5 ms·

The price of gold – how bad do you want it? (2016)

45 points by rzk 2y ago

fragmede 2y ago
> Do you want it bad enough to skip going to movies with your friends...? To miss a prom...? To read some books... instead of playing videogames? To go to sleep early instead of watching a good movie...? Wait, I could have gone for a gold medal instead of learning how to program?
- golergka 2y ago
  But learning programming felt good.
- NooneAtAll3 2y ago
  you could've gone for a gold medal *in* programming
nanomonkey 2y ago
I was hoping this would be about actual gold...at $2,376.30 USD an ounce becoming a prospector starts to make sense again.
- deedub 2y ago
  Kinda ridiculous but I'm on a stream that changes every snow melt and gold is so $$$ I've been considering panning and/or getting a metal detector just to mess around in the stream bed. I don't know if it's the value of gold or if this is another thing that happens as I age...
  - throwaway211 2y ago
    See if you could put in a filter for particularly heavy sediment.
  - throwing_away 2y ago
    I'm surprised there's no "diy prospector bot" by now.
    - from-nibly 2y ago
      There are lots of laws regarding how you can and cannot mine for gold.
      - throwing_away 2y ago
        Oh, so I can't just drop off some kind of prospecting-box and come back next week to see if I made gold... legally.
        Iulioh 2y ago
        iirc the law varies by state but generally is allowed unless you use heavy machinery (as a general guideline)
        Modified3019 2y ago
        Laws are going to depend heavily, but most often anything “powered” is likely restricted. Sometimes there are distinctions between hand powered vs motorized contraptions, sometimes there aren’t. Dropping off a box in a river could be considered littering, or something along those lines. Basically ask yourself “could a complete piece of shit do what I want to do in such a selfish and destructive way that forces someone to make a law against it?” And you’ll start to realize it may mot be so simple, anymore. For gold what you want to do is find spots where gold has likely accumulated due to falling out of the stream, fill buckets and then work through them. It’s more something to do for fun than for money. An excuse to get outdoors, learn local geology and engage in the very addictive activity of “searching for something”. Prefer agates and plants myself.
        throwing_away 2y ago
        > Basically ask yourself “could a complete piece of shit do what I want to do in such a selfish and destructive way that forces someone to make a law against it?” I think I spent too many years in fintech, because I had to read this twice to make sure I understood it :)
  - boopdewoop 2y ago
    You should look up the way that Japan filters streams for Iron. I cant find anything on it at the moment but essentially they would find/make bends in the river and set up ways to capture it since metal is heavier it would get caught in the bends.
  - appplication 2y ago
    I recently found myself down the gold prospecting corner of YouTube. There is some really fun content out there on amateur prospecting. It’s worth watching a few videos.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
Aurornis 2y ago
> Do you want it bad enough to skip going to movies with your friends and use the evening off for necessary rehabilitation procedures? To miss a prom in order to take the extra practice? To read some books about nutrition instead of playing videogames? To stop posting motivational pictures and actually go running in the pouring rain? To replace fries and chicken nuggets with vegetables and high-protein meals? To go to sleep early instead of watching a good movie? Reading this hurts. I’ve been mentoring young people for a while and one increasingly common theme is that some of them don’t want to give up anything to advance their careers. I can barely convince them to update their resumes after I spend time reviewing them and writing feedback. They refuse to practice any coding problems. They are disgusted by the idea of doing any work to prep for interviews. An increasingly common problem is that I’ll recommend one thing but then they’ll go on Reddit and see 20 comments from people telling them not to do it. Some of them will get job interviews, receive a short take home problem (less than 60 minutes of work. They copy paste them to Slack so I know they’re not excessive) but then they’ll refuse to do it because Reddit told them they should never do any work for a job interview. Then they’re shocked when they’re dismissed from the interview process. On the other hand, some of the mentees will take any opportunity to get ahead and run with it. They practice LeetCode in moderation. They customize resumes for each job application. They do practice interviews and ask for more feedback. And not surprisingly, it pays off. They get jobs quickly. I wish I was better at highlighting this difference to people, but the current social media trends are pushing people toward thinking laziness is a virtue, or that working hard on anything is for suckers.
- tennisflyi 2y ago
  It’s no just Reddit. You’ll read that here
- Swizec 2y ago
  A little bit of slope makes up for a lot of y-intercept. It takes shockingly little to out-slope 90% of the population. Even for people who pre-select into competitive fields, if you read 1 relevant book per month outside work, you’re waaaaay ahead of almost everyone. Add 1 interesting paper per month and you’re “that weirdo”.
BulletinWill 2y ago
Having read (and greatly enjoyed) books by Alonzo Delano and William Lewis Manly recounting their experiences during the California gold rush, I greatly appreciate gold as being able to calculate how much a dollar was worth back then and how much they were making in a day. My calculations say it was around $130 today's dollars. And the miner towns had ridiculous prices, like a breakfast was in the $2-$5 dollars at some point.
- sdsd 2y ago
  >I greatly appreciate gold as being able to calculate how much a dollar was worth back then and how much they were making in a day The problem is that the value of gold is not fixed. It may have gone up or down quite a bit since then relative to everything else (not just relative to dollars)
- Certoeci 2y ago
  The level of cretinism in HN votes cannot be forecasted, except the conservative "it will exceed the wildest expectations". It baffles the mind how a perfectly legitimate and genuinely interesting comment is fiercely downvoted. Well one can take consolation with the thought that with the recession and all, very likely a lot of them imbeciles having free time to comment and downvote here are actually rightfully unemployed. Hope it stays that way, they definitely deserve it!
  - qup 2y ago
    It's down voted because it's off topic.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
palad1n 2y ago
In retrospect, the article was what one should have expected given the second half of the title. And it was quite interesting. But yeah, I thought this would be about the bullion gold.
demondemidi 2y ago
HN at its finest: majority of the discussion on this article is about gold, and not the actual article.
- throw__away7391 2y ago
  To be fair, gold the metal is significantly more interesting than gold the medal.
- xnorswap 2y ago
  Yes, it's a frustratingly common practice to read a headline, think of something you want to say based on that. Come to the comments, flick open the article to briefly check the comment isn't incompatible. Then upon finding the comment completely off-topic, post it anyway with the disclaimer, "hehe, I thought this would be about <topic they had always intended to talk about>". Sometimes it'll just be a way to show off they know about some obscure other meaning. In other cases like this one it's just because they want to rant about something else entirely. I'm sure someone will dig through my post history to find I've done the same, but I have earnestly tried to cut down on it, because it's a very frustrating experience for anyone who did want to engage with the article as written, not the article as imagined.
  - maeil 2y ago
    It would be interesting to see basic protection for this built into a platform. Only let users comment if they've clicked on the link, + X seconds where X is the minimum amount of time it should take to read the article. It would be impossible to reach mass popularity, but I can see it gaining a following among people like us who see it as a positive.
BiteCode_dev 2y ago
When I was a kid, it dawned on me that to be among the best, you had to be the one willing to sacrifice the most. Because there are diminishing returns up there, and when everything is equal (talent, biology, etc), then what you cut of to dedicate to the craft is one of the last differentiators. So really, did I want to be among the best that bad? And I realized I didn't. The price is too high.
- amelius 2y ago
  There are self-reinforcing effects. For example, you work hard to become a top 50 player. At that point you don't have to work as hard to remain in the top because now you have certain advantages. So you can also look at these "sacrifices" as "investments".
  - badpun 2y ago
    Being in top 50 of anything seriously competetive requires monk-like existence. You can't just coast, many atlethes who don't have the true monk mindset tried to coast a bit after a couple years of ruthless grind that got them to the top. It always results in decline of performance.
    - BiteCode_dev 2y ago
      I think people have watched or read a lot about those old school or fictional competitors, arriving wasted at the event or with a messed up life because that's what the medias sell. Even if it could have happen at a certain time, today's competitions are such high-level precision things that everybody is at the top of their game, every parameter is taken in consideration. If you are not, you don't even get at the top. I was surprised to chat with a few e-sport competitors a few years ago and learn that they are using drugs to maintain focus.
- throw092309 2y ago
  > everything is equal (talent, biology, etc) But everything is non-equal. Best of the best have everything aligned in the same direction (family, wealth, genetics...). Even the "sacrifice" does not hurt, because that is just the way they do it. Believe in "Great sacrifice" does not work in long term, and just builds resentment over time. People who promote it are usually drug addicts and broken in their personal lives!
socketcluster 2y ago
Winning has become everything because the consequences of losing (or not competing) are increasingly harsh.
jongjong 2y ago
I think most winners these days are cheaters because it makes sense to cheat. Living life as a 'free' honest person nowadays is almost as bad as being in jail... So of course, given less than a 50% chance of going to jail, most people will happily cheat through their lives and think the risk is a fair trade-off. Heck, some might think it's a fair trade-off even if you get caught. Just ask Elizabeth Holmes and her millionaire husband.

45 points by rzk 2y ago

> Do you want it bad enough to skip going to movies with your friends...? To miss a prom...? To read some books... instead of playing videogames? To go to sleep early instead of watching a good movie...? Wait, I could have gone for a gold medal instead of learning how to program?

golergka 2y ago
But learning programming felt good.
NooneAtAll3 2y ago
you could've gone for a gold medal *in* programming

nanomonkey 2y ago

I was hoping this would be about actual gold...at $2,376.30 USD an ounce becoming a prospector starts to make sense again.

deedub 2y ago
Kinda ridiculous but I'm on a stream that changes every snow melt and gold is so $$$ I've been considering panning and/or getting a metal detector just to mess around in the stream bed. I don't know if it's the value of gold or if this is another thing that happens as I age...
- throwaway211 2y ago
  See if you could put in a filter for particularly heavy sediment.
- throwing_away 2y ago
  I'm surprised there's no "diy prospector bot" by now.
  - from-nibly 2y ago
    There are lots of laws regarding how you can and cannot mine for gold.
    - throwing_away 2y ago
      Oh, so I can't just drop off some kind of prospecting-box and come back next week to see if I made gold... legally.
      - Iulioh 2y ago
        iirc the law varies by state but generally is allowed unless you use heavy machinery (as a general guideline)
      - Modified3019 2y ago
        Laws are going to depend heavily, but most often anything “powered” is likely restricted. Sometimes there are distinctions between hand powered vs motorized contraptions, sometimes there aren’t. Dropping off a box in a river could be considered littering, or something along those lines. Basically ask yourself “could a complete piece of shit do what I want to do in such a selfish and destructive way that forces someone to make a law against it?” And you’ll start to realize it may mot be so simple, anymore. For gold what you want to do is find spots where gold has likely accumulated due to falling out of the stream, fill buckets and then work through them. It’s more something to do for fun than for money. An excuse to get outdoors, learn local geology and engage in the very addictive activity of “searching for something”. Prefer agates and plants myself.
        throwing_away 2y ago
        > Basically ask yourself “could a complete piece of shit do what I want to do in such a selfish and destructive way that forces someone to make a law against it?” I think I spent too many years in fintech, because I had to read this twice to make sure I understood it :)
- boopdewoop 2y ago
  You should look up the way that Japan filters streams for Iron. I cant find anything on it at the moment but essentially they would find/make bends in the river and set up ways to capture it since metal is heavier it would get caught in the bends.
- appplication 2y ago
  I recently found myself down the gold prospecting corner of YouTube. There is some really fun content out there on amateur prospecting. It’s worth watching a few videos.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Aurornis 2y ago

> Do you want it bad enough to skip going to movies with your friends and use the evening off for necessary rehabilitation procedures? To miss a prom in order to take the extra practice? To read some books about nutrition instead of playing videogames? To stop posting motivational pictures and actually go running in the pouring rain? To replace fries and chicken nuggets with vegetables and high-protein meals? To go to sleep early instead of watching a good movie? Reading this hurts. I’ve been mentoring young people for a while and one increasingly common theme is that some of them don’t want to give up anything to advance their careers. I can barely convince them to update their resumes after I spend time reviewing them and writing feedback. They refuse to practice any coding problems. They are disgusted by the idea of doing any work to prep for interviews. An increasingly common problem is that I’ll recommend one thing but then they’ll go on Reddit and see 20 comments from people telling them not to do it. Some of them will get job interviews, receive a short take home problem (less than 60 minutes of work. They copy paste them to Slack so I know they’re not excessive) but then they’ll refuse to do it because Reddit told them they should never do any work for a job interview. Then they’re shocked when they’re dismissed from the interview process. On the other hand, some of the mentees will take any opportunity to get ahead and run with it. They practice LeetCode in moderation. They customize resumes for each job application. They do practice interviews and ask for more feedback. And not surprisingly, it pays off. They get jobs quickly. I wish I was better at highlighting this difference to people, but the current social media trends are pushing people toward thinking laziness is a virtue, or that working hard on anything is for suckers.

tennisflyi 2y ago
It’s no just Reddit. You’ll read that here
Swizec 2y ago
A little bit of slope makes up for a lot of y-intercept. It takes shockingly little to out-slope 90% of the population. Even for people who pre-select into competitive fields, if you read 1 relevant book per month outside work, you’re waaaaay ahead of almost everyone. Add 1 interesting paper per month and you’re “that weirdo”.

BulletinWill 2y ago

Having read (and greatly enjoyed) books by Alonzo Delano and William Lewis Manly recounting their experiences during the California gold rush, I greatly appreciate gold as being able to calculate how much a dollar was worth back then and how much they were making in a day. My calculations say it was around $130 today's dollars. And the miner towns had ridiculous prices, like a breakfast was in the $2-$5 dollars at some point.

sdsd 2y ago
>I greatly appreciate gold as being able to calculate how much a dollar was worth back then and how much they were making in a day The problem is that the value of gold is not fixed. It may have gone up or down quite a bit since then relative to everything else (not just relative to dollars)
Certoeci 2y ago
The level of cretinism in HN votes cannot be forecasted, except the conservative "it will exceed the wildest expectations". It baffles the mind how a perfectly legitimate and genuinely interesting comment is fiercely downvoted. Well one can take consolation with the thought that with the recession and all, very likely a lot of them imbeciles having free time to comment and downvote here are actually rightfully unemployed. Hope it stays that way, they definitely deserve it!
- qup 2y ago
  It's down voted because it's off topic.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

palad1n 2y ago

In retrospect, the article was what one should have expected given the second half of the title. And it was quite interesting. But yeah, I thought this would be about the bullion gold.

demondemidi 2y ago

HN at its finest: majority of the discussion on this article is about gold, and not the actual article.

throw__away7391 2y ago
To be fair, gold the metal is significantly more interesting than gold the medal.
xnorswap 2y ago
Yes, it's a frustratingly common practice to read a headline, think of something you want to say based on that. Come to the comments, flick open the article to briefly check the comment isn't incompatible. Then upon finding the comment completely off-topic, post it anyway with the disclaimer, "hehe, I thought this would be about <topic they had always intended to talk about>". Sometimes it'll just be a way to show off they know about some obscure other meaning. In other cases like this one it's just because they want to rant about something else entirely. I'm sure someone will dig through my post history to find I've done the same, but I have earnestly tried to cut down on it, because it's a very frustrating experience for anyone who did want to engage with the article as written, not the article as imagined.
- maeil 2y ago
  It would be interesting to see basic protection for this built into a platform. Only let users comment if they've clicked on the link, + X seconds where X is the minimum amount of time it should take to read the article. It would be impossible to reach mass popularity, but I can see it gaining a following among people like us who see it as a positive.

BiteCode_dev 2y ago

When I was a kid, it dawned on me that to be among the best, you had to be the one willing to sacrifice the most. Because there are diminishing returns up there, and when everything is equal (talent, biology, etc), then what you cut of to dedicate to the craft is one of the last differentiators. So really, did I want to be among the best that bad? And I realized I didn't. The price is too high.

amelius 2y ago
There are self-reinforcing effects. For example, you work hard to become a top 50 player. At that point you don't have to work as hard to remain in the top because now you have certain advantages. So you can also look at these "sacrifices" as "investments".
- badpun 2y ago
  Being in top 50 of anything seriously competetive requires monk-like existence. You can't just coast, many atlethes who don't have the true monk mindset tried to coast a bit after a couple years of ruthless grind that got them to the top. It always results in decline of performance.
  - BiteCode_dev 2y ago
    I think people have watched or read a lot about those old school or fictional competitors, arriving wasted at the event or with a messed up life because that's what the medias sell. Even if it could have happen at a certain time, today's competitions are such high-level precision things that everybody is at the top of their game, every parameter is taken in consideration. If you are not, you don't even get at the top. I was surprised to chat with a few e-sport competitors a few years ago and learn that they are using drugs to maintain focus.
throw092309 2y ago
> everything is equal (talent, biology, etc) But everything is non-equal. Best of the best have everything aligned in the same direction (family, wealth, genetics...). Even the "sacrifice" does not hurt, because that is just the way they do it. Believe in "Great sacrifice" does not work in long term, and just builds resentment over time. People who promote it are usually drug addicts and broken in their personal lives!

socketcluster 2y ago

Winning has become everything because the consequences of losing (or not competing) are increasingly harsh.

jongjong 2y ago

I think most winners these days are cheaters because it makes sense to cheat. Living life as a 'free' honest person nowadays is almost as bad as being in jail... So of course, given less than a 50% chance of going to jail, most people will happily cheat through their lives and think the risk is a fair trade-off. Heck, some might think it's a fair trade-off even if you get caught. Just ask Elizabeth Holmes and her millionaire husband.