4 ms·

We keep rewarding the wrong people, it's no wonder things are as they are.

by bantunes 4y ago

simonswords82 4y ago
Yep, greed always seems to win out. Pretty depressing.
- anthropodie 4y ago
  I think it only inflates the bubble and bubbles burst sooner or later. Only serious, genuine people working on betterment of humanity eventually win. That's what I like to tell myself.
  - plankers 4y ago
    tell that to the legacy of margaret thatcher and "there is no alternative"
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    In the long run, we are all dead; how does a win even look like?
    - anthropodie 4y ago
      If you change this world a little for good, you won. It does not matter if you are dead before people realise your contribution to the world. For example, Galileo won.
      - Radim 4y ago
        "Good" as determined by whom? For example, there are people who hold the Scientific Revolution ushered by Galileo&co to be directly responsible for genocides and suffering (of humans and otherwise) on an unprecedented global scale. In the long-term view suggested by inglor_cz, "change this world a little for good" is really just feel-good moralistic posturing. Without specifying "good for whom?", and "on what time scale?", it's a vacuous concept.
        sss111 4y ago
        "Good" as determined by me. No matter what you do in the world, there will always be people who like what you do and people who hate what you did. That said, you would benefit from learning about effective altruism, it is a philosophical and social movement that advocates using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis.
  - idlehand 4y ago
    Sounds like the just-world fallacy.
- aucontrair3 4y ago
  Just stop. Except education and healthcare, none of this is that important; it’s vanity projects all the way down; wowing ourselves since there’s no grand competition between space fairing civs, no Heaven to win entry to. None of us are going to Mars. What wins is apathy; indifference to adopting new agency. Stop believing typical meat bags are anything more; that a network of rich exists is entirely due to belief in them. They’re just meat bags. Their figurative identity is not sacrosanct.
- Bombthecat 4y ago
  I always say: when in doubt, count on greed. It helps alot in life, project management, planning etc etc.
Closi 4y ago
I suspect the personality trait of “willingness to break rules” is somewhat correlated with the success of creating large new companies (particularly in congested markets). It’s not as important in a new market, but if you are in a fiercely competitive market (eg real estate) some rule breaking to advance you against the competitors is probably helpful to make a billion dollar company. I.E. Uber, Deliveroo, WeWork etc might not be the hugely valuable companies they are today if they didn’t break the rules, regardless of how morally wrong that might be.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  We keep rewarding the wrong behavior ...
- badpun 4y ago
  > I.E. Uber, Deliveroo, WeWork etc might not be the hugely valuable companies they are today if they didn’t break the rules, regardless of how morally wrong that might be. It yet remains to be seen whether they are a "hugely valuable companies" or just smoke and mirrors for gullible investors in an era of almost free credit.
  - Closi 4y ago
    The value of a company is effectively just what someone is willing to pay for it, with their assumption of future cash flows incorporated (discounted). So they are absolutely valuable.
    - badpun 4y ago
      Right now. The tulips during tulip mania very also extremely valuable. Let's see in 10 years from now.
      - Closi 4y ago
        Just because something isn’t necessarily valuable in the future doesn’t mean that it isn’t valuable now. (ie something is valuable if you can sell it right now for a lot of money - so all these companies are highly valuable).
Gatsky 4y ago
It's not a zero sum game, is it?
lnxg33k1 4y ago
Wrong? Depends from which point of view? As far as I can see the system is engineered to keep money flowing between the people at the top, hiring top-execs from family friends paid a huge amount of money to do anything, kids of owners using the company as a bank machine and owners complaining with employees that there are no money. I think we should not make the mistake anymore to think the system is flawed, the system as is, is working perfectly for the people who made it

We keep rewarding the wrong people, it's no wonder things are as they are.

simonswords82 4y ago

Yep, greed always seems to win out. Pretty depressing.

anthropodie 4y ago
I think it only inflates the bubble and bubbles burst sooner or later. Only serious, genuine people working on betterment of humanity eventually win. That's what I like to tell myself.
- plankers 4y ago
  tell that to the legacy of margaret thatcher and "there is no alternative"
- inglor_cz 4y ago
  In the long run, we are all dead; how does a win even look like?
  - anthropodie 4y ago
    If you change this world a little for good, you won. It does not matter if you are dead before people realise your contribution to the world. For example, Galileo won.
    - Radim 4y ago
      "Good" as determined by whom? For example, there are people who hold the Scientific Revolution ushered by Galileo&co to be directly responsible for genocides and suffering (of humans and otherwise) on an unprecedented global scale. In the long-term view suggested by inglor_cz, "change this world a little for good" is really just feel-good moralistic posturing. Without specifying "good for whom?", and "on what time scale?", it's a vacuous concept.
      - sss111 4y ago
        "Good" as determined by me. No matter what you do in the world, there will always be people who like what you do and people who hate what you did. That said, you would benefit from learning about effective altruism, it is a philosophical and social movement that advocates using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis.
- idlehand 4y ago
  Sounds like the just-world fallacy.
aucontrair3 4y ago
Just stop. Except education and healthcare, none of this is that important; it’s vanity projects all the way down; wowing ourselves since there’s no grand competition between space fairing civs, no Heaven to win entry to. None of us are going to Mars. What wins is apathy; indifference to adopting new agency. Stop believing typical meat bags are anything more; that a network of rich exists is entirely due to belief in them. They’re just meat bags. Their figurative identity is not sacrosanct.
Bombthecat 4y ago
I always say: when in doubt, count on greed. It helps alot in life, project management, planning etc etc.

Closi 4y ago

I suspect the personality trait of “willingness to break rules” is somewhat correlated with the success of creating large new companies (particularly in congested markets). It’s not as important in a new market, but if you are in a fiercely competitive market (eg real estate) some rule breaking to advance you against the competitors is probably helpful to make a billion dollar company. I.E. Uber, Deliveroo, WeWork etc might not be the hugely valuable companies they are today if they didn’t break the rules, regardless of how morally wrong that might be.

solarkraft 4y ago
We keep rewarding the wrong behavior ...
badpun 4y ago
> I.E. Uber, Deliveroo, WeWork etc might not be the hugely valuable companies they are today if they didn’t break the rules, regardless of how morally wrong that might be. It yet remains to be seen whether they are a "hugely valuable companies" or just smoke and mirrors for gullible investors in an era of almost free credit.
- Closi 4y ago
  The value of a company is effectively just what someone is willing to pay for it, with their assumption of future cash flows incorporated (discounted). So they are absolutely valuable.
  - badpun 4y ago
    Right now. The tulips during tulip mania very also extremely valuable. Let's see in 10 years from now.
    - Closi 4y ago
      Just because something isn’t necessarily valuable in the future doesn’t mean that it isn’t valuable now. (ie something is valuable if you can sell it right now for a lot of money - so all these companies are highly valuable).

Gatsky 4y ago

It's not a zero sum game, is it?

lnxg33k1 4y ago

Wrong? Depends from which point of view? As far as I can see the system is engineered to keep money flowing between the people at the top, hiring top-execs from family friends paid a huge amount of money to do anything, kids of owners using the company as a bank machine and owners complaining with employees that there are no money. I think we should not make the mistake anymore to think the system is flawed, the system as is, is working perfectly for the people who made it