Marc, How I always enjoy reading your posts! Alex On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Marc Perkel <[log in to unmask]>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. >>> >>>