Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-my-luck dept.

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."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @02:38AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @02:38AM (#647433)

    I had enough saved up to sit on my ass without lowering my standard of living for two and a half of the past three years.

    Only two and a half years? Wow, you really are poor.
    Though I suppose having any savings at all counts as wealthy in the US these days?

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 04 2018, @02:51AM

    Never said I was out of savings. I just started earning again because I found something that interested me.

    Not being in massive debt counts as astounding, fantastic, amazing, incredible financial wisdom in the US these days.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.