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0 pointsAdeptusAquinas10y ago0 comments

In other words, correlation DOES imply causation right? And any evidence to the contrary is a conspiracy theory by the 'pundit class'.

Gender bias towards a given domain is a generational problem, like racism or homophobia and so on. Changes do not happen overnight, and because they haven't happened over night does not imply that 'white or asian men are innately better at tech than the other 95% of the population'.

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rewqfdsa10y ago

Do you think that in a fair world, it is necessarily the case that every profession is a microcosm of the population as a whole?

Let me ask a different way: in a world where no unjustice exists, is it possible for programming to be 80% men?

AdeptusAquinasOP10y ago

Programming is a purely intellectual activity, so I would argue that there is no gender or racial advantage one way or the other.

Contrast this with, for example, physical professions like professional basketball, where the faster ability to grow in fitness and strength, along with certain racial advantages with height or speed means the population tends to skew in one direction - enough so that creating separate leagues allows for fairer representation.

Software development is not like that. The very fact that the majority of programmers used to be women back when it started should be enough to show that current bias' are societal or fashion-based.

rewqfdsa10y ago

So, for clarity: your answer to my second question is "no, such a world is inherently unfair"?

> Programming is a purely intellectual activity, so I would argue that there is no gender or racial advantage one way or the other.

Thank you for so succinctly stating the blank-slate position. I don't see any reason to agree with it. You acknowledge that there are important group differences below the neck; why should there be none above it?

> majority of programmers used to be women

I read that article too. You don't mention that "programming" back then was largely data entry.

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0 pointsAdeptusAquinas10y ago0 comments

In other words, correlation DOES imply causation right? And any evidence to the contrary is a conspiracy theory by the 'pundit class'.

0 comments

rewqfdsa10y ago

Do you think that in a fair world, it is necessarily the case that every profession is a microcosm of the population as a whole?

Let me ask a different way: in a world where no unjustice exists, is it possible for programming to be 80% men?

AdeptusAquinasOP10y ago

Programming is a purely intellectual activity, so I would argue that there is no gender or racial advantage one way or the other.

Software development is not like that. The very fact that the majority of programmers used to be women back when it started should be enough to show that current bias' are societal or fashion-based.

rewqfdsa10y ago

So, for clarity: your answer to my second question is "no, such a world is inherently unfair"?

> Programming is a purely intellectual activity, so I would argue that there is no gender or racial advantage one way or the other.

> majority of programmers used to be women

I read that article too. You don't mention that "programming" back then was largely data entry.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse