For some categories, it's probably harmless. I don't think we need to re-sort living arrangements until we have a proper diversity of sports fandom, for instance.
However, the most prominent understanding of "difference" in the western world is race. Racial hierarchies have led to unequal distribution of resources, unfairly balanced prospects for individuals and unequal representation in government. Arguably, race has been weaponized to disenfranchise a large number of human beings, only some of which are members of the "lesser" race. For instance, scholars have argued that racial hierarchies allowed landowners in the post-civil-war-south to avoid material compensation of their white workers because the workers were satisfied by the 'comparative gain' of being better off than working class african americans (who the same landowners paid even less).
Although your precise wording is correct ("prominent understanding"), far greater splits exist, for example, on political views and on income, and arguably even more harmful.
Because segregation permits large organizations, like the state, to easily provide differing classes of services (or sets of rights) to the different, segregated groups, again with small biases having outsized systemic consequences.
Example: when I was growing up, the original 313 Detroit area code broke off the then-new 810 (and later 248 and 586) zone, leaving only the city of Detroit and the west side as 313. To a majority of the metro area, after that split, non-810 denoted non-white. It allowed people who might not otherwise be able to discriminate an easy tool to do so, and some businesses would implement bias against customer database records that had area codes that strongly correlated with race and socioeconomic status, furthering the historic divide. Prior to the area code split, this wasn’t as easily available to those who might do that.
It furthers systemic inequality, and some of the core tenets of our society are that we are all equal before the law and all deserve a level playing field in the market.
Wouldn’t it be easier in some ways to suppress a minority if they are just scattered about through the general populace and have a tougher time developing a community and addressing common concerns and interests?
> What pattern of exploration and social learning produced the best outcome? We discovered the answer when we plotted the return on investment each trader got against the diversity of ideas he or she harvested through social learning.
Social physics supports a framing that groups are like "machines for finding the best ideas", and having group members with access to diverse sources of ideas (polygons from different spaces and experiences count as this) is part of a properly calibrated social network where the best ideas are within reach, to address any given challenge that may surface.
aeturnum|6 years ago
However, the most prominent understanding of "difference" in the western world is race. Racial hierarchies have led to unequal distribution of resources, unfairly balanced prospects for individuals and unequal representation in government. Arguably, race has been weaponized to disenfranchise a large number of human beings, only some of which are members of the "lesser" race. For instance, scholars have argued that racial hierarchies allowed landowners in the post-civil-war-south to avoid material compensation of their white workers because the workers were satisfied by the 'comparative gain' of being better off than working class african americans (who the same landowners paid even less).
woofie11|6 years ago
sneak|6 years ago
Example: when I was growing up, the original 313 Detroit area code broke off the then-new 810 (and later 248 and 586) zone, leaving only the city of Detroit and the west side as 313. To a majority of the metro area, after that split, non-810 denoted non-white. It allowed people who might not otherwise be able to discriminate an easy tool to do so, and some businesses would implement bias against customer database records that had area codes that strongly correlated with race and socioeconomic status, furthering the historic divide. Prior to the area code split, this wasn’t as easily available to those who might do that.
It furthers systemic inequality, and some of the core tenets of our society are that we are all equal before the law and all deserve a level playing field in the market.
Separate isn’t equal.
jcims|6 years ago
patcon|6 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBl0ttu-Ow
https://hbr.org/2013/11/beyond-the-echo-chamber
> What pattern of exploration and social learning produced the best outcome? We discovered the answer when we plotted the return on investment each trader got against the diversity of ideas he or she harvested through social learning.
Social physics supports a framing that groups are like "machines for finding the best ideas", and having group members with access to diverse sources of ideas (polygons from different spaces and experiences count as this) is part of a properly calibrated social network where the best ideas are within reach, to address any given challenge that may surface.
mikeash|6 years ago