The “anti-diversity” memo can be found here.
It caused a lot stir in the media and public.
I got a mixed feeling after reading the memo. I like the way the argument was laid out. He started by explaining the stereotypical differences between left and right, which naturally explained the value of both, and why one cannot suppress the other. I am pretty happy for what I read up to this point. Then he started to lay out the argument why women are inferior to men in technology and leadership, wait for this – due to biological causes. All online posts that pushed back on him have been on his second argument about women. The tricky part is that this guy mixed these two arguments into one and made the debate messy because he made a perfect case for the first one.
My personal view on this is that he has a blind spot on himself. It should be safe to express different and sometimes unwelcome views, which I have no problem with. However, this guy is an engineer and his way of thinking may be trained in more or less linear fashion (although still logical), say A takes to B, and B takes to C; therefore A must take to C. However, in social, gender, and racial issues, they cannot be addressed in such a linear manner. Liberals against stereotyping. Why? Because stereotyping leads to oversimplification in those nonlinear social challenges. However, human nature WANTS stereotyping because it provides quick answers: women cannot be good leaders because they are more emotional; Muslims are…, blacks are…, Chiese are good at math, so on and so forth. It takes great effort (translated to consumed energy) to counter this human nature. Sometimes we win but often we lose. To put it “bigly”, isn’t it a reflection of the development of human history (mostly social issues, outside of the realm of technology): sometimes we win but often we lose?