“It's worth emphasizing that whoever makes the choice of what to optimize is effectively deciding what problems are worth solving. The glaring lack of racial and gender diversity in the ranks of technologists and start-up founders means that these choices rest in the hands of a small group of people not representative of the wider world. No surprise that many new start-ups show a bias in favor of solving problems of a privileged demographic. A more diverse group of technologists and founders might well deploy the power of optimization for a broader set of problems.”