ECS 188: Ethics

The Google Echo Chamber

Quiz grading policies

To accommodate for missing class, will give you full credit on your lowest quiz grade for the quarter

• If you miss one class that has a quiz, you will get full credit for that quiz
• If you take all of the quizzes, I will raise your lowest score

Some flexibility for attendance

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Overview

Last reading in our “Ethics and current topics” thread

Last time: Apple vs FBI over encryption

This time: Gender and Bias

Next time: Begin our “dangers of technology” thread

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The reading load is heavy in the beginning of the class, will get lighter later

Discussion styles

Today is the last one, the “open-ended question” style of discussion

Previously

• Guided discussion
• Mock UN
• Debate

End of historical perspective

My experiences

Why industry thinks diversity is important

There are concerns:

• Stiff competition in the US, from overseas
• 25% smartest of China + India, 996
• Innovation overseas (e.g., live video, payments), no longer just US knockoffs
• Why there is concern about staying competitive

How I define diversity

Damore has a point: Diversity is definitely not debated

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My experiences

Behind closed doors, “if it ain’t broke”

Hiring from your network

Unconscious bias training (the right/left test) and how to work on it when hiring

• Twitter: Overcoming your initial impression in interviews
• Lyft: Laptop programming interview questions

Pair programming, empathy, and more cooperative? Not sure Damore was a SWE

• “Soft skills” are increasingly important the higher up you go

If you start a company, your culture will be defined by the first 10 hires you make!

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Women in leadership mentor a ton https://twitter.com/JillWetzler/status/968870409956352001

Discuss!

Is Silicon Valley’s approach to diversity ethical?