James Damore is a name no one in the tech world knew last week. The whole world knows it today, thanks to a 3,000 word memo published by the now-former google engineer.
The memo, which was originally shared a month ago, alleges a lot of things: that Google has an Ideological Echo Chamber; but also that inherent psychological differences between men and women are causing the diversity gap in tech. It’s that latter point that led the memo to go viral internally and then externally last week, leading Damore to be fired.
As the tech world struggles to keep up with the story, so too does Google, which ended-up cancelling a scheduled company-wide town hall just as our podcast was being recorded. The about-turn plays into the broad question of this week’s podcast: beset with questions of free speech and diversity of representation, is Google making the right choices?
Tune in as CanCon’s podcast crew – Rob Kenedi, TWG’s Entrepreneur in Residence and host of the amazing #smallrooms podcast, Erin Bury, Managing Director of Eighty-Eight, Patrick O’Rourke, MobileSyrup Senior Editor, and Douglas Soltys, BetaKit Editor in Chief – plays WSGD (What Should Google Do?).
Have some hot takes on the topics that we covered? Maybe you want to suggest something for a future podcast! Perhaps you have a burning question about something you read in tech news that we didn’t cover. Email us, post a comment below with the answer or question, or better yet, rate CanCon 5-stars on iTunes and post your thoughts there.
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CanCon Podcast Episode 80 (08/14/17)
Google’s very bad week
Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo on Gender Differences
Here’s The Full 10-Page Anti-Diversity Screed Circulating Internally at Google
So, about this Googler’s manifesto
Yes, men and women are wired differently. This is why we must work for equality in STEM
How CEO Sundar Pichai made the decision to fire James Damore was just as hard as Google’s all-hands meeting today will be
Disney and chill?
Netflix’s Disney film loss won’t impact Canada and other international markets
Canadian Content music clip (under fair dealing): “It Falls Apart” by Odds
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