Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> So, back to the old "white guys only" astronaut hiring policy of the moon landings era?

We should want the best astronauts, not the most diverse. It's the same as wanting the best doctor, or the best pilot.

The UK team for Olympic 100m is majority non-white. I have no doubt that these are amongst the fastest people in the world. Based on DEI standards, should we pick people who are shown slower just to make a more colourful team?

> Calling BS on this, they're not going to simply state "DEI" as a reason.

You can call BS all you like, the application literally stated it so. The threshold for funding was met, but was rejected on the basis.






> We should want the best astronauts, not the most diverse

Considering color or religion doesn't have any impact on the ability of someone to be a "best astronaut", if your groups isn't diverse, it's most likely there is a bias in action.


No, that isn't true at all. Employers can only hire from the pool that exists. If the applicant pool is 90% white dudes, then an unbiased hiring process will result in a very skewed employee demographic. Assuming bias based on differences in statistics is motivated reasoning and should not be entertained.

And why would the applicant pool be 90% white dudes?

Because the non-whites and non-Asians can't pass academic tests as easily?

And then why are non-white and non-Asian students not passing academic tests at the same rate as their counterparts?

Nobody really knows. A mixture of their environment, parenting, and genetics probably. I don't know what extent of which and I don't think anyone does.

If some racial groups on average are a standard deviation below 100 IQ, then they would tend to have lower representation on merit basis.

Funny you'd use "best actor" as an example. What makes the best actor? For a long time there were no leading Asian male actors for example, is that because Asians can't act or because of cultural bias?



Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: