It seems the tobacco industry had more luck with their scientific advisors.
Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
151–160 of 864 posts
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#152>Unfireable save for clear violations of policies such as sexual harassment I would take a look at (and consider donating to) FIRE to understand the current state of academic freedom in universities. https://www.thefire.org/news-and-media/ Just to give two examples: Bret Weinstein was fired from Evergreen for not participating in a no-white-people-on-campus day (and he was also subject to credible death threats, requ…
Your description of Bret Weinstein and Evergreen is substantially inaccurate, perhaps because you read Bret Weinstein's dishonest description of it (linked below). There was no "no-white-people-on-campus" day. There was an optional off-campus field trip for a seminar aimed at people living with a white perspective. Bret Weinstein was not fired. He resigned with $500K severance as part of a settlement agreement arisin…
> the event asked white participants to stay off campus
That by itself is illiberal and ludicrous.
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#153Out of curiousity I checked out Dr. Mitchells Twitter feed. On her feed for the past several months, shes been posting and reposting articles that are heavily critical of her employer. Now there is a line between public and private space, but many people use Twitter as a professional network. And Dr. Mitchell includes her Google credentials in her bio. So given her substantial, critical, public views of her employer…
A right to free speech, and freedom from employer discrimination due to political beliefs.
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#154Somewhat loaded title, as it implies a previous one was fired, which was not at all established as the case.
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#155Out of curiousity I checked out Dr. Mitchells Twitter feed. On her feed for the past several months, shes been posting and reposting articles that are heavily critical of her employer. Now there is a line between public and private space, but many people use Twitter as a professional network. And Dr. Mitchell includes her Google credentials in her bio. So given her substantial, critical, public views of her employer…
"Well, they're a private company and they can fire who they want to." Or if you prefer, "freedom of speech doesn't apply to companies".
Personally, I think this weird mash-up of the personal and the private has landed us in a new and fresh hell and it's only going to get worse. Eventually we'll need to find a way out or we'll get to the zainy ends of your employer firing you because of the way you voted or what you wrote in your diary - but we need to be consistent in our separation between personal and corporate.
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#156It's pretty important to get this story straight: She moved files when she wasn't supposed to. This seems like a pretty standard firing. People are already claiming on twitter that Google is assaulting ethical AI, and I just don't see it. Google did not immediately comment on those claims. Its statement said of Mitchell: “We confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our secur…
> She moved files when she wasn't supposed to. According to Google. Remember, an entity that has a reason and a justification to do what it wants will manufacture whatever evidence it needs to do that. And, it's not a court of law. At best, it's "allegedly moved files when they weren't supposed to".
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#157Out of curiousity I checked out Dr. Mitchells Twitter feed. On her feed for the past several months, shes been posting and reposting articles that are heavily critical of her employer. Now there is a line between public and private space, but many people use Twitter as a professional network. And Dr. Mitchell includes her Google credentials in her bio. So given her substantial, critical, public views of her employer…
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
A right to free speech, and freedom from employer discrimination due to political beliefs.
Free speech is almost purely limited to interactions with a state. Why are people trying to shoehorn it into everything?
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or they'll just conclude the whole thing was a waste and only caused negative publicity and hard feelings and have legal and PR and relevant stakeholders from any given project manage ethics going forward like normal BigCos do.
Let's be real. The whole idea of this "Ethics Board" was only ever done for PR. Period. Google never actually intended to follow through with any of their recommendations if it meant going against its financial interests.
I don’t know how these ethics professionals added value to Google. I _do_ know that repeatedly belittling your CEO and employer on a public forum might win you lots of virtue signalling points but not be constructive for the company paying you a salary.
Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google
#160- 135,000 Google employees - 2,000 signed a petition to support Timnit [1] - 2 employees resigned to support Timnit [2] When it comes to voting with your feet, no one actually gives a shit. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/04/thousands-petition-google-fo... [2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/tech/google-employees-quit/in...