| > Why do all the CEOs come from the same handful of schools and have the same backgrounds? Is that the only way to acquire the skills? I don’t think this is the case. Sure, for most of the largest companies that is true, but that’s not a representative sample size. > Does mere access to knowledge directly increase intelligence? Very exciting implications if so. Yes, at the population level over generational time periods. I wasn’t able to find the sources here, but I’ll keep looking and edit my comment when I do. > (Or would you rather treat everyone as equal, let talent go to waste, and become stagnant?) I don't think these things are connected at all. If you're going to draw a link between them then do so, but putting them together in a sentence doesn't establish that. You’re right, it doesn’t, and I think this issue is too complex and nuanced to actually reach any objective argument. I’ll gladly retract my statement under the guise that there are too many definitions of stagnation, and there are also many different factors that can affect whether and how people are motivated to work hard and contribute to society. So it's difficult to make a definitive statement about whether treating everyone equally will always lead to stagnation and I was wrong in doing so. I want to say I appreciate and agree with most of your insights. I do truly believe that the current social-economic structure does provide many unfair advantages to those at the top, that’s an unfortunate side-effect that we have great people working on. I also appreciate you calling out some of my points that I definitely articulated incorrectly (I wrote the comment in passing between meetings). |