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US CTO: Look beyond Jobs, Turing for inspiration
United States Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith delivered the commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She told graduates to look beyond founders like Steve Jobs for inspiration.
WTF is this "Video Bytes" section and how do I disable it? I can't find anything in settings.
Having a vagina doesn't provide inspiration.
See. Now this was a positive message about tech and its historical inclusiveness. This was worth a front page post. Yes, it didn't rapidly attack white cis hetro male scum that opress technology. But that is the point. It's a positive message. Its a message that works. It lifts up everyone, without dragging anyone down. It informs and educates. It generates a change in mindset without using guilt, or shame, or fostering resentment. It presents the facts in a way everyone can appreciate.
If Slashdot wanted to advance the cause of diversity in tech, videos and stories like this were the way to do it. Hysterical and hyperbolic tirades by neo-puritans, twitterati, and hipster-fascists was not the way to do it. Shaming and denigrating nerds for their sex or skin colour was not the way to do it. Knifing gamers in the back was not the way to do it. It was possible for this news site to be on the side of an issue while still being objective and ethical.
It's still hard for me to accept this message in good faith given everything that's happened. To be honest, the last 10 months have kind of put me off the internet as an entire concept. Maybe, if Slashdot can earn back trust and credibility, things can go back to where they were, and messages like this can be something people can have confidence in supporting, knowing that by doing so they won't be giving power to awful people. But right now the scars still hurt.