January 2021 have witnessed the GameStop short squeeze where many small investors, self organized via Reddit, bought a stock in order to hold it and cause financial damage to several hedge funds that shorted it. It was all over the news and was eventually diffused when the brokerage companies sold their clients stocks without their consent.
This resolution triggered great outrage. The traders and their supporters claimed that hedge funds were toying with the economy for a long time now, ruining companies and the families who depended on them, and it was considered okay because they played by the rules. Now that the common folks play by the same rules—the rules were changed so that they cannot play.
(To be fair—the brokerage companies that sold their stocks did have a legal standing in doing so. But this is just an anecdote for my main point, so I’d rather not delve into this technicality)
This post was written years before that, but the sentiment is timeless. Is it really okay to constantly change the rules of science just to deny access to a certain group?
January 2021 have witnessed the GameStop short squeeze where many small investors, self organized via Reddit, bought a stock in order to hold it and cause financial damage to several hedge funds that shorted it. It was all over the news and was eventually diffused when the brokerage companies sold their clients stocks without their consent.
This resolution triggered great outrage. The traders and their supporters claimed that hedge funds were toying with the economy for a long time now, ruining companies and the families who depended on them, and it was considered okay because they played by the rules. Now that the common folks play by the same rules—the rules were changed so that they cannot play.
(To be fair—the brokerage companies that sold their stocks did have a legal standing in doing so. But this is just an anecdote for my main point, so I’d rather not delve into this technicality)
This post was written years before that, but the sentiment is timeless. Is it really okay to constantly change the rules of science just to deny access to a certain group?