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>I'm still waiting for an example where someone can actually vet people based on merit, fairness and equality without any of their own unconscious biases being a factor

Blind auditions for orchestras.




And the pendulum has swung so far back I can recall reading "diversity" advocates trying to remove them in the last few years for being insufficiently equitable.


Yep. Toronto eliminated all skill-based admission requirements for specialized arts, athletics, science and math programs and turned them into a lottery process for admission because it's more equitable.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/05/24/tdsb-votes-to-re...


I didn't realize this was a thing till I read it.

nytimes [0]: "To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions"

[0]: https://archive.ph/kCb9N


One of the arguments given really bugs me:

> A typical orchestral audition might end up attracting dozens of people who are essentially indistinguishable in their musicianship and technique.

Then raise the bar. Why are we content that more people can achieve the top tier of any field? If leaders of a field cannot find ways to evaluate newcomers, then replace them with new leaders and techniques that can. What a lazy excuse.


This feels to me like an example of Goodhart's law:

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"




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