[NCSG-Discuss] On Diversity and Discrimination

[Carl Smith]

++1

Lou

On 2/1/2013 1:07 AM, Alex Gakuru wrote:
> Marc,
>
> How I always enjoy reading your posts!
>
> Alex
>
> On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Marc Perkel <marc at churchofreality.org 
> <mailto:marc at churchofreality.org>> wrote:
>
>     I agree on interest diversity. Third world view needs
>     representation. I'm from West Virginia, kind of third world if
>     you've ever been there. NGOs, education, Libertarians, genius
>     geeks, and hookers. Hookers are always being discriminated against.
>
>     But - I agree with the premise about a broad range of ideas. But
>     I'm not sure that the source of broad range means gender/sexual
>     preferences/ or the frequencies of light reflected off the surface
>     of the skin. Especially since we communicate by email, I have no
>     idea what color anyone is, nor do I care. If we go back 75,000
>     years we all come from Africa and humans are less genetically
>     diverse than my 3 cats.
>
>     One person volunteered he was a white straight guy. This is a tech
>     and policy forum. Color doesn't matter. There a plenty of women
>     here and this list seems if anything slightly female dominate, so
>     gender isn't a problem. As to sexual orientation, I don't see the
>     world in terms of just straight and LGBT as if those were the only
>     two sexual preferences. I like hippy women, geeks, prostitutes,
>     and women from Craigslist. I have no idea if the BDSM community is
>     represented. What about polygamy? Or celebacy?
>
>     I think we need a balance of 49ers vs. Ravens fans.
>
>     What about diversity of drug use? Or politics? Is America ready
>     for a white president in 2016? Do we have enough Republicans in
>     this group? I tried to find some anarchists but they didn't want
>     to join. What about stupid people? Should policy only be made by
>     people who are smart? Did you know that half of all people are
>     below average?
>
>     This group already seems pretty diverse to me.  Are we missing any
>     perspective?
>
>     Sorry - sometimes I get on a rant.
>
>
>     On 1/31/2013 6:28 PM, Dan Krimm wrote:
>
>         Not sure how it works on Kolob, but "discrimination" has
>         virtually nothing
>         to do with this.  I think that's a spurious point.
>
>         The point is really about capturing the broad range of ideas
>         that may
>         apply to policy making.  Regardless of individual talent,
>         there may be a
>         narrow characteristic to the experience of any individual, and
>         including
>         other individuals with other experience may allow the group as
>         a whole to
>         "think" of some ideas or implications that it may not imagine
>         without a
>         diverse group.  Some of those ideas may be the best ones, in
>         the context
>         of a particular policy deliberation, or may lead to ideas that
>         no single
>         participant would have thought of without the collective
>         discourse.
>
>         I think this diversity is especially important geographically,
>         but other
>         demographic variation is important too.
>
>         It's not about what is valuable to any individual in the
>         opportunity to
>         participate.  It's about what is valuable to the group in
>         having diverse
>         participation.  It's about a better group outcome.
>
>         If a sports team doesn't have a good diverse balance of
>         athletic roles
>         (say, a basketball team with all centers and no guards, or
>         vice versa), it
>         won't compete very well.  Policy teams have similar dynamics.
>
>         Dan
>
>
>
>         On Thu, January 31, 2013 6:12 pm, Marc Perkel wrote:
>
>             I'm leaning against the idea of diversity/discrimination
>             in decision
>             making bodies unless there is a reason to do so. One can
>             not assume that
>             discrimination exists by default. I don't know if you are
>             talking about
>             this email group or not but I have no idea what
>             color/gender/or sexual
>             orientation anyone on this list is. Nor do I care. I see
>             it as a
>             distinction without a difference.
>
>             I myself am a cybernetic artificial life form from the
>             future. I come
>             from the planet Kolob. We are an androgynous species. We
>             reproduce by
>             mitosis, which is splitting in half creating 2
>             individuals. We are
>             either invisible or appear to be whatever shape we choose
>             to make you
>             puny humans feel comfortable. We are a telepathic race and
>             share a
>             singular consciousness. I communicate with you using a
>             subspace
>             inter-dimentional modem.
>
>

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