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

https://www.mayrhofer.eu.org/post/leaving-google/
82•timedude•1h ago

Comments

cheekygeeky•1h ago
Google will want him terminated immediately and will probably make him some settlement (combined with a threat) to keep his mouth shut, going forward. Meanwhile, the media will be clamoring for interviews and more sound bites.
saltyoldman•1h ago
. Weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people.

So if our enemies had no qualms at all about doing this, wouldn't it make sense that we have weapons that can at least counter, and potentially fight back? Would it be facilitating injury if the AI is used to stop an ISIS linked attack in our homeland?

> "Don't be evil"

Can evil also be interpreted as letting your government be impotent in protecting you?

izacus•1h ago
If you actually read the article you'd know that the Googles government isn't friendly with the author's government, which makes your nitpicking nonsensical.
lokar•29m ago
Your argument is not really responding to his.

He has, and has had, a specific moral philosophy he follows. When he took the job the public (and once he started, internal) words and actions of the company fit within that philosophy (or closely enough). Now the company has changed and they don’t fit. Further, the obvious changes happened without any real notice or explanation.

It seems reasonable in that situation to leave. FWIW; I was in the same situation, and left.

Do you fault him for his personal moral code? He is not telling you how you should act.

leptons•27m ago
>Can evil also be interpreted as letting your government be impotent in protecting you?

When they rename "Department of Defense" to "Department of War", there can be no mistake about the intention of the government. They aren't "protecting" us, they are actively starting unnecessary wars, because cruelty has always been the point for them.

rayiner•16m ago
Did you just realize this now? The name "Department of Defense" has always been a euphemism. The last time we were in a defensive war was World War II--ironically, when the DoD was still called the "Department of War."
mieses•24m ago
he is a self described pacifist. how nice to be him.
nathan_compton•18m ago
I don't know, it seems like being a pacifist is harder, since it exposes you to violence to which you cannot retaliate while alienating you from your peers with less stringent moral opinions. Doesn't seem like it really makes anything easier. You don't have to look hard to find that history is replete with pacifists who paid social and legal penalties for their moral stance.
jubilanti•18m ago
You seem to be unfamiliar with the concept of https://enwp.org/Pacifism
daedrdev•3m ago
I have met pacifists who say all war is bad* and thus the Russia Ukraine war should immediately end, without any ideas on how to get that to happen except a few who imply Ukraine should roll over and be consumed.

*or this is an inter-capitalist war

themafia•16m ago
> if the AI is used to stop an ISIS

Describe that scenario to me. What precisely is the language model going to do? To defeat a _terrorist_ organization? I feel like this is way to asymmetric of a philosophy to actually work, but, I'm curious to know what your imagination holds on this one.

> Can evil also be interpreted as letting your government be impotent in protecting you?

The government _is_ impotent in protecting you. If they weren't we wouldn't need courts. Or a constitution. Or the revolution which started it.

Finally, there is an argument to be made, that our government, and it's imperious ways, were the primary force which led to the creation of ISIS in the first place. Perhaps if we weren't telling lies about yellow cake and mobile chemical labs while indiscriminately bombing innocent civilians we wouldn't be facing such a ridiculous world security posture.

taid9iK-•1h ago
Good for you. Us. I always wondered what being pacifist means specifically in this space. Thank you!
moomoo11•30m ago
well at least the TC and stock appreciation was worth it right?

sorry not being a jerk but many of these kinds of posts just come off as performative and attention seeking. you could have just quit, literally everyone knows how FAANG operates.

These are the most successful companies in the history of the world. What do you expect? DO you need a PhD to figure this out?

aucisson_masque•28m ago
It's great to follow your own moral compass, whatever the cost.

Much harder than taking the money and blindly following management decisions.

andriy_koval•21m ago
Its easier once he vested his director level stock compensation since 2017.
spiralcoaster•9m ago
Right, because I'm sure that's not what he's been doing this entire time. Everyone knows Google has been a shining beacon of goodwill since 2017.
JuniperMesos•21m ago
> The culture was transparent and open to diverse discourse, and from the start it was made clear that, as Googlers, we were not only welcome but expected to bring our own identity and values into the job.

Google management lost its moral compass in 2017 when they fired James Damore for writing a memo critiquing their gender diversity efforts. They were never serious that employees were expected to bring their own identity and values into the job, they only thought this with respect to identities and values they were already mostly-aligned-with.

ashleyn•19m ago
Considering they rolled back DEI along with everyone else after Trump's second victory, it's difficult to view those previous "values" as anything other than cynical kissing-up to the previous holders of power.
toomuchtodo•15m ago
It’s the cost of buying goodwill and lower regulatory burden from the administration in power at the time of implementation. DEI? Non DEI? Like an umbrella, just depends on the weather, its business as usual regardless.
asadotzler•4m ago
Google management lost its spine back in 2008/9/10 and its soul soon followed. It was over long before your pet issue showed up.
ams92•14m ago
“I got the bag and now have developed a conscience"
readthenotes1•12m ago
" Don't be evil"

The slogans are on the walls because they are not in our hearts.

Google has not changed its moral compass in 20 years. You just didn't want to admit it

mv4•12m ago
Translation: now I can FIRE.
spiralcoaster•10m ago
In other words:

All of my stock has finally vested, and I am independently wealthy enough to signal that I'm quitting purely based on my morals, since there's no way anyone could have known Google wasn't some ethical bastion of hope in 2017.

lbrito•6m ago
>“Don’t Be Evil” wasn’t just a slogan (...) —it was a north star for teams making hard calls

I've developed an involuntary, muscle-level reflex that forces me to close the tab immediately when I read these "not just X -- it was Y" LLMisms.

I realize the author might be human and am sorry if that's the case, but I can't help it.

sunshine-o•6m ago
> Sundar Pichai in 2018 stated very clearly that “AI applications we will not pursue: …

> 3. Technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.

Really?

Algorithms for ads and mass surveillance were always at the core of Google model.

And there is not really such thing as "internationally accepted norms", Google, as a pioneer, literally defined them at the time.

BiteCode_dev•4m ago
I refused an interview from google in 2010ish, because it was already dubious with all the tracking and advertising they were doing, as well as the rising censorship.

So if you decided to go in 2017 with all that happened since, your moral compass was already broken with google's. Snowden already revealed what all that data was used for with program like PRISM. You already seen the total lack of interest in preventing scams in their ads as long as it brings money. You've seen the antitrust fines. The tax avoidance schemes. The election influence concerns over youtube content.

What I read is "I know have made enough money from Google immorality, I can virtue signal by taking an early retirement and pretend I'm a great person".

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