I’m currently interviewing people for jobs, and reflecting on what this conversation means to me. Of course I’m trying to hire the most talented people from the group. Like, no question that I’m seeking people who are good at what they do. And we try to actively filter people who are ineffectual, lazy, or crooked.

So merit is essentially what I’m seeking. But I have no doubt that the people I interview & the ones we choose to hire are, on average, privileged. It would not surprise me much if I looked back on all my interview scores ever and found a high correlation between my rating and the candidate’s family income.

I think I can see how my own hiring according to merit is a good thing for my company, but potentially bad for society - if what we want is real equality of opportunity.