My notes so far....Any additional points would be helpful
There is a wide belief that merit rather than luck determines a person's success . It isn't true.
Talent and Capacity for determined effort depends on one's genetic endowments and upbringing .
There are many programmers who are nearly or much more skilfull than what Bill Gates is ....
Many have merit , but only few succeed .
If meritocracy = “do awesome in school, go to fancy college, get prestige job”, then rich kids are way ahead of the game , they go to the
best coaching centres , have better living conditions and whereas
there is no option for people who aren’t in situations where their childhood isn’t carefully curated by their parents or guardians.
The biggest downside of meritocracy is that it is an equality of outcomes and not equality of opportunities.
Simply put they win because they have won before
And meritocrats often feel that it is their vast intelligence , hardwork and impressive academic scores that got them their position,
when in reality if without a fortunate family , they wouldn't have even graduated in the first place .
Students from expensive and top Universities are often from families of top 1% of the population.
Students buy entrance into a network of classmates whose careers may intersect profitably with theirs... It is not unmeritocratic
when we learn that someone got a job interview through a college roomate or an alumni connection .
Meritocratic jobs require elite adults to work with grinding intensity,
ruthlessly exploiting their educations in order to extract a return from these investments.
They also do it in order to maintain their status and to pass it on to their children .
Which isnt good for an individuals happiness .