I’m not aware of any details about the Heterodox Academy or their methods, but according to Wikipedia, they were founded under the premise that conservative viewpoints are underrepresented in scientific discourse. That is be a valid concern, but it also means that they might have an inherent bias in their methodology because they also want to represent the underrepresented, not establish “objectivity” in itself.
The example you’ve given with having rich and poor people have a say in tax policy is a great example that we need diverse representation and I agree with it (which is also why I disagree with leftist slogans like “eat the rich”). However, I think it’s fair to say that if a member of a more privileged group voices their worries about having to much focus on the interests of the underprivileged groups, it sounds more like someone afraid to lose their privilege disguising it by a call for balance (either intentional or subconsciously).
“They were founded under the premise that conservative viewpoints are underrepresented in scientific discourse”—that’s definitely a possibility, although I suspect that for research into underrepresented groups in general almost all research will have been conducted by people withn strong pre-existing beliefs about whether or not such a group is underrepresented.
I think there’s value in considering people’s possible psychological motivations, but I find it more helpful to consider these for all parties. In such a conversation, the rich could very well be afraid of losing their privilege and the poor could very well be jealous or resentful.
Yes, fully agreed. It’s a common cognitive bias to consider only the biases and motives of the others and not your own. I didn’t want to call out the Heterodox Academy in particular, the same could be said about practically any group or movement. It just emphasizes my point that it’s hard to guarantee inclusion of diverse thoughts through questionaires.
I’m not aware of any details about the Heterodox Academy or their methods, but according to Wikipedia, they were founded under the premise that conservative viewpoints are underrepresented in scientific discourse. That is be a valid concern, but it also means that they might have an inherent bias in their methodology because they also want to represent the underrepresented, not establish “objectivity” in itself.
The example you’ve given with having rich and poor people have a say in tax policy is a great example that we need diverse representation and I agree with it (which is also why I disagree with leftist slogans like “eat the rich”). However, I think it’s fair to say that if a member of a more privileged group voices their worries about having to much focus on the interests of the underprivileged groups, it sounds more like someone afraid to lose their privilege disguising it by a call for balance (either intentional or subconsciously).
“They were founded under the premise that conservative viewpoints are underrepresented in scientific discourse”—that’s definitely a possibility, although I suspect that for research into underrepresented groups in general almost all research will have been conducted by people withn strong pre-existing beliefs about whether or not such a group is underrepresented.
I think there’s value in considering people’s possible psychological motivations, but I find it more helpful to consider these for all parties. In such a conversation, the rich could very well be afraid of losing their privilege and the poor could very well be jealous or resentful.
Yes, fully agreed. It’s a common cognitive bias to consider only the biases and motives of the others and not your own. I didn’t want to call out the Heterodox Academy in particular, the same could be said about practically any group or movement. It just emphasizes my point that it’s hard to guarantee inclusion of diverse thoughts through questionaires.