Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

shift.newco.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 374 posts

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#351

Post by WalterBright »

wangchow wrote: post #295
khedoros wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the point. They're saying that those 85% of self-made American millionaires aren't as "self-made" as they claim. Like me: I could talk about starting with almost nothing in my bank accounts, getting a job, working through the ranks, buying a home, and working toward my first million... conveniently leaving out all the advantages that I've had to get me to this point (cultural expectation that I'd go to college…

Honestly no one is self-made. People who don't have financial cushions still rely on others to back their idea and hard work. Problem is everyone on HN is talking about how to make millions when that's backwards mentality because then you'll never be satisfied. People need to strive for modest salaries and things that benefit society and the planet not filling one's pockets.

We wouldn't have nice things like computers, coffee, indoor plumbing, jeans, books, teeth, etc. if people were satisfied with modest salaries and not filling their pockets.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#352

Post by allovera »

grokas wrote: post #348
allovera wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done lots of therapy. Really! It's very sweet how worried everyone in this thread is about me, but maybe I've painted a dire picture. Time heals all wounds. I'm only 25, it's only been 6.5 years since I was last homeless. Even though it hasn't been too much time, I already feel quite a bit better: * I used to have anxiety attacks and heart palpitations nearly nightly; now, it happens maybe 2x a year. * "Money is…

Before my first comment, I hadn't seen this comment. I am your age, you make more than me, and I came from much less dire straights... In a way, many people could even envy your experiences for the drive it gives you. I have toxic family members and I can tell you from experience that a drug addict in the family is an extra anchor to a sinking boat. > please tell everyone trying to use you to go kick rocks Some peopl…

>I almost have a guilt that I grew up with any amount of money at all and would be very willing to do anything for others, thinking I owed it to them.

I never, ever resent people for having had a good upbringing. I always feel happy for people who have two functional parents, who had food and clothing and love. It reminds me that such a life is possible, the world isn't always a terrible place, and there's no point in sinking into cynicism and despair.

I think the best thing that you can do for people who are worse off than yourself is live a model life, one in which you treat people decently, have strong personal boundaries, and love your family and friends. When you are older and you have kids, invite your kids' friends over for dinner. I cannot explain how much it meant to me as a kid to see a family that was loving and happy. It gave me hope and made me realize that my situation was not normal and not OK. "Teach a man to fish" and all that -- my friends' parents taught me to have standards for how families should treat each other, which is why I left mine.

I replied to rubberstamp because I want people to know that they should feel no shame in cutting out toxic family and friends if it is what you need to do.

Also, because I like working at Amazon and it gets a metric tonnnn of HN hate :)

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#353

Post by wang_li »

gbersac wrote: post #312
wang_li wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also a capital 9. I'm so ashamed. The number is supposedly 90%.

Did you know you can edit your post? I think yours deserve it.

It appears that after a certain amount of time the edit capability is unavailable.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#354

Post by WalterBright »

gutnor wrote: post #321
Teever wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand. none of those examples are 'self-made'

If you are born in the Western World, it is like starting a marathon 5 km away from the finish line and still be in the same race than the one starting at the beginning. When you start thinking everything you get for free, even just in a lower middle western family, compared to someone born in a war torn village in Africa, the concept of "self-made" becomes really meaningless.

That's why a stable government that protects life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is necessary. The opportunity flows from that.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#355

Post by WalterBright »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #332
WalterBright wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book describes the studies they used. (Correction, it's 80%. I had misremembered it.) You can get the book for $2.50 from Amazon, not a bad investment if you are interested in the topic.

The numbers are not correct or even science. Its one dude who uses that number to sell his pop psychology book. Heres a blog from the author about where he gets his numbers: 'In my thirty plus years of surveying and studying millionaires' http://www.thomasjstanley.com/2014/05/america-where-milliona...

A blog post of a couple of paragraphs does not give any information about the rigor, correctness, or value of the contents of a book.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#356

Post by riot504 »

BigJeffeRonaldo wrote: post #202
gthtjtkt wrote: post #121

Just to offer a slight counter-point re: privilege. Where I grew up, telling someone "I want to go to vocational school instead of college" was no different from telling them "I want to be a prostitute when I grow up". Hell, even joining any form of armed service was extremely frowned upon. In many cases, this led to otherwise bright, gifted people becoming "failures" because they were too afraid to do what they want…

Being against military service sounds like the 110iq librarian in a town full of low 95 iqers. Some of he smartest kids I know (many from very good backgrounds) went west point then 11b and now are flying up management fast track in some prestigious industries. Many kids from poorer backgrounds have also done the same, but they weren't in my peer group. Aristocrats and elite political families send their kids to do m…

Exactly this! I joined the military at 17 and turned 18 during the summer I graduated high school. I am now completing my PhD in mathematics and work as a data scientist for a small economic development firm.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#357

Post by WalterBright »

rbanffy wrote: post #344
WalterBright wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gates was already a multimillionaire from Microsoft before the DOS deal. IBM also went to Gary Kildall first.

Bill Gates was probably a multimillionaire from the day he was conceived.

No need to guess. Biographies of Gates and Microsoft are plentiful.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#358

Post by carapace »

allovera wrote: post #226
carapace wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Q: "What's the most important human drive?" A: "Familiarity." Sometimes you've just got to fake it til you make it. Since the real world is working okay for you now I feel this advice is appropriate. I've been there. Heck, I'm there now. I'm looking for a new apartment and I have to convince myself it's okay to rent a nice one! LOL ----- edit: I read your other post talking about PTSD and, yeah, do look into therapy.…

I've done lots of therapy. Really! It's very sweet how worried everyone in this thread is about me, but maybe I've painted a dire picture. Time heals all wounds. I'm only 25, it's only been 6.5 years since I was last homeless. Even though it hasn't been too much time, I already feel quite a bit better: * I used to have anxiety attacks and heart palpitations nearly nightly; now, it happens maybe 2x a year. * "Money is…

Alright! (Whew) you're rockin it. :-D

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#359

Post by projektir »

EdSharkey wrote: post #219
projektir wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's best for a person to take care of themselves, but it's foolish to expect that when they never got the resources, whether that's financial, mental, educational... > Homelessness should be declared illegal so that civil liberties aren't an issue when we force these people to work or become wards of the state if they are not capable. I think that's called slavery. That seems like the direct opposite of giving peopl…

> I think that's called slavery. That seems like the direct opposite of giving people agency and, if anything, the attitude that created all these problems in the first place. People aren't given agency by other people, they're born with it. Agency can be denied a person though, especially when they break serious-enough laws. That's all I'm talking about. Now I just need to convince enough people to agree with me tha…

> People aren't given agency by other people, they're born with it.

That's most certainly not true. How much agency does an infant have? How much agency does a human raised illiterate far away from civilization have? I would say that humans definitely get a significant amount of their agency from society and their parents.

The agency of an individual human is very much dependent on what kind of information they were exposed to and other factors, but not all humans have the same level of agency.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#360

Post by contingencies »

wang_li wrote: post #209
nugget wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Going from $0 to $1M is almost impossible--going from $1M to $2M is almost inevitable. I know plenty of people who inherited money and blew it all. Very, very few people, even children from ''rich'' families, have an ''infinite money cushion''. People who come from poverty or communities rampant with discrimination often times have to work harder for opportunities. But hard work is hard work, and there is fierce co…

(0% of families dissipate their wealth within three generations. This suggests that there is a constant up welling of people who accumulate wealth. The proposition that there is some fixed group of rich people sitting at the top is absurd. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014241278873246624045783346...

The Chinese proverb for this is 富不過三代 which literally means "wealth does not pass three generations". It's allegedly ancient.
Post reply on HN