The Trouble with “Merit”
29th April 2010
First, the meritocracy is based on an overly narrow definition of talent. Our system rewards those who can amass technical knowledge. But this skill is only marginally related to the skill of being sensitive to context. It is not related at all to skills like empathy. Over the past years, we’ve seen very smart people make mistakes because they didn’t understand the context in which they were operating.
April 30th, 2010 at 15:27
Where do I apply for the job of “Empathizer”?
In a world where nobody has to do anything useful … all we have to do is “feel” for each other while we starve to death in the rain.