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Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

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Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#61

Post by bsimpson »

protonimitate wrote: post #13
bloblaw wrote: post #10

Without an understanding of their motive, I think tying "google" to a person's mental health crisis is clickbait. Folks dealing with mental health issues might end their lives for a variety of factors. This is very sad to hear, but the headline (and article) that attempts to connect an employer to a person's death without any evidence is unfair. Note: I do not work for Google.

An employee of Google who jumped from the Google office is a pretty obvious connection. Don't really see how this is clickbait.

Just like how people famously jump off the Golden Gate Bridge to protest bridges.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#62

Post by haswell »

neom wrote: post #19
bloblaw wrote: post #10

Without an understanding of their motive, I think tying "google" to a person's mental health crisis is clickbait. Folks dealing with mental health issues might end their lives for a variety of factors. This is very sad to hear, but the headline (and article) that attempts to connect an employer to a person's death without any evidence is unfair. Note: I do not work for Google.

Well if it was a google employee who committed suicide at home, or off of the various many other places you could chose to kill yourself in Manhattan, I'd generally agree. This person however, jumped off their employers office building.

> This person however, jumped off their employers office building.

Why does this indicate anything other than the fact that he chose a building he’s familiar with and to which he had access?

What if their personal life was not in good shape and they wanted someone to find them?

There is no basis at this point for speculation that Google was a primary causal factor.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#63

Post by Atlas22 »

justrealist wrote: post #17
stcroixx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Identifying with your employer to the extent you view it as the pinnacle of your life isn’t likely to end positively. It’s just too much control to cede to a third party who has a business relationship with you.

At some extremes, this is false, right? What about someone becoming an astronaut? Getting elected president? Be cautious who you cede your identity to, but it's OK to be genuinely excited about some career outcomes.

No, its perfectly fine to reach goals or ones you've had for most of your life, but its absolutely crucial that you make new goals to work towards. Its the same if you give up or change your mind about a goal, it has to be replaced.

From what I've heard (not my expertise) the brain chemistry primarily rewards the pursuit, not as much the outcome. I've been there a few times myself after both achieving and deciding to drop a major goal (because I learned more about the outcome that made it no longer desireable). Having no major goals is an almost certain recipie for clinical depression among other issues if one is not found quickly to replace it. I believe its because the intrusive thoughts of fundamental questions like "what is my life's purpose" now definitely have no answer in your own head.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#64

Post by khazhoux »

darth_avocado wrote: post #12

Such a sad news. It’s really tragic someone go through this. I know the incident could be unrelated but it is also a good reminder the human cost of decisions. The fed taking decisions for the economy, companies taking decisions to maximize shareholder value and ceo pay, etc. all have huge impact on people’s lives, some of it is visible, while some of it is not.

> I know the incident could be unrelated but it is also a good reminder the human cost of decisions. The fed taking decisions for the economy, companies taking decisions to maximize shareholder value and ceo pay, etc. all have huge impact on people’s lives, some of it is visible, while some of it is not.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but this is not a good reminder of any of those things you listed. We have literally 0.0 reason to think that any of those were factors.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#65

Post by tempsy »

meragrin_ wrote: post #60
tempsy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says no note, no video, and they found handprints. This was nearly midnight at an outdoor terrace in the office. I guess I don’t see how anyone can say he “jumped” on purpose yet when at some point he must’ve been hanging which could have been a result of tripping on something.

> I don’t see how anyone can say he “jumped” on purpose yet when at some point he must’ve been hanging which could have been a result of tripping on something. Wouldn't having a barrier low enough someone can trip and fall over be a recipe for a lawsuit? I imagine the barrier was high enough planting hands would be the natural way for most people to get on top or over.

Which is why my main theory if it ends up being accidental is that this person purposefully climbed up a ledge they weren’t supposed to climb to take skyline photos. I’ve seen dozens of “daredevil” images on social media where people climb rooftops and bridges in NYC to take photos of the skyline at night.

And someone intentionally jumping does not hang on the side, they just jump.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#66

Post by renewiltord »

tedivm wrote: post #51
renewiltord wrote: post #41

Interesting. Google and USPS are among the most trusted organizations in the US. They also both have a reputation for being good to work at for different socioeconomic classes. The former has some rate of people killing themselves and the latter has some rate of people killing others to the degree that they're now slang for flipping your shit. I wonder what the difference is.

Google is among the most trusted organizations in the US? That doesn't seem right.

Why not? They've pretty much only provided great products to the average consumer. Google and Amazon have a great positive direct impact on most Americans' lives. Here's a report from direct surveys: https://morningconsult.com/most-trusted-brands-2020/

Most people don't really care about a Doubleclick pixel or Amazon gazumping sellers with an Amazon Basics thing. For many, the latter is a positive thing and a trusted brand.

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#67

Post by protonimitate »

khazhoux wrote: post #44
protonimitate wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suicide is tragic regardless of the circumstances, and it's a really bad take to try to minimize this because it's not statistically "significant" or "clickbait".

They weren't "minimizing." The point is that this article is trying to create a "Googlers are killing themselves" narrative, which is unwarranted.

There's nothing in the article (if you read it) that tries to paint that narrative. As far as NYP goes, it's actually pretty mild and factual. I don't understand why so many commenters here are jumping at the chance to defend poor little Google from the evils of bad journalism.

Also how is > Maybe there is a real issue but two suicides within such large number of employees isn’t really significant.

NOT minimizing?

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#68

Post by sterlind »

tempsy wrote: post #57
neom wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been through that building very many times. DigitalOcean NYC2 is there, I've had lunch/dinner/drinks there more times than I can count. You don't just "fall off" 111 8th.

Yeah, and I mentioned that he could have purposefully climbed a ledge to take nighttime photos and tripped. I’ve seen dozens of “daredevil” skyline shots of NYC where people climb rooftops/bridges to take photos. Someone intentionally jumping does not “hang” on the side, they just jump.

unless they have a change of heart? or maybe they're standing on the ledge trying to get up the courage to jump, and slip? a lot of people who attempt suicide immediately regret it (of the survivors.)

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#69

Post by [deleted] »

tempsy wrote: post #57
neom wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been through that building very many times. DigitalOcean NYC2 is there, I've had lunch/dinner/drinks there more times than I can count. You don't just "fall off" 111 8th.

Yeah, and I mentioned that he could have purposefully climbed a ledge to take nighttime photos and tripped. I’ve seen dozens of “daredevil” skyline shots of NYC where people climb rooftops/bridges to take photos. Someone intentionally jumping does not “hang” on the side, they just jump.

[deleted]

Re: Google engineer jumps to death in NYC, second worker suicide in months

#70

Post by at_a_remove »

bloblaw wrote: post #10

Without an understanding of their motive, I think tying "google" to a person's mental health crisis is clickbait. Folks dealing with mental health issues might end their lives for a variety of factors. This is very sad to hear, but the headline (and article) that attempts to connect an employer to a person's death without any evidence is unfair. Note: I do not work for Google.

One of the statistical slights of hand of which I am rather unfond is gun deaths that don't mention that slightly more than half of them are suicides. This reminds me a bit of that.

Google says that Alphabet had 190,234 employees in 2022. The annual age-adjusted suicide rate is 13.42 per 100,000 individuals. Males die by suicide 3.5 times more often than females. A real actuary (I wish I had known that was a profession!) could work the numbers better than I, but I don't think this is out of line on a statistical level, sad as it is to say.

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