As many of you probably know, a (now former) Google employee named James Damore recently wrote a memo to other Google employees voicing his opinions about Google's current and future demographics, why they are as they are and what can be done about it, and about Google's possible ideological biases and what those biases mean for Google's diversity initiatives. The memo was titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber", subtitled "How bias clouds our thinking about diversity and inclusion". This memo quickly ignited a firestorm of both assenting and dissenting opinion. Concerning, however, was how many people and media outlets misrepresented his position and villified him based on those misrepresentations, rather than honestly and factually addressing his points. Before long, Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded to the memo, and James Damore was fired. What I want to address here is both the memo itself, and the responses it evoked.
In his memo, Damore opens by remarking that everyone is affected by personal biases of which they are largely ignorant, admits that this includes him, and lists his own political bias and leaves open the possiblity that he may be affected by confirmation bias concerning the evidence he later cites to support his positions. A fair, open, and honest assesment, in my opinion. He then goes on to state that Google has its own set of biases, and that discussion about these biases is being suppressed by the ideological majority inside the company. He further states that what follows is NOT the whole story, merely his own perspective on the matter. After outlining the differences between Left and Right political biases, he