What a dumb pretense for an article. If you want to write something criticizing James' memo, just do that. Don't use Larry Page as a scenario for your message and headline.
The article is peppered with condescension and dismissal like 'I shouldn’t have had to write this: I’m busy and a little effort on your part would have made it unnecessary.'
Maybe the author is more comfortable role-playing Larry Page with stuff like that.
It's also kinda funny that the author calls out Damore for motivated reasoning and then...goes on to write paragraph after paragraph of motivated reasoning.
It's basically impossible to discuss this subject without it being motivated reasoning. It's a profession in which it is notoriously difficult to measure aptitude and productivity. And it's a field of study that's a landmine for researchers to study for exactly the same reason as the fact that every single Damore-related thread here blows up into an uncivilized moderation war filled with name calling and insults.
We're still at a point where the science isn't pointing one way or the other and we haven't even settled on any decent metric to give to the scientists to calibrate any testing they'd be brave enough to explore. Is it any wonder that discussions on this topic are rife with confirmation bias? We're not going to approach anything resembling a productive conversation on this topic until both sides concede that the other side might have some point and that the true answer, as almost all true answers do, lies somewhere in between the polar ends of the spectrum that people argue from.
I almost wonder if they're hoping people will misread the article, think it was an email, and share it on that mistake. It's strange to contrive hypothetical headers.
Maybe the author is more comfortable role-playing Larry Page with stuff like that.