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Reasons not to become famous

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Re: Reasons not to become famous

#291

Post by satanasur »

acoustep wrote: post #245
cletus wrote: post #195

So I only see three reasons to be famous: 1. The attention and adulation is your drug. I think there's no shortage of people who fall into this category. 2. To convert that fame into opportunities you wouldn't otherwise have; and 3. To convert that fame into money. Obviously if you're just plain rich then (3) is moot. If you fall into (1) then money can buy you fame to a degree. So that leaves (2). Wealth will give y…

Fourth reason: To be to be remembered after you’re gone.

How many dead billionaires from the last century do you remember and can name without googling?

If it's just the feeling of being remembered for something then there are lots of other things you can do to make people remember you. Nobody remembers the rich merchants from 2000 or 3000 years ago but people still remember the conquerors who changed maps and the artists of those days whose works have been immortalized. Whether you like it or not, someone like Hitler or Tolkien will be more likely to be remembered than someone like Gates and no, Hitler won't still be considered as an irredeemable monster then, just like how people don't get offended by the conquests and massacres by Genghis or Napoleon unless for nationalistic/jingoistic reasons.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#292

Post by Reedx »

ip26 wrote: post #134
keiferski wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kevin Hart was known as Lil’ Kev the Bastard until one of his early mentor told him to drop that nickname. This is also just a monumentally bad name. In comedy alone, there are plenty of people with nicknames or not-their-actual name: - Louis C.K. (Louis Székely) - Jon Stewart (Jon Leibowitz) - Larry the Cable Guy (Daniel Lawrence Whitney) - Mel Brooks (Melvyn Kaminsky) - Gene Wilder (Jerome Silberman) - Tim Allen…

Many of those seem like pen names covering for ethnicity rather than preserving anonymity. I see Hungarian, Jewish, German, Polish...

Jon Stewart disagrees with that theory:

Stewart says the name change has still invited criticism from people who think he made the switch to mask his Jewish background. "People always view it through the prism of ethnic identity," he said. "I hate myself for a lot of reasons, but not because I'm Jewish."

There are simpler explanations at hand for stage names, such as being easier to spell, remember and pronounce. In the case of Louis, "C.K." is approximately the English pronunciation of his last name.

And there tend to be specific motivations. Tim Allen's case is apparent enough. Larry and Rodney wanted stage names to reflect a character. Dangerfield for a guy that never gets a break.

In the case of Jon, he wanted to distance himself from his father.

Mel Brooks: "During his teens, Melvyn Kaminsky officially changed his name to Mel Brooks, influenced by his mother's maiden name Brookman, after being confused with the trumpeter Max Kaminsky."

Jamie Foxx: "When he found that female comedians were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was a name ambiguous enough to disallow any biases. He chose his surname as a tribute to the black comedian Redd Foxx."

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#293

Post by [deleted] »

throw18374 wrote: post #279
cletus wrote: post #195

So I only see three reasons to be famous: 1. The attention and adulation is your drug. I think there's no shortage of people who fall into this category. 2. To convert that fame into opportunities you wouldn't otherwise have; and 3. To convert that fame into money. Obviously if you're just plain rich then (3) is moot. If you fall into (1) then money can buy you fame to a degree. So that leaves (2). Wealth will give y…

Isn’t it possible to become a billionaire without anyone knowing? What if you just get there quietly through private investment? Not a billion, but I’ve built up a decent chunk myself and nobody seems to know or even suspect that about me. Nobody begs me for anything more than spare change, no sycophants, nobody trying to impress me. Marketing for luxury goods doesn’t even reach me. I could easily see myself reaching…

[deleted]

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#294

Post by opportune »

keiferski wrote: post #35
econcon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made lots of money but always felt rejected/ignored by society. So I ended up lonely. I was sold a dream that become financially well off and affluent and women will flock to you - it never happened! I stayed a non smoker, non drinker because I consider these uncessary risks. I don't see any upside Aced the classes, did good in sports but still become Mr. Noone. But lately, I got into body building and started usin…

The majority of the most "desirable" men in the world have lean, muscular physiques, not bodybuilder physiques. Think Brad Pitt in Fight Club. So, if your main reason for using steroids is to attract women - seriously reconsider, as your premises are wrong.

Brad Pitt in fight club is like the canonical example of non-bodybuilders talking about a good physique, but there are a lot of reasons it's not realistic.

He has a good face, and is famous, so that makes him look a lot better at a given size. The lighting is done to accentuate how big he is + he has some sort of film over his skin to make himself shinier. And he's also very lean which is not pleasant to maintain for long periods of time for most men. It's comparable to what a smaller person would look like if they were competing at a bodybuilding competition.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#295

Post by opportune »

eru wrote: post #56
keiferski wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of the most "desirable" men in the world have lean, muscular physiques, not bodybuilder physiques. Think Brad Pitt in Fight Club. So, if your main reason for using steroids is to attract women - seriously reconsider, as your premises are wrong.

Depends on how far you go. From all I've read, steroids do help you achieve your fitness-based aesthetic goals with less effort (or at all). Including the Fight Club look.

It's not about effort for serious bodybuilders using steroids, it's more about increasing the physical limits for how much muscle they can maintain/grow. Since steroids help bodybuilders recover better, it actually allows them to productively put in more effort in the gym

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#296

Post by bosswipe »

ghaff wrote: post #263
jborichevskiy wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good analysis, I think. > And really what is the practical difference between having $20m and $2b? Sure you'll have nicer houses and more of them. You may well have a super-yacht at that point. But who cares? I know I don't. I found this Reddit comment [1] insightful on that front. Don't know to its validity but have seen it linked to in a few different places. > $1billion > I am going to exclude the $10b+ crowd, bec…

Even just in terms of money. $20 million invested is--depending upon your assumptions--something like $1 million/year ~risk-free without touching the principle. (OK, a diversified portfolio is probably going to do better than that but that gives something of a baseline.) Obviously that's a pretty nice passive income stream. But it's not really have a couple nice homes in prime locations, hire full-time assistants, fl…

$1 million/year without working is very rich. You could definitely have multiple houses and full time assistants. I have two houses and part-time assistants at an income of $300k. And most of my time is dedicated to work at someone else's company, owning all of your own time makes them much more wealthy than me.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#297

Post by THE_PUN_STOPS »

ghaff wrote: post #263
jborichevskiy wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good analysis, I think. > And really what is the practical difference between having $20m and $2b? Sure you'll have nicer houses and more of them. You may well have a super-yacht at that point. But who cares? I know I don't. I found this Reddit comment [1] insightful on that front. Don't know to its validity but have seen it linked to in a few different places. > $1billion > I am going to exclude the $10b+ crowd, bec…

Even just in terms of money. $20 million invested is--depending upon your assumptions--something like $1 million/year ~risk-free without touching the principle. (OK, a diversified portfolio is probably going to do better than that but that gives something of a baseline.) Obviously that's a pretty nice passive income stream. But it's not really have a couple nice homes in prime locations, hire full-time assistants, fl…

1 million per year is a fat budget. You can get close enough to that lifestyle by renting slices of the components on-demand and being more efficient from wasteful (and preyed upon) apex lifestyle.

For instance: private air travel in USA. Find some friends with aligned lifestyles and together buy a high performance twin engine propeller passenger plane that seats 8 people for about 5 million.

There are agencies who will take care of all of the complexities of owning and operating this aircraft and renting it out while you’re not using it. With careful decision making you can bring the aircraft to close to net zero steady state operating cost as the revenue flights paying for maintenance, storage, liability etc. You also get access to a stream of excellent pilots on demand.

These agencies can also book you on a larger plane in their portfolio when you want to go further and for some reason aren’t willing/can’t fly first class commercial.

Real estate is much simpler—tons of fabulous rentals all over the world. And an assistant surely could be hired somewhere for 100k or less annually.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#298

Post by zepto »

andreilys wrote: post #281
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #106

The last time I wrote a mild critique about Tim Ferriss online, someone scoured the internet to reverse engineer my personal identity and sent an e-mail to my personal e-mail account to debate with me. (I have since switched to anonymous handles). I can only imagine what it's like for Tim Ferriss himself. If you're not familiar with Tim Ferriss, there are several reasons why he's more attractive to dangerous follower…

“ Recently, Tim has been pushing Psychedelic medicine as a miracle cure for depression, anxiety, and PTSD” Which is grounded in scientific research which backs up his claims. It’s a shame that the drug war encompassed psychedelics whi

A small number of very carefully administered treatments are backed up by research.

Nothing like a miracule cure.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#299

Post by satanasur »

dcolkitt wrote: post #280
shuckles wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I’m alive, I would gladly pay $1 if it would avoid a traumatic experience for my friends and family (or even a stranger). I don’t see how this hypothetical changes that. In particular, it’s not about the memory of me, it’s about how that memory affects the lives of those who might care about me.

But you said that you don't care about things after being gone. So this clearly demarcates an exception to this. You care about the wellbeing of your friends and family after your death, even though you're not "around to observe it". So there are at least some things that you value in life, that you still value after death. Many people being value being respected in life. There's nothing particularly different about…

There is a big difference between not being cause of hardship for your family and being remembered for the sake of being remembered. The former rises out of natural empathetical feelings you've towards your close ones which will be a cause for grief and depression till the end of your life, you get it's b repercussions in your life itself, unless you're a psychopath who don't have any regard for others suffering. Surely you can't just ignore it as 'nothing matters after I'm gone' as in being remembered, because being remembered for the sake of being remembered is merely just for the ego satisfaction from that recognition when you don't even have a working brain to enjoy it and unless you are one of those types that crave for attention and not being remembered affects your current state too emotionally. Trying to be billionaire to be remembered is just like trying to chase the moon.

Re: Reasons not to become famous

#300

Post by asveikau »

opportune wrote: post #290
asveikau wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It used to be much less accepted to have a "foreign sounding" (non-anglo-saxon) name.

It still is if it's non-obvious how to pronounce it. People will avoid saying your name which has some indirect effects on things like interviews and introductions

Fully aware that it can still be an issue. I have such a surname and spend a lot of time explaining it. Just writing that however unaccepted it is today, it was less accepted in the past.
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