Highlights From The Comment Thread On Meritocracy

A Highlights-From-The-Comments companion to Targeting Meritocracy. Curated reader comments probe what 'meritocracy' means (definitional issues, merit vs qualifications, the Alice/Carol promotion hypothetical, Young's original critique that meritocracy strips the working class of its natural leaders, the cloistered-elite worry, and the 'abolish ruling altogether' utopia-complete critiques). Lifted above pure curation by Scott's substantial replies: the 'utopia-complete objections' point (objecting to meritocracy for not being a perfect equal world isn't an objection to anything in particular), 'the most salient alternative to meritocracy isn't perfect equality, it's cronyism,' and 'don't demand downstream solutions to upstream problems.'

Quality 64 · Strong. 64 — low Strong. Above a bare highlights post because Scott's interspersed replies (utopia-complete objections, cronyism-is-the-real-alternative, upstream-vs-downstream) are substantial and generative, but it remains a comments-companion dependent on the parent essay.

Claude’s paradigm shift 48 · Moderate. 48 — Moderate. The novel content (utopia-complete, cronyism-not-equality) is in Scott's replies; the frame is a comments companion.

Real-world impact 1 · Negligible. 1 — negligible. A comments-companion post; no material reach.