5 ms·

What do you do with that understanding? Has it had any utility in some situation?

wenc 2y ago
Yes, it can be helpful in subtle ways. I hang out with NPR/NYTimes types every so often, and knowing their discourse helps me avoid certain faux pas in social situations and helps me to engage better (I start with a good baseline of their Bayesian priors). Also in terms of opportunities... NPR/NYTimes folks are purveyors of words and symbols, which means many of them are not super connected to how the world is really perceived by blue-collar folks. There are sometimes business opportunities that white collar folks don't perceive -- they can't understand why some people would want a downmarket product/service instead of an upmarket one. So many of them ignore low-end competition, and as Clay Christensen predicts, they sometimes end up being disrupted by them. If you can identify these opportunities, they're ripe for the picking because they're completely absent from (or disdained by) elite discourse. Example: take the whole kneejerk narrative about "crap Chinese culture" that prevails in NYTimes/NPR circles as well as here ("crap Chinese products on Amazon"). Yes, there are some low quality products from China, but there are actually a ton of mid-range to high-end quality stuff available at a discount because they don't yet have the cachet of Japanese brands. I get these off Amazon often and am often surprised by their functionality and quality at such low prices. The average HNer or NYTimes reader would not even pay attention to these (because "vibes"), but if you run in hobbyist circles, the acceptance of these products is much higher and there's a sizeable market that is a complete blind spot to elite types. Therein lies your untapped market. I bought these "cheap Chinese products" off Amazon recently and was more than happy with their quality. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K2G5Y78 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K2G5Y78 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R3YC1BC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R3YC1BC Another example: I bought a Hyundai car when the prevailing narrative in the US was the Hyundais were low-quality Honda knockoffs (which was never true, and Hyundais were improving at good pace, but Americans are slow to update their priors) -- and I got a car fully loaded with accessories with a 10-year powertrain warranty at a price lower than a Toyota. It was purely a perception discount. And the Hyundai turned out to be more reliable than a Toyota! (at the time -- Toyota was having quality troubles circa 2007). I got a deal because I saw the blind spots in people's perceptions. Opportunity lies where you can read the blind spots in the prevailing narrative.

wenc 2y ago

Yes, it can be helpful in subtle ways. I hang out with NPR/NYTimes types every so often, and knowing their discourse helps me avoid certain faux pas in social situations and helps me to engage better (I start with a good baseline of their Bayesian priors). Also in terms of opportunities... NPR/NYTimes folks are purveyors of words and symbols, which means many of them are not super connected to how the world is really perceived by blue-collar folks. There are sometimes business opportunities that white collar folks don't perceive -- they can't understand why some people would want a downmarket product/service instead of an upmarket one. So many of them ignore low-end competition, and as Clay Christensen predicts, they sometimes end up being disrupted by them. If you can identify these opportunities, they're ripe for the picking because they're completely absent from (or disdained by) elite discourse. Example: take the whole kneejerk narrative about "crap Chinese culture" that prevails in NYTimes/NPR circles as well as here ("crap Chinese products on Amazon"). Yes, there are some low quality products from China, but there are actually a ton of mid-range to high-end quality stuff available at a discount because they don't yet have the cachet of Japanese brands. I get these off Amazon often and am often surprised by their functionality and quality at such low prices. The average HNer or NYTimes reader would not even pay attention to these (because "vibes"), but if you run in hobbyist circles, the acceptance of these products is much higher and there's a sizeable market that is a complete blind spot to elite types. Therein lies your untapped market. I bought these "cheap Chinese products" off Amazon recently and was more than happy with their quality. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K2G5Y78 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K2G5Y78 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R3YC1BC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R3YC1BC Another example: I bought a Hyundai car when the prevailing narrative in the US was the Hyundais were low-quality Honda knockoffs (which was never true, and Hyundais were improving at good pace, but Americans are slow to update their priors) -- and I got a car fully loaded with accessories with a 10-year powertrain warranty at a price lower than a Toyota. It was purely a perception discount. And the Hyundai turned out to be more reliable than a Toyota! (at the time -- Toyota was having quality troubles circa 2007). I got a deal because I saw the blind spots in people's perceptions. Opportunity lies where you can read the blind spots in the prevailing narrative.