3 ms·

Identity doesn't matter. Ideas matter. If you think the ideas in those books are bad, attack the ideas.

padolsey 1y ago
Ideas matter, yes. And distribution. If you want good coverage, read books from a more diverse crowd. If you want narrower ideas, do the opposite.
andrepd 1y ago
In a vacuum you would be right. However, such a skewed distribution is virtually guaranteed to be biased and expose you only to a very small sample of the ideas and experiences of humanity. It's not even a matter of the "ideas" being "bad", but rather being only a tiny sliver of the world.
- metalliqaz 1y ago
  Well, my point is that you don't actually know how diverse the authors are. It was just assumed by their identity. They could be immigrants. They could have been abused as children, or hungry. They could have been raised by wealthy tennis pros. They could have spent their lives hacking on electronics and playing chess, or they could have spent their lives camping and herding cattle. You have no idea. And this is true of someone from any part of the world.
latexr 1y ago
> Identity doesn't matter. Ideas matter. Your ideas are shaped in large part by your identity, which includes your socio-economical background, race, gender, sexual proclivity, country, and on and on. When you are only exposed to ideas from the same homogeneous group, your view of our heterogeneous world becomes deeply flawed. Diversity of identity is paramount for a diversity of ideas.
- satisfice 1y ago
  Diversity of ideas is not what most people want, is it? They want to know how to survive in a tough world.
  - latexr 1y ago
    If you want to learn “how to survive in a tough world”, the worst strategy you could follow is to to only read ideas from the group which dominates much of it. By your logic, you should be reading books specifically from people who face constant hardship and discrimination, which includes trans, homosexual, black people… Sure, throw in a few books from rich white men in the global north to learn how they think, but to only read from them would be a mistake. Even if you don’t want diversity of ideas, you need it to form an accurate picture of reality.
- Incipient 1y ago
  >Diversity of identity is paramount for a diversity of ideas. I don't think we really need a proliferation of diverse ideas. Put 10 people in a locked room with 10 different ideas, and you're probably going to find them arguing, not out, in a few hours. Don't get me wrong being stuck after 1 idea is bad, but I don't feel that's where we are today.
  - latexr 1y ago
    None of that has anything to do with the conversation, which is about reading books.
mcphage 1y ago
I mean, we’re looking at a list of books—and 24 out of 25 of them were written by men. So clearly identity matters to the compilers of this list.
- metalliqaz 11mo ago
  Another assumption.
  - mcphage 11mo ago
    Nah, it’s just math.

Ideas matter, yes. And distribution. If you want good coverage, read books from a more diverse crowd. If you want narrower ideas, do the opposite.

andrepd 1y ago

In a vacuum you would be right. However, such a skewed distribution is virtually guaranteed to be biased and expose you only to a very small sample of the ideas and experiences of humanity. It's not even a matter of the "ideas" being "bad", but rather being only a tiny sliver of the world.

metalliqaz 1y ago
Well, my point is that you don't actually know how diverse the authors are. It was just assumed by their identity. They could be immigrants. They could have been abused as children, or hungry. They could have been raised by wealthy tennis pros. They could have spent their lives hacking on electronics and playing chess, or they could have spent their lives camping and herding cattle. You have no idea. And this is true of someone from any part of the world.

latexr 1y ago

> Identity doesn't matter. Ideas matter. Your ideas are shaped in large part by your identity, which includes your socio-economical background, race, gender, sexual proclivity, country, and on and on. When you are only exposed to ideas from the same homogeneous group, your view of our heterogeneous world becomes deeply flawed. Diversity of identity is paramount for a diversity of ideas.

satisfice 1y ago
Diversity of ideas is not what most people want, is it? They want to know how to survive in a tough world.
- latexr 1y ago
  If you want to learn “how to survive in a tough world”, the worst strategy you could follow is to to only read ideas from the group which dominates much of it. By your logic, you should be reading books specifically from people who face constant hardship and discrimination, which includes trans, homosexual, black people… Sure, throw in a few books from rich white men in the global north to learn how they think, but to only read from them would be a mistake. Even if you don’t want diversity of ideas, you need it to form an accurate picture of reality.
Incipient 1y ago
>Diversity of identity is paramount for a diversity of ideas. I don't think we really need a proliferation of diverse ideas. Put 10 people in a locked room with 10 different ideas, and you're probably going to find them arguing, not out, in a few hours. Don't get me wrong being stuck after 1 idea is bad, but I don't feel that's where we are today.
- latexr 1y ago
  None of that has anything to do with the conversation, which is about reading books.

mcphage 1y ago

I mean, we’re looking at a list of books—and 24 out of 25 of them were written by men. So clearly identity matters to the compilers of this list.

metalliqaz 11mo ago
Another assumption.
- mcphage 11mo ago
  Nah, it’s just math.