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Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#241

Post by acdha »

M_Grey wrote: post #121
enraged_camel wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other possible explanation is that there is a formula for success. It's just extraordinarily complex and we haven't figured it out yet, so we just attribute it to this thing called luck, the same way ancient people didn't understand thunder and attributed it to gods expressing their anger.

I think we have enough examples of people being paid a fortune to run a company into the ground to dispel the myth of some link between compensation and success. Unfortunately many many people still conflate the concepts, since compensation is generally meant to indicate success. I don't see a lot of people doubting that someone like Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates figured out a viable pathway to success, fo…

Bill Gates is a tricky example since while he certainly worked hard, a key element to his success was his mother being on the board at IBM when they were negotiating the DOS license. Other companies could have been just as good, worked just as hard, and still gone down a very different path - as evidenced by Digital Research.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#242

Post by 0xC0DECAFE2020 »

icantdrive55 wrote: post #224
mercer wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that we'll probably find ways to keep ourselves busy (while I'm not sure if we should), but I think the worry about automation and job scarcity is still very real even if you just consider the temporary disruption of 'work as we know it'. Even if newer generations will be prepared for different types of labor, that still leaves lots of people with skills that are obsolete and the inability to adjust. And I th…

"I'm a well-educated programmer and many of my skills are general and abstract enough to adjust to a changing world with relatively little effort." 1. A lot of us think we will be needed, or we will be able desirable to someone, or company. 2. I don't know your backround, but unless your education is in a field where there's a big barrier to entry (medicine always comes to mind); I think even the Ivy Leaguers will fe…

I commend you for pointing out what they don't, or can't, see. I have all but given up countering the "I'm invincible" crowd. However, I'm very empathetic to the view point, I myself held it at one time - at one time.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#243

Post by mercer »

0xC0DECAFE2020 wrote: post #242
icantdrive55 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm a well-educated programmer and many of my skills are general and abstract enough to adjust to a changing world with relatively little effort." 1. A lot of us think we will be needed, or we will be able desirable to someone, or company. 2. I don't know your backround, but unless your education is in a field where there's a big barrier to entry (medicine always comes to mind); I think even the Ivy Leaguers will fe…

I commend you for pointing out what they don't, or can't, see. I have all but given up countering the "I'm invincible" crowd. However, I'm very empathetic to the view point, I myself held it at one time - at one time.

To be clear: I definitely worry about my future at times, and I don't think I'm invincible. I intended to make a comparison with (especially) blue-collar work.

Because I do strongly believe that society favors the higher-educated, or at least those who are good at abstract thought, and I think it's very unlikely that this will change in the near future. And if it does, we're probably all pretty fucked.

That said, I'm not disagreeing with you (both). Just wanted to clarify my position.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#244

Post by pdimitar »

I'll never trust a VC on this topic, sorry. To me, "remove ego from X, Y, or Z" coming from a VC sounds a lot like "...so we have an easier time patenting your work behind your back and kick you out of your own innovation, for life".

Biased by me? Surely. But I haven't seen a benevolent VC in my life, and I've met 10-12 of them. Anecdotal? Of course. None of us knows them all so there you have it, anecdotal evidence.

I can't take this guy for real. Plus, he looks like he's in the rich bubble and "playing with your kids in the car" is a horribly misguided idea. So people should work even in their leisure / warmup time. Sure!

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#246

Post by justinhj »

gumby wrote: post #236
justinhj wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a comforting thought that people only succeed because of exceptional luck but that doesn't make it true. Worship is a problem, but methodical research of the sort that went into "Good to Great" is not.

Have you looked what happened to the companies profiled in that book?

That's a fair point :) Fannie Mae and Circuit City being among them. The question is did they abandon the principles described in the book or die due to unforeseeable circumstances?

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#247

Post by abalashov »

exclusiv wrote: post #240
abalashov wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For real. Have people saying this ever tried to work in a moving car? To achieve deep concentration with a laptop on a train? Even in an exceptionally comfortable cabin? I'm not saying it's impossible. I've done it here and there. But it's definitely a challenge and far from a norm.

Yeah I can't do it although my biz Dev guy cranks out PowerPoints, emails, financial models, etc. He seems to like working in that environment.

I would contend that this kind of work is a lot more possible in a car than coding.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#248

Post by good_vibes »

username223 wrote: post #100
good_vibes wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you guys are a little too serious sometimes. it was a joke. he looks like an ego with that scowl, like the critic from Ratatouille.

He looks like a giant unhappy thumb. I can only laugh at the mental image of him "spar[ring] with the likes of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Larry Page" in some sort of super-sized thumb war. Anyone taking bets on Andreessen vs. Bezos?

Bezos would open a can of whoop ass with his AMZN suit on.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#249

Post by mikelyons »

exclusiv wrote: post #37
smacktoward wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When he talks about "what if you don't have to worry about driving," what I hear is: what if your car is one more place where we can show you ads? Right now we can't show you ads in your car, of course, because you're in command of two tons of steel moving at high speed, so your attention needs to be fully concentrated on that task. But if the car could drive itself, think of all the ways we could monetize that newly…

I'm sure people would take an ad-subsidized car (or ride). Nielsen pays people to walk around with radio tracking devices.

Got a link to info about this?

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#250

Post by bazinga888 »

aptwebapps wrote: post #213
bazinga888 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is wanting to stop progress. Personally, I just want a better voice in what that progress looks like. Rather than listening to venture capitalists whose sole claim to fame is making a lot of money off a social media platform. "Oh, well he got lucky in the financial lotto, so I guess I better listen to him." SV capitalists are like yesterdays capitalists. "More capitalism" is the only solution that makes sense…

"... venture capitalists whose sole claim to fame is making a lot of money off a social media platform. ..." There was the whole Netscape thing, too. I mean, way his arguments on their merits, but he's not just a random VC.

Andreessen is quoted in the article as saying ..."Most of the good ideas are obvious," Andreessen says. "They just might not work right away."

If the good ideas are obvious, why bother listening to him?

He seems to ignore that an obvious good idea still requires exorbitant amounts of capital to enable it. No one can hack together a Netscape and win big anymore, been there done that.

Honestly, this "advice" comes off as a) obvious b) tone deaf.

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