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You keep using the phrase "valued in elite circles". I honestly don't think many of these traits are actually valued in elite circles. The perception of these t

You keep using the phrase "valued in elite circles". I honestly don't think many of these traits are actually valued in elite circles. The perception of these traits is valuable. The values...I'm not so sure. Quite a bit of energy in elite circles is spent on curating an image, rather than actually being decent. You have a whole set of social rules that you follow to distinguish you from the lesser people, and it's all about following the rules, not actually being genuine. Actually being genuine- well, you're kind of a naïve sucker, and even worse- you're unpredictable. Honesty is only valued so far as you follow the rules, and are honest about your own rational self interest when doing business. Hard work and high intelligence are definitely valued, but even more valuable is the person that is intelligent enough to not work hard. In my armhchair opinion, the Illusion of these values is simply a descendant of the feudal concept of Chivalry- it's important to have rules and social norms to establish an in-group of trust, and just as important for the non-elite to know that the elites have their best interest in mind, via "effective altruism"- because the elites are also honest, hard-working people, that got there through their honest hard work. And hey, maybe you can join that club if you invest in the right trustworthy person.

zeven7 4y ago
I'll guess the word "elite" here is not really the best term to convey what parent meant. The phrase "valued in elite circles" at first made me think of George Soros types, in which case the values don't fit. But I think parent meant more of the avocado toast NPR/NYT column writer types when he said "elites", in which case the values described make more sense. I'll disagree on the point about ability to explain crypto protocols/algorithms. You're either in tech and have a body of knowledge that preps you to understand the details and then you might care about it, or you don't really care about how it works. I don't think there's a group of "elites" of any kind that care too much about you explaining how crypto works.

zeven7 4y ago

I'll guess the word "elite" here is not really the best term to convey what parent meant. The phrase "valued in elite circles" at first made me think of George Soros types, in which case the values don't fit. But I think parent meant more of the avocado toast NPR/NYT column writer types when he said "elites", in which case the values described make more sense. I'll disagree on the point about ability to explain crypto protocols/algorithms. You're either in tech and have a body of knowledge that preps you to understand the details and then you might care about it, or you don't really care about how it works. I don't think there's a group of "elites" of any kind that care too much about you explaining how crypto works.