45 ms·

You are catching a lot of flak for this, but there is one thing you are right about. If you make tens of millions of dollars, and can't figure out what to do wi

by antics 2y ago

You are catching a lot of flak for this, but there is one thing you are right about. If you make tens of millions of dollars, and can't figure out what to do with those resources, you shouldn't be calling your coworkers NPCs. You're the NPC. I truly mean this in an entirely non-judgemental way. I wish the author luck in achieving his dream of becoming high agency rather than simply high freedom. I wish it for everyone who wants it.

dangus 2y ago
I’m not afraid to be judgmental… The article author hasn’t figured out that he got to where he is because he was lucky, not because he was special in some way. The cringe comes in with the way he does it. He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. It’s amazing how even millionaires and billionaires don’t understand that national debt doesn’t work like personal debt. But anyway, that’s a tangent. The guy dumped his girlfriend so he has no family to spend time with, and he’s wondering why he’s bored. His only attempts at stimulation involve self-service: how can I be smart and successful especially in a way that everyone will know it? I can only imagine how being financially set for life would positively impact a typical fiscally responsible family (people with the restraint to hire a financial advisor). Imagine being able to cancel daycare and spend your days with your family instead of burning your life away in the office. I even know a person who has no children but thanks to a windfall just does his hobbies and hangs out with friends. Still works a day job for health insurance but now work doesn’t define their life. They’ve done things like learn how to DJ and travel to see their international friends on longer visits and not just little two week vacations that corporate zombies get to take. But the author is struggling to find a way to make work define their life, to get their life to return to capitalism that they have been blessed to escape. Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered.
- InsideOutSanta 2y ago
  Yeah, the "I dumped my girlfriend of two years as soon as things got a little bit hard for me, why is my life boring and meaningless?" thing also stood out to me. As well as this: "Within 2 minutes of talking to the final interviewer for DOGE, he asked me if I wanted to join. I said “yes”. Then he said “cool” and I was in multiple Signal groups." DOGE is run on Signal, and his conclusion is "so smart," not "that seems like a huge red flag." This guy sounds like he's in line to be the next George Papadopoulos, the guy who gets thrown under the bus when everything goes sideways.
  - adastra22 2y ago
    What is sus about Signal?
    - totallynothoney 2y ago
      I think he's saying that "running" DOGE via a messanger app sounds more like some cryptobro hustle university / shitpost chat group than a serious organization. The description in the blog of working there that sounds like cokehead bender doesn't help.
    - richiricho 2y ago
      The ignorance that you can just 'fix' a very old, grown on purpose structure by having some signal chats, is very high.
    - compass_copium 2y ago
      Governmemt agencies are supposed to have publicly available records
      - InsideOutSanta 2y ago
        The funny thing is that the "Department of Government Efficiency" is not a government department, or any kind of official government entity. It is probably (or will be) a federal advisory committee. Federal advisory committees have official rules on open meetings and reporting. So the fact that they think it's a good idea to just start a bunch of chats on Signal should be surprising, but it's Trump and Elon, so I guess it's just another thing in a long list of insane things that just happen, and we just kind of ignore them and pretend that everything is fine.
- verygoodnotbad 2y ago
  I am afraid to be judgemental. > The article author hasn’t figured out that he got to where he is because he was lucky, not because he was special in some way. It seems like a lot to assume that suggests the author is not a fast technical learner and builder. > Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered. That sounds like good advice for me, but not to the author. I sometimes follow orders from random people for fun, but I infer that the author does not. The author traveled off the paved path. Reality gave him with wealth and time, but unsatisfaction instead of satisfaction. His role is now to figure out a path back to satisfaction, perhaps it will be a short path or a long path, a common one or a one the world hasn't seen before.
  - lazide 2y ago
    I think it’s the natural result of someone who has ‘won’ a game they have been obsessing about/that defined them. People often find a similar lack of purpose (albeit much, much shorter lived) after being engrossed in a book series, very hard video game, or any other pursuit. The big difference here, IMO, is this is a game that society is literally constructed around - for its own survival. The ‘rat race’ puts food on everyone’s table, provides care when we’re sick, defines what future our children can have (and if we can even have children) - even what rights we have (or don’t have) in many cases. Is it so surprising that having won that game, some people - often the ones most obsessed with it - struggle to figure out what is next?
  - sausagefeet 2y ago
    > It seems like a lot to assume that suggests the author is not a fast technical learner and builder. Unless you think one can choose to be a "fast technical leaner and builder", then that is still luck.
    - Chris2048 2y ago
      Then what is the antonym of luck? Sound like a tautology.
- lostlogin 2y ago
  > He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. Based on this blog and the needs of the overseeing oligarch, DOGE appears to be a therapy programme for millionaires and billionaires.
  - dangus 2y ago
    Now that is a hilarious take. It really is blatantly obvious how badly people like Elon Musk need therapy. But we shouldn’t downplay what the program really intends to do: gut federal government spending rather than raising taxes on the wealthy to a sensible level. Most federal government spending has very real benefits to the average person and should be thought of as more of an investment than a cost. But the DOGE mafia wants to cut programs that help the average person to protect their own fortunes. E.g., the average person is harmed by shutting down the department of education. The wealthy who go to private school their whole lives are not.
- antics 2y ago
  There is truth to what you say. But I sense what I wrote came off more negative than I intended, and I am not sure it makes any of our lives (our lives or his) better to be hard on the author. Self actualization is legitimately extremely difficult.
  - dangus 2y ago
    If I were you I wouldn’t worry about what you said coming across negative. The article author is essentially on the wrong side of the class war. I don’t really care how well he self-actualizes and I don’t think anyone should. At this point he’s a <1%er who essentially thinks it’s a good idea to help the richest man alive fuck up the government.
- mnky9800n 2y ago
  there is a wonderful quote from a soviet movie called guest from the future, you can watch the whole movie on youtube with english subtitles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB6bwJ9agM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB6bwJ9agM Anyways, the quote is: >> You are a pathetic victim of an idle mind. I think this aptly describes the author.
  - nishantmodak 2y ago
    Wasn't it pascal who said that all of our problems come from our inability to be bored.
    - lloeki 2y ago
      It is, and the thinking of it runs deeper than the quote, in ways that directly echo TFA author's own words: http://www.mpafrancais.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/8/19984595/pascaldivertissement.pdf http://www.mpafrancais.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/8/19984595/p... (en français, of course. I link to it in its original language as I take issue with the usual translation of the very title as "Diversion", which immediately lacks the double-entendre of "Divertissement", which in french stands for both "diversion" and "entertainment") Maybe what TFA author should do is spend some time standing on the shoulders of giants and read some philosophy?
      - BlueTemplar 2y ago
        > Tel homme passe sa vie sans ennui en jouant tous les jours peu de chose. Donnez-lui tous les matins l’argent qu’il peu gagner chaque jour, à la charge qu’il ne joue point : vous le rendez malheureux. On dira peut-être que c’est qu’il recherche l’amusement du jeu, et non pas le gain. Faites-le donc jouer pour rien, il ne s’y échauffera pas et s’y ennuiera. Ce n’est donc pas l’amusement seul qu’il recherche : un amusement languissant et sans passion l’ennuiera. Il faut qu’il s’échauffe et qu’il se pipe lui-même, en s’imaginant qu’il serait heureux de gagner ce qu’il ne voudrait pas qu’on lui donnât à condition de ne point jouer, afin qu’il se forme un sujet de passion, et qu’il excite sur cela son désir, sa colère, sa crainte, pour l’objet qu’il s’est formé, comme les enfants qui s’effrayent du visage qu’ils ont barbouillé. I wouldn't be so sure about this, this might depend on the personality of the player. Some might think that introducing monetary stakes in fact ruins the game itself. And you can even take it further : the winning itself might become secondary - at which point playing the game is probably more akin to a form of artistic expression, infused with a different kind of meaning. (There are also games where you win, but in cooperation with others rather than against others.) But then this passage also reminded me of this recent thread : "More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42468255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42468255
- richiricho 2y ago
  Yep the DOGE thing was crazy fucked up. You worded it very nicely.
- begueradj 2y ago
  << I’m not afraid to be judgmental Is there any single daily life situation where any person from around the globe and in the entire history of humankind who is not judgemental? Perhaps not at a job interview? Or maybe at dating or when trying to sell or buy something or simply when looking at that person?
- RaiausderDose 2y ago
  100s meetings on Signal with the 'smartest people I have ever met' is a big red flag for me. I know I'm an asshole, but I've never had good experiences with people who call themselves super smart. And of course, they were identifying all problems with the government on signal in very short, super effective meetings... yeah sure, dude.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
    Some of the smartest people I know are also the most humble. Everyone can tell they're extremely smart but they'll be the last to admit it.
- numpad0 2y ago
  I think he IS special. You can't easily have $60m income and be this bored. He could probably, say, get a million dollar in $1 note and burn it dollar by dollar in the backyard one evening and be a YouTuber overnight. Getting exposure is stupid, so what, he could pay an "NPC" do it for him. What this guy is missing is creativity. And we don't have data to determine if it's contributor, detractor, or tangent to the position where he is at. I'd bet it's a bigly contributory, as gains from x-factors are called gambling.
  - Litost 2y ago
    I suspect burning $1 notes one at a time might take a very long time (it takes longer than you might expect burning bundles of £50 notes [1]) and as you say "What this guy is missing is creativity", just burning $1m dollars just for the sake of it, unless you're making some creative comment some would probably see as pointless/divisive. [1] See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Quid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Qu...
  - jkestner 2y ago
    See, what separates the special titans of startup industry from the rest of us is the creativity to burn those dollars at scale.
- finnthehuman 2y ago
  > Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered. It's a common enough idea to tell someone rudderless to volunteer, but I feel like it's never tempered with the perspective of having volunteered and reflected on how the donated time has effected one's own life. Shaming someone rudderless into volunteering doesn't help them for exactly the obvious reasons it won't. At least no more than anything else you can lean hard into in life to avoid something else. Suggesting it as a fix to ennui is bad advice, the virtuousness of volunteering just masks how terrible it is.
  - dijksterhuis 2y ago
    i volunteer. my suggestion to the author would be: spend some time volunteering and get over yourself (by that i mean their own ego which seems to be putting them at the centre of everything). in my experience, some things tend to come out of it - gratitude for where i am at in life because i’m struggling less than the people i’m helping - empathy because jesus yeah these people are struggling and i’m seeing just how much it’s affecting them - humility because you know what, i really am limited in what i can actually do for these people, none of my “technical prowess” is actually useful here - purpose because man i feel bad for these people and id like to do more to help than just showing up once a week i don’t volunteer because it’s “virtuous”. fuck virtuosity. i do it because i need to for my own sake — to experience the stuff above. it’s selfish-selflessness. by helping others i also help myself. edit — added the one about humility which is quite important edit 2 — donating money (philanthropy) is not the same as volunteering. in case there’s any confusion. boots on the ground are required.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - wadadadad 2y ago
    I don't understand what you're trying to say here. To share my experience as someone who volunteers, I find it to be one of the most gratifying (humbling, helpful, makes me see the value of life) things, and I think it's worthwhile to share the idea that it could help someone who is searching for meaning. I wholeheartedly recommend volunteering for everyone who can afford it (which I recognize not everyone can). I'm not sure GP here needs to necessarily state "I volunteer and found it worthwhile" every time they recommend it. What are these "obvious reasons" that volunteering won't help someone seeking direction? I also don't follow why you haven't stated whether you've personally tried volunteering and whether it's "worked" for you, particularly when you seem dismissive of it and seem to looking for personal reasoning from others.
- aga98mtl 2y ago
  > He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. I'm confused by this belief. Anyone who has ever interacted with a big government in the West knows they are a knot of old and confusing regulations that cause every thing to be slow and expensive. A leftist should be happy that the state gets to accomplish more with it's existing budget.
  - tedivm 2y ago
    The problem is that no one believes Elon and company are actually trying to "accomplish more with it's existing budget". That would be a great goal, but I don't believe that's what they're doing or even capable of doing. Remember, Elon downsized Twitter by 80%, and then Twitter lost 80% of it's value. Simply firing a bunch of people doesn't accomplish more, it can actually destroy the value of the thing to begin with. We've all seen this with republicans before. They take over, make things worse, and then use the fact that things are worse as an excuse for why the government shouldn't do the things it does. Elon isn't an expert in efficiency, he's an arsonist coming in to destroy the government so he and his buddies can extract more value out of this country.
    - boringg 2y ago
      Disagree with your take. Many people believe Elon in that he's trying to right the ship. Elon has been very clear on his ambitions and he isn't what you are trying to paint him as (a political republican). And the counter point is that Elon and large portion SV have remained in the center while the Dems marched steadily left leaving everyone in the center without a party. Twitter was broken and full of bloat as is clearly obvious given that it is performing in many ways better than before engineering wise. It has become much more of a wild west given his free speech absolutism perspective but you can't possibly argue that what he didn't proved all the critics wrong - lights stayed on, kept shipping products. It certainly hasn't lost 80% value from his actions - he bought it at the height of ZIRP mania. Now whether Elon has a enough inertia to actually be able to tackle some of the truly endemic issues of the Federal government is another question. Some of his new found friends will certainly poison the water but my take is he is authentic in his attempt to reduce deficit and lower the debt for the US while increasing growth.
- deltarholamda 2y ago
  The girlfriend thing was very odd. At one time, "making it" meant now you can marry the girl, have a bunch of kids, and become a pillar of your community. Get rich? Move to a small or mid-sized city, marry your girl, have some kids, and get involved. Need to be busy? Run a local business that hires locals. Use your money and expertise to improve your community, which is a lot easier to do as a big fish in a small pond.
- phkahler 2y ago
  >> still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. I'm not convinced it's the later. There IS a looming financial problem with our government and nobody else is doing anything about it. Federal spending is up trillions of dollars (per year) in the last 5 years with nothing to show for it. There is huge inefficiency and Elon wants to take a stab at fixing it. Yes, the man has his flaws, but he's trying to fix things nobody else will even try. Not sure why people have to hate on that. BTW, I do expect so over-cutting will happen and there will be fallout from that. But hopefully the budget gets fixed and congress learns something about fiscal responsibility.

by antics 2y ago

dangus 2y ago

I’m not afraid to be judgmental… The article author hasn’t figured out that he got to where he is because he was lucky, not because he was special in some way. The cringe comes in with the way he does it. He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. It’s amazing how even millionaires and billionaires don’t understand that national debt doesn’t work like personal debt. But anyway, that’s a tangent. The guy dumped his girlfriend so he has no family to spend time with, and he’s wondering why he’s bored. His only attempts at stimulation involve self-service: how can I be smart and successful especially in a way that everyone will know it? I can only imagine how being financially set for life would positively impact a typical fiscally responsible family (people with the restraint to hire a financial advisor). Imagine being able to cancel daycare and spend your days with your family instead of burning your life away in the office. I even know a person who has no children but thanks to a windfall just does his hobbies and hangs out with friends. Still works a day job for health insurance but now work doesn’t define their life. They’ve done things like learn how to DJ and travel to see their international friends on longer visits and not just little two week vacations that corporate zombies get to take. But the author is struggling to find a way to make work define their life, to get their life to return to capitalism that they have been blessed to escape. Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered.

InsideOutSanta 2y ago
Yeah, the "I dumped my girlfriend of two years as soon as things got a little bit hard for me, why is my life boring and meaningless?" thing also stood out to me. As well as this: "Within 2 minutes of talking to the final interviewer for DOGE, he asked me if I wanted to join. I said “yes”. Then he said “cool” and I was in multiple Signal groups." DOGE is run on Signal, and his conclusion is "so smart," not "that seems like a huge red flag." This guy sounds like he's in line to be the next George Papadopoulos, the guy who gets thrown under the bus when everything goes sideways.
- adastra22 2y ago
  What is sus about Signal?
  - totallynothoney 2y ago
    I think he's saying that "running" DOGE via a messanger app sounds more like some cryptobro hustle university / shitpost chat group than a serious organization. The description in the blog of working there that sounds like cokehead bender doesn't help.
  - richiricho 2y ago
    The ignorance that you can just 'fix' a very old, grown on purpose structure by having some signal chats, is very high.
  - compass_copium 2y ago
    Governmemt agencies are supposed to have publicly available records
    - InsideOutSanta 2y ago
      The funny thing is that the "Department of Government Efficiency" is not a government department, or any kind of official government entity. It is probably (or will be) a federal advisory committee. Federal advisory committees have official rules on open meetings and reporting. So the fact that they think it's a good idea to just start a bunch of chats on Signal should be surprising, but it's Trump and Elon, so I guess it's just another thing in a long list of insane things that just happen, and we just kind of ignore them and pretend that everything is fine.
verygoodnotbad 2y ago
I am afraid to be judgemental. > The article author hasn’t figured out that he got to where he is because he was lucky, not because he was special in some way. It seems like a lot to assume that suggests the author is not a fast technical learner and builder. > Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered. That sounds like good advice for me, but not to the author. I sometimes follow orders from random people for fun, but I infer that the author does not. The author traveled off the paved path. Reality gave him with wealth and time, but unsatisfaction instead of satisfaction. His role is now to figure out a path back to satisfaction, perhaps it will be a short path or a long path, a common one or a one the world hasn't seen before.
- lazide 2y ago
  I think it’s the natural result of someone who has ‘won’ a game they have been obsessing about/that defined them. People often find a similar lack of purpose (albeit much, much shorter lived) after being engrossed in a book series, very hard video game, or any other pursuit. The big difference here, IMO, is this is a game that society is literally constructed around - for its own survival. The ‘rat race’ puts food on everyone’s table, provides care when we’re sick, defines what future our children can have (and if we can even have children) - even what rights we have (or don’t have) in many cases. Is it so surprising that having won that game, some people - often the ones most obsessed with it - struggle to figure out what is next?
- sausagefeet 2y ago
  > It seems like a lot to assume that suggests the author is not a fast technical learner and builder. Unless you think one can choose to be a "fast technical leaner and builder", then that is still luck.
  - Chris2048 2y ago
    Then what is the antonym of luck? Sound like a tautology.
lostlogin 2y ago
> He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. Based on this blog and the needs of the overseeing oligarch, DOGE appears to be a therapy programme for millionaires and billionaires.
- dangus 2y ago
  Now that is a hilarious take. It really is blatantly obvious how badly people like Elon Musk need therapy. But we shouldn’t downplay what the program really intends to do: gut federal government spending rather than raising taxes on the wealthy to a sensible level. Most federal government spending has very real benefits to the average person and should be thought of as more of an investment than a cost. But the DOGE mafia wants to cut programs that help the average person to protect their own fortunes. E.g., the average person is harmed by shutting down the department of education. The wealthy who go to private school their whole lives are not.
antics 2y ago
There is truth to what you say. But I sense what I wrote came off more negative than I intended, and I am not sure it makes any of our lives (our lives or his) better to be hard on the author. Self actualization is legitimately extremely difficult.
- dangus 2y ago
  If I were you I wouldn’t worry about what you said coming across negative. The article author is essentially on the wrong side of the class war. I don’t really care how well he self-actualizes and I don’t think anyone should. At this point he’s a <1%er who essentially thinks it’s a good idea to help the richest man alive fuck up the government.
mnky9800n 2y ago
there is a wonderful quote from a soviet movie called guest from the future, you can watch the whole movie on youtube with english subtitles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB6bwJ9agM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB6bwJ9agM Anyways, the quote is: >> You are a pathetic victim of an idle mind. I think this aptly describes the author.
- nishantmodak 2y ago
  Wasn't it pascal who said that all of our problems come from our inability to be bored.
  - lloeki 2y ago
    It is, and the thinking of it runs deeper than the quote, in ways that directly echo TFA author's own words: http://www.mpafrancais.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/8/19984595/pascaldivertissement.pdf http://www.mpafrancais.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/8/19984595/p... (en français, of course. I link to it in its original language as I take issue with the usual translation of the very title as "Diversion", which immediately lacks the double-entendre of "Divertissement", which in french stands for both "diversion" and "entertainment") Maybe what TFA author should do is spend some time standing on the shoulders of giants and read some philosophy?
    - BlueTemplar 2y ago
      > Tel homme passe sa vie sans ennui en jouant tous les jours peu de chose. Donnez-lui tous les matins l’argent qu’il peu gagner chaque jour, à la charge qu’il ne joue point : vous le rendez malheureux. On dira peut-être que c’est qu’il recherche l’amusement du jeu, et non pas le gain. Faites-le donc jouer pour rien, il ne s’y échauffera pas et s’y ennuiera. Ce n’est donc pas l’amusement seul qu’il recherche : un amusement languissant et sans passion l’ennuiera. Il faut qu’il s’échauffe et qu’il se pipe lui-même, en s’imaginant qu’il serait heureux de gagner ce qu’il ne voudrait pas qu’on lui donnât à condition de ne point jouer, afin qu’il se forme un sujet de passion, et qu’il excite sur cela son désir, sa colère, sa crainte, pour l’objet qu’il s’est formé, comme les enfants qui s’effrayent du visage qu’ils ont barbouillé. I wouldn't be so sure about this, this might depend on the personality of the player. Some might think that introducing monetary stakes in fact ruins the game itself. And you can even take it further : the winning itself might become secondary - at which point playing the game is probably more akin to a form of artistic expression, infused with a different kind of meaning. (There are also games where you win, but in cooperation with others rather than against others.) But then this passage also reminded me of this recent thread : "More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42468255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42468255
richiricho 2y ago
Yep the DOGE thing was crazy fucked up. You worded it very nicely.
begueradj 2y ago
<< I’m not afraid to be judgmental Is there any single daily life situation where any person from around the globe and in the entire history of humankind who is not judgemental? Perhaps not at a job interview? Or maybe at dating or when trying to sell or buy something or simply when looking at that person?
RaiausderDose 2y ago
100s meetings on Signal with the 'smartest people I have ever met' is a big red flag for me. I know I'm an asshole, but I've never had good experiences with people who call themselves super smart. And of course, they were identifying all problems with the government on signal in very short, super effective meetings... yeah sure, dude.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
  Some of the smartest people I know are also the most humble. Everyone can tell they're extremely smart but they'll be the last to admit it.
numpad0 2y ago
I think he IS special. You can't easily have $60m income and be this bored. He could probably, say, get a million dollar in $1 note and burn it dollar by dollar in the backyard one evening and be a YouTuber overnight. Getting exposure is stupid, so what, he could pay an "NPC" do it for him. What this guy is missing is creativity. And we don't have data to determine if it's contributor, detractor, or tangent to the position where he is at. I'd bet it's a bigly contributory, as gains from x-factors are called gambling.
- Litost 2y ago
  I suspect burning $1 notes one at a time might take a very long time (it takes longer than you might expect burning bundles of £50 notes [1]) and as you say "What this guy is missing is creativity", just burning $1m dollars just for the sake of it, unless you're making some creative comment some would probably see as pointless/divisive. [1] See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Quid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Qu...
- jkestner 2y ago
  See, what separates the special titans of startup industry from the rest of us is the creativity to burn those dollars at scale.
finnthehuman 2y ago
> Hey author if you are reading this, try doing something positive like help people. Volunteer. Everything you have tried so far has been self-centered. It's a common enough idea to tell someone rudderless to volunteer, but I feel like it's never tempered with the perspective of having volunteered and reflected on how the donated time has effected one's own life. Shaming someone rudderless into volunteering doesn't help them for exactly the obvious reasons it won't. At least no more than anything else you can lean hard into in life to avoid something else. Suggesting it as a fix to ennui is bad advice, the virtuousness of volunteering just masks how terrible it is.
- dijksterhuis 2y ago
  i volunteer. my suggestion to the author would be: spend some time volunteering and get over yourself (by that i mean their own ego which seems to be putting them at the centre of everything). in my experience, some things tend to come out of it - gratitude for where i am at in life because i’m struggling less than the people i’m helping - empathy because jesus yeah these people are struggling and i’m seeing just how much it’s affecting them - humility because you know what, i really am limited in what i can actually do for these people, none of my “technical prowess” is actually useful here - purpose because man i feel bad for these people and id like to do more to help than just showing up once a week i don’t volunteer because it’s “virtuous”. fuck virtuosity. i do it because i need to for my own sake — to experience the stuff above. it’s selfish-selflessness. by helping others i also help myself. edit — added the one about humility which is quite important edit 2 — donating money (philanthropy) is not the same as volunteering. in case there’s any confusion. boots on the ground are required.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- wadadadad 2y ago
  I don't understand what you're trying to say here. To share my experience as someone who volunteers, I find it to be one of the most gratifying (humbling, helpful, makes me see the value of life) things, and I think it's worthwhile to share the idea that it could help someone who is searching for meaning. I wholeheartedly recommend volunteering for everyone who can afford it (which I recognize not everyone can). I'm not sure GP here needs to necessarily state "I volunteer and found it worthwhile" every time they recommend it. What are these "obvious reasons" that volunteering won't help someone seeking direction? I also don't follow why you haven't stated whether you've personally tried volunteering and whether it's "worked" for you, particularly when you seem dismissive of it and seem to looking for personal reasoning from others.
aga98mtl 2y ago
> He seems to realize he is an Elon bro but still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. I'm confused by this belief. Anyone who has ever interacted with a big government in the West knows they are a knot of old and confusing regulations that cause every thing to be slow and expensive. A leftist should be happy that the state gets to accomplish more with it's existing budget.
- tedivm 2y ago
  The problem is that no one believes Elon and company are actually trying to "accomplish more with it's existing budget". That would be a great goal, but I don't believe that's what they're doing or even capable of doing. Remember, Elon downsized Twitter by 80%, and then Twitter lost 80% of it's value. Simply firing a bunch of people doesn't accomplish more, it can actually destroy the value of the thing to begin with. We've all seen this with republicans before. They take over, make things worse, and then use the fact that things are worse as an excuse for why the government shouldn't do the things it does. Elon isn't an expert in efficiency, he's an arsonist coming in to destroy the government so he and his buddies can extract more value out of this country.
  - boringg 2y ago
    Disagree with your take. Many people believe Elon in that he's trying to right the ship. Elon has been very clear on his ambitions and he isn't what you are trying to paint him as (a political republican). And the counter point is that Elon and large portion SV have remained in the center while the Dems marched steadily left leaving everyone in the center without a party. Twitter was broken and full of bloat as is clearly obvious given that it is performing in many ways better than before engineering wise. It has become much more of a wild west given his free speech absolutism perspective but you can't possibly argue that what he didn't proved all the critics wrong - lights stayed on, kept shipping products. It certainly hasn't lost 80% value from his actions - he bought it at the height of ZIRP mania. Now whether Elon has a enough inertia to actually be able to tackle some of the truly endemic issues of the Federal government is another question. Some of his new found friends will certainly poison the water but my take is he is authentic in his attempt to reduce deficit and lower the debt for the US while increasing growth.
deltarholamda 2y ago
The girlfriend thing was very odd. At one time, "making it" meant now you can marry the girl, have a bunch of kids, and become a pillar of your community. Get rich? Move to a small or mid-sized city, marry your girl, have some kids, and get involved. Need to be busy? Run a local business that hires locals. Use your money and expertise to improve your community, which is a lot easier to do as a big fish in a small pond.
phkahler 2y ago
>> still thinks DOGE is an important national priority and not a problematic oligarchic downsizing of our important federal services and regulatory bodies. I'm not convinced it's the later. There IS a looming financial problem with our government and nobody else is doing anything about it. Federal spending is up trillions of dollars (per year) in the last 5 years with nothing to show for it. There is huge inefficiency and Elon wants to take a stab at fixing it. Yes, the man has his flaws, but he's trying to fix things nobody else will even try. Not sure why people have to hate on that. BTW, I do expect so over-cutting will happen and there will be fallout from that. But hopefully the budget gets fixed and congress learns something about fiscal responsibility.