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A comment on Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues. Parent comment

Re:Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after i... by magnoliakobus on Thursday February 22, 2024 @03:23PM (#39472631)
No, it's literally just the truth. It's socially (and professionally) inept to send such a weird evopsych manifesto to your colleagues, where you list all sorts of statistics about differences on average between genders, yet couch all your statements in "but obviously this can't be extrapolated to individuals of course." A manifesto where you also suggest doing away with racial diversity programs, but shy away from explaining why. A manifesto where you say you're totally open to the idea of increased diversity, but that absolutely no real program would meet the acceptable requirements in your eyes for it to be ideologically correct.

It's weird, I'm sorry you don't get it but most people wouldn't want to work with such a socially maladapted person who could compile all this research pointed at <20% of the company's employees, not put their name to anything of substance, shy away from expanding on other things they clearly believe wrt racial diversity, suggest ending all diversity programs at one of the most prestigious and competitive tech companies because of a collection of averages despite saying nothing of substance should be extrapolated from them on an individual level, then spam everyone in the company's inbox with their manifesto.

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Re:Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after i... by smsm42 on Thursday February 22, 2024 @04:54PM (#39473824)
No, it's literally just a bunch of lies, which you probably picked up from some fourth-party retelling of the story. Damore sent it as a part of a specific conversation on specific topic, in place specially designated to hold such conversations. And his opponents distributed it with the purpose of silencing him because they disliked what he had to say. It wasn't a "manifesto", it was a document meant for internal discussion, on internal discussion forum, which has been seized and distributed in public by the opponents instead of trying to argue any opposing points.

> I'm sorry you don't get it but most people wouldn't want to work with such a socially maladapted person who could compile all this research

By "most people" you mean "myself and a couple of my friends who I didn't even ask but I am sure I know what they think because we all think the same". Actually, working with a person who bothers to support his opinions with well argued, well searched and well presented research, instead of running to the press crying "witches! there are witches here! burn them all!" is a very pleasant and productive thing. Even if you disagree with such person, at least you can have a civilized discussion, understand and appreciate their arguments and eventually hopefully find common solutions, and you have a reason to expect they'd behave in the same reasonable, professional and civilized manner. On the contrary, working with somebody who would each time you do something they don't like leak it to the hostile press who would sensationalize it and coordinate personal attacks on you would be a complete nightmare.

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Re:Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after i... by EnigmaFlare on Thursday February 22, 2024 @05:15PM (#39474075)
You value social conformity too highly. No reform can happen if nobody dissents. I guess you're implying that he should have done so by gaining political power first, then exercising that power to share or implement his ideas in a way which would no longer be socially maladaptive because his respected status would give it more perceived value. Probably that would be more successful, but it's not bad for an individual suggest novel ways of working towards the company's stated goals.

I'm sure if you lived in a very religious society, you'd have the same condemnation of anyone who openly questions the Bible. Your concern isn't that he was wrong but that he shouldn't have said things people clearly didn't want to hear. Social conformity is pretty useful at keeping people working cohesively and effectively, but it can go astray and we need people brave enough to fight against it when that happens.

> things they clearly believe

I think this what angered people the most. What he actually wrote was reasonable and factually accurate, however, others who were also socially inept but in a more typical way read between the lines and imagined some other unstated bad ideas must be in his mind. Back when this happened a lot of people were making angry posts about these imagined ideas rather than what he actually wrote. He must believe women are incapable of working in tech, inferior, etc.

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