But if Manifest really is wide-open as to subject matter, one would expect this kind of effect to be less pronounced than for narrower subject matter. For example, I’d be concerned if the speakers in a TED speaker series in the U.S. were only 2% were African-American (or African). My default level of concern would be much less in a bird-watching speaker series.
I’d note that the small percentage for some of those groups memberships are affected by systemic racism (Wall Street executives), by cultural factors (having parents who practice a religion is a major factor as to whether someone will do the same), by socioeconomic factors (running marathons is correlated with income, as is race).
Moreover, Manifest had control over the diversity of invitees, so “few African-Americans were interested in actually coming” wouldn’t be a great explanation of a very low percentage rate for invitees. This is particularly true where the organizers assert that they were trying to bring together diverse perspectives.
Right now, for me, removing speakers who say racist things is a much higher priority than seeking racial balance in attendees. And probably higher than either is having an event which pushes towards the truth, since I generally think this is so hard. But I agree that there are lots of black intellectuals and streamers I’d love to listen to.
I can imagine thinking that it would be good to push slightly on speakers in the representation direction. The problem is it can quite quickly shift away from having the speakers the community most wants to hear. Probably I’d have a big poll and then anyone can nominate speakers, anyone can vote. In that world, representative speakers can be bumped up if everyone wants that but that has a cost to attendees themselves.
But if Manifest really is wide-open as to subject matter, one would expect this kind of effect to be less pronounced than for narrower subject matter. For example, I’d be concerned if the speakers in a TED speaker series in the U.S. were only 2% were African-American (or African). My default level of concern would be much less in a bird-watching speaker series.
I’d note that the small percentage for some of those groups memberships are affected by systemic racism (Wall Street executives), by cultural factors (having parents who practice a religion is a major factor as to whether someone will do the same), by socioeconomic factors (running marathons is correlated with income, as is race).
Moreover, Manifest had control over the diversity of invitees, so “few African-Americans were interested in actually coming” wouldn’t be a great explanation of a very low percentage rate for invitees. This is particularly true where the organizers assert that they were trying to bring together diverse perspectives.
Right now, for me, removing speakers who say racist things is a much higher priority than seeking racial balance in attendees. And probably higher than either is having an event which pushes towards the truth, since I generally think this is so hard. But I agree that there are lots of black intellectuals and streamers I’d love to listen to.
I can imagine thinking that it would be good to push slightly on speakers in the representation direction. The problem is it can quite quickly shift away from having the speakers the community most wants to hear. Probably I’d have a big poll and then anyone can nominate speakers, anyone can vote. In that world, representative speakers can be bumped up if everyone wants that but that has a cost to attendees themselves.