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Comment by laser | Hacker News Reader

Often the best people for the job (the holistic purpose of the company or problem at hand) requires diverse input. For example, you can hire a bunch of designers who individually kick ass, but if they're all from similar backgrounds, their output is likely to fail to account for the preferences of large segments of users from other backgrounds.

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A designer's job is to design for people with different backgrounds (or else we'd still be using the terminal for everything). We should not distill people's value down to their background, regardless of whether it helps fill a diversity requirement.

what are you trying to say here? that all designers are good at designing for people with different backgrounds? therefor we don't need to keep diversity in mind when hiring them?

I'm saying that valuing somebody for their background instead of their skills is a subtle but very real form of bigotry while also betraying the reality that you can understand/empathize with people from different backgrounds without being part of that background.

Every person in the history of the world has a million unspoken, unidentified assumptions based on where and how they were born and raised. Our (early) experiences shape us profoundly, and it's impossible to overturn that even if you try.

Nobody is "neutral". It's simply impossible. Therefore, diversity.

So apps developed in China or Japan or Nigeria will be at a disadvantage because they lack design diversity? Or will thru do just fine if they all went to different schools of design?

I think this supports the statement you are responding too. The million factors impart a diversity of perspective regardless of whether there is diversity of racial heritage. Does focusing on diversity of racial heritage optimize diversity of perspective?

The problem is, "diversity" too often means only superficial diversity (skin color, sex) instead of actual diversity (experience, culture, language, thinking patterns, ...).

This seems to be an argument more for interacting with your target market than for diversity. Or are you thinking more like: "Team we just got a new client from Mexico, obviously we are going to assign Alberto to work on their stuff."

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