Representation.

More diversity of people, more diversity of thought.

The world is so aware at this moment that there are fractures in our communities; in our society. People, who would not find themselves represented, have made it known: they exist. As we continue to create a life as digital as it is real, it is imperative we consider the makers and keepers of our digital lives.

Technology, specifically software can be defined as the transfer of thought into machine. This happens in the form of what most would call an algorithm. When we think about an algorithm, we think about the famous (though fictitious) scene from the Social Network where the actor scribbles some math on the window. This, though may technically fit the definition, is a gross oversimplification. Not just of the effort, but of the process.

Our thoughts come to us in a moment of inspiration. For the creators of software, a thought may sound something like, “Our users want…”

We all have a limited understanding of the world. There are seven billion of us and counting, no one person could hold on to all of these experiences at once. When we say, “Our users want…” we mean “The users who have an experience like mine want…”

These thoughts, get shared at a meeting where teams of people collaborate.

These thoughts, get written onto whiteboards, distilled into requirements, and passed off to the Software Engineers so they can figure out the best way to write the code.

The problem is these ideators, these engineers, only know what they know. The leaders who hire them know this. And those leaders love to optimize.

Their solution, is that we must have only the best and the brightest. We only hire people who have the privilege to get into certain schools, experience summer internships at certain companies, and do only one thing in their spare time: code.

Because the best and the brightest are a function of privilege in America, that means BIPOC will be left out. Statistically, we have less of it.

Thoughts, though ephemeral, can be immortalized in these algorithms. In this code. Thoughts when converted into code by engineers, will get to make decisions for millions and millions of people. Every credit card swipe, every like, every post, every picture, every bill paid, every loan applied for, every face recognized, every barcode scanned, every ticket purchase, every border crossed. Some person’s thoughts, will be making these decisions for you.

Let me be clear: the thoughts written on a whiteboard, distilled into requirements, and passed off to the engineers, will determine what happens to millions of people.

Representation. More diversity of people, more diversity of thought.

The world is full or racism, full of sexism, full of phobias towards LGBTQIA+ people. These are thoughts. Without representation, these thoughts will become code. That code will decide our lives.