The Strength of Being Misunderstood
blog.samaltman.com
The Strength of Being Misunderstood
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Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#2[deleted]
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#3>But there are lots of other ways–the key observation is that as long as you are right, being misunderstood by most people is a strength not a weakness. You and a small group of rebels get the space to solve an important problem that might otherwise not get solved.
The ability to make that bet and be right (unless you just flipped a coin), took some skills or insight, and that likely took effort and time, but then that only bought you space which probably should have been granted in the first place. Even junior developers get some space to work.
Now you've done all that work just to be able to work on the problem and you now have to deliver, which may or may not be easier than the initial bet. If it's easier, you've just fought an unnecessary battle to be able to do something you know you can do.
How many other unnecessary battles are you going to have to fight?
This seems like it gets in the way of progress more than anything. I don't want to be misunderstood in this way. If they misunderstand, one or both of us has messed up. Maybe I need more or better proof, or maybe I need to explain it better, or maybe it's the other side who needs to do more work.
There's definitely a strength in being misunderstood, but it's not about moving ahead (getting space), it's about finding out who you shouldn't be working with. This is sometimes a very hard signal to get.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#4> as long as the history books get it right, they take some pride in letting the newspapers get it wrong.
“They’ll like us when we win!”
Not a bad philosophy, but you still need to have enough confidence in your own vision.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#5I don't understand what the strength of being misunderstood is.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#6I don't understand what the strength of being misunderstood is.
Seems like the difference between being fine being wrong in the short term (the "strength" part) in order to be right in the long term.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#7> as long as the history books get it right, they take some pride in letting the newspapers get it wrong. “They’ll like us when we win!” Not a bad philosophy, but you still need to have enough confidence in your own vision.
> “They’ll like us when we win!”
Which would be fine except that history gets written by the winners. So the fact that the history books say you're a winner is not the indicator of success that Altman thinks it is.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#8If you're bringing something new, people will misinterpret and take it in worst possible meaning. If they understand the value of it. Congrats, you've now got competitors!
There.
Now, I wouldn't conflate being successful and being loved by people.
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#9[deleted]
Re: The Strength of Being Misunderstood
#10This strongly feels like the story someone tells themselves when they're doing something wrong. Just you wait! One of these days I'm gonna show you! What this post sort of assumes (in typical silicon valley style) is that you're a misunderstood genius, so even if people are pointing out your links to genocide in Myanmar, it's just their time frame isn't long enough.
What you should be concerned about is a different 2 degrees of freedom- who you care about, and whether they're right.