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Let's look at this scientifically. Being successful takes 100 units of energy. If one monkey starts with 0 units of energy and another monkey starts with 90 uni

Let's look at this scientifically. Being successful takes 100 units of energy. If one monkey starts with 0 units of energy and another monkey starts with 90 units of energy, how many units must each monkey spend to become "successful?" Now imagine the monkey who spent 10 units of energy sitting on Ellen's couch telling the world about how hard he pulled on those bootstraps. Edit: Fixed a typo.

dnautics 5y ago
> "scientifically" I'm sorry. I am actually a former scientist, and I pulled hundred hour workweeks in the lab. You do not know what that word means. Moreover, you completely missed the point.
username90 5y ago
The median American has a pretty easy life growing up, they don't have any reasons why they can't succeed yet they almost never do anyway. And there is no reason to believe that the poor Americans would do better than the median Americans if they were given the resources of median Americans.
- epicureanideal 5y ago
  > they don't have any reasons why they can't succeed yet they almost never do anyway This seems like a failure of imagination to me. Having adequate food and shelter is a long way from being able to start a profitable business, and it can even be the case that as society becomes more prosperous it becomes HARDER to start a business. Example: try starting a restaurant with the regulations today vs 1950.
willcipriano 5y ago
If the monkey with zero gains 5 and the monkey with ninety loses 5, the monkey with zero was more successful. It's not enough to look at where someone is, you have to look at where someone started. If you are a millionaire and your dad was a billionaire, you are probably one of the biggest losers on the planet.
- alexanderdmitri 5y ago
  What if you had super rich parents and you decided to become a school teacher (~$60k/yr in the US)? Being raised rich taught you that wealth isn't everything, in fact it can be quite toxic and maddening. So you end up owning a house and some retirement investments after 40 years, but most of all feel proud of the work you've done and the lives you've bettered. To be called the biggest loser in the world seems like a stretch.
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    If your goal is to educate people, a billion dollars educates more people than your tireless efforts ever could. You could instead focus on some sort of personal goal, but if you are actually doing that you won't care how much money someone else has.
    - alexanderdmitri 5y ago
      Your business mogul father had said the same thing to you. He seemed to believe money was the only thing that mattered. Luckily you were not that shallow or self-deceived and realized that living a humble life and taking the time to work with your students one-on-one was true value you could provide. Unlike your father, you will leave this world having given more than you took. You will have truly empowered the children to work for a better world than the one they were born into.

dnautics 5y ago

> "scientifically" I'm sorry. I am actually a former scientist, and I pulled hundred hour workweeks in the lab. You do not know what that word means. Moreover, you completely missed the point.

username90 5y ago

The median American has a pretty easy life growing up, they don't have any reasons why they can't succeed yet they almost never do anyway. And there is no reason to believe that the poor Americans would do better than the median Americans if they were given the resources of median Americans.

epicureanideal 5y ago
> they don't have any reasons why they can't succeed yet they almost never do anyway This seems like a failure of imagination to me. Having adequate food and shelter is a long way from being able to start a profitable business, and it can even be the case that as society becomes more prosperous it becomes HARDER to start a business. Example: try starting a restaurant with the regulations today vs 1950.

willcipriano 5y ago

If the monkey with zero gains 5 and the monkey with ninety loses 5, the monkey with zero was more successful. It's not enough to look at where someone is, you have to look at where someone started. If you are a millionaire and your dad was a billionaire, you are probably one of the biggest losers on the planet.

alexanderdmitri 5y ago
What if you had super rich parents and you decided to become a school teacher (~$60k/yr in the US)? Being raised rich taught you that wealth isn't everything, in fact it can be quite toxic and maddening. So you end up owning a house and some retirement investments after 40 years, but most of all feel proud of the work you've done and the lives you've bettered. To be called the biggest loser in the world seems like a stretch.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  If your goal is to educate people, a billion dollars educates more people than your tireless efforts ever could. You could instead focus on some sort of personal goal, but if you are actually doing that you won't care how much money someone else has.
  - alexanderdmitri 5y ago
    Your business mogul father had said the same thing to you. He seemed to believe money was the only thing that mattered. Luckily you were not that shallow or self-deceived and realized that living a humble life and taking the time to work with your students one-on-one was true value you could provide. Unlike your father, you will leave this world having given more than you took. You will have truly empowered the children to work for a better world than the one they were born into.