Mycroft Celebrates Pride

General Discussion
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Originally published at: https://mycroft.ai/blog/mycroft-celebrates-pride/

Celebrating Pride


To honor Pride Month - sorry we’re a little late to the party - and the many diverse, and often difficult, journeys it reflects, we’re delighted to give our logo a colorful makeover. Each of the colors of the Pride rainbow has meaning, and we’ve reflected on this at Mycroft and how we embody - our could better embody - these values in what we do, and the products and services we deliver.
  • Pink - representing sex, for many this color evokes the tragedy of those who have been marginalized and terrorized during oppressive times, and we applaud the reclaiming of Pink (Pynk for any Janelle Monae fans, Kansas City represent!) by the LGBTQI community.
  • Red - representing blood and life - not only the blood spilled in the struggles of the Pride community for visibility, support, and acceptance over the years; but the joy of a life lived fully and lived well.
  • Orange - representing healing, and we acknowledge those in our Community experiencing the need to heal; to refill and refuel.
  • Yellow - representing sunlight, and the warmth of being around those who are welcoming, accepting and embracing of difference.
  • Green - representing nature, the natural world and the need to take a sustainable approach to everything we do
  • Blue - representing art and creativity, and the need to imbue the rational and the logical with the abstract, the inspiring, and the ephemeral.
  • Indigo - representing harmony - and a desire to see diverse orientations, attractions, races, cultures, languages, styles, and expressions join without animosity or avarice.
  • Violet - representing the indefatigable, resilient and resourceful human spirit.
We also wish to acknowledge the trans- and bi- communities, who are represented through different color palettes; please know that we see you.

So how do these colors symbolize what we do?

Learn. Support. Understand. Grow.

The Mycroft Community consists of developers, makers, and technologists from around the world. We speak different languages, hold diverse and often opposed views, and have varied cultural beginnings and heritages. What we share - what we have in common - our unifying force - is the overriding desire to work towards a better open source assistant - open and available to all. Surrounding that is our open, inviting, tolerant, respectful and supporting Community - no matter what color you wear or which flag you fly.

Join us today and share in a message of awareness, tolerance, support, and acceptance of people of the entire spectrum of human existence. Give a donation to an LGBQTI organization in your area or simply share a message of love and acceptance to those around you.

Peace out.

3 Likes
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Despite the lovely parallel between open source and the encouragement of tolerance, this seems a needless politicizing of the forum. Apparently you have the right as a founder, but I find it “off topic”, and hope to see less of such distraction here.

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We respectfully disagree.

Mycroft is founded on the principle that artificial intelligence is for everyone - and that machine learning built on inclusion, participation, equality and representation will lead to better technological and social outcomes.

Acknowledging the diverse nature of our community is not politicizing - it is re-iterating this foundation - our core values.

If you don’t share these values, then Mycroft may not be the right community for you.

Regards, Kathy

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We not only support but encourage diversity and inclusion. Diverse organisations perform better as they have a wealth of talent to share ideas. We will do better and have a better chance as an organization if we share our mission that this is a welcoming place.

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Again, I do see a lovely parallel between the inclusivity of open source - of which I have always been a strong proponent, and the encouragement of tolerance. “We might not be the community for you” seems a divisive statement, but does show your sense of responsibility for the forum for which I salute you.

It is interesting that the artificial intelligence community at this point is struggling with the difficulty of making machine learning truly unbiased. The reason it was not caught earlier is apparently that the biases of the designers kept them from realizing that the machines were equally biased (as in identification of facial features across racial spectra).

A bias towards LGBQTI organizations as expressed is not any more unbiased. One could include a litany of people groups which deserve mention as having been marginalized and terrorized, but Pride is in the political limelight.