5 ms·

I don't think it's that weird, there not a lot of differences between people at the top or at the bottom. It's the fact that they were idealized that makes thi

I don't think it's that weird, there not a lot of differences between people at the top or at the bottom. It's the fact that they were idealized that makes this dip into their intimacy so strange. But basically, those communications look a lot like ones that I would have with my own friends. And when I was a students, we were careful about spending 10 euros. Now, we have casual chats about buying a sauna for the garden, and if you think about it, it would sound crazy to someone making minimum wage. If I had billions, I would talk as casually about huge amounts for actions with big consequences, because I'm still ...me. And I would still make jokes like "you have my sword" since we quote LOTR for fun, not because of social status. What? You thougth billionaires were taking all their texts seriously? Also, calling people out for making mistake that cost you is kinda what everybody sane does. And apologizing to people when you made a mistake is not being submissive, it's being decent. Again, it reads like text I would send myself. All in all, it seems pretty standard human behavior to me. Now you may feel shocked that regular humans have so much power, but remember: - a lot of luck is involved - some skills like managing stress or being persistent may matter more than a lot others and those people may have much more than the average person - this is by design in our system, the problem therefore is not that humans are humans, but that our system promote profiles that you don't think deserve it - nevertheless, managing tesla or spacex is not something most people would succeed at, so there is probably some human traits those texts are not showing that make them capable of doing billions of dollars of operations

rhacker 4y ago
So, TLDR is One does not simply "drive" into mordor?
jasmer 4y ago
While it's fair to point out so many of the similarities between the people at the top and the bottom ... there are also differences. Notably, Musk is an outlier in many ways. The vast, vast majority of CEO's are highly conscientious at least in civil terms. They are 'restrained' if anything.
- BiteCode_dev 4y ago
  Again, even if they have some qualities that make them different in order to achieve big things, I would expect a Gauss curve to represent most traits distribution at the top like at the bottom. While most people show restrain, a few will be exhuberant, no matter the sample.
  - jasmer 4y ago
    'Restraint' is just something that separates Musk from regular CEO's. Most CEO's absolutely stand out otherwise. Here is John Chambers on Charlie Rose [1] Jean Liu [2] Just from those conversations you can see how way out from the norm they are. [1] https://charlierose.com/videos/27937 https://charlierose.com/videos/27937 [2] https://charlierose.com/videos/31044 https://charlierose.com/videos/31044
stackbutterflow 4y ago
It's interesting that you start your post by demythifying these people only to close it by rebuilding the myth again. It's like we can't accept they are just like us posting on HN.
- jokethrowaway 4y ago
  It's not building the myth but explaining the clear difference. I'm not as conscientious or as laser focused as Elon Musk so my chances of getting there are lower.
- BiteCode_dev 4y ago
  There is nothing mythical as having qualities that others don't have, and any context or system have a local maximum, which optimize for a certain kind of outcome. My qualities would have me dead 200 years ago, but make me earn money and social status in 2022. It's not that I'm amazing, it's just the current context is very favorable to those qualities. So it's just a lot of luck, and being fit for certains things that happen to be advantagious in your environnement. The myth is that the process is just and fair, according to some people moral standard. The universe doesn't care.
eastbound 4y ago
> not because of social status. What? You thougth billionaires were taking all their texts seriously? And it’s mind blowing to me that money can’t buy a better iPhone, they all have to deal with fiddling with the cursor on HN, even princes in the Middle-East, no matter the height of the tower they’re at the top of, they use the same apps as us.

rhacker 4y ago

So, TLDR is One does not simply "drive" into mordor?

jasmer 4y ago

While it's fair to point out so many of the similarities between the people at the top and the bottom ... there are also differences. Notably, Musk is an outlier in many ways. The vast, vast majority of CEO's are highly conscientious at least in civil terms. They are 'restrained' if anything.

BiteCode_dev 4y ago
Again, even if they have some qualities that make them different in order to achieve big things, I would expect a Gauss curve to represent most traits distribution at the top like at the bottom. While most people show restrain, a few will be exhuberant, no matter the sample.
- jasmer 4y ago
  'Restraint' is just something that separates Musk from regular CEO's. Most CEO's absolutely stand out otherwise. Here is John Chambers on Charlie Rose [1] Jean Liu [2] Just from those conversations you can see how way out from the norm they are. [1] https://charlierose.com/videos/27937 https://charlierose.com/videos/27937 [2] https://charlierose.com/videos/31044 https://charlierose.com/videos/31044

stackbutterflow 4y ago

It's interesting that you start your post by demythifying these people only to close it by rebuilding the myth again. It's like we can't accept they are just like us posting on HN.

jokethrowaway 4y ago
It's not building the myth but explaining the clear difference. I'm not as conscientious or as laser focused as Elon Musk so my chances of getting there are lower.
BiteCode_dev 4y ago
There is nothing mythical as having qualities that others don't have, and any context or system have a local maximum, which optimize for a certain kind of outcome. My qualities would have me dead 200 years ago, but make me earn money and social status in 2022. It's not that I'm amazing, it's just the current context is very favorable to those qualities. So it's just a lot of luck, and being fit for certains things that happen to be advantagious in your environnement. The myth is that the process is just and fair, according to some people moral standard. The universe doesn't care.

eastbound 4y ago

> not because of social status. What? You thougth billionaires were taking all their texts seriously? And it’s mind blowing to me that money can’t buy a better iPhone, they all have to deal with fiddling with the cursor on HN, even princes in the Middle-East, no matter the height of the tower they’re at the top of, they use the same apps as us.