4 ms·

>The big problem is that we all deserve to live a good life, even if only some of us are lucky enough to find these difficult to find solutions. Unfortunately

by lp4vn 4y ago

>The big problem is that we all deserve to live a good life, even if only some of us are lucky enough to find these difficult to find solutions. Unfortunately this world you talk about doesn't exist anymore. Now we live in the world where "it is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose".

kitsunesoba 4y ago
> "it is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose". I’ve long liked this Picard quote, even though it can be equally discouraging as it can be encouraging, depending on how it’s taken.
toomuchtodo 4y ago
We should make fixing that a priority.
- DMell 4y ago
  Out of genuine curiosity, what are some areas you think could be improved do you have any examples of people / teams working toward improving them?
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Social safety nets primarily, along with effective delivery of government and social services, universally available. Vote and or run for office, it’s mostly what will move the needle. You will never get more leverage as an average citizen, and the odds are you will never be wealthy enough to get this leverage with fiat (wealth is a function of opportunity and history, startup failure odds, etc). Social Security keeps almost 22.5 million people out of poverty, for example [1]. Minimum wage increases helps millions of workers at a time. Startups are great to get rich and cash out, but not for the improvements we’re discussing at scale. Arguably, most startups have made things net worse (the gig economy, real estate price inflation, gambling on digital tokens, etc). I’m tangentially fond of several parts of government including functions like the US Digital Service; maybe start there if you’re a technologist. Less policy and politicking, more code, but you’re still getting to wield the resources government has to offer. [1] https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-lifts-more-people-above-the-poverty-line-than-any-other https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-securit...
    - DMell 4y ago
      Thank you for the response and reference.
      - toomuchtodo 4y ago
        Happy to help, thanks for the interest and discussion.
bluefirebrand 4y ago
We've always lived in that world, it's just more people are experiencing that I think. People hear "if you want to win, go to university" so they do, and they still lose. People hear "work long hours and make an impact at your job if you want to win" so they do and still lose. Meanwhile the "winners" are more visible than ever. And you point at them and say "I'm doing all the things they are doing why am I not winning" and there are no real answers. Either you're missing something or winning/losing is down to being lucky enough to do all of the right things but also at the right time and right place.
- mathgladiator 4y ago
  I'm the author of the post, and you're absolutely right. They still lose because there are deeper forces at play, and I think about "Price's Law" much. It states that 50% of the output depends on the squareroot of the people. This is a force that creates limits in different opportunities. The example that I use is "how many networking protocols does a company need?" At most, maybe, two. So, you get a limit of the number of people that understand protocols well. This is a funny thing about university too in that you get a lot of exposure, but those ideas just kind of feed you a bit rather than something that you can use in a career. How many people are actually going to use their OS, DB, etc in real-life? Well, at full scale, not many.

by lp4vn 4y ago

kitsunesoba 4y ago

> "it is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose". I’ve long liked this Picard quote, even though it can be equally discouraging as it can be encouraging, depending on how it’s taken.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

We should make fixing that a priority.

DMell 4y ago
Out of genuine curiosity, what are some areas you think could be improved do you have any examples of people / teams working toward improving them?
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Social safety nets primarily, along with effective delivery of government and social services, universally available. Vote and or run for office, it’s mostly what will move the needle. You will never get more leverage as an average citizen, and the odds are you will never be wealthy enough to get this leverage with fiat (wealth is a function of opportunity and history, startup failure odds, etc). Social Security keeps almost 22.5 million people out of poverty, for example [1]. Minimum wage increases helps millions of workers at a time. Startups are great to get rich and cash out, but not for the improvements we’re discussing at scale. Arguably, most startups have made things net worse (the gig economy, real estate price inflation, gambling on digital tokens, etc). I’m tangentially fond of several parts of government including functions like the US Digital Service; maybe start there if you’re a technologist. Less policy and politicking, more code, but you’re still getting to wield the resources government has to offer. [1] https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-lifts-more-people-above-the-poverty-line-than-any-other https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-securit...
  - DMell 4y ago
    Thank you for the response and reference.
    - toomuchtodo 4y ago
      Happy to help, thanks for the interest and discussion.

bluefirebrand 4y ago

We've always lived in that world, it's just more people are experiencing that I think. People hear "if you want to win, go to university" so they do, and they still lose. People hear "work long hours and make an impact at your job if you want to win" so they do and still lose. Meanwhile the "winners" are more visible than ever. And you point at them and say "I'm doing all the things they are doing why am I not winning" and there are no real answers. Either you're missing something or winning/losing is down to being lucky enough to do all of the right things but also at the right time and right place.

mathgladiator 4y ago
I'm the author of the post, and you're absolutely right. They still lose because there are deeper forces at play, and I think about "Price's Law" much. It states that 50% of the output depends on the squareroot of the people. This is a force that creates limits in different opportunities. The example that I use is "how many networking protocols does a company need?" At most, maybe, two. So, you get a limit of the number of people that understand protocols well. This is a funny thing about university too in that you get a lot of exposure, but those ideas just kind of feed you a bit rather than something that you can use in a career. How many people are actually going to use their OS, DB, etc in real-life? Well, at full scale, not many.