We could begin arguing that biases, conscious and unconscious, protect us from the uncertainty of the unfamiliar, the stranger. They have tribal utility.
In diverse urban social-ecosystems, biases can preclude the kind of collaboration that makes us smarter, better and faster together. People do their best when they feel included in how things work. People support and invest in what they help decide and create.
Reality is, some biases will stubbornly remain unconscious because of our belief systems. And we will have conscious biases that will stubbornly remain in tact because they override considerations of data.
This being so, one of our choices is to include and collaborate even with people we view through the lens of inherited and invented biases. Only when we act on these purpose, whatever our feelings, can we discover what realities lie behind the confines of our assumptive prejudices. It is unrealistic to expect that bias purging can precede actions of including.