That's absolutely true. I've worked for two US National Labs, and both were monocultures. At my first job, the only woman in my group (20 or so) was the administrative assistant. At my second, the numbers were better, but at both, there were literally no non-whites in my immediate area. The inability to hire non-citizens contributes to the problem---I worked for Microsoft as well, and all the non-whites were foreign citizens---but it's not as if there aren't any women in the US!
It is a nearly intractable problem, and I think I understand it fairly well, but I would very much like to hear the opinion of LWers. My employers have always been very eager to hire women and minorities, but the numbers coming out of computer science programs are abysmal. At Less Wrong, a B.S. or M.S. in a specific field is not a barrier to entry, so our numbers should be slightly better. On the other hand, I have no idea how to go about improving them.
The Tale of Genji has gone on my list of books to read. Thanks!
At Less Wrong, a B.S. or M.S. in a specific field is not a barrier to entry, so our numbers should be slightly better.
Yes, but we are even more extreme in some respects; many CS/philosophy/neurology/etc. majors reject the Strong AI Thesis (I've asked), while it is practically one of our dogmas.
The Tale of Genji has gone on my list of books to read. Thanks!
I realize that I was a bit of a tease there. It's somewhat off topic, but I'll include (some of) the hasty comments I wrote down immediately upon finishing:
The prevalence of poems & puns is qui...
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