Is blockchain technology the greatest hope for reducing systemic racism?

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Seattle, Jul 4, 2021.

  1. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    8,466
    and
    You can create a problem by pretending/assuming that it does exist.

    You get to choose.
     
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  3. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    You can also make it more than it is. There will always be problems. It's a matter of ranking them by degree of severity. When they decline far enough it's generally more productive to move on to the next problem rather than dialing up the sensitivity to a declining problem.

    More democratic technologies benefit most societal issues.
     
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  5. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Do you think racism exists?
     
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  7. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    Exactly. You can get rid of redlining by getting rid of that middleman. But if white people don't want to sell directly to black people (because they want to keep the neighborhood safe, because blacks don't pay, because . . . any reason at all) then you have exactly the same problem, just with fewer people.
     
  8. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    7,057
    Not at all. As long as computers are associated with humans, they will acquire human foibles.
     
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  9. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    yes
    and
    I have met a few
    eg:
    When I was in the army, I was billeted in fort Ritchie a small post in the Catoctin mountains while working under raven rock mountain.
    Ok one fine evening, I was dancing with a pretty chocolate brown woman at the NCO club when a black man approached us and exclaimed "Stick with your own kind bitch"...hmmm.. so I said: "Is that any way to talk to a woman?" ...and then laughed and added..."and you wonder why you don't get laid"...whereupon, he assumed a stance as though we were to engage in fisticuffs..... hmmm... looking around, I noticed that many black soldiers were gathered at a couple of tables, and they began to rise..... to the right, I noticed that several white soldiers were gathered at a couple tables, and they too began to rise.......hmmm
    Ok, so(I was trying to diffuse the situation) I said@ " Look everyone here knows me and when the dist settles, I'll still be here, while you will find yourself at a fun post like fort benning. As far as the army goes, this is one of the best postings you could hope for, so let's all just calm down and have a drink." ----- ok everybody backed off and sat down again.

    It seems that much "racism" has to do with peer group identification, and the unlaid black guy was obviously identifying his peer group as black-and wanting to bring the young woman into that mindset--------very racist(and proselytizing to boot).
    ok
    another(under the mountain)
    One day, a young black soldier happened to pass by sergeant major Selman wearing a "soul patch"-an unshaven bit of beard under the lip. Sergeant major Selman told him to shave it off---whereupon the black soldier exclaimed "this is the badge of my people, and my major said I could keep it" again---peer group identification as black, So the Sergeant major told him to get it in writing. I have n idea what in hell was wrong with the major in question, but he seems to have thought that it was appropriate to have one rule for the army, and another rule for the black soldiers---what an idiot---so, the damned fool put it in writing---(I do not know if he actually thought this out, or if it was just a racist reflex....ok...so Sergeant major Selman typed u[ a memo, citing the ucmj(uniform code of military justice) words on the subject and that he code was superceded by the order of Major........(I do not remember his name)........and had it posted to the various bulliton boards in the site.
    The following monday, as I was entering the site with colonel hendrickson, he turned to me and said, :"Is it my imagination, patt or does everyone look a bit scruffy?" "Not your imagination at all sir." as i walked over to a bulletin board and retrieved a copy for his perusal. and he said---"You hire the best and they all have minds of their own"---(I admired the mind of that man)---then "would you ask major......... to come and meet with me and sergeant major Selman"
    Ok another example of peer group identity racism, and an attempt by an unnamed major to institute systematic racism in our little city under an mountain. --- And, if not for the like of sergeant major Selman, he might have gotten away with it.

    It seems that peer group identification racism, sexism, religion, is much an emotional and not well reasoned thing.

    This you cannot cure!
    and
    By supporting it with the assumption of "systemic racism" you are just fostering the disease.
     
  10. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    Good, we agree.
    Underlying all of that is homophily, and it is inherent in every one of us. This cannot be cured. It can be managed and counteracted. But it takes work - and ignoring it fosters it.
    Given that you just agreed with me that racism exists, no, I'm not. There has been systemic racism. Hopefully you don't need examples. Systemic racism exists today. Again, hopefully you don't need examples. You cannot fix it by ignoring it, any more than you can cure lung cancer by ignoring it and hoping it goes away.
     

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