James Damore is an American software engineer and conservative activist. Damore was fired from Google after writing a memo criticizing Google’s diversity policies, specifically about sex differences in cognitive ability.
Damore is considered part of the so-called intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. Damore was represented by anti-trans lawyer Harmeet Dhillon in subsequent legal matters. Damore was supported by many anti-trans activists and appeared on several shows connected to the alt-right.
Background
James Anthony Damore was born on April 24, 1989, in Romeoville, Illinois.
Damore earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois and a master’s degree form Harvard. Damore left the Harvard doctoral program in 2013 to work at Google. Damore was determined to be autistic as an adult.
In 2017, after attending a diversity training that solicited feedback, Damore wrote a memo titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” which asserted that due to sex differences, men are more suited to working in technology.
Activism
Damore gave interviews to numerous outlets, including many conservative and anti-trans people associated with the intellectual dark web:
- Bloomberg Technology
- Business Insider
- The Wall Street Journal
- Reason
- CNN
- CNBC
- Jordan Peterson
- Stefan Molyneux
- Joe Rogan
- Dave Rubin
- Milo Yiannopoulos
- Ben Shapiro
Damore was supported in some of these assertions about sex differences by a number of writers, and some commented on the public reaction, including
- Conor Friedersdorf
- Lee Jussim
- Megan McArdle
- Geoffrey Miller
- Jesse Singal
- Debra Soh
- Cathy Young