5 ms·

Chimpburger... I think your heart is probably in the right place. But think about the wider canvas. In terms of what might be best for me, were I looking for

Chimpburger... I think your heart is probably in the right place. But think about the wider canvas. In terms of what might be best for me, were I looking for a job... equal opportunity is fair/good. Of course I would think that... I'm a white male... I am a historically privileged class of person in the workforce. Anything that doesn't adversely my job opportunities is good for me, right? From the perspective of a company that is trying to build a high-output, innovative team... diversity is really, really awesome: diversity of thinking patterns, backgrounds, interests. I have experienced this first hand and am now 100% sold on the importance of diversity and oversampling certain segments of "talent pool" to reach diversity goals. I may I miss out on some opportunities due to how I am categorized in the overall talent pool.... but diversity is really good for the organization and society in general. Some sports analogies apply: you can't make a basketball team out of all shooting guards or a soccer team out of all forwards. You need a lot of different kinds of talent to make a good team. That is just my opinion... I would rather work on a diverse team and I'd rather live in a diverse city/culture.

chimpburger 8y ago
Suppose you had a brain tumor that could possibly be fixed by surgery. You are given the choice of two surgeons. One is a female who graduated from her medical school to fill a gender quota at the expense of other male students. The other option is a more qualified and experienced surgeon but just so happens to be a male. If you are true to your ideology then you should choose the female surgeon. Am I right?
- FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
  This is not how it happens. So don’t be disingenuous.
  - chimpburger 8y ago
    You completely missed the point.
- cashsterling 8y ago
  That female surgeon is smarter and more capable than either of us... brain surgery is like 7 years of internship and residency AFTER med-school. She makes through all that... she can operate on me. One decimal pt on her pre-med gpa doesnt matter for shit at that point.
leephillips 8y ago
Your comment seems to rest on the implicit idea that different sexes, and perhaps races, have inherently different abilities - that "diversity", as the word is used in these contexts, amounts to diversity in talents and abilities. But I don't see any reason to think that diversity of race or sex is equivalent to diversity in intellectual qualities. In fact, many people would consider that sexist and racist.
- cashsterling 8y ago
  I am not sure how you got that out of my comment... you created a rather unfortunate strawman of my comment and are calling me sexist and racist? That hurts. Are you going to call me republican next?! Because that’s where i draw the line. I have worked in high tech for 20 years: biotech, a PhD @ Carnegie Mellon, NASA, some startups, back to biotech... I have worked with so many awesome people of all walks of life that notions of gender or racial superiority are long gone. Quite the opposite, i have experienced the tremendous benefit that usually arises with diverse teams: deeper group experience, less competition and more cohesion, stronger friendships and sense of connection, diverse technical experience and interest, really different and novel ways of approaching problems and developing solutions (things that blew my fragile little mind), etc.
  - leephillips 8y ago
    No, I'm sure you are not a racist, please don't take my comment that way. But sometimes we can promulgate ideas that we don't actually agree with unintentionally. It's the pattern of thinking that I wanted to examine, that I seem to encounter everywhere lately. Others spoke of the lack of "diversity", by which they clearly meant diversity of sex and race or ethnic background. You added the idea that this type of diversity was beneficial because it's an advantage to have a diversity of interests and intellectual strengths in different areas. So you are equating a racial and sexual diversity with the latter. If that's not what you meant, I apologize for misconstruing your comment.
    - cashsterling 8y ago

chimpburger 8y ago

Suppose you had a brain tumor that could possibly be fixed by surgery. You are given the choice of two surgeons. One is a female who graduated from her medical school to fill a gender quota at the expense of other male students. The other option is a more qualified and experienced surgeon but just so happens to be a male. If you are true to your ideology then you should choose the female surgeon. Am I right?

FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
This is not how it happens. So don’t be disingenuous.
- chimpburger 8y ago
  You completely missed the point.
cashsterling 8y ago
That female surgeon is smarter and more capable than either of us... brain surgery is like 7 years of internship and residency AFTER med-school. She makes through all that... she can operate on me. One decimal pt on her pre-med gpa doesnt matter for shit at that point.

leephillips 8y ago

Your comment seems to rest on the implicit idea that different sexes, and perhaps races, have inherently different abilities - that "diversity", as the word is used in these contexts, amounts to diversity in talents and abilities. But I don't see any reason to think that diversity of race or sex is equivalent to diversity in intellectual qualities. In fact, many people would consider that sexist and racist.

cashsterling 8y ago
I am not sure how you got that out of my comment... you created a rather unfortunate strawman of my comment and are calling me sexist and racist? That hurts. Are you going to call me republican next?! Because that’s where i draw the line. I have worked in high tech for 20 years: biotech, a PhD @ Carnegie Mellon, NASA, some startups, back to biotech... I have worked with so many awesome people of all walks of life that notions of gender or racial superiority are long gone. Quite the opposite, i have experienced the tremendous benefit that usually arises with diverse teams: deeper group experience, less competition and more cohesion, stronger friendships and sense of connection, diverse technical experience and interest, really different and novel ways of approaching problems and developing solutions (things that blew my fragile little mind), etc.
- leephillips 8y ago
  No, I'm sure you are not a racist, please don't take my comment that way. But sometimes we can promulgate ideas that we don't actually agree with unintentionally. It's the pattern of thinking that I wanted to examine, that I seem to encounter everywhere lately. Others spoke of the lack of "diversity", by which they clearly meant diversity of sex and race or ethnic background. You added the idea that this type of diversity was beneficial because it's an advantage to have a diversity of interests and intellectual strengths in different areas. So you are equating a racial and sexual diversity with the latter. If that's not what you meant, I apologize for misconstruing your comment.
  - cashsterling 8y ago