Re “If Google silences one, who’s next?’’ (Business, Aug. 9): I am a female software engineer and data scientist. I’m senior in my field, and I make a good tech salary. I’m not exceptional in my abilities, except that I was willing to put up with more crap and willing to speak loudly against it.

Tech Lab columnist Hiawatha Bray, discussing James Damore’s memo, hedges when he begins a sentence with the phrase “whatever the merits of Damore’s argument.’’ There are no merits to the idea that women are more anxious, more neurotic, and thus less suited to work in tech. And no, I would not want to work with anyone who thought so, or who was hiring based on these assumptions. There is no evidence for it. Evolutionary psychology is crap.

Bray wants to debate what you’re “allowed to say if you work at Google.’’ What you’re not “allowed’’ to say is that women are biologically inferior for certain work. You’re only not “allowed’’ to say it in the same way that you’re not “allowed’’ to say “maybe Hitler had some good ideas,’’ which is, you can say it all you want, but people are going to dislike you, and there will probably be consequences.

Further, I was surprised to see a tech writer cast doubt on Google’s search results just because the company fired Damore. It may not be a good idea to trust Google’s search results, but not because the powers that be don’t allow their employees to malign someone’s biological suitability for tech work.

Erin Tavano

Carlisle