Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

docs.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 290 posts

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#191

Post by mrhottakes »

lokar wrote: post #168
Grombobulous wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While transparency is admirable, I don’t find the “why I left Google” blog posts to be particularly interesting content to be posted to HN. They happen relatively frequently and there are a number of things about them that feel distasteful: - The authors are in the literal 1%, so for the 99% of us who are doing far worse it feels a bit like a tiny violin exercise. “Sorry you worked for an unethical company, my compan…

I imagine many Google people are interested, and they get voted up. You don’t have to read and engage with everything on the front page. And you certainly don’t have to come make snarky criticisms of others.

I think it's good when people share their opinions. No snark detected.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#192

Post by yandrypozo »

hadi77ir wrote: post #30

he resigned because of... "politics"? and not because of the path Google has chosen for Android security?

right, I don't see the connection between being _forced_ to resign and his his pacifist principles + as EU academic he sees himself as target of likely mass surveillance

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#193

Post by qpricjalcbeu »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #122
Rebuff5007 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author of this article disagrees: > “Don’t Be Evil” wasn’t just a slogan of often-referenced Googliness—it was a north star for teams making hard calls. It definitely counts for something that at least one senior leader felt the slogan was relevant for decision making.

The author is not cynical enough. Do you going around telling people how virtuous you are? No, good people just try and be good. The slogan was a red flag right from the start.

They aren't cynical, just disingenuous.

Google was providing cloud computing to the DoD before 2017 - there's no real morale difference between providing lower level compute vs providing a higher level AI algo other than giving yourself an excuse by adding one layer of abstraction (obfuscating?).

Very convenient to suddenly decide it's enough after collecting a massive paycheck for 10 years.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#194

Post by groundzeros2015 »

n4r9 wrote: post #170
groundzeros2015 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think very often people are not looking and cause and effect (impact on those issues you care about), but rather brand identification. How does the image of this job match with my stated values? In that sense it does seem shallow, as it’s really a concern for your own PR and not harm reduction. For example I know people in mining who 1. Work on safety for people in mines. 2. Work on reducing environmental impact. B…

That probably does happen, but I don't feel like it's happening here.

I’m responding to a comment about what it means to take a moral stance in terms of career.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#195

Post by the_af »

groundzeros2015 wrote: post #153
vrganj wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> So was being a concentration camp guard. What the hell. We are talking about ads on the computer.

> We are talking about ads on the computer.

Not just ads on the computer. TFA also discusses AI for surveillance, weapons, etc.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#198

Post by jszymborski »

> Then there were the people. Larry and Sergey were still answering some tough leadership questions every week, and “Don’t Be Evil” wasn’t just a slogan of often-referenced Googliness—it was a north star for teams making hard calls.

I'm sorry, but this is very hard to believe. I get 9 years is a lot of time, but Google has been awful for much longer thant that. In fact, 2018 was the year the motto was removed from the handbook, which certainly indicates it wasn't anything like a "North Star":

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-dont-be-evil/2540...

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#199

Post by felooboolooomba »

felooboolooomba wrote: post #162

Google: We're not evil. Also, Google, later: No comment. Like a slap in the face from a psychopath. It's not about "good", "bad", "honest", etc. It's literally the world EVIL that they no longer want to swear off. Astronomically monumentally fucked up psycho shit. Dictionary: *EVIL* : morally reprehensible : sinful, wicked an evil impulse an evil tyrant evil deeds the evil institution of slavery : arising from actual…

And I'm getting downvoted. Make of that what you will.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#200

Post by Grombobulous »

lokar wrote: post #189
Grombobulous wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t feel like I was being “snarky.” I also have no problem with the articles being upvoted. I don’t think it’s very fair to tell people who want to constructively criticize articles to just not engage with them. That feels like a deflection of my points rather than addressing the merit of what I actually said. Instead of saying “here’s what was wrong with your idea” you said “you’re not supposed to be here.” I ge…

I think it’s fair to say that if you are not interested to just move on, and not criticize having a discussion on that topic

Site guidelines say “thoughtful criticism is fine” and that’s my intention.
Post reply on HN