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Totally agree. I've noticed something else similarly disturbing. The people who advocate the loudest for demographic diversity aren't really interested in diver

Totally agree. I've noticed something else similarly disturbing. The people who advocate the loudest for demographic diversity aren't really interested in diversity of ideas. They want to see men and women of all shapes and colors saying similar things. If you want thought provoking talks, diversity of ideas is far more important than having a group of speakers that looks like captain planet and the planeteers. I want to see talks where presentors have radically different approaches to problems. I want to see Zed Shaw and Douglas Crockford have a passionate explitive laden argument about the merits of Ruby vs server side JS only to see Ken Thompson or Rob Pike blow their minds with a talk about go. So what if they all happen to be white guys. What matters is they have interesting things to say and vastly different perspectives coming from long careers in the industry honing their craft.

autarch 10y ago
I don't see these two goals as being mutually exclusive. Even if they are, it'd be good to aim for a balance, rather than just choosing one entirely over the other. They're both good goals for a conference.
- gnarbarian 10y ago
  Many people don't agree with me and that's OK. I literally couldn't care less about demographic checkboxes when listening to a talk about technology. The number one priority should be having thought provoking, relevant, and high impact talks about technology at a technology conference. Seeing these talks and engaging in conversations about the technology should be the number one priority for attendees. Ideas are what matter to hackers and engineers. If someone doesn't want to go to a conference on concurrency and distributed algorithms because a demographic de-jour isn't speaking then that person isn't passionate about the subject of the conference and the conference is better off without them there. That may seem harsh but I'm just throwing my opinion out there for the sake of diversity of ideas ;)
  - softawre 10y ago
    Agree and up-voted. It's supposed to be about equality, right? How can we get more equal than focusing on the ideas themselves?
  - rhizome 10y ago
    I literally couldn't care less about demographic checkboxes when listening to a talk about technology. Is it safe to say you're a member of a demographic who has never had those checkboxes applied to them negatively?
    - gnarbarian 10y ago
      >Is it safe to say you're a member of a demographic who has never had those checkboxes applied to them negatively? It sure sounds like you're trying to do that right now. Can you explain to me why using race/demographics as a means to sideline and devalue my opinion isn't the highest form of hypocrisy in this context? In other words... Isn't your question a perfect example of you "applying those checkboxes" to me negatively?
      - st3v3r 10y ago
        Because you're the one saying race and demographics don't matter, yet you're likely a member of the race and demographic who hasn't had negative experiences because of their race/demographic. You don't think it's important because you've never really had to think about it.
        gnarbarian 10y ago
        >yet you're likely a member of the race and demographic who hasn't had negative experiences because of their race/demographic. It's funny that you can say that right after someone implied I was a member of an over-represented group and then used that assumption as leverage against me in an argument. So that statement is demonstrably false.
      - rhizome 10y ago

autarch 10y ago

I don't see these two goals as being mutually exclusive. Even if they are, it'd be good to aim for a balance, rather than just choosing one entirely over the other. They're both good goals for a conference.

gnarbarian 10y ago
Many people don't agree with me and that's OK. I literally couldn't care less about demographic checkboxes when listening to a talk about technology. The number one priority should be having thought provoking, relevant, and high impact talks about technology at a technology conference. Seeing these talks and engaging in conversations about the technology should be the number one priority for attendees. Ideas are what matter to hackers and engineers. If someone doesn't want to go to a conference on concurrency and distributed algorithms because a demographic de-jour isn't speaking then that person isn't passionate about the subject of the conference and the conference is better off without them there. That may seem harsh but I'm just throwing my opinion out there for the sake of diversity of ideas ;)
- softawre 10y ago
  Agree and up-voted. It's supposed to be about equality, right? How can we get more equal than focusing on the ideas themselves?
- rhizome 10y ago
  I literally couldn't care less about demographic checkboxes when listening to a talk about technology. Is it safe to say you're a member of a demographic who has never had those checkboxes applied to them negatively?
  - gnarbarian 10y ago
    >Is it safe to say you're a member of a demographic who has never had those checkboxes applied to them negatively? It sure sounds like you're trying to do that right now. Can you explain to me why using race/demographics as a means to sideline and devalue my opinion isn't the highest form of hypocrisy in this context? In other words... Isn't your question a perfect example of you "applying those checkboxes" to me negatively?
    - st3v3r 10y ago
      Because you're the one saying race and demographics don't matter, yet you're likely a member of the race and demographic who hasn't had negative experiences because of their race/demographic. You don't think it's important because you've never really had to think about it.
      - gnarbarian 10y ago
        >yet you're likely a member of the race and demographic who hasn't had negative experiences because of their race/demographic. It's funny that you can say that right after someone implied I was a member of an over-represented group and then used that assumption as leverage against me in an argument. So that statement is demonstrably false.
    - rhizome 10y ago