"But the one thing we cannot do is demand that the entire world see signals differently than they see them out on the street." We can work on it instead of try

"But the one thing we cannot do is demand that the entire world see signals differently than they see them out on the street." We can work on it instead of trying to justify such a narrow conception of what a competent programmer looks like. We can and do make progress on how people interpret the appearances of others.