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A math professor who objects to diversity statements

theatlantic.com

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Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#221

Post by psd1 »

godelski wrote: post #206
Freedom2 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Americans already don't understand progressive tax as a concept. How can we realistically expect them to understand ranked choice voting?

1) Americans don't understand progressive tax because they are constantly being bombarded with information as to what it means. If you watch Fox news daily you will have a misunderstanding on the matter. Take care to make generalizations when you see things like knowledge differences divided between party lines. People aren't different, but the information they get is. 2) Many social choice experts advocate for cardi…

It is plain from the stories of fox news orphans that information diet can ruin good people, but I refuse to believe that people aren't different.

I rebut your thesis thus: Oskar Schindler.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#222

Post by lr1970 »

ilaksh wrote: post #41

I hope more people will pick up on the danger of this slippery slope. Part of the problem though is that we seem to have a tendency towards polar vortices of worldviews that suck in various issues that aren't even necessarily strongly connected, just to make them more effective in opposing the other side in an excessively concentrated way. So there is this tendency of social activists towards conformance and centrali…

> So there is this tendency of social activists towards conformance and centralization in the direction of authoritarianism. But on the other side, total denial of any systemic social problems that results in increasing inequality leaving more and more people fighting for scraps as monopoly powers increase.

Basically, from both ends of the spectrum here comes the tendency of concentrating and monopolizing power politically or economically. We are losing agency as individuals actors in the society.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#223

Post by psd1 »

foofie wrote: post #191
ACow_Adonis wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same way other nations do?

It's vital that a democratic nation fully understands the method they use to elect representatives. People need to understand how their vote maps to a preference, and how their votes are tallied to determine who wins and who doesn't. If a significant share of the electorate does not understand the vote tallying process and expects an outcome different from the one that actually resulted from counting the votes, you w…

Maybe, but on a maslow pyramid of healthy democracy, that would be a tier above an informed electorate and critical thinking skills.

If you figure out how to develop those, please include Britain on your speaking tour.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#224

Post by nvm0n2 »

schneems wrote: post #74
ilaksh wrote: post #41

I hope more people will pick up on the danger of this slippery slope. Part of the problem though is that we seem to have a tendency towards polar vortices of worldviews that suck in various issues that aren't even necessarily strongly connected, just to make them more effective in opposing the other side in an excessively concentrated way. So there is this tendency of social activists towards conformance and centrali…

> we seem to have a tendency towards polar vortices of worldviews First past the poll voting with primaries encourages (forces) politicians to go to the extremes. Ranked choice voting can reduce extremism. It’s also cheaper for tax payers as it eliminates expensive and wildly discriminatory/disenfranchising runoff elections.

That's the wrong way around, I don't think any conventional analysis of voting systems concludes that.

FPTP forces parties to the center, because they have to be pre-formed coalitions before going to the polls. Single issue parties and fringe parties end up with nothing in FPTP.

That's why the usual argument for PR is that it allows smaller (fringe/extreme) parties to exist and have influence, so represents minorities better.

In practice this is what we see. Countries with PR often have very powerful fringe or single issue parties (often the Greens), whereas in countries with FPTP the main parties are all big tents that just represent the centre-left or centre-right.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#225

Post by throwaway_fjmr »

davidhbolton wrote: post #218
tyre wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

counterpoint to referendums: Brexit, which has been a disaster for Britain.

Why do people keep repeating this lie; there is no Brexit disaster. Life goes on as normal in post Brexit Britain; lockdowns did way more harm than Brexit and we've mostly recovered from those. The rest of the EU seems to be suffering more economically than Britain. We're selling more into the EU than when we were in the EU, have many trade agreements with US states and other countries, were ahead of the EU with Covi…

Geez dude, we are living in two very different Britains.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#226

Post by psd1 »

roenxi wrote: post #110
ilaksh wrote: post #41

I hope more people will pick up on the danger of this slippery slope. Part of the problem though is that we seem to have a tendency towards polar vortices of worldviews that suck in various issues that aren't even necessarily strongly connected, just to make them more effective in opposing the other side in an excessively concentrated way. So there is this tendency of social activists towards conformance and centrali…

Well, 'slippery slope' is a logical fallacy. The issue here, more precisely, is that without something to push against the US is inculcating ideas into the next generation of leaders that make ex-Soviets think "wait a second, this looks like home!". It isn't a slope, this is literally rebuilding the dangerous parts of authoritarian bureaucracy - people who can't think and are then given unearned and easily abusable p…

I support your railing against bureaucracy, but question your assertion that a specific quantity of public spending is bad.

Firstly, government spending does not imply greater bureaucracy; compare and contrast healthcare in America with pretty much anywhere else.

Secondly, fiscal policy should be dynamic and reactive to economic conditions. I don't pretend to understand Keynes, but I believe he established that principle beyond question. The Austrian school may have challenged it, but their axioms did not survive the light of day.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#227

Post by rayiner »

onetimeusename wrote: post #189
rayiner wrote: post #171

They’re also goddamn demeaning. My diversity statement would be outside the Overton window of the white ladies who get paid to read diversity statements. Why should I have to perform for them?

What makes you think only white ladies require these? That wouldn't be true of my school where that office is quite diverse. Are you saying that non-white people would never do something like racialize admissions and hiring? because I don't believe that

Something like 80% of university administrators are white: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/28/black-adminis.... The modern concept of “diversity” was created by white people. It is a framework the white people in charge of universities use to accommodate the demands of different non-white groups.

Besides, writing for someone from a different non-white group wouldn’t be any different. What context does a Mexican American have to understand my diversity statement? Nobody ever made fun of my school lunches as a kid. My diversity statement would involve leaving a third world military dictatorship under a level of paranoia where my dad at one point thought my uncle (a military colonel) had come to arrest him for political reasons. As a result I’m deeply skeptical about third world influences on American culture—after all, we came to Reagan’s America to get away from all that. Am I going to write about that? Obviously not. I’d have to write something shallow and performative.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#228

Post by rayiner »

davidhbolton wrote: post #218
tyre wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

counterpoint to referendums: Brexit, which has been a disaster for Britain.

Why do people keep repeating this lie; there is no Brexit disaster. Life goes on as normal in post Brexit Britain; lockdowns did way more harm than Brexit and we've mostly recovered from those. The rest of the EU seems to be suffering more economically than Britain. We're selling more into the EU than when we were in the EU, have many trade agreements with US states and other countries, were ahead of the EU with Covi…

Because they think they’re “citizens of the world” and ideologically believe nation-states are obsolete.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#229

Post by koheripbal »

bawolff wrote: post #67
danielvf wrote: post #52

Here's a scoring guide from a US university for DEI statements. To me it's much more informative to go to primary sources for what is selected for, rather than only reading about them second hand. https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversit...

Thanks,i agree its best to look at it directly. But i do wonder what lines like "Clearly formulates new ideas for advancing equity and inclusion at Berkeley and within their field, through their research,..." mean What does it mean for a math professor to advance diversity through their research? Like i could maybe get it for the arts or even some social sciences, but what does that look like for math?

> new ideas for advancing equity and inclusion

It means providing research containing useful narratives that can be used by others to promote DEI political objectives.

For example, in math it means publishing commentary on how math is widely used for racial discrimination and should generally not be trusted. See the popular book "Math Is Racist". Several Mathematicians are cited in the book.

Re: A math professor who objects to diversity statements

#230

Post by 0dayz »

The issue I've always felt about this is this requirement of everyone having to do direct action that ultimately is just performative meant to virtue signal for a cause.

Which is why these people who support it conveniently will mostly only talk about it from a systemic perspective, as to ensure that they do not have to put money where their mouth is.

Since just advocating for higher taxes (that goes to struggling single parents programs for instance) or having university donate say 20 million dollars a year instead of spending it on administration would directly encourage a better society.

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