So I was reading http://www.racialicious.com/2013/01/22/privilege-and-the-white-dude-super-detective/ and thinking about how implausible it would be for John to be anything but a white man, and then started thinking about Harold. What if he was Muslim--how would it read differently for him to design the Machine for the government? What if he was female--how would it read differently for him to be the brains behind the operation with Nathan and later John as the front man? What if he was a black disabled queer woman, what trust issues would he have, what would he be cynical about, would John react to him any differently? Would Carter? Would Root?

tl;dr Harold isn't a white man, what changes?