91–100 of 121 posts
not sure why they dont do India - has significant consular presence in African countries (african medical tourism is huge in India) as well as being much easier to reach from Western countries. We also have constitutional protection for LGBT communities and privacy - something that Ethiopia lacks. The Indian govt will throw money at you if you do something like this here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It is kind of sad that we have this way of carving up the world into arbitrary pieces and calling us "us" and them "the enemy". It's not arbitrary, our ancestors in many cases fought and died to establish those lines so that they could live their lives how they wanted within those lines. They worked hard so that their children and grandchildren and fellow citizens could have better lives within those lines. To disco…
We do not have any influence on which side of the line we are born : that's purely luck.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe that identity may affect a person’s ability to do science, since there’s a correlations between identity and economic status. That said, science is about equality of opportunities, not about equality of outcomes. This means that we should of course strive for having easier access to universities for people of all backgrounds. But after that Academia is PURE meritocracy. Anyone who fights for more graduates…
> But after that Academia is PURE meritocracy. Are you claiming it is a pure meritocracy or that it aspires to being such? If the former then I think that's remarkably optimistic to the point of naivety so I'll presume you mean the latter.
I welcome the choice of moving the conference to a place where there are no logistic problems. As a scientist, however, I abhor organizations such as BlacksInAI: in science there’s no place for identity politics.
> there’s no place for identity politics. There's no such thing as an absence of identity politics. Only the politics of the status quo, which as we know has not been fantastic for PoC, women, LGBT+, ...
Sure there is! Its name is meritocracy.
Stories like this make me realize how unfairly privileged I actually am by having the passport that I have. I can go damn near anywhere in the world without much fuss. But I was just lucky enough to be born on the right side of some line that somebody drew on a map at some time in the past. The folks a few km distant - on the other side of that line - don't have that same luxury. It is kind of sad that we have this w…
> It is kind of sad that we have this way of carving up the world into arbitrary pieces and calling us "us" and them "the enemy".
Is it? Is it also sad that we carve up "homes" and "money" for ourselves? Would you give us your address and let any individual just walk into your home?
Instead of crying over your privilege and virtue signaling on social media, why not do something about it? You only have your unfair privilege because you choose to keep it. Why?
Why would the issue even come up? Do people go to AI conferences expecting to have sex there?
Lest you think this is a problem only for Africans & USA: I was denied visa, going to present my paper at NIPS 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. Czech citizen (EU), PhD student at the time, with obvious ties to CZ. I fully respect each country's right to refuse anyone, including without providing a reason (as was the case with me). I see it as "their loss" :-) You pesky computer scientists, stay away!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because you don’t have to actually have sex to be arrested for homosexuality
Sure, because they would try to prosecute a foreigner for his sexuality during a science conference.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
thats absolutely true for america. he might've been from europe though, and we really did have ... a lot of blood wasted to draw out these lines... we kept killing each other for them
That still isn't noble.
bloodshed and misery of the commons is a very ... 'noble' thing. by which i mean that every noble in europes history enjoyed it.
i'd agree to the spirit of your message though, and the grandparent post probably as well. he probably didn't mean it like you interpreted it
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in science there’s no place for identity politics Sounds like a "theory vs practice thing". Do you believe that identity should not, and/or does not affect a person's ability to practice science to the best of their potential? Of course I believe that in theory it should not but in practice it does. Organizations that try to correct, compensate, steer, etc. things towards where they should be, need to exist because…
I believe that identity may affect a person’s ability to do science, since there’s a correlations between identity and economic status. That said, science is about equality of opportunities, not about equality of outcomes. This means that we should of course strive for having easier access to universities for people of all backgrounds. But after that Academia is PURE meritocracy. Anyone who fights for more graduates…
This is pure naivety.