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Comment by superb_dev

9 days ago

Of course this helps her proposal, but not because the mere mention of DEI gets it a rubber stamp.

It’s part of her credentials to show that she’s taken an active role in expanding access to these advanced fields. It shows she’s part of the community and cares about the field she’s in.

Working in a soup kitchen and being a rich white man as counter examples don’t work to prove your point because duh they aren’t related to math.

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superb_dev

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sshine  9 days ago

> being a rich white man [...] don’t work to prove your point because duh they aren’t related to math.

Historically, being a rich white man is related to math:

  - elite European men historically had better access to education
  - many famous mathematicians came from wealthy backgrounds
  - historical math societies were almost entirely composed of rich white men
  - math advanced in navigation, trade and military which were historically occupied by men
  - when circumstance didn't, rich white men historically excluded women and colored people

LudwigNagasena  9 days ago

> Of course this helps her proposal, but not because the mere mention of DEI gets it a rubber stamp.

Of course.

> It’s part of her credentials to show that she’s taken an active role in expanding access to these advanced fields. It shows she’s part of the community and cares about the field she’s in.

No, it is not. That is not related to category theory in any way. That’s really stretching any notion of “credential”. It seems really bad to distribute grants according to such qualifications. Community organising and politics aren’t math.

> Working in a soup kitchen and being a rich white man as counter examples don’t work to prove your point because duh they aren’t related to math.

A soup kitchen for poor math enthusiasts? A head of Arian math society? Very math related.

  • superb_dev  9 days ago

    Honest to god, if a soup kitchen for poor math enthusiasts was a thing then it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to mention your involvement in your grant application.

    That’s networking, that’s community, it couldn’t hurt to mention it.

    Now the explicitly racist “Aryan Math Society”? Id leave that off the proposal.

    • LudwigNagasena  9 days ago

      Well, I guess there is simply fundamental disagreement. Some people dislike arbitrary discrimination. And others think that encouraging it is “networking” and discouraging it is literally Nazism.

      3 replies →

  • defrost  9 days ago

    > A soup kitchen for poor math enthusiasts?

    Far more lilely to encounter a Settlers of Catan ramen party for breadline math enthusiasts.