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MIT Tech Review reports on a new study which used computer model to analyze wealth distribution in society. It concludes that the majority of riches do not result from talent, intelligence or hard work - but luck. Those who succeed most in modern society are born well and experience several 'lucky events' which they exploit, but are of mediocre talent. The study's abstract states that the model has potential for encouraging investment in the genuinely gifted, and summarizes:
"...if it is true that some degree of talent is necessary to be successful in life, almost never the most talented people reach the highest peaks of success, being overtaken by mediocre but sensibly luckier individuals. As to our knowledge, this counterintuitive result - although implicitly suggested between the lines in a vast literature - is quantified here for the first time."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @01:42AM (6 children)
So where are your billions of dollars then, Buzzy? Unless, of course, the study actually IS bullshit, and you're not a billionaire only because you're a moronic fucktard.
So which is it? Is the study accurate, or are you a moronic fucktard?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 04 2018, @02:28AM (5 children)
I have no desire for billions of dollars. I made as much as I wanted to (Yes, I turned down work that would have made millions for me.) for years running my own business then closed it up and lived off my savings while doing fuck-all but fishing and whatever else I felt like doing. For over two years. I still have savings but I got interested in a project I heard about six months or so ago and couldn't help myself.
I know it butthurts you that you can't understand something as simple as acquiring wealth but you really, really just don't. And pretty much no college professor or student does.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Sunday March 04 2018, @03:45AM (4 children)
There's an old saw that you should never discuss religion or politics in polite company. But that's nothing compared to discussing personal finances. People evade and lie more about money than anything else, and not just in words. Lots of poor people put on a big, flashy show designed to impress others with their wealth. But then they turn around and groan about how indebted they are and they can't afford shit, their kids are sick or starving, etc. and so much of that is bullshit. They get madly jealous of those who have a little saved up and the freedom that brings, and may even try to bring them down to their level. Once had a manager start a pissing contest in which the "winner" was the person with the most debt. I refused to participate, wouldn't tell them what debt I had, and they assumed that must mean I was in decent shape financially, maybe didn't have any debt, and they got jealous and angry with me.
People also love the mental shortcut of judging a person's wealth by the car they drive, and cannot believe anyone would drive less than they can afford. And the national religion is to spend. If you don't spend everything you have, it's why are you hurting the economy and "why do you hate America?". Employers too exert pressure to spend, baby, spend. Another boss once told me that he didn't like it that I hadn't bought a new car. Many of them really believe a desperate employee is more reliable, more "committed", so to speak, and one way to make them desperate is get them to rig a financial bomb on their lives. Lose that paycheck, and kaboom! Goodbye house, car, spouse, and your respectability, and your kids will hate you for being unable to feed them. Why, you might even ought to jump from the top floor of the financial institution you used to bank at. Employees who won't put themselves financially upside down to please management are "flight risks". Those kinds of employers and managers seem unable to comprehend that slaves don't make better employees, just can't believe that no matter how many times you remind them that the slave driven society could not win the war with the free society, and it was largely because of slavery that they were so much weaker economically.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 04 2018, @10:40AM (3 children)
If you aren't in debt, what leverage does an employer has to make you swallow their shit?
He was searching the less risky underling to fuck over... mmkay?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday March 05 2018, @02:59AM (2 children)
Why doesn't school cover these issues? Those in the science and engineering disciplines seem to feel they should stick to their science, and that office politics is beneath them, or it's trivial to figure out so no time need be spent educating students about sticky political issues.
Yet we see that such problems aren't easy or obvious, and the reputation is that nerds are especially clueless about people, worse than usual at spotting the sociopaths and handling them. They're apt to be blindsided when some authoritative bozo who only got his position through luck, possibly the luck of having the right uncle, and who secretly hates smart people and enjoys messing with them, makes insincere demands with impossible standards. Or maybe the boss doesn't hate smart people, thinks he's real smart himself but is actually an idiot (Dunning-Kruger effect), and couldn't come up with a sane estimate if his life depended on it, and so the hapless employee is still facing impossible standards. Or the boss feels threatened. What do you do about it? Walk away is a little too easy an answer, but sometimes that is the best thing to do. For all his brains, Dilbert is not very good at handling the PHB.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 05 2018, @03:29AM
Because they usually do change in manifestation in 10-15 years?
Because some of them are anti-values and they should never happen (yet they do happen in reality - see the current outpouring of sexual assault/harassment scandals)? What would you want the school teach before the metoo movement: "in some/many industries, you will be sexually harassed, if you want have your value recognized better be prepared to sleep with the all the males to the top?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 05 2018, @04:16AM
The relevant skills that would need to be thought:
- critical thinking
(- depending on the country specific, the information "that's a dog-eat-dog world, cave canem, use critical thinking and good luck")
I doubt that a certain department of education would approve teaching the above, so I reckon those should fall into the responsibility of the parents (yes, that's a lot to assume/ask from their part).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford