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Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

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Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#81

Post by lawnchair_larry »

sbierwagen wrote: post #30
tuna-piano wrote: post #9

What person from an underrepresented group wants to be chosen just because of their group status? Isn't that highly patronizing for someone who likely had worked hard to get to where they got? Do you want to be "pretty great for a xxxxx person!" or just "one of the best". Is this a lesson that people want their kids to learn? Doesn't this also lead discrimination actually being a rational (and maybe ethical) thing to…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas >Thomas has recollected that his Yale Juris Doctor degree was not taken seriously by law firms to which he applied after graduating. He said that potential employers assumed he obtained it because of affirmative action policies.[18] In 1969 Dean Louis Pollak wrote that the law school was expanding its program of quotas for black applicants, with up to 24 entering that yea…

This effect was so obvious from the outset that it frustrates the hell out of me how many people didn’t see how shortsighted these policies are.

People who genuinely care about the success of those who were given fewer opportunities were called racist for pointing this out, and the righteous virtue signalers ended up doing way more damage to the groups they were supposedly helping. Same thing is currently happening with women in tech.

Hiring quotas and racist/sexist hiring policies make more problems, not fewer problems. It doesn’t matter which group is on which side of these policies. They are inherently bad for everyone.

Yet, people can’t fathom how a black man like Thomas could lean conservative. They all think that he must be an self-hating fool who doesn’t get it, and as a result, he’s on the receiving end of some of the most racist language of any public figure, being called Uncle Tom and Coon probably more than anybody else. They don’t entertain the possibility that maybe he knows something that they don’t.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#82

Post by ikeyany »

tuna-piano wrote: post #23

For those who don't read the article, here's a quote: "Unless you're only selling to white people, if I was at a firm I would want every point of view represented in the investment process" Is this how people view the world these days? Where skin color is important? I feel like I'm totally lost and saddened by this new race-focused world. Can someone please tell me when I can go back to caring about the quality of ai…

Consider that black people in America do not have the luxury of forgetting about race.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#83

Post by mullingitover »

Avicebron wrote: post #75
malandrew wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, for the time period when this study was done, the most successful businesses will be in cities where there is statistically a more diverse pool to draw from. Is the cause the diversity or is it that cities are generally hyper-competitive places that draw the most competitive people in society and filter out those that can't hack it. Your reason and my reason are just two possibilities of reversed causa…

China is a great example, very mono-cultural (relative to the US, I know there is different great diversity in China) and (personal experience) a bit racist or dismissive of Non-Chinese. Yet they absolute crush it with almost everything they do? How do we square that circle and say well..if everyone just looked different we would be better off. Minus the white people, they shouldn't be around anymore.

It's pretty easy to pick this apart. China is actually quite diverse culturally, but communism has long had a focus on equality. They're demonstrating that equality is a competitive advantage.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#84

Post by dang »

malandrew wrote: post #61
dang wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't conclude anything from a single thread. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23555398 Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules on HN? I'm afraid you've been breaking them in two ways. First, it's not ok to use the site primarily [1] for political or ideological battle. That's probably the single most destructive thing people do here, because battle mode…

For people to use a consistent identity especially with issues where you get fired for an unorthodox opinion, it's necessary for people to be able to go back and delete comments that could be used to doxx them. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of HN and why I increasingly use throwaway accounts.

I can meet you partway on that by agreeing that there are lots of constraints on this problem. But if someone is repeatedly creating accounts on HN just to post on flamewar topics, that's not a high quality use of the site.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#85

Post by rukittenme »

bmcfeeley wrote: post #28
TheGrim999 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this will be hard to accept, but no matter how many people tell me that minorities are being killed because of the color of their skin, I've noticed that not a single one of these people ever include any facts or data to back up that claim. Sure, black people are killed by police. So are white people. So are people of every race. All the actual data I've seen is that black people are killed less frequently, in…

You've brought exactly as many sources to bear in this conversation as the parent you've replied to, which is to say, none. When admonishing others for their lack of sources and making a counterclaim, you may want to consider providing the source yourself. As for sources of evidence suggesting disproportionate use of force against black persons, here's one to consider: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC608…

I think the GP would use your source to prove his point as well. An absolute disparity of 2.8x but it does not consider the level of violent crime a particular racial category commits.

Your source also suggests unarmed white people are nearly twice as likely to be shot than unarmed Hispanics. Doesn't that contradict the narrative of racist motive by white police?

I have to wonder how many people were killed by police. Was it 100 or 10,000? The difference in magnitude could see these racial biases diminish or worsen.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#86

Post by lawnchair_larry »

karpierz wrote: post #45
tmpz22 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I removed that portion of my comment before I saw your response because it was a poorly developed thought that detracted from the substance of my original comment.

The point is that we shouldn't adapt our processes because people feel cheated. Just because you feel like someone didn't earn something doesn't mean much.

So you agree with the parent then, affirmative action and quotas should have never existed in the first place?

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#87

Post by lawnchair_larry »

bitcurious wrote: post #56
lbj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence/studies to back up this point of view? Sowell has done quite a bit of research which backs up his conclusions. He has a couple of books on the subject you might be interested in.

I don’t have any studies I could point to, but there is the fact that children of immigrants are over represented as founders. I unscientifically attribute that to growing up with two points of view on everything - the old country and the new. It gives you ideas.

Obvious selection bias, if that’s even true.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#88

Post by lawnchair_larry »

OminousWeapons wrote: post #48
lbj wrote: post #17

I still don't see the value in diversity for diversities sake. Having read much from Thomas Sowell on the matter I think most of these terms will lead to much worse outcomes than what we have present day.

The classic argument in favor of diversity for diversity's sake is that people frame expectations for themselves based on what they see around them. If there are no members of group X in a field, then many people in group X will assume that field is not for them. At a societal level, we miss out if people who would have been highly productive in a field choose not to enter it behind assumptions about inclusion. By in…

That’s always been a really silly assertion backed by a very small number of cherry picked examples.

How does anything we buy in the US even work at all, considering it’s all made in China by people of a different culture and race with zero diversity and zero representation of the customer?

We shouldn’t accept arguments like this, no matter how uncomfortable the righteous want to make us feel for thinking critically.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#89

Post by lawnchair_larry »

ikeyany wrote: post #82
tuna-piano wrote: post #23

For those who don't read the article, here's a quote: "Unless you're only selling to white people, if I was at a firm I would want every point of view represented in the investment process" Is this how people view the world these days? Where skin color is important? I feel like I'm totally lost and saddened by this new race-focused world. Can someone please tell me when I can go back to caring about the quality of ai…

Consider that black people in America do not have the luxury of forgetting about race.

Consider that this is a lie being peddled both to black people and to white people.

Re: Want to Solve Venture Capital's Diversity Problem? Start with Pension Funds

#90

Post by callmeal »

tuna-piano wrote: post #9

What person from an underrepresented group wants to be chosen just because of their group status? Isn't that highly patronizing for someone who likely had worked hard to get to where they got? Do you want to be "pretty great for a xxxxx person!" or just "one of the best". Is this a lesson that people want their kids to learn? Doesn't this also lead discrimination actually being a rational (and maybe ethical) thing to…

>But if the top 90 of the 100 medical students are chosen and then 10 are chosen because of non-relevant factors (race, gender, etc)... doesn't it become rational (and maybe morally acceptable) to try and avoid choosing those lesser-qualified 10 for your life-or-death surgery?

Isn't that assuming test scores have a linear relationship to ability? I would pick one of the conscientious hardworking "lesser-scoring" surgeon over the class valedictorian who might just happen to be a functioning alcoholic.

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