4 ms·

Awesome story. We don’t get to choose what country we’re born in or what socio-economic status... It bums me out how few people (at least, in the US) seem to

Awesome story. We don’t get to choose what country we’re born in or what socio-economic status... It bums me out how few people (at least, in the US) seem to recognize this. It's such a lottery, and there's a big difference between pride and entitlement. The world would probably quickly get much closer to an actual meritocracy if this particular lottery ran closer to once-a-decade or so, instead of once-per-lifetime.

jacques_chester 15y ago
The birth lottery is stunningly important. Out of the several billion people I could have been, I was born in Australia, to intelligent and kind middle class parents. Really. My biggest single stroke of luck was to be born where I was born. Everything else is going to deeply path-dependent.
- pm90 15y ago
  Couldn't agree more. Although I was born in India (which is not a developed country), I still think that I was lucky to be born into a middle-class college educated family. In India, there are kids who still die of hunger . From a very early age I realized that I could have just as easily been born into one of the many millions of poor families that make up half the country. It was indeed a pretty big stroke of luck