“Google’s values” replaces “Don’t be evil” in code of conduct, Also removed “doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably”
“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”…John 3:20
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”…Edmund Burke
“Everything I need to know… I learned in kindergarten.” …Robert Fulghum
From The Guardian.
“A Christmas Carol has been described as the most perfect of Dickens’s works and as a quintessential heart-warming story, and it is certainly the most popular. It’s a ghost story with a moral, a message of hope, good cheer and Christian redemption, and an assertion of the value of the Christmas festival when families get together for feasting, and quarrels are made up.
At the end of the tale, a sick child who seemed destined to die is cured, and a bad man turns over a new leaf and becomes generous and affectionate. Good triumphs over evil, good-heartedness and good cheer over poverty and misery. Yet two terrifying children who have been introduced into the story are left at the end, their fates unresolved, to haunt us.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/23/book-club-dickens-christmas-carol
Most of us have some basic, instinctive concept of good and evil.
I have long believed that evil is something that hurts somebody.
Even good people do evil deeds. Every single one of us.
So why did Google remove it from their code of conduct preface?
Old Code of Conduct.
““Don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But “Don’t be evil” is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably, and treating co-workers with courtesy and respect.
The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice. It’s built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: Our commitment to the highest standards helps us hire great people, build great products, and attract loyal users. Trust and mutual respect among employees and users are the foundation of our success, and they are something we need to earn every day.”
New Code of Conduct.
“The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put Google’s values into practice. It’s built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: Our commitment to the highest standards helps us hire great people, build great products, and attract loyal users. Respect for our users, for the opportunity, and for each other are foundational to our success, and are something we need to support every day.
So please do read the Code and Google’s values, and follow both in spirit and letter, always bearing in mind that each of us has a personal responsibility to incorporate, and to encourage other Googlers to incorporate, the principles of the Code and values into our work. And if you have a question or ever think that one of your fellow Googlers or the company as a whole may be falling short of our commitment, don’t be silent. We want – and need – to hear from you.”
Now we have “Google’s values.”
So much for good over evil.
“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum
“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put thngs back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.”
“Apathy is the glove in which evil slips its hand.” (Anonymous)
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”…Albert Einstein
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”…Martin Luther King Jr.
“The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.”…Ayn Rand
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