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True that the free availability of tools broadens the field, but you can’t solve inequality by that alone. “Time” is still a necessary ingredient in that succes

True that the free availability of tools broadens the field, but you can’t solve inequality by that alone. “Time” is still a necessary ingredient in that success recipe and if you’re working two jobs just to keep a family afloat due to generational poverty you’re not also going to be starting Microsoft in your garage.

andsoitis 3y ago
So what’s your very specific solution that the tech world should embrace to address this scenario you outlined?
- josh-sematic 3y ago
  I won’t claim that these are perfect solutions, but I do believe they’re better than just making stuff open source and then feeling that you can ignore diversity. So with that, here are a few things that I think could be helpful: - use employment rather than contractors for things like janitorial and service work. This give people more stable employment and better benefits that can be leveraged to climb the social ladder - develop strong recruiting efforts at HBCUs and other sources of under-represented talent - add some non-university/credential based sources in your recruitment pool (ex: leet code) - sponsor your employee’s time to volunteer during the workday for things like robotics competitions and other STEM clubs at area high schools that have under-represented youth - at a cultural level, begin to at least collectively acknowledge that almost nothing is a pure meritocracy; that attitude serves as air cover to avoid confronting internal biases. You may doubt that implicit bias exists or that it impacts you. If so, I kindly request that you take [this test](https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html) before responding to this particular point.
louison11 3y ago
For sure. But what do you think of the possibility that many people who are suffering from financial inequality may actually have quite a bit of free time? That's my sense at least looking at global screen time statistics not only in the US but in many poor countries. I have also lived in poor countries, and can say from personal experience that it's a 1st world myth to believe that in poor countries everybody is exhausted from overworking. In many poor countries, people actually don't work all that much, and are poor as a result of a lack of opportunity. In these places, there is actually plenty of time, but no opportunity. And the more technology develops, and jobs become available remotely, the more smart, ambitious people in these countries are able to rise above their circumstances. Of course they need to at least have enough money to have a computer and an internet connection, but these are becoming more accessible every year. Don't get me wrong - it's highly unlikely some little kid from Kenya will build the next Facebook. It's much more than time and bandwidth. But it's a process, and I'd say we're headed in the right direction. Just go on UpWork and see how many people from developing countries are now making very decent wages.
- josh-sematic 3y ago
  I’m in agreement that increase in tech availability and accessibility are a big and positive factor. My point is mainly that we need to augment tech with some social solutions to solve this problem rather than treating it as only a problem of technology + waiting for the problem to solve itself. And the problem looks different from country to country—the way we get people from developing countries into high-paying jobs is different from how we get underrepresented people from developed countries into high-paying jobs. It’s a complicated and hard problem. I just get annoyed when people are super reductive about it and pretend that there is one magic bullet to solve it (especially when, surprise! that purported bullet requires doing no extra work).

andsoitis 3y ago

So what’s your very specific solution that the tech world should embrace to address this scenario you outlined?

josh-sematic 3y ago
I won’t claim that these are perfect solutions, but I do believe they’re better than just making stuff open source and then feeling that you can ignore diversity. So with that, here are a few things that I think could be helpful: - use employment rather than contractors for things like janitorial and service work. This give people more stable employment and better benefits that can be leveraged to climb the social ladder - develop strong recruiting efforts at HBCUs and other sources of under-represented talent - add some non-university/credential based sources in your recruitment pool (ex: leet code) - sponsor your employee’s time to volunteer during the workday for things like robotics competitions and other STEM clubs at area high schools that have under-represented youth - at a cultural level, begin to at least collectively acknowledge that almost nothing is a pure meritocracy; that attitude serves as air cover to avoid confronting internal biases. You may doubt that implicit bias exists or that it impacts you. If so, I kindly request that you take [this test](https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html) before responding to this particular point.

louison11 3y ago

For sure. But what do you think of the possibility that many people who are suffering from financial inequality may actually have quite a bit of free time? That's my sense at least looking at global screen time statistics not only in the US but in many poor countries. I have also lived in poor countries, and can say from personal experience that it's a 1st world myth to believe that in poor countries everybody is exhausted from overworking. In many poor countries, people actually don't work all that much, and are poor as a result of a lack of opportunity. In these places, there is actually plenty of time, but no opportunity. And the more technology develops, and jobs become available remotely, the more smart, ambitious people in these countries are able to rise above their circumstances. Of course they need to at least have enough money to have a computer and an internet connection, but these are becoming more accessible every year. Don't get me wrong - it's highly unlikely some little kid from Kenya will build the next Facebook. It's much more than time and bandwidth. But it's a process, and I'd say we're headed in the right direction. Just go on UpWork and see how many people from developing countries are now making very decent wages.

josh-sematic 3y ago
I’m in agreement that increase in tech availability and accessibility are a big and positive factor. My point is mainly that we need to augment tech with some social solutions to solve this problem rather than treating it as only a problem of technology + waiting for the problem to solve itself. And the problem looks different from country to country—the way we get people from developing countries into high-paying jobs is different from how we get underrepresented people from developed countries into high-paying jobs. It’s a complicated and hard problem. I just get annoyed when people are super reductive about it and pretend that there is one magic bullet to solve it (especially when, surprise! that purported bullet requires doing no extra work).