Yeah, I think you&#x27;re right. I should read more slowly :)<p>&gt; You can either argue for ignoring all labels or for special label-based treatments, not both.<p>So, your question is how to square the value-add of diversity against the idea that race&#x2F;gender doesn&#x27;t affect technical ability?<p>If that&#x27;s the case then I&#x27;d call out what I think is an incorrect assumption; that technical ability is perfectly correlated with either productivity (as an employee) or interestingness (as a speaker).<p>Nor does the performance of the individual equate to performance of teams or large organisations.<p>While it&#x27;s not conclusive, there are studies that show that diversity in the workplace correlates with increased performance, and diversity as a nation correlates with increased GDP.