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Female Founders

paulgraham.com

621–630 of 634 posts

Re: Female Founders

#621
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just have to go to central places (cafes, libraries). It's not easy. Also, not everything we do needs internet -- we tear apart and rebuild desktops -- that's actually a fairly easy thing to teach even a young kid.

Can you source a router and teach them to build their own internet over private LAN? There is a huge range of basic to one-day advanced things they could do with socket programming and building basic client/servers to have fun with. Then source some donations and build a neighbourhood mesh network. Note: I'm a woman and started this way teaching myself C when young. Client/server tutorials were one of the most fun, I…

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Re: Female Founders

#622
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just have to go to central places (cafes, libraries). It's not easy. Also, not everything we do needs internet -- we tear apart and rebuild desktops -- that's actually a fairly easy thing to teach even a young kid.

Can you source a router and teach them to build their own internet over private LAN? There is a huge range of basic to one-day advanced things they could do with socket programming and building basic client/servers to have fun with. Then source some donations and build a neighbourhood mesh network. Note: I'm a woman and started this way teaching myself C when young. Client/server tutorials were one of the most fun, I…

I'm not part of an organization -- it's mostly 1:1 with people I find through other volunteering (Big Brothers, talking at middle schools, etc). We wing it based on their interest.

I posted because PG said a YC non-profit was looking at this and wanted to say that if you want a kid to program at home, the issue is that they need access to the Internet (to get to a client/server tutorial, for example). His statement seemed to say that access to hardware was the problem, which in my experience, is not the case.

In my 1:1 cases, I can manage.

EDIT to add the footnote text from the article

Many kids now have computers with Internet access, but kids from poor families often don't. So to get them interested in programming you also have to solve the problem of hardware somehow. That is among the problems being attacked by one of the nonprofits in the current YC batch.

The problem of not having a "computer with Internet access" is not a "problem of hardware", it's the Internet part.

Re: Female Founders

#623
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How have you been working to overcome the lack of access to the internet? This is something I've been giving a lot of thought lately.

If you're seriously interested in this topic, I'd suggest looking into the work being done by Evan Marwell from Education Superhighway.

This is an excellent initiative. However, their focus is on in-school internet, which may be a problem in some places, but not near me. The in-school internet is fine, and they even have some technical classes.

But, to a kid, that wants to follow their own interests, they need the internet at home. Not having it at home is a huge disadvantage to the poor.

Re: Female Founders

#624
post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'But it does feel tbat a person must be deliberately trollin when they trot out the same tired bullshit that other idiots spout, especially when that bullshit has been debunked on the same forum that they're posting to and when it is so easy to debunk with a simple websearch. It feels as if some people like living their lives with the blinkers on.' Well then, since I'm spouting "bullshit" (your words): Educate me. Le…

Just search HN for [women construction] and you'll see a bunch of MRAs making the point that there are no programmes to get women into construction, and people giving examples of such programmes across a range of countries. Your inability, or unwillingness, to perform a simple websearch even when given suitable search terms tells me all I need to know about your desire to find facts and make corrections to your weong…

"Your inability, or unwillingness, to perform a simple websearch even when given suitable search terms tells me all I need to know about your desire to find facts and make corrections to your weong statements."

And your hair-trigger temper and vitriol tell me all I need to know about you.

Re: Female Founders

#625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yes, he's shocked, he's genuinely shocked, he finds it all such a shame. I mean, really. People claiming outrage and shock at having just discovered the existence of affirmative action in a country that practiced aparthied in some parts within living memory are either outstandingly ignorant, stupid, or lying through their teeth.

I haven't just discovered the concept of affirmative action. I don't live in the country in question either FWIW. I have just discovered the concept of widespread support for racial and sexual segregation in a tech education [charity?] group in the USA. I have just discovered that not only was this link mentioned in the highest voted comment on a HN thread but also my objection to such racism - passed off as you so n…

Ok, the reason I was questioning your sincerity was not because of the argument presented, as much as that the subject combined with some of the language cues and the context set off some sort of baysian based bullshit detector in my head that was ringing like a big fucking gong. It isn't always perfect, but it is usually good and it was ringing pretty loudly, which is why I stopped beating around the bush. I am not the only person here, looking at the other comments, that strongly suspected you of trolling here. If you are not, then you have my complete apologies.

Now as to why I think that this club is ok, is not because I think that skin colour has any relevance in learning to code. Also, if I thought they were being exclusively for black girls, rather than just targetting them, then I would not give this any time, but that seems to be evidently not the case.

The sad fact is that skin colour has deep relevance in the US because it is still such a deeply divided and institutionally racist country in many ways, especially if you do not have enough money to sugar the pill.

If you are a teenage black girl in poverty in the US you are bombarded with media telling you what defines a teenage black girl in poverty in the US. You are marketed to as a teenage black girl in poverty, you are educated as a teenage black girl in poverty.

And unless you are unusually idiosyncratic, you will already have bought the story you are being sold by the time you are a teenager.

Most people buy the story they are sold by the society around them.

As far as I am concerned, given the society and history of the US, the club BlackGirlsCode is not spreading the message, "coding is a black thing", it is spreading the message "black girls are able and allowed to code", which is a positive thing. It isn't forcing people to think of themselves in a certain way, it is trying to start with how the people they are trying to help are already viewing themselves, it is accepting that the society is really screwed right now and so sod trying to destroy tribalism in one fell swoop, as that is a big job and may take a few more generations, lets try and get people to widen their horizons and do something about the massive technological literacy gap. Clubs called BlackGirlsCode in the US are needed for exactly the same reason that organisations dedicated to literacy for Dalit women in India are neccessary.

Personally I would rather that society drop the whole black/white thing altogether as a description of skin colour, as not only is the binary designation one of the most heinous divide and conquer traps that is going, but I think that the terms are also woefully inaccurate and unfit for purpose as descriptive adjectives. However I rarely get a good response to that, so convincing society in general of that one is really more of a long game.

Re: Female Founders

#626

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This was in context to the previous comment about power dynamics There is no reasonable sense in which it is accurate to say that Black Girls Code is geared for "black girls vs. white girls". There might be some vague sense (though its still a very bad and misleading way of putting things by inventing a conflict which is not essential to the focus) to saying it is geared for black girls vs. white boys .

can a white girl join black girls who code? a conflict nonetheless exists whether or not it is intended by the organization. remember the segregation concept of 'separate but equal' ? it wasn't intended and it was not the focus of segregation to deliver unequal qualities of life, but by the implementation that is exactly what happened and I'd say, conflicts created by organizations like this shouldn't be ignored. you…

> can a white girl join black girls who code?

From everything I've seen about their actual policies, including in this thread, yes.

Re: Female Founders

#627

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actually MLK acted perfectly Q: How many times was Dr. King arrested? A: He was arrested 30 times. (From http://www.thekingcenter.org/faqs ) Or go read Letter From a Birmingham Jail: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.h... It was a letter rooted in anger: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/king-birmingham-jail-letter... In it, he writes: "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis a…

> >Actually MLK acted perfectly Q: How many times was Dr. King arrested? A: He was arrested 30 times. Perfectly as in "perfectly good in my books", not perfectly legal or Mother Teresa like. In fact in my very next sentense I lament that they present him as much more timid for how dynamic he was.

Ah, ok. Sorry for jumping to conclusions. I took it as more of the tone policing rampant in this discussion. I'm glad to hear that wasn't the intention.

Re: Female Founders

#628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have a lot of opinions on the right way to do this. What experience do you have that would encourage others to give weight to your opinions? Perhaps you can share a couple of your notable successes and a couple of instructive failures. Having talked with a lot of people you consider "disadvantaged" about this, they mostly disagree with you. As do plenty of other people. I personally find the framing of pr…

My experience is that of a white male. Does that make my opinions or viewpoint any less valid in your eyes? I've expressed one opinion on 'the right way to do this'. Help the disadvantaged - and don't vilify those with perceived advantages that they have no control over. I could ask the exact same thing of your background and why you feel that your opinion is more valid than mine, but instead I'd prefer to address th…

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Re: Female Founders

#629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have a lot of opinions on the right way to do this. What experience do you have that would encourage others to give weight to your opinions? Perhaps you can share a couple of your notable successes and a couple of instructive failures. Having talked with a lot of people you consider "disadvantaged" about this, they mostly disagree with you. As do plenty of other people. I personally find the framing of pr…

My experience is that of a white male. Does that make my opinions or viewpoint any less valid in your eyes? I've expressed one opinion on 'the right way to do this'. Help the disadvantaged - and don't vilify those with perceived advantages that they have no control over. I could ask the exact same thing of your background and why you feel that your opinion is more valid than mine, but instead I'd prefer to address th…

FWIW, I'm "disadvantaged" in a lot of ways both in reality and even by SJW standards, and I 100% agree with what you're saying. Thanks for typing it out. Don't let the sexists/racists get you down.

It's horrifying to me in a very visceral way when I see SJWs advocate for discriminatory treatment towards people for the way they born in the name of [minority subtype of the population I happen to belong to], when I've suffered so terribly for the way I was born myself. How can these people think that I'd want to visit that on others? (And even if I did, I'm pretty sure I still wouldn't want other people doing it for me...)

Re: Female Founders

#630
post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is insinuating that Asian, Indian, etc women and men have corrupted it for their own beefit, and that this corruption somehow benefits a mutual-aid society of white males. Is that what you intend to claim?

Have you ever heard of the term "old boys club", how about "glass ceiling"? These terms didn't come out of a vacuum.

How about the "glass floor"?
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