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News at eleven, "Horatio Alger myth continues to appeal to fairness bias", "Middle class continue to toil under the mindset that they are temporarily embarrasse

News at eleven, "Horatio Alger myth continues to appeal to fairness bias", "Middle class continue to toil under the mindset that they are temporarily embarrassed millionaires". Raw numbers collected over decades of research disprove this handily. While working hard is a factor, there are other phenomena which will just as easily impair upwards social mobility. There's a reason they call it "poverty trap" For an introduction, take a gander at Gladwell's books.

temphn 15y ago
Malcom "igon value" Gladwell is probably not the person one wants to cite on an empirical or technical matter. http://monkeysuncle.stanford.edu/?p=541 http://monkeysuncle.stanford.edu/?p=541 Pinker’s term: “The Igon Value Problem” is a clever play on the Eigenvalue Problem in mathematics. You see, Gladwell apparently quotes someone referring to an “igon value.” This is clearly a concept he never dealt with himself even though it is a ubiquitous tool in the statistics and decision science about which Gladwell is frequently so critical. According to Pinker, the Igon Value Problem occurs “when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert,” leading him or her to offering “generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong.” In other words, the Igon Value Problem is one of dilettantism. As for the Horatio Alger "myth", the modern incarnation is the internet startup. Look at YC. There is just no dispute that smart people working hard can put a few million in the bank after several years of all out toil in the Valley.
- danssig 15y ago
  >There is just no dispute that smart people working hard can put a few million in the bank after several years of all out toil in the Valley. This statement is either utterly nonsensical and backed up by nothing or it's circular in nature (i.e. "How do you know they're hard working and smart? Because they put a few million in the bank", "Why were they able to put a few million in the bank? Because they're hard working and smart").
- rsheridan6 15y ago
  Not that I'm a fan of Gladwell in any respect, but his gaffe shows that he never took linear algebra, which is true of almost everybody who didn't go into hard science or engineering.
- bonaldi 15y ago
  "in the valley" suggests that geography matters as much as the smarts and the hard work. What other assumptions have you missed?
  - vidarh 15y ago
    He's ridiculing the people who holds the blind belief in the valley startup as a sure way to wealth, not promoting it.
- yzhengyu 15y ago
  I am well aware of his flaws. I actually placed a higher weight on the accessibility of Gladwell's work. He might not be an economist/sociologist who studied the problem, but the fact that he is able to introduce difficult concepts to a larger audience with his writing is a plus to him and not a minus.

temphn 15y ago

Malcom "igon value" Gladwell is probably not the person one wants to cite on an empirical or technical matter. http://monkeysuncle.stanford.edu/?p=541 http://monkeysuncle.stanford.edu/?p=541 Pinker’s term: “The Igon Value Problem” is a clever play on the Eigenvalue Problem in mathematics. You see, Gladwell apparently quotes someone referring to an “igon value.” This is clearly a concept he never dealt with himself even though it is a ubiquitous tool in the statistics and decision science about which Gladwell is frequently so critical. According to Pinker, the Igon Value Problem occurs “when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert,” leading him or her to offering “generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong.” In other words, the Igon Value Problem is one of dilettantism. As for the Horatio Alger "myth", the modern incarnation is the internet startup. Look at YC. There is just no dispute that smart people working hard can put a few million in the bank after several years of all out toil in the Valley.

danssig 15y ago
>There is just no dispute that smart people working hard can put a few million in the bank after several years of all out toil in the Valley. This statement is either utterly nonsensical and backed up by nothing or it's circular in nature (i.e. "How do you know they're hard working and smart? Because they put a few million in the bank", "Why were they able to put a few million in the bank? Because they're hard working and smart").
rsheridan6 15y ago
Not that I'm a fan of Gladwell in any respect, but his gaffe shows that he never took linear algebra, which is true of almost everybody who didn't go into hard science or engineering.
bonaldi 15y ago
"in the valley" suggests that geography matters as much as the smarts and the hard work. What other assumptions have you missed?
- vidarh 15y ago
  He's ridiculing the people who holds the blind belief in the valley startup as a sure way to wealth, not promoting it.
yzhengyu 15y ago
I am well aware of his flaws. I actually placed a higher weight on the accessibility of Gladwell's work. He might not be an economist/sociologist who studied the problem, but the fact that he is able to introduce difficult concepts to a larger audience with his writing is a plus to him and not a minus.