5 ms·

That's because backgammon is a reasonably well-balanced game. There's exactly zero guarantee that our society or life in general is similarly well-balanced. I

That's because backgammon is a reasonably well-balanced game. There's exactly zero guarantee that our society or life in general is similarly well-balanced. It seems to be a lot more like "Candy Land" or "Chutes and Ladders" for many people.

mistermann 4y ago
Another noteworthy difference is that while both backgamnon and The Game of Life have rules, in backgammon all players are generally obligated to follow the rules.
credit_guy 4y ago
> There's exactly zero guarantee that our society or life in general is similarly well-balanced. How come? Take Zuckerberg. He's the son of a dentist and a psychiatrist. Upper-middle class for sure. He will have better dice rolls in life than the son of a window cleaner from Queens, but he'll have about the same rolls as the sons of millions of other dentists and doctors and lawyers and senior software engineers. Still, he became a billionaire by the time he was 30, while most of his peers were lucky if they became millionaires by the same time. But I know a lot of people who claim that Zuckerberg was just a lucky guy.
- rhino369 4y ago
  >But I know a lot of people who claim that Zuckerberg was just a lucky guy. He isn't *just* lucky. But if theFacebook (a literal face book for harvard students) didn't go viral (which requires a great deal of luck), Mark Zuckerberg might be a middle manager at Google. Of course there are a lot of people who couldn't execute if given that opportunity. Maybe very few who could. But there are huge butterfly effects for these types of outlier outcomes in life.
  - credit_guy 4y ago
    > might be a middle manager at Google. He would not have been only a "middle manager" at Google. Mark was (maybe still is) a 100x developer. He would have had a meteoric career at Google. By now, he would have $100 million in the bank.
- ktpecot 4y ago
  I wouldn’t claim that he was lucky but upper middle class? The guy went to Phillips Exeter for high school and was captain of the fencing team. Not exactly middle class.
- harimau777 4y ago
  There are numerous other hard working people from similar backgrounds who didn't become billionaires by the time he was 30. That suggests that he was lucky.

mistermann 4y ago

Another noteworthy difference is that while both backgamnon and The Game of Life have rules, in backgammon all players are generally obligated to follow the rules.

credit_guy 4y ago

> There's exactly zero guarantee that our society or life in general is similarly well-balanced. How come? Take Zuckerberg. He's the son of a dentist and a psychiatrist. Upper-middle class for sure. He will have better dice rolls in life than the son of a window cleaner from Queens, but he'll have about the same rolls as the sons of millions of other dentists and doctors and lawyers and senior software engineers. Still, he became a billionaire by the time he was 30, while most of his peers were lucky if they became millionaires by the same time. But I know a lot of people who claim that Zuckerberg was just a lucky guy.

rhino369 4y ago
>But I know a lot of people who claim that Zuckerberg was just a lucky guy. He isn't *just* lucky. But if theFacebook (a literal face book for harvard students) didn't go viral (which requires a great deal of luck), Mark Zuckerberg might be a middle manager at Google. Of course there are a lot of people who couldn't execute if given that opportunity. Maybe very few who could. But there are huge butterfly effects for these types of outlier outcomes in life.
- credit_guy 4y ago
  > might be a middle manager at Google. He would not have been only a "middle manager" at Google. Mark was (maybe still is) a 100x developer. He would have had a meteoric career at Google. By now, he would have $100 million in the bank.
ktpecot 4y ago
I wouldn’t claim that he was lucky but upper middle class? The guy went to Phillips Exeter for high school and was captain of the fencing team. Not exactly middle class.
harimau777 4y ago
There are numerous other hard working people from similar backgrounds who didn't become billionaires by the time he was 30. That suggests that he was lucky.