Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#161

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:34 AM UTC

Wow, they are still using Dory. That is the question collecting software that Taliver Heath wrote. It was a pretty brilliant idea, people submit questions and other people vote the questions up (or down) and top ranked questions get selected automatically.

Its interesting to think about Brietbart putting this out there as some 'evil' thing, given what their all hands meeting would have looked like if the election had gone the other way. But from a tech perspective its always destabilizing to endorse a political ideology just like it is destabilizing to endorse a religious ideology in what is a collective for economic output.

That said, the previous tech position of 'hands off' (very limited engagement except for very specific technical issues like ITAR restrictions on strong crypto) did not do tech any favors when it came to legislation. I'm not sure what the answer is here other than "its complicated."

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#162

Post by axlprose » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:35 AM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #115

quotemstr wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are part of the problem. Is antibiotics development changing the world? I should hope so. Do bacteria care about which presidential candidate won? Absolutely not. Most fields, in fact, do not involve the acrimonious political issues of the day. The idea that "everything is political" is a lame excuse that activists use to hack politics into spaces where it doesn't belong. Even if a field has some tenuous connecti…

Let's discuss climate change then, because despite that being a field reinforced by science it is also one that is considered highly political in today's environment. Can you claim you're politically neutral if you are not willing to listen to people who deny climate change? The problem with attempting to force a politically neutral stance is that it allows politics to invade where it shouldn't. Your logic is fundame…

> Can you claim you're politically neutral if you are not willing to listen to people who deny climate change?

If you're literally not willing to listen to any arguments for/against a hypothesis at all, then sure, you're likely more invested in the political aspect than the science itself. But if you're just arguing in favor of what the majority of the established literature suggests, then no, because being pro-science is orthogonal to politics, and arguing in favor of research doesn't make one political. Just because one particular subset of science gets latched onto by politicians, doesn't make it an inherently political subject any more than people who argue that the moon landing is fake make video/image editing an inherently conspiratorial subject. I also wouldn't be accusing others of flawed logic when making an argument that relies on guilt-by-association.

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#163

Post by akhilcacharya » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:36 AM UTC

tinkerteller wrote: post #160

This is great stuff and chance to see Google’s famous TGIFs. Also rare chance to hear Larry Page’s changed voice. It’s beyond shocking however that leaders of search engine business so openly preaching their political views. Given this is at the highest level, one cannot have confidence that things would remain bias free. I would have expected these leaders to make sure they keep their political views to themselves j…

Google was around when W was elected and re-elected and nothing of the sort happened at their all hands then. It’s absolutely different because the particular candidate that won is uniquely odious in his approach and policy proposals that has/could negatively impact the lives of many Googlers.

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#164

Post by praneshp » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:37 AM UTC

supernovae wrote: post #98

simula67 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alexandria ocasio Cortes go from a bold new voice to being portrayed as a know-nothing (in a pretty sexist way) in about 6 hours Are you kidding ? She said US military was given $700 billion increase that they didn't ask for. She said that US unemployment is low becuase everyone has two jobs. She said ICE has to detain 34,000 people every night by law. http://www.politifact.com/personalities/alexandria-ocasio-co...…

She was criticized for being female regardless of her misconceptions on military spending and how many jobs people have. A huge chunk of the world doesn't give equal forgiving or demands of females as they do males - they demand more and forgive less. Ever looked at PolitiFact for just about every other politician? Just look at Serena Williams.. she blabbed and it may be the end of her career (or a lingering black ey…

>> she blabbed and it may be the end of her career

This is a terrible overstatement. It's not even the first time she has fought against an ump, and not even the worst she has said. End of career lol.

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#165

Post by petermcneeley » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:38 AM UTC

Twice it was mentioned that the cause of WWII was boredom. Is this actually a real theory?

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#166

Post by solipsism » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:38 AM UTC

beachy wrote: post #145

gizmo686 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they are being genuine when they say their plan is to combat fake news with AI; their business is built around AI. It is one of their core competencies. I think they are going to fail, and quietly increase the human involvement once they realize that their AI isn't good enough. Then they will slowly scale back the humans as their AI improves, until the next controversy when they realize that they still need h…

That's a tragic view. How did we get to the state where the "truth" is such an elusive concept? Is it so hard to determine whether basic statements are true or false? And to build larger, higher constructs out of those building blocks? That's basically what science has been and is. It seems comically easy to identify fake news in most cases. Was this inauguration crowd larger than that one? That's a simple question t…

Science is not a public endeavor. Science is conducted by trained professionals. Besides the training, there exist filters (self selection, academic tests, etc) which ensure the scientific community has a higher than average connection with "the truth".

The public at large has never been particularly well connected to truth. One difference now is that, in the past, the public at least respected and trusted scientists, academics, etc. Nowadays they're scorned.

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#167

Post by shmulkey18 » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:39 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #16

savethefuture wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good exception. Off-topic: Is there a list of banned websites and is it public?

Yes. Well, a hashtable. It's not public, but it wouldn't be hard to approximate from public data.

> It's not public

Why not?

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#168

Post by jayd16 » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:40 AM UTC

spangry wrote: post #157

jayd16 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone claims Californians working in SF aren't liberal. What you really mean is you want to be a mildly bigoted in peace and/or demand attention because historically disadvantaged groups are getting attention without any backlash while simultaneously telling others to get over their own insecurities. When people say you have a persecution complex you think its a liberal agenda. Case in point, no one th…

It's not just a simple case of 'update the wiki'. You've actually got to modify the code and potentially break already established APIs (and break scripts that parse redis logs). But putting aside the fact that it's not costless to make these sorts of changes, it's also pointless. These people will never be satisfied. They're not offended; they're bullies who want to control other people and virtue signal to their bu…

By "Update the wiki" I do also mean "sure just do the work yourself." We're saying the same thing.

That said, fighting against things you claim to have no preference over you're also partaking in the same control/power trip shenanigans. That's when things really go off the rails.

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#169

Post by Aloha » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:43 AM UTC

quotemstr wrote: post #126

crazygringo wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bacteria absolutely care -- or at least we humans care about how it affects bacteria. Political policy determines how the FDA regulates (or doesn't regulate) drugs, including antibiotics. Political policy determines if taxpayer dollars are spent getting antibiotics to those who need them, or on missiles instead. Political policy determines whether doctors are incentivized to minimize antibiotic prescriptions (and pre…

> Bacteria absolutely care Seriously? > Political policy determines how the FDA regulates... That's exactly what I mean when I talk about a tendentious excuse for putting activism where it doesn't belong. A drug company might have a lobbying arm that has to care about policy (and that, for pragmatic purposes, talks to all sides!), but a researcher looking at chromosomal recombination isn't going to do a better job of…

Doctors are inclined to minimize antibiotic prescriptions because of good medical practice,

Re: Google’s first all-hands after 2016 election [video]

#170

Post by akhilcacharya » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 4:43 AM UTC

rsj_hn wrote: post #41

tcbawo wrote: post #6

Is it really surprising that a multinational company would have a preferred candidate? Although, I'm sure they lobbied extensively for all major candidates. It is interesting that both major parties seem to want to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to free speech, "common carrier", and antitrust issues.

No, it's not surprising at all. Every company has a preferred candidate in pretty much every election, at least the CEO and top leadership certainly does. What is surprising is turning an all hands into a kind of mass grieving funeration for all of their 90K employees, replete with publicly weeping executives and the entire executive leadership being vocally outraged. Turning an all hands into a political event like…

Imho it’s creepier to have a president-elect threaten to ban your employees from entering the country or threatens to lock up his opponent ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This bizarre external obsession with the internal cultures of basically just 2 tech companies is really weirding me out too. Reminds me of the campus reform folks handwringing about Ivy League admissions...perhaps there’s a pattern.