5 ms·

If those PhD are really so smart, they should have had the foresight to be born to Morgan Stanley executives, like the Summly kid.

xtracto 14y ago
When I was about to start my PhD, a professor and good friend of mine (who already had one) told me: "The people who finish a PhD are not the most intelligent, but the most perseverant".
dmpk2k 14y ago
Some people don't live their lives to interact with high-power investors, but contribute vastly more value to society than people who do live their lives to do so.
MartinCron 14y ago
Most of the people who don't succeed financially made a terrible choice of who there parents were. It's probably the single most important choice one can make.
- kaonashi 14y ago
  Why should we be rewarding such poor decision making? What ever happened personal responsibility?
DilipJ 14y ago
that's not really fair to the kid. All of us are born with advantages that others lack. Every person living in America has access to wealth and connections that the average African can only dream of. That shouldn't take away from anyone's success here or diminish any of our accomplishments
- nitrogen 14y ago
  The "appeal to Africa" fallacy: comparing one's problems to problems that are worse does absolutely nothing to address either set of problems.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- ruswick 14y ago
  This is logically incoherent. The fact that a larger disparity exists between the ultra-wealthy in the West and impoverished people in the third world (though, to be fair, many parts of the West are beginning to resemble the third world) does not invalidate the point that inequality also exists within the first world. Just because impoverished Africans can't get Ashton Kutcher to invest in their startup doesn't mean that you or I can.
dsfasfasf 14y ago
Because I'm feeling a bit (just a tiny bit, I feel I'm almost beyond that) envious I almost want to celebrate your comment. Although there is a lot of true into this we have to admit that even kids born into riches are not that much more likely to be a world success. Because unless you have the will/desire to succeed you probably won't get that far. (Going to an ivy league school and working a nice cushy job is not enough in my book) Granted, some people have been put closer to the finish line then most of us but I rather not take that as an excuse to explain away my lack of success. p.s. I grew up in NYC to a working class poor immigrant family. The fact that I grew up in NYC is all the head start I needed. So far I've made to graduate school. There is still a long road ahead. No use complaining about which family I was born into.
- rayiner 14y ago
  Define "success." Being born into a rich family and going to an Ivy league school won't get you an instant $30m in the bank, but unless the apple really falls far from the tree, you won't have to try very hard to get into the top 5% in a country where even below-median people live pretty well. Not a bad ROI on simply choosing your parents well.
- rhizome 14y ago
  we have to admit that even kids born into riches are not that much more likely to be a world success. They are MUCH less likely to wind up bleeding out on a streetcorner in the Tenderloin or creaking along on subsistence wages. It's rarely about "world success."
MisterWebz 14y ago
I don't think I have ever seen so many people on HN be so envious of someone.
- rayiner 14y ago
  When people complain about overpaid football players, or overpaid Wall Street executives, etc, is "envy" the first word that really comes to your mind?
snowwrestler 14y ago
How many financial executives are there in the U.S.? Should we assume that each of their children founded a company and exited profitably by the age of 17? Let's not take too much away from what this person accomplished.

xtracto 14y ago

When I was about to start my PhD, a professor and good friend of mine (who already had one) told me: "The people who finish a PhD are not the most intelligent, but the most perseverant".

dmpk2k 14y ago

Some people don't live their lives to interact with high-power investors, but contribute vastly more value to society than people who do live their lives to do so.

MartinCron 14y ago

Most of the people who don't succeed financially made a terrible choice of who there parents were. It's probably the single most important choice one can make.

kaonashi 14y ago
Why should we be rewarding such poor decision making? What ever happened personal responsibility?

DilipJ 14y ago

that's not really fair to the kid. All of us are born with advantages that others lack. Every person living in America has access to wealth and connections that the average African can only dream of. That shouldn't take away from anyone's success here or diminish any of our accomplishments

nitrogen 14y ago
The "appeal to Africa" fallacy: comparing one's problems to problems that are worse does absolutely nothing to address either set of problems.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
ruswick 14y ago
This is logically incoherent. The fact that a larger disparity exists between the ultra-wealthy in the West and impoverished people in the third world (though, to be fair, many parts of the West are beginning to resemble the third world) does not invalidate the point that inequality also exists within the first world. Just because impoverished Africans can't get Ashton Kutcher to invest in their startup doesn't mean that you or I can.

dsfasfasf 14y ago

Because I'm feeling a bit (just a tiny bit, I feel I'm almost beyond that) envious I almost want to celebrate your comment. Although there is a lot of true into this we have to admit that even kids born into riches are not that much more likely to be a world success. Because unless you have the will/desire to succeed you probably won't get that far. (Going to an ivy league school and working a nice cushy job is not enough in my book) Granted, some people have been put closer to the finish line then most of us but I rather not take that as an excuse to explain away my lack of success. p.s. I grew up in NYC to a working class poor immigrant family. The fact that I grew up in NYC is all the head start I needed. So far I've made to graduate school. There is still a long road ahead. No use complaining about which family I was born into.

rayiner 14y ago
Define "success." Being born into a rich family and going to an Ivy league school won't get you an instant $30m in the bank, but unless the apple really falls far from the tree, you won't have to try very hard to get into the top 5% in a country where even below-median people live pretty well. Not a bad ROI on simply choosing your parents well.
rhizome 14y ago
we have to admit that even kids born into riches are not that much more likely to be a world success. They are MUCH less likely to wind up bleeding out on a streetcorner in the Tenderloin or creaking along on subsistence wages. It's rarely about "world success."

MisterWebz 14y ago

I don't think I have ever seen so many people on HN be so envious of someone.

rayiner 14y ago
When people complain about overpaid football players, or overpaid Wall Street executives, etc, is "envy" the first word that really comes to your mind?

snowwrestler 14y ago

How many financial executives are there in the U.S.? Should we assume that each of their children founded a company and exited profitably by the age of 17? Let's not take too much away from what this person accomplished.