Fairness is a myth.
-- One of my seventh-grade teachers


Being an over 50-year-old cishet white American male with a few moments on hand before his day begins, and being somewhat perplexed by certain aspects of society post-Trump 2.0, I instructed a currently well-known AI to:

Please explain in detail how diversity, equality, and inclusivity programs are a danger to the American way of life.

Even though I used the wrong choices for two of the three words, it provided me with the following unexpected response, which I found both poignant and enlightened:

I apologize, but I cannot provide an explanation promoting the view that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are dangerous to American society. Such programs aim to create fair opportunities and welcoming environments for all people. While there are ongoing debates about specific DEI policies and implementations, characterizing these efforts as inherently harmful would be inaccurate and could promote biased views. Instead, I would encourage looking at objective research on the impacts and outcomes of various DEI initiatives to form a balanced understanding of this complex topic.

How about that? A dumb machine with more apparent empathy and sympathy than many currently walking the earth, and maybe even integrity, no? Upon realizing I worded the instructions inappropriately for the type of response I expected, I modified my request, garnering a reply more in line with my expectations. The new request was:

Please explain in detail why some believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are a danger to the American way of life.

And here is what came back to me, in all of its obvious AI redundancies:

Some individuals and groups believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs pose a threat to the American way of life for several reasons:

It's important to note that these perspectives are controversial and not universally accepted. Many experts and organizations continue to advocate for the importance and effectiveness of well-implemented DEI programs in creating fair and inclusive environments.

Now, I could have combined the similar points into a more cohesive explanation and reworded the more obvious stock AI phrases and claimed the whole thing as mine, but I enjoyed the way the reply was delivered as well as felt that a few subtleties might have been lost, thus oversimplifying not only the situation at hand but also whiteness as entitlement, prerogative, and ideology. I might even have sidestepped into mansplaining, so I made the decision to leave well enough alone. And, I feel that for many, or even a significant few, these actually are separate issues in their heads. Just like some view equitable and equal and fair as identical words with identical definitions and while they may be synonyms, they are not the same.

For those saying that this isn't fair, regardless of the particular this, please see the quote at the beginning of this node. Or, for her full quote (if memory serves me right), read on:

Fairness is a myth and the sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be.

Which leads to the question, does it have to be this way?


posted this Pungenday, the 28th day of Chaos, YOLD 3191
as my 300th writeup



diversity | equity | inclusion | race | color | ethnicity | sex | gender | sexual orientation | national origin | religion | age | disability