Well, sure, we are deeply into an inherently subjective area.
But I believe you are being obtuse here. I've never met a large group of programmers who wouldn't have rough consensus on their "better" colleagues. Begrudgingly, perhaps, but it is there. Human beings naturally self-organize this way all of the time, the metrics are definitely imperfect but pretending they don't exist or are somehow meaningless is just perverse.
Nothing I said claims that diverse people cannot become perfectly competent programmers, this is certainly true.
The claim was more that "greatness" in part, at least, necessarily comes from within.
> "The claim was more that "greatness" in part, at least, necessarily comes from within."
That goes into the whole nature vs. nurture debate, and you can probably find arguments for both. Playing Devil's Advocate, I'd suggest there are traits that help you become a great programmer, but those can be learned traits. For example, "thinking like a machine". You're a much more effective programmer after you can build a mental model of how the programs you write are working at a lower level of abstraction than the one you're programming in. That's something it's undeniably possible to learn, the main barrier for most people is a lack of interest. You have to be prepared to learn a bunch of supporting material that may not pay off in the near future, but will help you in the long run. That's my experience of what it takes to become good/great/better at nearly anything.
But I believe you are being obtuse here. I've never met a large group of programmers who wouldn't have rough consensus on their "better" colleagues. Begrudgingly, perhaps, but it is there. Human beings naturally self-organize this way all of the time, the metrics are definitely imperfect but pretending they don't exist or are somehow meaningless is just perverse.
Nothing I said claims that diverse people cannot become perfectly competent programmers, this is certainly true.
The claim was more that "greatness" in part, at least, necessarily comes from within.