So...wealth is profiting off other people’s labor. I swear, can someone give my honorary MBA now?
How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
91–100 of 193 posts
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#92There's a lot in this article that I'd endorse as a first-pass approximation of the truth for orienting oneself towards productive behaviors.
But...
There's a number of places where Naval is mixing the concerns of "status" and "values." This isn't an easy distinction to make, because status essentially exists by the standard of one form of values or another, but without this distinction you can gather both ideas like "all property should be owned/controlled by the state" or "taxation is theft" and "people should not be property" or "some regulation can balance problematic incentives" under the same umbrella of "status games", which makes certain muddled conclusions are easier (problematic or useful depending on how you look at it).
Once you understand this, though, it's easier to note that this piece is itself a bid in a status game -- it defines a set of values and sets them up as higher than a competing set of values. And the set of values he's advocating seems to be one by whose standards he would have a high status. ;)
This is distinct, by the way, from arguing that Naval is wrong (much less totally wrong). He is in some ways, not in others, and I hope that saying as much as I have makes the rest of that easier to work out as an exercise for the reader.
Though that will probably prove to be mostly be the case where it affirms the values a given reader already holds.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#93"when journalists attack rich people, or attack the technology industry, they’re really bidding for status" There's a lot of that going on these days.
Yep. In fact, when rich technologists fire back with comments like his, they are also bidding for status.
(Or, more politely, engaging in a public conversation about values.)
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#94"I started as a poor kid in India, so if I can make it, anybody can, in that sense." I agree with most of the advice and Naval's musing. But let's not pretend opportunity is mostly equal. He attended Stuyvesant [0], one of the highest acclaimed high school educations [1][2]. I'm sure that had a bit to do with how the rest panned out compared to just anyone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AngelList [1] https://www.…
Also, started as a poor kid in India doesn't really present the whole picture. He was lucky that his family moved to New York when he was 9 which broadened the scope of opportunities he had.
From the Wiki article, "Ravikant moved to New York City with his family at the age of 9".
I still think what he has achieved is great and love some of what he shares but Naval can sometimes make things sound grander than they are.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#95I used to follow that guy religiously then I realized that he knew how to hack the "attention" system on social media. He is famous for what really is little fluffy sentences that would get retweeted and make him look like a wise man with the ultimate truth about everything. Now I see him as a huge hack. Almost a complete parody of Silicon Valley.
This article is over 35,000 words and he is speaking from experience (he isn't a young kid).
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#96There's a lot in this article that I'd endorse as a first-pass approximation of the truth for orienting oneself towards productive behaviors. But... There's a number of places where Naval is mixing the concerns of "status" and "values." This isn't an easy distinction to make, because status essentially exists by the standard of one form of values or another, but without this distinction you can gather both ideas like…
> Once you understand this, though, it's easier to note that this piece is itself a bid in a status game -- it defines a set of values and sets them up as higher than a competing set of values. And the set of values he's advocating seems to be one by whose standards he would have a high status. ;)
This is such a great point, presented masterfully. It exposes the game in ways that the original article couldn't, while using the original article as a conduit to do so. Pretty cool. And you manage to do it without devaluing Naval's interpretation / world view - which I think we both agree does have value.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#97>> Wealth is not a zero-sum game. Everybody in the world can have a house.
This is false and the people who say this tend to be in elite circles so they don't see the scarcity which is obvious to everyone else.
The fact is that there aren't going to be enough builders to build houses for everyone. Why? Because those people are too busy building mansions, building yahts, building private jets, mining gold, making jewelry, mining diamond, working on useless rich people startups, etc... Rich people create scarcity through their consumption. Also rich people pay better for the same work.
And yes, investing in a useless startup is not real investing; it's consumption; the real purpose of most startups is to bring pleasure to a rich person and their friends when the startup gets acquired, not to serve society.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting a job at Google is way easier than starting a large successful software company.
And both are effectively impossible for many people in the world. His advice is meant to be applicable for people who aren't lucky enough to have either of those options. The option to invest in income-generating assets over costly status-signalling devices is available to far more people in the world. E.g. https://www.kiva.org/about/impact/success-stories
So he's arguing buying stock instead of a nice car will make you wealthier? No argument here.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#99"I started as a poor kid in India, so if I can make it, anybody can, in that sense." I agree with most of the advice and Naval's musing. But let's not pretend opportunity is mostly equal. He attended Stuyvesant [0], one of the highest acclaimed high school educations [1][2]. I'm sure that had a bit to do with how the rest panned out compared to just anyone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AngelList [1] https://www.…
Also, started as a poor kid in India doesn't really present the whole picture. He was lucky that his family moved to New York when he was 9 which broadened the scope of opportunities he had. From the Wiki article, "Ravikant moved to New York City with his family at the age of 9". I still think what he has achieved is great and love some of what he shares but Naval can sometimes make things sound grander than they are…
> Naval can sometimes make things sound grander than they are.
Please share a specific thing. Just curious.
Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)
#100"I started as a poor kid in India, so if I can make it, anybody can, in that sense." I agree with most of the advice and Naval's musing. But let's not pretend opportunity is mostly equal. He attended Stuyvesant [0], one of the highest acclaimed high school educations [1][2]. I'm sure that had a bit to do with how the rest panned out compared to just anyone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AngelList [1] https://www.…
> He attended Stuyvesant [0], one of the highest acclaimed high school educations [1][2]. I'm sure that had a bit to do with how the rest panned out compared to just anyone.
It also doesn't guarantee that you will be successful in life. My closest childhood friend attended CMU full ride and was a CS major. I last saw him in my hometown disheveled and pushing a shopping cart around. What you do with what you are given is way more important than what school you went to, or even what country you were born in.