The science is on Kapor's side: we are not fully aware of the inherent biases we use in order to live our lives. These biases are not necessarily bad: there are reasons why a snap judgement is more useful than careful consideration. However, "bias" is how we lead our lives and by automagically assuming that simply because we think we're without bias we must be without bias we are, in fact, ignoring the fact that "the brain thinks X." Have a TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_o... Two books I recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-D... http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Decide-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/05472479... As an aside, throwing mud at neuroscientists and then invoking a philosopher as ammo does not impress me. Finally, Mitch Kapor's wife is a leading authority on bias in the workplace: "Klein now devotes the majority of her time to work in the non-profit world. In 2001 she founded the Level Playing Field Institute, a non-profit which promotes innovative approaches to fairness in higher education and workplaces by removing barriers to full participation.[1][2] While serving on the Executive Board of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Klein co-founded the IDEAL Scholars Fund with three other board members in 2000. IDEAL invests in high-caliber, underrepresented students at Berkeley by providing resources and support to maximize their educational experiences and leadership opportunities during college and beyond. The fund was established in response to California Proposition 209.
Klein’s for-profit and non-profit endeavors include the design and execution of several landmark studies, including: an annual survey of quality of worklife issues in Internet start-ups, a survey of Fortune 500 manufacturing and service firms to determine the effectiveness of corporate efforts to address sexual harassment, a survey of gender bias and sexual harassment experienced by Massachusetts physicians and medical students, survey projects for the United Nations and World Bank on various forms of harassment, and a national representative survey of U.S. employers and employees on their perceptions of fairness in the workplace." Michael Arrington is a journalist. Freada Kapor Klein has been a leading scholar on diversity in IT since before the phrase 'IT' was invented.