Really good time: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49547400
A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
91–100 of 438 posts
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#92There is no correlation between being an idiot and being rich. Being rich is (in most cases) the ability to... Sell yourself, for the lack of a better expression. And smart people commonly can't sell themselves or their products because they often solve problems which are far more complex than the ones ordinary people have. They will spend brutal amounts of resources and efforts to solve a problem which ordinary people just don't have. Ask any developer how often have they been in a non-tech circle having a casual conversation and saying "Wait, you paid how much for someone to do X?"
X usually being the work of two (below) average Joe developers which can be done in a few weeks. And there you are, sitting and wondering how to build something big.
Which is another common mistake: people rarely become rich overnight and it's a gradual process. You are looking at people who are light years ahead of you, while the route to success is a tight and windy mountain road, full of crests and dips. Looking at the people standing on the mountain peak isn't productive and doesn't give you any valuable information. It's those who are one or two corners ahead of you that you need to be looking at.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#93What's ironic to me is (IMO) Netflix is probably the shrewdest big company in existence now. Hastings has dominated not one but two markets, the second obviously larger and more insurmountable than the first. Almost Every single decision they make (including and especially ones that make customers unhappy, like their shitty browsing experience) seems so calculated and thoughtful it's just amazing. Even I thought Disn…
Meh, Netflix is one of many for me. Would be happy if it didn't exist, to watch other stuff on other streaming and I don't think they necessarily have the best content. Netflix try's to get you hooked on their originals, but the problem with that is once you binged a series you want something else - they cant keep feeding you the crack that is that current series because they take months to produce, so you switch to…
Exactly. We all keep talking about leaving Netflix but it looks like we aren't. How long has Netflix now been without major movies? Clearly whatever they're doing works - from my ground-level experience, everyone has at least a couple of shows that they like watching in Netflix, and everyone shares accounts as well so in the end it's a few dollars a month for always having a backup service with a lot of "meh" titles at the least.
Perhaps that's what the company is gunning for? Perhaps they noticed that the crowd that sees Adam Sandler movies is the main market and they don't necessarily need to pander to "sophisticated" audience to be a successful company? Who knows. It just looks mindful, minimally, where they're trying to chart out a path that they CAN do, given all their constraints (mainly every major IP now being protected by their parent for their own streaming service).
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#94Whenever you see someone who you believe to be an idiot succeeding, it usually means they're really good at the game and you don't even understand what the game is .
So Trump is really good at the political game, for instance?
Yes, if you believe he is not good at political game, you don't understand the game.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#95Yeah, you idiots all want to be rich! I'm really smart and don't want to be rich, problem solved.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that’s needlessly reductionist. Read the biographies of people like Mark Cuban and Richard Branson: both of these men were born entrepreneurs and salesmen, with Cuban starting his first business at age 12 and Branson at age 16. A good parallel to this is the music industry, actually: yes, there is a significant amount of luck in “making it.” But you cannot deny that talent is one of the strongest predictors:…
Looking at examples of successful people is classic survivorship bias. Smart people who lucked out on their businesses do not get to write biographies. EDIT: spelling
Being smart may not be sufficient, but seems necessary atleast to make your own money.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#97Whenever you see someone who you believe to be an idiot succeeding, it usually means they're really good at the game and you don't even understand what the game is .
Or their family donated enough money to an Ivy to have a building named after them.
Sounds like they're pretty good at the game.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#982011 is the context: a height of the start-up wave, ascendance of FB--presumably due to "genius". The implication being that if you are really smarter than others you must have the rewards to show it. Hopefully this would be received today as a tone-deaf denial of privilege. The great myth of meritocracy has been blown apart.
Do you really believe Zuckerberg is an idiot? He has successfully navigated industry shift to mobile. He decisively and swiftly purchased Instagram and WhatsApp, buying his way into two major upcoming trends. You may think he is jerk or evil but no way an idiot.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#99Oh, this is easy.
The usual response to such a question is - "you're just an anti-intellectual! Being rich doesn't mean you're smart - any fool can do it! Real non-fools write their opinions down and other fools follow them."
/s
I've known some utterly immoral people become very, very wealthy - I might've even helped them along the way. The reason I'm not rich and they are, is that they decided they didn't want to help me along my way.
Being rich isn't an indicator of intelligence, nor is it an indicator of hard work or decent ethics. It does, usually, mean that someone wanted to give you money for some reason - and even a fool or an intellectual can do such a thing for love. Or, not.
Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)
#100I love the way people who consider themselves smart rationalize their lack of success/wealth, including here.
- I don't want to be wealthy anyway
- To be wealthy you have to be ruthless and I prefer to be nice
- smart people are so busy with issues much more important than money
- wealthy people are just lucky idiots
- wealthy people are just idiots who are better at exploiting other idiots
- people who are wealthy spend their lives chasing wealth instead of enjoying it
It's sad that people refuse to acknowledge that assuming responsibility for one's own or even their family's lives means to take care of every aspect of it, including financial issues. If you are "too busy" to take care of your finances to the best of your abilities, you are incompetent and not in control of your life.