that powers genocide
Great that he's standing up for himself!
or surveillance
...ok now why did you even send your resume to Google
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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Wonder when he had his "are we the baddies" moment.
The context was Gaza though, so I mean neutrally surveillance can mean lots of things: security cameras at a convenience store, a security contract for the government or another corporation. What this person was protesting was supporting Isreal and it's war/control over Gaza. The article sort of misses the point and the headlines really kills it.
Sure did take him a long time to get upset about surveillance.
I still think that better late than never
Yeah it's hard to shame someone for not springing to challenge their employer on every little thing the moment they become aware of it. Sometimes it takes a bit for things to pile up to the point it's too much.
Nobody was worried when it was happening in the town over
Nobody was worried when it was their neighbor
Everybody lied to themselves when it was their friend
And by the time it came to them there was nothing left but panic and dread.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Ironic with the switcheroo on the last group
Remember the Turner Diaries, on the Day of the Rope they don't kill the minorities or queer folks or other "lesser thans", they kill all the white people who are "race traitors" because they're not also fascists.
You are never safe from them, you're just further down the list than who they're after at this moment.
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The only one abiding by Google’s original Don’t Be Evil motto.
That's why they had to fire him.
I absolutely understand the sentiment of that engineer, but I also understand why they were fired. Maybe they wanted to get fired to make their point, but if they didn't, yelling at an executive during a meeting is always a good way to get yourself fired no matter what that executive is saying.
So while I don't want anyone building such technology either, I hope that person knew the consequences they were facing.
Getting fired is what makes this a story worth writing about. It was intentional.
If they achieved their goal, fine. I am glad they spoke out.
I find genocide to be worse than "breaking corporate code of conduct".
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Usually engineers, while not always the most socially in tune people, aren’t total dumbasses. He also said (very publicly) that he refuses to do the work they are telling him to do so he’s explicitly telling them to fire him.
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I have exactly 1 trick to get away with letting out your righteous anger at executives: become such a visible figure in collective action that there is no way the company could ever fire you without it being illegal retaliation. The trick is to become that visible while having plausible deniability about organizing
You don't engage in that kind of direct action without being fully aware of the consequences. An engineer at Google is not that idiotic
You don’t engage in that kind of direct action without being fully aware of the consequences.
I would hope not, but you never know.
An engineer at Google is not that idiotic
I definitely would not go that far. https://futurism.com/blake-lemoine-google-interview
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They were probably trying to get the other engineers to follow their lead. It doesn't seem like that happened.
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I bet if they yelled something less controversial like "We want more money!" wouldn't have ended in firing. Perhaps in disciplining instead.
I actually don't understand their sentiment.
This isn't the only surveillance Google is enabling. You could MAYBE argue genocide but... let's just say it isn't just facebook that supports brutal regimes.
I've worked for.... questionable companies in the past. I still argue that you more or less can't do Research without getting blood on your hands because... blood money spends well and experiments/development without a defined product is expensive.
But... unless you are a complete moron, you understand that. Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of graduate students out there who never question WHY there are government grants and why their advisor is talking to Major Johnson and so forth (Val Kilmer's Real Genius is probably the most accurate grad school movie ever made...). But you eventually figure it out. ESPECIALLY if you are working for a company and have to have a defined/target product. I know Google/Alphabet is notorious for the cutthroat/backstabbing among employees but you aren't going to be isolated as to why you are working on a graph search algorithm or how to conceal a camera in a device.
So I don't know if this engineer was just ridiculously ignorant or if they were hoping to "go viral" or what. But you don't wake up one day and realize you are the baddies. You more or less realize that your first day of work and spend time deciding if that will lead to alcoholism or activism.
Respect.
respect
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