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I think pedigree is largely contingent on luck: http://chester.id.au/2012/03/02/does-leadership-matter/

I'm already one of the 1-2% of the luckiest people alive. Billions of people have nothing like my opportunities.

Bugger Stanford. I was born to middle class Australians, I can take it from here.

Yes, not to mention that it simply means people that don't fit their pedigree filter are available. I have met brilliant hackers from MIT/Berkeley/et al, I have also met average hackers from those schools, and brilliant hackers from other schools. My experience leads me to believe the correlation between brilliant hacker and school (if any) is positive, but not dominating. The again maybe that is just me hoping, not having come from their vaunted halls :)

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