The notorious thoughts of Silicon Valley are in favor of

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – it is a bitterly cold day in the low country of Luxembourg. When James Damore opens the door to a 17th century cathedral and offers it as a kind of refuge, I stand behind his clever footsteps and follow it inwards.

“I like non-commercial spaces,” he whispers softly when we mix through the high-flying Notre-Dame de Luxemburg. The cathedral is dark, mainly illuminated by colored glass windows and dozens of candles on the altar. He likes to go through here, he tells me that he appreciates the beauty, the silence and “a project that is supposed to meet a higher purpose”. But it is also an appropriate analogous environment for a man persona non grata In Silicon Valley in 2017, he lived like a Luddite.

Damore has prevented digital advertising networks from using his personal information to use it adapted to him. He changed the colors of his Android phone to grayscale so that it will not appeal to him visually. He uses neither wrestlers nor vibrations to draw him attention to incoming calls (only his wife's calls can break through). And – maybe the most remarkable – he told me that he doesn't even read the news. “If something is important,” he says, “then other people will tell me.”

As a result, he is often not aware of the existence of celebrities. Timothée Chalamet? Never heard of him. Chappell Roan? No, not you. But what surprises me the most is that Damore has never heard of Dylan Mulvaney and the controversy about the Trans -Influencer participation With bud light. “I don't know that I am never remarkable for myself,” he says.

He had a very good reason to log in.