site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3438 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 16, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Please excuse me for asking this uncomfortable question. Given the nature of affirmative action and other similar dynamics on both medical school acceptance rates and then hiring decisions on the labor market, how much racism is rational for a patient to exercise in selecting a surgeon? While it seems like the racial hierarchy of talent is pretty clear, are the gaps small enough that a patient should simply prefer a risky surgery be performed by someone from one of the higher achieving groups? Or are the gaps so large, a patient should do everything in their power to make sure they have a higher achieving group member performs the risky surgery? Obviously a direct individual comparison between available surgeons would be ideal, but often not possible for patient to accurately assess.

IIRC more complex and difficult surgeries get put on capable white men anyways, while less capable doctors(who tend to be more black) are given more routine tasks, to the point that black doctors as a whole have far below average patient death rates. So you should probably assume that A) medschool is an effective filter for basic competence and B) the existing medical system does a good job of assigning physicians to tasks matching their skill level.

In India, all else being equal (or rather equally obfuscated), I'd certainly do my very best to avoid being treated by a doctor who was SC/ST/OBC or the myriad other categories that entitles them to our equivalent of AA. It would take them listing objective markers of performance like test scores (that weren't weighted for AA) for me to reconsider them.

I'd assume the situation is about as bad in the US, certainly to the degree that unless I had more objective assessments, I'd take the doctor less likely to have been pushed through.

Should you lose sleep over it if you don't have a better choice? Probably not, but you should still make a good effort.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats