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Choose your status game wisely

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Re: Choose your status game wisely

#81

Post by Swizec »

ZYinMD wrote: post #69

It's a sad truth but for most of us, when it comes to "decide which status game to play", you're simply aiming for money no matter what you choose. Money is the overarching metric that already incorporates everything else. The "weightlifting status" or the "content creator status" mentioned in the article are just money status in disguise. Ask yourself: if you won a big lottery tomorrow, would you still keep doing wh…

I started doing whar I do before I knew it also pays money. So yeah I’d probably keep coding and writing about coding.

Would be nice to not need money though. Then I could go coding things that are less certain to result in money. I miss the days when I could just work on projects for no reward other than working on the project.

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#82

Post by csee »

pdonis wrote: post #61
sacrosancty wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Status usually represents having done some social good. The more good you do, the higher your status. If you look at it as a measure of how much good a person has done, then it might not seem so contemptable. Who did more good for more people - a hermit or Bill Gates?

> Status usually represents having done some social good. For whatever value of "good" applies in that particular social network, yes. But that value of "good" might not be anything we would call "good" in ordinary language. For example, Bill Gates does have high status, but he has it because he is rich, not because of the particular things he did that made him rich. Those things happened to be reasonably beneficial…

Mafia bosses have high status in their orbit, so yes.

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#83

Post by FredPret »

lordnacho wrote: post #41
sacrosancty wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Status usually represents having done some social good. The more good you do, the higher your status. If you look at it as a measure of how much good a person has done, then it might not seem so contemptable. Who did more good for more people - a hermit or Bill Gates?

His kids will have higher status than most people, what did they do?

They inherited the DNA of a guy who did lots of good, thus leading our lizard brains to suppose that they, too, have potential

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#84

Post by neilv »

skmurphy wrote: post #56

this reminded me of the "This is Water" commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College. Key graf: "In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing…

Yeah, this part of TFA sounded like it might almost be a reference to the DFW speech:

> This is why you have to choose your status game wisely. Because whatever status game you choose in life ultimately determines what you optimize for. Choose money and you’ll end up working all the time. Choose beauty and you’ll always want to look better. Choose fame and you’ll constantly be seeking attention.

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#85

Post by adewinter »

ZYinMD wrote: post #69

It's a sad truth but for most of us, when it comes to "decide which status game to play", you're simply aiming for money no matter what you choose. Money is the overarching metric that already incorporates everything else. The "weightlifting status" or the "content creator status" mentioned in the article are just money status in disguise. Ask yourself: if you won a big lottery tomorrow, would you still keep doing wh…

Maybe. From your examples, though, if you think you're going to make any money whatsoever from the "weightlifting status" game you are in for a rude surprise. Similar to other examples from the article (softball team, nightschool classes).

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#86

Post by caseyross »

ZYinMD wrote: post #69

It's a sad truth but for most of us, when it comes to "decide which status game to play", you're simply aiming for money no matter what you choose. Money is the overarching metric that already incorporates everything else. The "weightlifting status" or the "content creator status" mentioned in the article are just money status in disguise. Ask yourself: if you won a big lottery tomorrow, would you still keep doing wh…

It depends on the person. Some people see net worth as an ends in itself (boring, IMO). However, for other people, the point of more money is really to play other status games exponentially better.

For example, money in itself won't make you a famous actor, an award-winning musician, a bestselling author, a renowned artist, or an Olympian. But it will open the path to such goals by giving you leisure time to pursue them without worrying about pure survival.

More directly, it's extremely easy to transmute money into status via vacations, ownership of desirable real estate, expensive cars, etc. I would submit that it's generally not the money being coveted here, but the lifestyle it allows.

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#87

Post by adewinter »

f0e4c2f7 wrote: post #32

Sometimes you see articles like this that insist that you have to play a status game of some kind etc etc. The hacker in me sees that as even more reason to look for examples of ways alleviate myself of such nonsense. If you read books like "Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" you run across stories of him playing with Status games and poking fun at them. Though I'm sure one could argue Feynman had status games he play…

"status games" might be in the same class of things as "don't think about x". Even by not playing... You're just playing on a different level (lower or higher).

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#88

Post by x3iv130f »

epgui wrote: post #65
angarg12 wrote: post #59

Not sure how this will sit with the HN crowd, but a couple of years back I got into menswear, and I derive some pleasure from being the "best dressed guy" at the office. Beyond personal opinions on that particular hobby, I can confirm first hand that living at the intersection of two or more personas (e.g. a programmer that dresses well) brings a peculiar sense of joy. I might no have much status in either of those c…

I actually feel pressure to dress down in my role as a SWE: hoodies and jeans seem like the norm, and forget about wearing a suit (lol!) or even a dress shirt. I've found black/grey turtlenecks to be a nice middle ground, and apart from the occasional "one more thing" (Steve Jobs) or Elizabeth Holmes comment, those tend to work well.

Being well dressed isn't about dressing in fancy or expensive clothes; It's about looking good in clothes.

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#89

Post by _v7gu »

ZYinMD wrote: post #69

It's a sad truth but for most of us, when it comes to "decide which status game to play", you're simply aiming for money no matter what you choose. Money is the overarching metric that already incorporates everything else. The "weightlifting status" or the "content creator status" mentioned in the article are just money status in disguise. Ask yourself: if you won a big lottery tomorrow, would you still keep doing wh…

>The "weightlifting status" or the "content creator status" mentioned in the article are just money status in disguise.

Nice argument, care to back it up with your deadlift?

Re: Choose your status game wisely

#90

Post by fermentation »

fartcannon wrote: post #79
angarg12 wrote: post #59

Not sure how this will sit with the HN crowd, but a couple of years back I got into menswear, and I derive some pleasure from being the "best dressed guy" at the office. Beyond personal opinions on that particular hobby, I can confirm first hand that living at the intersection of two or more personas (e.g. a programmer that dresses well) brings a peculiar sense of joy. I might no have much status in either of those c…

What do you do when you bump into an equally well dressed person who just happens to be more physically attractive than you?

The trick is to develop enough of an ego for this event to never occur.
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