Do we need dei in tech?

If you are correct then DEI companies will be more profitable than those without because that's how capitalism works. Whatever makes the most money is the market winner. If being woke is more profitable then most companies will be woke.

DEI policies force employers to look at all potential employees as members of ethnicity- and gender-based categories. Some people object to the racism and sexism inherent in this forced ontology and don't see how it fits with meritocracy. Me, for one.

On a meta level, attempting to control what and how people think (not just what they do) is totalitarian, and I want no part of such a society. Too much of actually-implemented DEI stuff comes across as attempting to control what we think, not just what we do.

Another result of DEI as implemented is that DEI is just another set of power levers that is used to maintain and reinforce existing power structures. People from the Ivies are making up the DEI jargon and rituals, and gatekeeping (continued) employment using facility with these as one of their tools of control.

If DEI created better outcomes we would see basketball teams ditching a few black players for weaker individual players of other skin colours.

DEI and "wokeness" was popular back when most of tech was unprofitable advertising-funded ("growth & engagement") garbage which which is extremely risk-averse and vulnerable to public opinion, thus copious amounts of virtue signalling were needed and DEI filled that niche. These companies were more akin to playgrounds than actual for-profit enterprises.

That era is over - the majority of unprofitable companies have been purged, what remains makes actual money and is much less exposed to public opinion. Therefore, not only is there much less need to virtue-signal, but said virtue signalling and people behind it is now a major expense deemed unnecessary in what is now a for-profit company whose primary objective is to make profit (and not be a playground). Thus, "DEI" people get the boot.

Is this to say some of the concepts behind DEI are bad or unnecessary? No, but you don'y need "DEI" for that, you just need a competent HR department. It should be HR's job to deal with cases of racism, discrimination or noxious unprofessional conduct.

I don't think it's about a Darwinism philosophy. I do think there are some players stereotyped out of the NBA or NCAA, based on a recruiter's perception of what said player can do and the opportunities given to said player. It's pretty undeniable what a player with great skill and commitment can do with a good team. So maybe the focus should be on giving better chances.