Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

No More “Insight Porn”

jakobgreenfeld.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 323 posts

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#211

Post by chowells »

bombcar wrote: post #39
MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #28

I got super lucky. I started a company and didn’t really have any meaningful traction. I was about to shut it down. Walking out of the grocery store one night after work, I passed by my former manager when I was an intern. We got to talk for about 30 seconds, mentioned my company, she asked me to email her. I did, and that very quickly led to my first big customer which makes me about double what a FAANG swe would ma…

"Get lucky" is always the key - however, you can increase your "luck surface" by doing certain things (for example, you couldn't have gotten lucky if you hadn't started the company, nor if you hadn't bothered to talk to people).

No one ever talks about the opportunity cost of building up a "luck surface". What is the expected value of doing so? What do you have to sacrifice to do so? Is there any evidence the EV is positive, or is this just another selection bias?

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#212

Post by rjtavares »

saalweachter wrote: post #182
rjtavares wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can look at the types of actions people took to get a big tech job (...) and there's probably a double-digit percent chance of you being able to replicate it. You think more than 700 million people can get a big tech job?

... X0% of the people who can replicate the path, can replicate the results, is the guess I'm pulling out of my ass. Not X0% of the global population.

So who can replicate the path? The lucky ones?

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#213

Post by anotheruser092 »

kirse wrote: post #205
recyclelater wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jocko willinck (and many others I am sure) likes to state that you can’t rely on motivation because it comes and goes. Rely on discipline, build habits using discipline if you want to get anything done. A trite but in my opinion helpful statement is discipline equals freedom.

discipline equals freedom The problem is it's not even correct. Discipline does not equal freedom. Have you ever seen a well-meaning man with all his might do the same incorrect thing over and over? Of course you have, because we're all that person in some area of life.

Viewing the phrase in isolation, this response is logically correct, but it's more interesting to view this in the context of the rest of the author's arguments.

If you're consistent with physical exercise by resisting when you feel like skipping a workout, you'll have more strength, endurance, and freedom of movement when you become much older. And if you're consistent with improving at your career skills, you'll have more career opportunities in the future. Therefore, even if you may seem less free by avoiding unhealthy food or watching too much television, you're setting yourself up for more opportunities in the long-term.

I personally do agree that you can be disciplined toward the wrong goals, though I also think it's more interesting to consider Willink's arguments as a whole, instead of focusing on a phrase in isolation.

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#214

Post by collaborative »

suction wrote: post #16
OrangeMonkey wrote: post #5

I read a story where the main protagonist ran a business who did nothing but provide solutions to people. They would come in, pay a fee, and he would dispense a solution to their problem that would make things better if only the advice was followed. I thought it delightful. A problem I have that I can simply ask for a solution and get it? That would be great. The reason these bad actors exist is that they recognize t…

The only reason these bad actors exist is because there are a lot of marks for their con. We wonder why there are so many alleged Nigerian princes with money logistics problems on the internet - this is the same thing, just in less obvious fashion. A fool and his money are soon parted. The real question a society should ask itself is to what extent it should protect its fools from their own gullibleness and inevitabl…

Schools should harden students against idiot-traps. Perhaps a class of "History of scams" would be appropriate

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#215

Post by nickff »

chowells wrote: post #211
bombcar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Get lucky" is always the key - however, you can increase your "luck surface" by doing certain things (for example, you couldn't have gotten lucky if you hadn't started the company, nor if you hadn't bothered to talk to people).

No one ever talks about the opportunity cost of building up a "luck surface". What is the expected value of doing so? What do you have to sacrifice to do so? Is there any evidence the EV is positive, or is this just another selection bias?

Well, one extreme example is buying lottery tickets; it's the best way to expose yourself to the potential upside of winning the lottery, yet the expected value is quite negative.

That example is quite bracing, but I think it points out that there are many ways to build this 'luck surface', and the expected values of each are probably very different, and likely situational.

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#216

Post by [deleted] »

enos_feedler wrote: post #4

Out of the 3 "Insight Porn" examples linked in the article, I think the Paul Graham essay seems out of place. I know I know, this is hacker news. Yet another person sticking up for pg. But I just don't think this essay (or others) is really trying to boil some dream/goal into steps. In fact, in the "How to get startup ideas" referenced in this post, pg says: "So if you can't predict whether there's a path out of an i…

[deleted]

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#217

Post by hyperpallium2 »

bombcar wrote: post #39
MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #28

I got super lucky. I started a company and didn’t really have any meaningful traction. I was about to shut it down. Walking out of the grocery store one night after work, I passed by my former manager when I was an intern. We got to talk for about 30 seconds, mentioned my company, she asked me to email her. I did, and that very quickly led to my first big customer which makes me about double what a FAANG swe would ma…

"Get lucky" is always the key - however, you can increase your "luck surface" by doing certain things (for example, you couldn't have gotten lucky if you hadn't started the company, nor if you hadn't bothered to talk to people).

> Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#218

Post by recyclelater »

anotheruser092 wrote: post #209
layer8 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s already better. :) I was calling out the GP that the mere insight that discipline is usually necessary because you can’t rely on being consistently motivated fits the pattern of an insight that doesn’t by itself makes it easier to solve the problem. The insight can explain lack of success (inconsistent motivation combined with lack of discipline), but it doesn’t tell you how one might engender a lasting change…

From your framing, it sounds like the advice is to start with a person who lacks motivation, and then tell them to be disciplined, and it's sufficient for lasting change. In this framing, the advice is absurd. But it's far more interesting to consider how the one phrase relates to the rest of Willink's perspective. For example, he argues that that you can frame discipline and hard work as a method to be physically he…

Thanks for providing a more nuanced reply here and in other spots.

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#219

Post by dominotw »

MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #28

I got super lucky. I started a company and didn’t really have any meaningful traction. I was about to shut it down. Walking out of the grocery store one night after work, I passed by my former manager when I was an intern. We got to talk for about 30 seconds, mentioned my company, she asked me to email her. I did, and that very quickly led to my first big customer which makes me about double what a FAANG swe would ma…

>Walking out of the grocery store one night after work, I passed by my former manager when I was an intern.

Not sure if 100% luck because I usually switch to the sidewalk other side of the road when i spot someone i know coming down the sidewalk that i know :D

Re: No More “Insight Porn”

#220

Post by PuppyTailWags »

jdmoreira wrote: post #166
PuppyTailWags wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The elite are a super disconnected group of people. My understanding is that their children don't even have the same capacity for empathy as children from other classes. Money literally changes how humans think, such that humans with significant wealth have a different psychology. There is of course nuance but let's not pretend like moneyed people, new or old, are normal.

> My understanding is that their children don't even have the same capacity for empathy as children from other classes I don't know. It seems like you are dehumanizing rich kids which I don't really think it's a great idea. Sure, entitlement is a thing but it's not like rich kids don't have their own struggles

I never said anything you are disagreeing with.
Post reply on HN