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Old boys' clubs patting one another on the back. The Nobel Prize is an embarrassment to our species.
by rexpop 6y ago
Old boys' clubs patting one another on the back. The Nobel Prize is an embarrassment to our species.
- onychomys 6y agoWell, not just for boys, the two winners in Chemistry this year were female.
- rexpop 6y agoTwo things: 1. At 6% women—and, therefore, 94% men—I would say the winners' pool is egregiously sexist. 2. An "old boys' club" is an idiomatic expression referring to exclusive, undemocratic and even unmeritocratic social circles. Not, necessarily, literal "boys." So, in light of those two premises, I don't feel your objections carry any legitimate weight.
- zaarn 6y agoI would say that the noble price has been given out for a long time, if recent rule changes lead to more female winners, then this would not be visible in absolute percentages of all winners. By the definition of "more men than women/nb won the price" it would continue to be sexist even if the exclusively nominated women for several years in a row.
- recursive 6y agoDid you just assume my species?
- whymauri 6y agoI disagree with GP, but, I beg of you, _please_ find a new joke.
- recursive 6y agoSure, I'm always looking. Anyway, I don't recall using this one before. Maybe it happened once sometime. I honestly don't recall seeing this joke anywhere before, so it's kind of surprising that's so thoroughly played out. After googling: apparently, it's a thing. Not really in my circles, but at least now I know.
- CobrastanJorji 6y agoAsides from being tired, it's also problematic for the same reason that "I identify as an attack helicopter" is problematic. Assuming that all programmers/gamers/whatever are male is an actual problem, and the humor in "did you just assume my X" jokes are that people who get mad about the issue are annoying or wrong or a symptom of PC culture run amok. The joke can come across as transphobic. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but it's worth keeping in mind.
- LockAndLol 6y agoAwarding a prize for a great scientific achievement is an embarrassment to the species? I'm keen on hearing what you would prefer.
- Polylactic_acid 6y agoThe twitter blue checkmark is the modern day version.
- rexpop 6y agoI would, frankly, love to imagine that the Nobel Prize were a purely meritocratic recognition of surpassing scientific achievement—especially insofar as that achievement reflects a material contribution to the good of humankind. Unfortunately, there are so many arbitrary, even medieval barriers to the average human's entry into the competition as to completely obviate its claims to impartial meritocracy. This is partly evident in the winners' pool being made up of 94% men, and only 6% women, when any honest scientist will tell you that women are, biologically speaking, equally efficacious scientists. The discrepancy, therefore, in their award reception—or even, to be generous, their achievement—can only be attributed to bigotry. Enormously, grossly, painfully, obviously sexist outcomes should not be revered, let alone accepted, or even acknowledged in polite company, except to decry them as I have. There are definitely other axes on which the prize is inaccessible due not to practitioners' skill, or ingenuity, but their socioeconomic class. Ignoring this scandalous inequity is a shameful act of willful ignorance. It's an embarrassment that we call ourselves civilized, while allowing such injustice to take purchase in our collective reverence. The prize is not important. It is the masturbatory act of a bigoted elite. It is a self-congratulatory celebration of Social Darwinism. It's gross, and a good person would be ashamed to receive it. I can understand why this would break hearts, but the emperor, here, has no clothes. The abysmal sample size should have tipped off at least one good faith statistician. Disproportionately rich disproportionately white disproportionately men are not disproportionately superior scientists.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoHistory is horrifying. Maybe they should start a female only Nobel prize kind of like they have female sports?
- rexpop 6y ago> History is horrifying. History is not over, yet.