. . .  To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Star Trek Mission Statement

When I hear the term “diversity” I become suspicious.  For many people, diversity refers to the mechanical process of gathering different-looking people and assuming that doing this creates a melting pot of ideas and character traits.  Used in this way, however, “diversity” is no less than a form of racism; the people who mechanically gather other people by their looks assume that people who look the same have the same character, intellect, and culture.  This is not my experience.  I have often found that groups of similar-looking people are often just as diverse (in character, intellect and culture) as groups of different-looking people.  Similarly, groups of different-looking people are often culturally homogenous.  You just shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.  For me, then, mixing people by looks is not a legitimate form of diversity.

Understood in a broader way, however, diversity is something to which we should still aspire with vigor.  To understand the importance of true diversity requires a short detour into the study of human cognition. 

Humans are both assisted by and shackled by the “availability” heuristic.   “Heuristics” are rules of thumb we constantly use, often unconsciously, to navigate our complex and often disorienting world.  The availability heuristic is the “strong disposition to make judgments or evaluations in light of the first thing that comes to mind (or …