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A comment on Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life? by BoiledCabbage on Saturday February 03, 2018 @07:22AM (#16297343)
> Western civilization is based on merit

This is one of the larger falsehoods I've read in a while.

It's based on money, connections, favors, historical precedent and power. And it's not the only one.

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Re:Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life? by protoplant on Saturday February 03, 2018 @10:04AM (#16297870)
The book Moneyball talks about this. Well I thought it would be about baseball, but it was kind of about our ability to judge merit. It's hard even in a measurement driven sport like baseball. Sports are arguably the purist meritocracy, yet scouts were routinely missing on their evaluation of talent.
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