Schmidt: Don't Be Evil Was The Stupidest Rule Ever

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Google's outspoken chairman says that, when he first joined the company, he thought the "don't be evil" slogan was the stupidest rule ever. That quote is funny considering Schmidt is famous for the stupid statements he made as CEO. :D

SCHMIDT: Well, it was invented by Larry and Sergey. And the idea was that we don't quite know what evil is, but if we have a rule that says don't be evil, then employees can say, I think that's evil. Now, when I showed up, I thought this was the stupidest rule ever, because there's no book about evil except maybe, you know, the Bible or something.
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Actually it is the perfect corporate rule as it hits all the main points:

Vague and meaningless - Check
Makes a good soundbite - Check
Impossible to be held accountable to - Check

See, the perfect corporate slogan :D
 
did you listen to the interview?

his point was that the notion of "evil" wasn't really defined...

but that was a while ago, he agree's now that it works....
 
If you really have to think hard about whether or not a corporate policy constitutes "being EVIL" though, chances are really damn good that it is.
 
funny interview, I can see how people misinterpret what he said though :p
 
kbrickley said:
Actually it is the perfect corporate rule as it hits all the main points:

Vague and meaningless - Check
Makes a good soundbite - Check
Impossible to be held accountable to - Check

See, the perfect corporate slogan :D
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This. He is an idiot.
 
It doesn't mean anything, but he's upset people keep throwing it out there when the company does something creepy. It's a good thing there are so many people out there cheering for Google that they get Internet defenders.
 
Very few of histories monsters likely never thought of themselves as evil.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
It doesn't mean anything, but he's upset people keep throwing it out there when the company does something creepy. It's a good thing there are so many people out there cheering for Google that they get Internet defenders.
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It's also good they decided on "Do no Evil" instead of "Do no Creepy" ... then they would have really been in trouble :D
 
It makes sense that Google would like to repeal this corporate philosophy.
 
He makes a good point about defining evil. Without a clear definition of what is or is not evil then it's completely subjective. The Bible reference is good as well, since it's one of the few places where one does find good and evil defined in absolute terms. Without a company "bible" then the definition is going to be different for every employee, and customers will have yet other ideas of what constitutes "evil" behavior. I'm sure we can all think of things we'd rather not have Google or any other company doing for that matter.
 
What happened to the golden rule? I dont remember the exact wording but the idea was to not do things to other people that you do not wish upon yourself. Meaning do not intentionally cause pain and misery to other people. Meaning dont be an asshole!

...if only thing were so simple and black & white. But its a good starting point.
 
We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the needs of the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers.
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- Sergey Brin and Larry Page, 1998

Having defined evil so precisely, I'd say google has never been anything but pure evil.
 
jstnomega said:
- Sergey Brin and Larry Page, 1998

Having defined evil so precisely, I'd say google has never been anything but pure evil.
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I don't know about pure evil. Google makes a fine product to get so many people to use it. How is creating such a good product bad for consumers?
 
Say a Google engineer proposed to log information from searches and Chrome browsing for the sole intent of aiding law enforcement, but only towards that end. Is that evil? No doubt the information could be abused by some in law enforcement or used erroneously to where innocent people would be harmed and could justifiably be defined as evil. However, this is not something which must necessarily occur and it can also be argued that even the few cases in which it does occur would be an acceptable 'evil' when contrasted by the all 'good' that can come from it.

That 'golden rule'. Would I care if my information was being logged and handed over to law enforcement in an effort to prevent crime and bring criminals to justice? Not in the least. Would the people against this be criminals or desire the freedom to commit some future crime? Not necessarily. Even if most of those in protest are criminals it stands to reason that many criminals believe their actions justified or not sufficiently harmful to be classified as evil and would argue that to punish them for their crime would be a greater evil. Thus, even with these logs being used for their intended purpose it is possible someone can, even will, view it as evil since it would cause them "pain" and "misery".

Someone tells someone else "Don't Be Evil" and are, in reply, asked "How?". How do I behave so that my actions can never be viewed as evil. Even avoiding action altogether can be viewed as evil. Ironically, mankind is inherently evil simply because they disagree of what is actually evil and, as a result, condemn each as evil doers.

To even have a motto of "Don't Be Evil" can be viewed as being evil. This is because it requires one to define behaviors in the absolutes of 'this is evil' and 'this is not evil'. These definitions are then used to determine their behaviors towards their coworkers and customers who may view such behaviors as, in fact, being evil.
 
The problem with Google is they think that only kids use technology
 
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^ I don't agree with that "all or nothing" attitude, sorry weird green looking dude :p
 
LastQuestion said:
To even have a motto of "Don't Be Evil" can be viewed as being evil. This is because it requires one to define behaviors in the absolutes of 'this is evil' and 'this is not evil'. These definitions are then used to determine their behaviors towards their coworkers and customers who may view such behaviors as, in fact, being evil.
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There are no doubt debatable areas at the fringes, but there are absolute evils. And to say there aren't is evil.
 
jpm100 said:
There are no doubt debatable areas at the fringes, but there are absolute evils. And to say there aren't is evil.
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That may be what you believe, but many others do not share that view of evil and immorality. Some view that evil is just a concept developed by religions that varies between them. You might feel that murder is always wrong (absolutism) whereas others feel murder is sometimes justified, such as capital punishment or for self-preservation (relativism).

As usual, wikipedia describes it better than I can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil

The silly part is when people say all life is sacred, but then they believe in murder for capital punishment and self-preservation. Public opinion polls show that to be a common belief system in the US.
 
Draktharbar said:
That may be what you believe, but many others do not share that view of evil and immorality. Some view that evil is just a concept developed by religions that varies between them. You might feel that murder is always wrong (absolutism) whereas others feel murder is sometimes justified, such as capital punishment or for self-preservation (relativism).

As usual, wikipedia describes it better than I can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil

The silly part is when people say all life is sacred, but then they believe in murder for capital punishment and self-preservation. Public opinion polls show that to be a common belief system in the US.
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So a 50 year old forcibly having sex with a 6 year old is only evil as a matter of perspective. Or murdering someone for money when they are aren't a threat to anyone and you don't need the money to survive. Or murdering an entire race or ethnicity solely because of their race or ethnicity.

uh huh.
 
Wow ... people are reading WAY too much into a corporate slogan ... corporate slogans are useful marketing tools ... the really good ones can also be used to help drive the corporate mission and employee morale ... but even for a company like Google it is just a slogan ;)

Google (just like any other for profit corporation) is in business to make money ... that is their first and foremost concern ... they have a catchy slogan that is popular with their users so power to them ... but don't read more into their statement than you need to :cool:
 
Draktharbar said:
That may be what you believe, but many others do not share that view of evil and immorality.
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Google is a corporation started here in the US, not in China, not in Zimbabwe, so accepted social norms for 'evil' in North America would naturally be expected. Its not that complicated, nor is the 'gray area' that wide a margin between cultures.
 
Most CEOs are sociopathic. Therefore, having a CEO weigh in that "Don't be evil" is a stupid rule has exactly zero cred.
 
jpm100 said:
There are no doubt debatable areas at the fringes, but there are absolute evils. And to say there aren't is evil.
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For something to be absolute it must be proved, otherwise it remains, in the human mind, obscure and unclear due to being unknown. So, please, explain how it is that something can be absolutely evil and how to know it to be so.
 
LastQuestion said:
For something to be absolute it must be proved, otherwise it remains, in the human mind, obscure and unclear due to being unknown. So, please, explain how it is that something can be absolutely evil and how to know it to be so.
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There are absolutely no such thing as absolutes.

Thanks to you and your semester at the local community college for explaining that, and yes I am mocking.
 
doho7744 said:
There are absolutely no such thing as absolutes.

Thanks to you and your semester at the local community college for explaining that, and yes I am mocking.
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You're right. I totally get it now. The most productive thing to do in situations like this is to simply mock other people. Engage in a discussion to further understanding? Pft, who needs that when the hate wagon is giving out free rides.
 
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