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I have a lot of respect for david shaw. He quit managing his hedge fund day to day because he said something along the lines of finance make me stupid or someth

I have a lot of respect for david shaw. He quit managing his hedge fund day to day because he said something along the lines of finance make me stupid or something and went back to doing something useful. If only more of our elites realized this (and cared to do something useful with themselves)

downerending 7y ago
Me as well. It does seem that the whole point of being a billionaire is to do whatever you want. I can't imagine why so many seem to stick to managing their creations, which after a while can't be much fun.
- pm90 7y ago
  Most billionaires got their wealth through inheritance. All they know is to manage the wealth creation agent that was handed down to them. Most of the self made ones too have spent a large chunk of their lives perfecting the wealth generation agent which made them rich. It would be like asking a pro NBA player to also take a shot at being a pro NFL player. It’s not what they trained for; they would need to learn a new skill, a new industry and they will most likely fail anyways. Only a minority of such billionaires actually end up doing different things; Elon Musk comes to mind. Most are victims of their previous successes.
  - colanderman 7y ago
    To fully connect the dots: after spending many years doing something really well, it can be humbling and depressing to try to extract purpose or identity from something you're comparatively terrible at. Impactful competence (or at least, the belief thereof) is a tough drug to come off of.
  - downerending 7y ago
    > It would be like asking a pro NBA player to also take a shot at being a pro NFL player. I meant, the point of being rich is that you don't have to be a pro anything. You can just learn to grow radishes, or whatever suits your fancy. Or just sit and read the great books.
pinewurst 7y ago
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/david-e-shaw-college-donations.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/david-e-shaw-college...

downerending 7y ago

Me as well. It does seem that the whole point of being a billionaire is to do whatever you want. I can't imagine why so many seem to stick to managing their creations, which after a while can't be much fun.

pm90 7y ago
Most billionaires got their wealth through inheritance. All they know is to manage the wealth creation agent that was handed down to them. Most of the self made ones too have spent a large chunk of their lives perfecting the wealth generation agent which made them rich. It would be like asking a pro NBA player to also take a shot at being a pro NFL player. It’s not what they trained for; they would need to learn a new skill, a new industry and they will most likely fail anyways. Only a minority of such billionaires actually end up doing different things; Elon Musk comes to mind. Most are victims of their previous successes.
- colanderman 7y ago
  To fully connect the dots: after spending many years doing something really well, it can be humbling and depressing to try to extract purpose or identity from something you're comparatively terrible at. Impactful competence (or at least, the belief thereof) is a tough drug to come off of.
- downerending 7y ago
  > It would be like asking a pro NBA player to also take a shot at being a pro NFL player. I meant, the point of being rich is that you don't have to be a pro anything. You can just learn to grow radishes, or whatever suits your fancy. Or just sit and read the great books.

pinewurst 7y ago

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/david-e-shaw-college-donations.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/david-e-shaw-college...