4 ms·

Looking at the US culture, it's not hard to see entrepreneurship as a societal disease. Let's not act like "entrepreneurship" is necessary at all to develop te

by shimman 7mo ago

Looking at the US culture, it's not hard to see entrepreneurship as a societal disease. Let's not act like "entrepreneurship" is necessary at all to develop technology. Western governments simply have no ability to find their own destination as any attempt to get off the US big tech ramp comes with threats to destroy defense treaties, weapons contracts, and tariffs with their major ally. Hardly anything to do with "entrepreneurship" and more about the insidious nature of US imperialism and how damaging neoliberalism is to the world. Good on Europeans for rejecting this American blight.

abletonlive 7mo ago
> Looking at the US culture, it's not hard to see entrepreneurship as a societal disease. It's easy if you're in some nihilistic and cynical echochamber like reddit. For everybody else, entrepreneurship is still quite celebrated and seen as a positive for society.
- r-w 7mo ago
  Really? Who do you know who isn't working in tech and finds something to celebrate in entrepreneurship?
  - dcrazy 7mo ago
    I am thoroughly perplexed by this statement. Every single person who starts their own restaurant, painting company, events planning company, etc. is an entrepreneur. The appeal of saving up enough to break free of your job and start working for yourself is so pervasive as to be almost entirely unspoken. It’s something that, being raised as an American, you simply believe is good in the same way you believe that stealing is bad. And yet I can’t name a single entrepreneur that I know personally outside of tech.
    - deaux 7mo ago
      > Every single person who starts their own restaurant, painting company, events planning company, etc. is an entrepreneur. These are completely irrelevant to this thread, so I'm perplexed that you're perplexed. Read the thread, see that it's about differences between the US and the EU, and then realize what is meant by entrepeneur _in context_. Europe isn't very different from the US when it comes to plumbing company owners.
  - weakened_malloc 7mo ago
    In Australia one of the most common paths to wealth outside of owning property is literally taking up a trade as an apprentice, then after a couple of years beginning your own plumbing/electrician/brick laying/etc business. That's still very highly celebrated. Interestingly enough, people with Mediterranean backgrounds also feel this way (there's lots of crossover here btw). Owning your own business is one of the best things one can do in that culture. There's a story in a Taleb book about a Lebanese (I think?) man who went on to become one of the execs at Mobil or some other oil company, and his mother was still disappointed that he didn't own his own company.
    - kilpikaarna 7mo ago
      Europe is obviously full of sole proprietor tradesmen, shop and restaurant owners etc. It's completely orthogonal to the apparent shortage of VC-funded startup unicorn hustle culture.
- krageon 7mo ago
  I think the fact that you can claim this without any apparent sarcasm means you operate in a very specific part of society most people aren't a part of.
  - abletonlive 7mo ago
    I live in the United States where entrepreneurship is a common way of living. I have the stats to back it up too. Maybe you just live in an echo chamber such as reddit where you believe entrepreneurship means making millions of dollars in the tech industry.
chinabot 7mo ago
[flagged]
WarmWash 7mo ago
>Good on Europeans for rejecting this American blight. Reject it? They pay hundreds of billions for it. Every year. For decades now. Europe runs on American tech, using American and Chinese hardware, powered by American energy, and protected by American defense. Surely you're confused here, because Europe didn't reject these things, they offshored them and then teased Americans about working so hard. Europe's economic situation right now is borderline catastrophic, mostly because they built a society on someone else's support in the uncannily calm times after the wall fell.
- loky4i4 7mo ago
  and european investors invest more money in usa than eu
  - WarmWash 7mo ago
    Given the US has a money making culture that is very business friendly, it completely makes sense. The "American Blight" could roughly be translated as "Investor Returns".
- geek_at 7mo ago
  True we pay for it so we don't have tu subject our own people to the horrible working culture of the US. No maternity leave is diabolical. No money when you're sick for a month? How do you accept this
  - WarmWash 7mo ago
    For dead-end/entry level work, the laws are not great. Once you get off the ground though, you get most of the same benefits as Europeans, while taking home much more income. Especially in tech, the benefits and pay can be extravagant (Netflix famously had a year of maternity leave). Although you will likely work more time overall. Keep in mind that generally social media is full of young American people. Once people get into their career, they don't spend much time on doomer social media. It's also socially taboo to not jump on the "conditions are so hard now" bandwagon. If you can get into the top 40% in America, you will have what you need to live a pretty decent life.
esafak 7mo ago
Entrepreneurship is the fountain of wealth. What else are you going to do, extract natural resources?

by shimman 7mo ago

abletonlive 7mo ago

> Looking at the US culture, it's not hard to see entrepreneurship as a societal disease. It's easy if you're in some nihilistic and cynical echochamber like reddit. For everybody else, entrepreneurship is still quite celebrated and seen as a positive for society.

r-w 7mo ago
Really? Who do you know who isn't working in tech and finds something to celebrate in entrepreneurship?
- dcrazy 7mo ago
  I am thoroughly perplexed by this statement. Every single person who starts their own restaurant, painting company, events planning company, etc. is an entrepreneur. The appeal of saving up enough to break free of your job and start working for yourself is so pervasive as to be almost entirely unspoken. It’s something that, being raised as an American, you simply believe is good in the same way you believe that stealing is bad. And yet I can’t name a single entrepreneur that I know personally outside of tech.
  - deaux 7mo ago
    > Every single person who starts their own restaurant, painting company, events planning company, etc. is an entrepreneur. These are completely irrelevant to this thread, so I'm perplexed that you're perplexed. Read the thread, see that it's about differences between the US and the EU, and then realize what is meant by entrepeneur _in context_. Europe isn't very different from the US when it comes to plumbing company owners.
- weakened_malloc 7mo ago
  In Australia one of the most common paths to wealth outside of owning property is literally taking up a trade as an apprentice, then after a couple of years beginning your own plumbing/electrician/brick laying/etc business. That's still very highly celebrated. Interestingly enough, people with Mediterranean backgrounds also feel this way (there's lots of crossover here btw). Owning your own business is one of the best things one can do in that culture. There's a story in a Taleb book about a Lebanese (I think?) man who went on to become one of the execs at Mobil or some other oil company, and his mother was still disappointed that he didn't own his own company.
  - kilpikaarna 7mo ago
    Europe is obviously full of sole proprietor tradesmen, shop and restaurant owners etc. It's completely orthogonal to the apparent shortage of VC-funded startup unicorn hustle culture.
krageon 7mo ago
I think the fact that you can claim this without any apparent sarcasm means you operate in a very specific part of society most people aren't a part of.
- abletonlive 7mo ago
  I live in the United States where entrepreneurship is a common way of living. I have the stats to back it up too. Maybe you just live in an echo chamber such as reddit where you believe entrepreneurship means making millions of dollars in the tech industry.

chinabot 7mo ago

[flagged]

WarmWash 7mo ago

>Good on Europeans for rejecting this American blight. Reject it? They pay hundreds of billions for it. Every year. For decades now. Europe runs on American tech, using American and Chinese hardware, powered by American energy, and protected by American defense. Surely you're confused here, because Europe didn't reject these things, they offshored them and then teased Americans about working so hard. Europe's economic situation right now is borderline catastrophic, mostly because they built a society on someone else's support in the uncannily calm times after the wall fell.

loky4i4 7mo ago
and european investors invest more money in usa than eu
- WarmWash 7mo ago
  Given the US has a money making culture that is very business friendly, it completely makes sense. The "American Blight" could roughly be translated as "Investor Returns".
geek_at 7mo ago
True we pay for it so we don't have tu subject our own people to the horrible working culture of the US. No maternity leave is diabolical. No money when you're sick for a month? How do you accept this
- WarmWash 7mo ago
  For dead-end/entry level work, the laws are not great. Once you get off the ground though, you get most of the same benefits as Europeans, while taking home much more income. Especially in tech, the benefits and pay can be extravagant (Netflix famously had a year of maternity leave). Although you will likely work more time overall. Keep in mind that generally social media is full of young American people. Once people get into their career, they don't spend much time on doomer social media. It's also socially taboo to not jump on the "conditions are so hard now" bandwagon. If you can get into the top 40% in America, you will have what you need to live a pretty decent life.

esafak 7mo ago

Entrepreneurship is the fountain of wealth. What else are you going to do, extract natural resources?