we continue: I am not lawyer and I am going to refer to due process roughly as "When a government harms a pe…
>Due process was 100% violated in each of these cases.
Your reasoning that due process was violated is that the accused (and the prosecutor) both lied. I'll point out that the reason we have due process in the US is in part to defend against false accusations. As a result, I think that the series of events false accusation -> investigation and case -> acquittal is the opposite of a failure of due process, its a shining success.
This extends to the Roy Moore/project veritas example too, but replace "due process" with "journalistic integrity", and remove the sort abuse of power overtones that make due process that much more important.
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
> segregate them into specific majority-minority teams Again, you mischaracterize what I said: "I believe this can be done by hiring competent minorities into teams [2], where although they are a minority in general they will not be on their team. These teams should not only be that minority as you in a truly inclusive system can't define people by a trait." Where I in the follow up comment say: "... the teams are no…
>I can't keep pointing to the same quotes showing how you interpret what I say Pointing to quotes cannot do this. You need to explain how what I'm saying is a mischaracterization. To be clear, your suggestion is > hiring competent minorities into teams, where although they are a minority in general they will not be on their team. My claim is that is that (1). This means hire minorities solely into majority-minority t…
I strongly disagree. You have to respect the human in the equation if you want to facilitate inclusion, and make sure that you do everything to facilitate the change you desire. Otherwise you risk filtering for people that check the right boxes that happen to be similar to the people already working there.
Research from 2007 to 2015 in [1] indicates that what we are currently doing is not working:
- The number of black women in the industry declined by 13%, the study found.
- There was also an increase in Latino executives, but the overall representation of Latinos declined from 5.2% to 4.8% and they still represent a very small fraction of corporate leaders.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/03/silicon-v...
> Hiring minorities solely into majority-minority teams is a form of segregation.
I never proposed solely recruiting minorities for these kind of teams. I said: "It is a tool that should only be applied at discretion and when appropriate, and to make it work it needs support."
Also, the definition of segregation is:
- the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart.
which does not appropriately describe a team that is mixed and where some members come from one or more minorities. Also, I would again like to point out that minorities can still choose to work on any team as this is a tool applied at discretion.
Of cause, as I stated you need to do extra work to make sure that minorities can choose opportunities freely and be supported appropriately after the choice is made.
The definition of ghetto is:
- a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.
Which for the same reasons does not properly describe the proposal.
Note: I think I've shown here that you've used historically loaded terms like segregation and ghetto inappropriately to describe parts of my proposal. This is a very dirty rhetorical trick when the proposal is intended to apply to minorities, and it is not appreciated.
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
edit: sorry if I wrote too much. I guess I got excited. Sure they predate #metoo but they are part of the same laudable impulse: to hold sexual predators accountable-often in the court of public opinion. I fail to see why you would make a dichotomy between them and this moment. Maybe this one is larger? Before we continue: I am not lawyer and I am going to refer to due process roughly as "When a government harms a pe…
To the majority of your comment, I agree. However, one thing that I want to note, and this is a bit of semantics, but I think very important here: >Due process was 100% violated in each of these cases. Your reasoning that due process was violated is that the accused (and the prosecutor) both lied. I'll point out that the reason we have due process in the US is in part to defend against false accusations. As a result,…
Yes journalist integrity is a good term that I feel captures the scope of what we would like to discuss.
Side note watching the project veritas videos is so heartwarming. It really makes you believe in democracy and truth again. Seeing good fact-checking...glorious
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#239Does anyone feel anti-social after a full day of programming? I always suspected that programming can temporarily reduce empathy at the end of the day. I don't have asperger's but I often feel a lot closer to that after a really intense day of speaking a machine's language.
Oh boy, absolutely. Glad to hear that someone else has this experience too. It's like the social part of my brain is drained for blood and energy, and it usually takes an hour or more after having stopped working until things return to "normal". Say when I'm out traveling or doing some other activity that involves talking to people for most of the day. Conversation flows naturally and I feel at ease interacting with…
Re: The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't you think its a bit odd to try to compensate for implicit bias with explicit bias? To me it seems unlikely that bigotry, sexism and racism will be fixed by more of the same.
If you have a car that pulls to the right, you can compensate for this by steering to the left. If the car is in fact travelling straight down the road while you're doing this, and a backseat driver says "you're pulling to the left, that's not a safe way to drive", are they correct?