Meritocracy

Thinking about the effect Bitcoin has and will have on the organization of human society sends one down many rabbit holes. We’ve been down a few already. In the final part of this series, we’re going to explore the idea of a “meritocracy,” alongside some flavors of that model which…

A 1958 dystopian novel by a British sociologist contains eerie parallels to our present dysfunction and the crisis coming to a head. Lord Michael Young of Dartington (1915-2002), in 1949. (Photo by Charles Hewitt/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The Covid-19 pandemic is so complex, so vast in scale, that I doubt…

What is the matter with the Democrats? On one level, the answer is simple. Voters with college degrees are increasingly siding with the Party, while those without are moving toward the Republicans, and there are more people in the second category than the first: about two in five voters in…

There's roughly a 1% chance you haven't heard someone in our industry talk about the 'metaverse' at some point in the last month. This next iteration of the internet is on everyone's lips. Although talked about as a "one stop destination", it's currently a convergence of technologies and trends: the…

A meritocracy is a social system in which individual advancement is based on personal capabilities and efforts and not on family wealth or social position. Ireland is a meritocracy – as are all European Union countries. The main engine of meritocracy is the educational system where everybody gets equal access…

PETALING JAYA: The 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) tabled in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday lacks innovation to take economic development to the next level, said Universiti Tun Abdul Razak economist Dr Barjoyai Bardai. In expressing disappointment, Barjoyai said there is no real innovation that could propel the nation forward. “It’s quite…

Setting: Chesterfield High, an unusual school in the suburbs of Ohio. The teacher writes on the board: 2, 3, 5, 7, ... How, he asks, do we complete this pattern? Now a student might say that the next term is 12. When the teacher asks him why, he says, “I…

When Noelle Sawyer, a Bahamian mathematician at Southwestern University, came to the U.S. for college, she was taken aback. During the first two years of her undergraduate program, Sawyer, whose research focuses on dynamics and geometry, kept wondering, “Why is no one treating me like I’m good at learning things?”…

Regulators approved Nasdaq’s greater board diversity proposal, one that will include gender and race in its listing rules.  In a Friday order, staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to Nasdaq’s proposed rule changes, the Wall Street Journal reports. This means any Nasdaq-listed companies would need to meet certain targets…

There is a scene in Moneyball that recounts the old way of evaluating baseball players. A rabble of aging scouts sit in a boardroom tossing out the characteristics of prospects they like: “Good face … good body … lot of pop coming off the bat … passes the eye candy…