Peter Jones

What the Greeks knew about unconscious bias

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issue 23 March 2024

socrates: I was talking with some handsome young men in St Andrews University when the vice chancellor appeared, keen to discuss her new student ‘training module’. It would include ticking the statement: ‘Acknowledging your personal guilt is a useful start point in overcoming unconscious bias.’

socrates: I was talking with some handsome young men in St Andrews University when the vice chancellor appeared, keen to discuss her new student ‘training module’. It would include ticking the statement: ‘Acknowledging your personal guilt is a useful start point in overcoming unconscious bias.’

Poor Bias! One of the seven Greek sages! He certainly knew his onions. But why ‘personal’? ‘Your guilt’ is all that is needed. As the great Heinz Kiosk said: ‘We are all guilty.’

VICE CHANCELLOR: We are indeed, by Zeus.

SOCRATES: But, for all that, guilty of what, exactly?

VICE CHANCELLOR: ‘Unconscious bias’, as it says.

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