7 ms·

Again, perspective. On average, that's certainly true. In this specific instance, not so. Take a 16 year old boy from the ghetto in the US and compare it to a r

Again, perspective. On average, that's certainly true. In this specific instance, not so. Take a 16 year old boy from the ghetto in the US and compare it to a rich upper caste Pakistani girl. Who has the most advantages?

hythloday 15y ago
I think, in changing your thought experiment, you're making my point for me. If a 16-year-old boy from the ghetto in the US became the world's youngest MCP at the age of 9, I would absolutely expect that to be news. I would also think it was particularly unworldly to comment on the reporting of his untimely death, "well, I, as a white man with excellent access to education, got an MCP at the age of 20, and it wasn't all that hard". The challenges that Arfa, or your hypothetical ghetto programmer, faced, were entirely different, and quite probably greater to the ones you faced, and they achieved a specific milestone a long time before you did. I genuinely can't imagine the mindset that attempts to minimize rather than celebrating their achievements.
- andreadallera 15y ago
  I know I'm beating a dead horse but I'll try anyway. > If a 16-year-old boy from the ghetto in the US became the world's youngest MCP at the age of 9, I would absolutely expect that to be news. It's very, very likely that some 9 years old kid in the ghetto has produced something much more noteworthy than becoming an MCP. You would expect that to be in the news, but it isn't there. > well, I, as a white man with excellent access to education, got an MCP at the age of 20, and it wasn't all that hard What I was trying to say is: think that you are a poor Pakistani little kid, working your ass off between work/school hours on your lame old computer. What would you think of the celebrations here? Again, that Pakistani little kid most likely exists. Most likely, there's hundreds of them. You don't hear of them in the news.

hythloday 15y ago

I think, in changing your thought experiment, you're making my point for me. If a 16-year-old boy from the ghetto in the US became the world's youngest MCP at the age of 9, I would absolutely expect that to be news. I would also think it was particularly unworldly to comment on the reporting of his untimely death, "well, I, as a white man with excellent access to education, got an MCP at the age of 20, and it wasn't all that hard". The challenges that Arfa, or your hypothetical ghetto programmer, faced, were entirely different, and quite probably greater to the ones you faced, and they achieved a specific milestone a long time before you did. I genuinely can't imagine the mindset that attempts to minimize rather than celebrating their achievements.

andreadallera 15y ago
I know I'm beating a dead horse but I'll try anyway. > If a 16-year-old boy from the ghetto in the US became the world's youngest MCP at the age of 9, I would absolutely expect that to be news. It's very, very likely that some 9 years old kid in the ghetto has produced something much more noteworthy than becoming an MCP. You would expect that to be in the news, but it isn't there. > well, I, as a white man with excellent access to education, got an MCP at the age of 20, and it wasn't all that hard What I was trying to say is: think that you are a poor Pakistani little kid, working your ass off between work/school hours on your lame old computer. What would you think of the celebrations here? Again, that Pakistani little kid most likely exists. Most likely, there's hundreds of them. You don't hear of them in the news.