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Comment by WalterBright | Hacker News Reader

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Equity? You mean equality (and that's still about rights, not pay.) Equity is just a stake in the outcome at all.

Equality: starting out at the same position, for example we have equal rights under the law

Equity: winding up at the same position, for example when everybody in a race wins the same medal, regardless of how hard they trained or how talented they are.

An apocryphal story about equity:

https://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

There's no definition of equity that I can find that returns that result so we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Equity in this context usually refers to the concept of Social Equity, which is interested in equality of outcome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_equity

The extent to which equality of outcome is pursued and for which groups are traditionally factors, but the overarching idea is in pursuit of equality of outcome.

I think we're talking about different things then.

Nobody is asking for equal result. Equity means sharing the rewards of productivity, instead of allowing a group of people who do nothing get rich off of other people's hard work. That's fair.

Doing good work should be rewarded!

> Nobody is asking for equal result. Equity means sharing the rewards of productivity, instead of allowing a group of people who do nothing get rich off of other people's hard work.

Your two sentences contradict each other.

Yeah I guess we're talking about different things. Thanks for clarifying.

> Nobody is asking for equal result.

Pursuing some level of equality of outcomes has been a core concept in social equity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_equity

Social equality is focused around equality of opportunity. Social equity is about pursuing equality of outcome, generally by allocating resources and services unequally to give groups perceived as having historical disadvantages an extra boost.

Oh I see. I guess that's one way of looking at it. I tend to favor appropriation because it simplifies the accounting. You don't need equal outcomes exactly, you just ensure that everyone has their basic needs met and the ability to improve themselves. Historical context matters, but the issue tends to boil down social instability due to repeated displacement (redlining, gentrification). Allow people get rooted into a place and they'll build whatever they need to flourish.

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