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I'm sure that line of thought makes you feel better, but it's pretty demonstrably not the case.

SpaghettiCat 11y ago
Care to elaborate on how that is?
coldtea 11y ago
Please, show me the science behind the "unicorn". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory And since it's all about the determined individual, I also guess women, blacks, latinos, LGBT et al are just lazy or not competent enough as Mark, Gates et co to not have such many billion dollar success stories -- heck even way less million dollar success stories per percentage of the population. Right?
seiji 11y ago
We found the mark zuckerberg account everybody! He was born with his star in ascendence, destined to rule over the unruly private lives of every human alive, destined to surround himself with empty mansions so no others may peek upon his divine unicornhood. He is the first coming of social media ceo-frat-bro-jesus. praise be unto the billionaires, for they know not what they do; they only do what they are destined to accomplish regardless of their parents sending them to $60,000 per year teenage boarding schools. do not believe you can know them, for they are not fellow humans, they are Greater while we shall always remain Lesser to their unicorn brilliance. Bow, and praise be.
chadgeidel 11y ago
"pretty demonstrably not the case" Demonstrate then. "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor
taco_emoji 11y ago
"Demonstrably"? Please, do demonstrate it for us.
6d0debc071 11y ago
If we're going to accuse people of using their idea of reality as an excuse, then the alternative is no better. If it is in someone's nature to be adaptable; and by that virtue to be a success; and if others do not have like nature, then those who do not succeed are excused from ever trying or from having tried. They need feel no guilt for failure, for they could not have been anything other than failures. Nothing need ever be their fault. So, the alternative hypothesis is no better if you want to go throwing around that sort of blame.
s73v3r 11y ago
Your thing isn't demonstrably the case either. In fact, a lot of what led him to create facebook was pure coincidental luck.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  I think the point he's trying to make is that if it wasn't Facebook, Zuckerberg would have been successful with something else. Perhaps not as wildly successful, but he certainly wouldn't have regressed to the average, run of the mill consumer getting by on the 9-5.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    Why? What special quality does Mark have? He wasn't some genius programmer. He created a glorified forum (and in PHP). He wasn't some genius businessman (evident from his early interviews). He created something at the right time, that got momentum because of that, and that attracted the right people to help make it a success business wise. Would he have gotten somewhere else if it wasn't for that? Maybe, maybe not. I don't see anything particularly convincing that he wouldn't have regressed to the mean.
    - unabst 11y ago
      Some traits shared by Mark, Bill, Steve, Jeff, and even PG apart from being born white, not poor, male, lucky, etc: 1) self driven 2) loves to build 3) doesn't let things get in their way 4) goals based on their version of the future 5) deep thinkers / intellects 6) holds their own values and priorities 7) evidence driven / scientific 8) conqueror's mindset 9) idea person, doer, dreamer, student, teacher all in one 10) never was about the money, and more about passion I don't claim this list to be 100% accurate or exhaustive, but the point is there is more than just luck and DNA, and many of these traits are acquirable. The demographic to me says that the chances of becoming that person are higher under those circumstances, but the demographic itself does not directly enable or cause any such success. Just as all presidents were white until Obama, maybe we just need someone to shatter the stereotype. Personally, what I respect most is their capacity to generate their own philosophies and to then apply them to their products, to their companies, and to their lives. I find people that can do this are successful at any level.

Care to elaborate on how that is?

Please, show me the science behind the "unicorn". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory And since it's all about the determined individual, I also guess women, blacks, latinos, LGBT et al are just lazy or not competent enough as Mark, Gates et co to not have such many billion dollar success stories -- heck even way less million dollar success stories per percentage of the population. Right?

seiji 11y ago

We found the mark zuckerberg account everybody! He was born with his star in ascendence, destined to rule over the unruly private lives of every human alive, destined to surround himself with empty mansions so no others may peek upon his divine unicornhood. He is the first coming of social media ceo-frat-bro-jesus. praise be unto the billionaires, for they know not what they do; they only do what they are destined to accomplish regardless of their parents sending them to $60,000 per year teenage boarding schools. do not believe you can know them, for they are not fellow humans, they are Greater while we shall always remain Lesser to their unicorn brilliance. Bow, and praise be.

chadgeidel 11y ago

"pretty demonstrably not the case" Demonstrate then. "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor

taco_emoji 11y ago

"Demonstrably"? Please, do demonstrate it for us.

6d0debc071 11y ago

If we're going to accuse people of using their idea of reality as an excuse, then the alternative is no better. If it is in someone's nature to be adaptable; and by that virtue to be a success; and if others do not have like nature, then those who do not succeed are excused from ever trying or from having tried. They need feel no guilt for failure, for they could not have been anything other than failures. Nothing need ever be their fault. So, the alternative hypothesis is no better if you want to go throwing around that sort of blame.

s73v3r 11y ago

Your thing isn't demonstrably the case either. In fact, a lot of what led him to create facebook was pure coincidental luck.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
I think the point he's trying to make is that if it wasn't Facebook, Zuckerberg would have been successful with something else. Perhaps not as wildly successful, but he certainly wouldn't have regressed to the average, run of the mill consumer getting by on the 9-5.
- coldtea 11y ago
  Why? What special quality does Mark have? He wasn't some genius programmer. He created a glorified forum (and in PHP). He wasn't some genius businessman (evident from his early interviews). He created something at the right time, that got momentum because of that, and that attracted the right people to help make it a success business wise. Would he have gotten somewhere else if it wasn't for that? Maybe, maybe not. I don't see anything particularly convincing that he wouldn't have regressed to the mean.
  - unabst 11y ago
    Some traits shared by Mark, Bill, Steve, Jeff, and even PG apart from being born white, not poor, male, lucky, etc: 1) self driven 2) loves to build 3) doesn't let things get in their way 4) goals based on their version of the future 5) deep thinkers / intellects 6) holds their own values and priorities 7) evidence driven / scientific 8) conqueror's mindset 9) idea person, doer, dreamer, student, teacher all in one 10) never was about the money, and more about passion I don't claim this list to be 100% accurate or exhaustive, but the point is there is more than just luck and DNA, and many of these traits are acquirable. The demographic to me says that the chances of becoming that person are higher under those circumstances, but the demographic itself does not directly enable or cause any such success. Just as all presidents were white until Obama, maybe we just need someone to shatter the stereotype. Personally, what I respect most is their capacity to generate their own philosophies and to then apply them to their products, to their companies, and to their lives. I find people that can do this are successful at any level.