3 ms·

> This entire thing is absolutely inane. This tweet is confirmation these people have no idea what they’re doing. Incredible. Want to know a dirty secret? Nob

> This entire thing is absolutely inane. This tweet is confirmation these people have no idea what they’re doing. Incredible. Want to know a dirty secret? Nobody knows what they're doing. Some think they do - but don't. (idiots) Some know they don't - but act like they do. (cons) And some know they don't - and are honest about it. (children) Pick your poison, but we all suck in different ways - and usually in a different way based on our background. Business people who are the best in the world tend to be cons. Technical people who are the best tend to be children. You get a culture clash between these two, and it is especially bad when you see someone from one background operate in the opposing domain using their background's cultural norm. So when Ilya runs business like a child. Or when Elon hops on an internal call with the twitter engineering team plus geohot and starts trying to confidently tell them about problems with a system that he knows nothing about. Sure makes for great entertainment though!

asimovfan 3y ago
Buddhas know what they are doing
singularity2001 3y ago
what about those who think they know but in truth they don't? "humans"?
- civilitty 3y ago
  "Human" and "idiot" are synonyms.
- viktree 3y ago
  See > Some think they do - but don't. (idiots)
fl7305 3y ago
> Want to know a dirty secret? > Nobody knows what they're doing. There is a famous quote from the 1600s: "An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur" "Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?" The context is that the son was preparing to participate in high level diplomacy and worried about being out of his league, and the quote is from his father, an elder statesman.
- salamandersss 3y ago
  I love this quote, and suspect the lack of wisdom was referring to wisdom to be a good steward of the public resources rather than their infinite wisdom in finding cunning and deceptive ways to plunder it.
  - jrajav 3y ago
    No, even this is just a darkly comforting illusion. We like to feel that we as a species are still in control. That yes, we are gutting and destroying natural earth, complicit with modern slavery and war, and that's all terrible and we should do our best to stop it. BUT - at the very least, those bastards at the top know what they're doing when it comes to making money, so at least we'll have a stellar economy and rapid technological advancement, despite all that. The painful truth here being that no, there's no cunning. There's no brutal optimization. Any value created and technological progress made is mostly incidental, mostly down to people at the bottom working hard just to survive, and a few good ideas here and there. The ones at the top are mostly just lucky and along for the ride, just as bumbling and lost as the rest of us when it comes to global happenings or even just successfully interacting with others.
jareklupinski 3y ago
> Some think they do - but don't. (idiots) Pioneers > Some know they don't - but act like they do. (cons) The "Grease" > And some know they don't - and are honest about it. (children) Dreamers To finish out your square, I think the best extrapolation would fit a "Home Team" that maintains the energy needed by the other three to do their thing :)
BaculumMeumEst 3y ago
"Nobody really knows what they're doing" is a cope that will keep you mediocre forever. There are absolutely people who know what they are doing. https://twitter.com/awesomekling/status/1723257710848651366 https://twitter.com/awesomekling/status/1723257710848651366
- 28304283409234 3y ago
  > There are absolutely people who know what they are doing. I am sure there are. But few and far between. And rarely are they in positions of power in my experience.
- subsistence234 3y ago
  that tweet would be more at home on a linkedin page.
- adverbly 3y ago
  Lets talk definitions. Here was mine: Knowing what you are doing: accurate mental model The author here is talking about mindset and confidence - not "understanding" persay. Source: > For me, it was extremely humbling to work together with far more competent engineers at Apple. Having a mindset that "some people are way more competent than me" is talking about humility and growth mindsets - different concept than mental models. I fully agree with the author here - a growth mindset is useful! But that's a different thing from saying that some people actually have accurate mental models of the important complex systems underpinning the world.

asimovfan 3y ago

Buddhas know what they are doing

singularity2001 3y ago

what about those who think they know but in truth they don't? "humans"?

civilitty 3y ago
"Human" and "idiot" are synonyms.
viktree 3y ago
See > Some think they do - but don't. (idiots)

fl7305 3y ago

> Want to know a dirty secret? > Nobody knows what they're doing. There is a famous quote from the 1600s: "An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur" "Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?" The context is that the son was preparing to participate in high level diplomacy and worried about being out of his league, and the quote is from his father, an elder statesman.

salamandersss 3y ago
I love this quote, and suspect the lack of wisdom was referring to wisdom to be a good steward of the public resources rather than their infinite wisdom in finding cunning and deceptive ways to plunder it.
- jrajav 3y ago
  No, even this is just a darkly comforting illusion. We like to feel that we as a species are still in control. That yes, we are gutting and destroying natural earth, complicit with modern slavery and war, and that's all terrible and we should do our best to stop it. BUT - at the very least, those bastards at the top know what they're doing when it comes to making money, so at least we'll have a stellar economy and rapid technological advancement, despite all that. The painful truth here being that no, there's no cunning. There's no brutal optimization. Any value created and technological progress made is mostly incidental, mostly down to people at the bottom working hard just to survive, and a few good ideas here and there. The ones at the top are mostly just lucky and along for the ride, just as bumbling and lost as the rest of us when it comes to global happenings or even just successfully interacting with others.

jareklupinski 3y ago

> Some think they do - but don't. (idiots) Pioneers > Some know they don't - but act like they do. (cons) The "Grease" > And some know they don't - and are honest about it. (children) Dreamers To finish out your square, I think the best extrapolation would fit a "Home Team" that maintains the energy needed by the other three to do their thing :)

BaculumMeumEst 3y ago

"Nobody really knows what they're doing" is a cope that will keep you mediocre forever. There are absolutely people who know what they are doing. https://twitter.com/awesomekling/status/1723257710848651366 https://twitter.com/awesomekling/status/1723257710848651366

28304283409234 3y ago
> There are absolutely people who know what they are doing. I am sure there are. But few and far between. And rarely are they in positions of power in my experience.
subsistence234 3y ago
that tweet would be more at home on a linkedin page.
adverbly 3y ago
Lets talk definitions. Here was mine: Knowing what you are doing: accurate mental model The author here is talking about mindset and confidence - not "understanding" persay. Source: > For me, it was extremely humbling to work together with far more competent engineers at Apple. Having a mindset that "some people are way more competent than me" is talking about humility and growth mindsets - different concept than mental models. I fully agree with the author here - a growth mindset is useful! But that's a different thing from saying that some people actually have accurate mental models of the important complex systems underpinning the world.