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Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by khuey on Saturday February 16, 2013 @04:57PM (#5233179)
Assuming men and women are equally skilled is a big assumption. Given that few women enter CS, and many who do leave, it would not be surprising to find that the remaining women who have not been selected out somehow are in fact more skilled than the average male engineer.
Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by yummyfajitas on Saturday February 16, 2013 @05:06PM (#5233220)
Your reasoning contains no fact specific to women. Thus, it should be valid for me to substitute any other group which is underrepresented in computing:

Given that few retards enter CS, and many who do leave, it would not be surprising to find that the remaining retards who have not been selected out somehow are in fact more skilled than the average non-retard engineer.

It also still doesn't make a >60% women class remotely likely - even if women make up 40% of the top engineers, the odds of recruiting at least 60% women in a 30 person class is only only 0.83%.

(PC note: I am only asserting that women are similar to retards in the sense that khuey's argument applies to both of them. No other similarity is asserted or implied.)

Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by raleec on Sunday February 17, 2013 @10:33AM (#5235462)
If you want to add a "PC" note, it should include an acknowledgement that the term "Retard" is highly offensive to many even tangentially associated with the mentally challenged community.
Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by shrughes on Thursday February 21, 2013 @09:41PM (#5262200)
I think he was referring to people that drive under the speed limit.
Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by delitescere on Monday February 25, 2013 @04:07PM (#5281803)
Looking at the average "non-retard" developer, it would not surprise me at all to discover they were less skilled than the "retards" that persisted with being software developers. Your social ineptitude would also place you in that average pool as this is is a social undertaking as much as an intellectual one. Fail fast, take up the monastic life.
Re:Meritocracy and Discrimination in Tech by khuey on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:59AM (#5234451)
The selection pressures on women and retards are quite different.

That said the probability point is a good one.