++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 <[log in to unmask] > <mailto:[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. > >