[eternityforest]

Without some level of equity, what exactly is the point of meritocracy?

A pure meritocracy wouldn't prioritize curing rare diseases or ending poverty, and might not reduce suffering as much as a more equitable society, even if that equitable society has less raw talent and education, so obviously there's an optimal point.

That optimal point may be a function of the current state of tech, as more and more of the stuff people need education for is done by AI.

It's not like they're ever going to have zero high achievers, even without school at all there's always going to be a few genuises.

On the other hand, the better AI gets, the less anyone outside the top 1% actually needs math, because AI may be able to do most of what an average person could learn without unrealistic amount of effort way beyond their motivation.