22 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
22 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
Gender and Ethnicity
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Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of women is
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clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for technical
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professions, and female hackers are generally respected and dealt with as
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equals. In the U.S., hackerdom is predominantly Caucasian with strong
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minorities of Jews (East Coast) and Orientals (West Coast). The Jewish
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contingent has exerted a particularly pervasive cultural influence (see Food
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, above, and note that several common jargon terms are obviously mutated
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Yiddish). The ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to be a
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function of which ethnic groups tend to seek and value education. Racial and
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ethnic prejudice is notably uncommon and tends to be met with freezing
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contempt. When asked, hackers often ascribe their culture's gender- and
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color-blindness to a positive effect of text-only network channels, and this
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is doubtless a powerful influence. Also, the ties many hackers have to AI
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research and SF literature may have helped them to develop an idea of
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personhood that is inclusive rather than exclusive after all, if one's
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imagination readily grants full human rights to future AI programs, robots,
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dolphins, and extraterrestrial aliens, mere color and gender can't seem very
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important any more.
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