4 ms·

>And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. Could you elaborat

>And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. Could you elaborate? Here, the article states that 1% of all applicants are black. How can the demographics of those who apply at all be attributed to bias on Y Combinator's part, intentional or otherwise?

graeme 12y ago
I didn't say YC was biased, specifically. I meant we all our, inasmuch as our culture produces bias against black people. Growing up in a biased culture, it would be very, very, very difficult not to acquire any. This idea has received some empirical validation from the implicit biases test. Some details here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.ht... Other studies have compared the performance of white vs. black names. http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html The evidence suggests that most people are biased, yet think they are not. Removing this unconscious bias from our society will take time. So I meant that almost EVERYBODY is likely to discriminate, at least if current evidence pointing that way is correct. Therefore, unless an organization takes conscious effort, it will discriminate. But on the bright side, merely by taking such conscious effort, an organization can both help itself AND help a disadvantaged group. And leading the way forward is one mechanism to reduce unconscious bias. I am sure, for instance, that Obama's presidency has made today's children far less likely to be biased.
- meowface 12y ago
  I agree that we all have implicit bias, and I also agree that it's good YC is broadcasting itself to groups of all kinds, but I doubt bias plays any significant role in the demographics of past and current YC batches, at least when looked at directly (choosing which applicants to accept, as opposed to indirect societal biases possibly causing people not to apply or to choose a different path).
  - cfield 12y ago
    Accepting that we all have implicit bias but saying that it doesn't play a significant role in who YC accepts seems to suggest that the YC application review process is able to overcome implicit bias. This may be true to some degree because of the number of steps and people involved in reviewing applications. However, I'm skeptical that it's so effective that it makes bias play an insignificant role.
    - meowface 12y ago
      I think it's unfair to assume that bias plays a role simply based on the truism of "we all have implicit bias". YC is run by a good group of intelligent people who are very aware of such biases.

graeme 12y ago

I didn't say YC was biased, specifically. I meant we all our, inasmuch as our culture produces bias against black people. Growing up in a biased culture, it would be very, very, very difficult not to acquire any. This idea has received some empirical validation from the implicit biases test. Some details here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.ht... Other studies have compared the performance of white vs. black names. http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html The evidence suggests that most people are biased, yet think they are not. Removing this unconscious bias from our society will take time. So I meant that almost EVERYBODY is likely to discriminate, at least if current evidence pointing that way is correct. Therefore, unless an organization takes conscious effort, it will discriminate. But on the bright side, merely by taking such conscious effort, an organization can both help itself AND help a disadvantaged group. And leading the way forward is one mechanism to reduce unconscious bias. I am sure, for instance, that Obama's presidency has made today's children far less likely to be biased.

meowface 12y ago
I agree that we all have implicit bias, and I also agree that it's good YC is broadcasting itself to groups of all kinds, but I doubt bias plays any significant role in the demographics of past and current YC batches, at least when looked at directly (choosing which applicants to accept, as opposed to indirect societal biases possibly causing people not to apply or to choose a different path).
- cfield 12y ago
  Accepting that we all have implicit bias but saying that it doesn't play a significant role in who YC accepts seems to suggest that the YC application review process is able to overcome implicit bias. This may be true to some degree because of the number of steps and people involved in reviewing applications. However, I'm skeptical that it's so effective that it makes bias play an insignificant role.
  - meowface 12y ago
    I think it's unfair to assume that bias plays a role simply based on the truism of "we all have implicit bias". YC is run by a good group of intelligent people who are very aware of such biases.