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Do you genuinely believe that we have equality of opportunity even in “first-world” nations when nearly all of the institutional operational access is monopoliz

Do you genuinely believe that we have equality of opportunity even in “first-world” nations when nearly all of the institutional operational access is monopolized by families and other private social networks? The exceptions to the rule seem smaller than the odds of being born in North Korea. Most people do not have equal access to wealth opportunities. So no, it’s not at all “random chance”, unless your idea of “random chance” is “born into the Trump family”. :)

naming_the_user 2y ago
Equality? No, of course not. I don't believe that at all, with equal application of effort/skill it is far easier to "make it" if, for example, you are born in San Francisco to well connected, wealthy parents. I consider this to be self evident and I wouldn't take seriously the opinion of anyone who would claim otherwise. There are also effects _on the individual themselves_ like e.g. it's more likely that a person will be more intelligent if they have good nutrition throughout pregnancy and early childhood. However, not withstanding that, I also don't believe that luck is a barrier to success apart from at the absolute top levels. The analogy I would give is with athletics. You won't take Olympic gold without top tier genetics. But without training you won't even be able to run 10km. And to be "rich" in this world you don't need to be in the Olympics. You just need to be competitive. It really depends on what we are talking about. I can point to many, many examples of people both in my personal life and famous people who I do not know personally who have been successful by any reasonable standard, both groups of which it is trivial to see to those close to them have not merely been lucky.
- binary132 2y ago
  Yeah, I think it probably comes down to different definitions of “rich”. I mean like “USD 50+ million net worth”. A lot of people can be quite successful if they play their cards right and have a good bit of luck. Hardly anyone will be among “the rich” without access to private networks.

naming_the_user 2y ago

Equality? No, of course not. I don't believe that at all, with equal application of effort/skill it is far easier to "make it" if, for example, you are born in San Francisco to well connected, wealthy parents. I consider this to be self evident and I wouldn't take seriously the opinion of anyone who would claim otherwise. There are also effects _on the individual themselves_ like e.g. it's more likely that a person will be more intelligent if they have good nutrition throughout pregnancy and early childhood. However, not withstanding that, I also don't believe that luck is a barrier to success apart from at the absolute top levels. The analogy I would give is with athletics. You won't take Olympic gold without top tier genetics. But without training you won't even be able to run 10km. And to be "rich" in this world you don't need to be in the Olympics. You just need to be competitive. It really depends on what we are talking about. I can point to many, many examples of people both in my personal life and famous people who I do not know personally who have been successful by any reasonable standard, both groups of which it is trivial to see to those close to them have not merely been lucky.

binary132 2y ago
Yeah, I think it probably comes down to different definitions of “rich”. I mean like “USD 50+ million net worth”. A lot of people can be quite successful if they play their cards right and have a good bit of luck. Hardly anyone will be among “the rich” without access to private networks.