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> Also, beautiful people are less likely to experience social isolation or estrangement, which would otherwise hurt EQ and health in general. Physical attracti

> Also, beautiful people are less likely to experience social isolation or estrangement, which would otherwise hurt EQ and health in general. Physical attractiveness fades and people who used it as a tool or built egos around it often become miserable.

istjohn 5y ago
I'd like to believe that there is some kind of counter-balancing drawback to beauty like you suggest. Life would be more fair. But I think the cruel truth is that people continue to enjoy advantages from the headstart they got from their youthful beauty long after their beauty has faded. Advantages like self-confidence, career advancements, and social networks don't vanish the instance beauty fades. Also, I don't think beautiful people are particularly likely to be narcicists or sociopaths or otherwise consciously rely on their beauty as a tool. I think most beautiful people are oblivious to the advantages they enjoy. Things are just a bit easier for them. Steve Yegge tells how he was catapulted into leadership at Amazon shortly after losing over 50 pounds. I believe white privilege works in much the same way. It's difficult to see that you're playing on easy mode when you've never played on hard mode.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  There are some awful looking guys, who nevertheless achieved quite a lot despite their lack of beauty. Naturally, some selection bias might be at play here ( as in -- you don't hear from the ones that did not make it about how they persevered and failed ). There is no doubt about the advantages. Beyond the already present research, I have my own little anecdote of a friend, who was not great with computers and yet is now IT manager at a major corporation. As for the white privilege, I can only say that I don't know. I come from a very white country. As you can guess, given the invariable laws of human nature, since nearly everyone was white, another other had to be found. I don't know what it is about humans that forces us to immediately label everything and self-segregate.
throw1234651234 5y ago
It doesn't fade nearly as quickly as you, in particular, would like to think. If you have good facial symmetry, straight teeth, good skin, all your hair, etc, this will continue to yield benefits literally throughout life, assuming you don't catastrophically fail to maintain it. The same is true for athletic ability / fitness in the sense that people like to say "it will fade", but the reality is that it provides a ton of benefits well into the 60s barring catastrophic injury.

istjohn 5y ago

I'd like to believe that there is some kind of counter-balancing drawback to beauty like you suggest. Life would be more fair. But I think the cruel truth is that people continue to enjoy advantages from the headstart they got from their youthful beauty long after their beauty has faded. Advantages like self-confidence, career advancements, and social networks don't vanish the instance beauty fades. Also, I don't think beautiful people are particularly likely to be narcicists or sociopaths or otherwise consciously rely on their beauty as a tool. I think most beautiful people are oblivious to the advantages they enjoy. Things are just a bit easier for them. Steve Yegge tells how he was catapulted into leadership at Amazon shortly after losing over 50 pounds. I believe white privilege works in much the same way. It's difficult to see that you're playing on easy mode when you've never played on hard mode.

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
There are some awful looking guys, who nevertheless achieved quite a lot despite their lack of beauty. Naturally, some selection bias might be at play here ( as in -- you don't hear from the ones that did not make it about how they persevered and failed ). There is no doubt about the advantages. Beyond the already present research, I have my own little anecdote of a friend, who was not great with computers and yet is now IT manager at a major corporation. As for the white privilege, I can only say that I don't know. I come from a very white country. As you can guess, given the invariable laws of human nature, since nearly everyone was white, another other had to be found. I don't know what it is about humans that forces us to immediately label everything and self-segregate.

throw1234651234 5y ago

It doesn't fade nearly as quickly as you, in particular, would like to think. If you have good facial symmetry, straight teeth, good skin, all your hair, etc, this will continue to yield benefits literally throughout life, assuming you don't catastrophically fail to maintain it. The same is true for athletic ability / fitness in the sense that people like to say "it will fade", but the reality is that it provides a ton of benefits well into the 60s barring catastrophic injury.