4 ms·

As horrible as it sounds, I think racism is a social problem in need of a technological solution. If people could change their physical appearance as easily an

by chroma 12y ago

As horrible as it sounds, I think racism is a social problem in need of a technological solution. If people could change their physical appearance as easily and as cheaply as their clothes, this problem would disappear overnight. If everyone could choose their gender, race, height, etc, there would be no point in discriminating based on those traits. To quote Dr. Seuss, people could change their appearance... > until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew > whether this one was that one... or that one was this one > or which one was what one... or what one was who. (Minus being scammed by Mr. McBean.) Sadly, that sort of technology won't be around for centuries, if ever. But I think we can get most of the way there with present-day tech. More and more jobs allow remote work, and on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. With the right blinding in the hiring process, we could make discrimination impossible. Even if the job isn't remote, the hiring evaluation could be done without meeting in person. Once a person is shown to be intelligent, mindful, productive, kind, etc... it's very hard to maintain a prejudice against any trait they may have been born with. This wouldn't solve the problem of a bias in applicants, but it would eliminate any implicit or unconscious discrimination.

cottonseed 12y ago
> With the right blinding in the hiring process, we could make discrimination impossible. Even if the job isn't remote, the hiring evaluation could be done without meeting in person. I've been suggesting for a while someone build a blind hiring website. I'm imagining you'd have a service to help cleanse gender, race, age, etc. information from the application materials. Even if you have phone or in-person late-stage interviews, this could radically change the makeup of the candidate pool at the final step. I agree that meeting might never be necessary. I know an academic department that doesn't meet faculty candidates because they find the application materials are a better predictor of the kind of academic success they're looking for. I'm inclined to think this is true more often, but I have no data.

by chroma 12y ago

cottonseed 12y ago

> With the right blinding in the hiring process, we could make discrimination impossible. Even if the job isn't remote, the hiring evaluation could be done without meeting in person. I've been suggesting for a while someone build a blind hiring website. I'm imagining you'd have a service to help cleanse gender, race, age, etc. information from the application materials. Even if you have phone or in-person late-stage interviews, this could radically change the makeup of the candidate pool at the final step. I agree that meeting might never be necessary. I know an academic department that doesn't meet faculty candidates because they find the application materials are a better predictor of the kind of academic success they're looking for. I'm inclined to think this is true more often, but I have no data.