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Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

robkhenderson.substack.com

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Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#581

Post by copperwater69 »

ddingus wrote: post #481
idlehand wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working hard implies the labor theory of value, which is that all work is interchangeable. While that might have been closer to the truth during the first industrial revolution, the variability in the value of labor has never been higher than today. It's comforting to think that those that have achieved the best outcomes in life have simply sacrificed time spent on other things, and spent more time on work. There mig…

Luck plays a role. A significant one. But so do you! Here's an example from my own life: In the late 80's, heading into the early 90's I was working in manufacturing. Paid poorly, but man! I love that work. Had a great time, worked with people who had real skills and built up a set of my own too. Saw the outsource waves coming hard. They were big and they were going to gut manufacturing. We all talked about it. Few o…

No post body was provided.

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#582

Post by blitzar »

motohagiography wrote: post #245

Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all, and it also knocks away the ladder for people who might try to follow you into your chosen endeavour. I've been articulating this dynamic for a long time and tell anyone who thinks I am an example that it's a terrible example to follow - mostly because the countersignals become the signal, as really, if you really want to prove…

> Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all

Pure survivorship bias.

If facebook flopped zuck would have been back at university after a "sabatical" and would now be middle management in a cubicle at a consulting company.

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#583

Post by blitzar »

teg4n_ wrote: post #371
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> his consistent grey t-shirt and jeans I’m pretty sure they were talking about that consistency. The story that I have heard, is that Jobs wore the same thing, every day, so his mind wouldn’t be “bogged down,” with minutia, like what to wear. I think some folks also have superstitions about dress.

If I were that rich I would just pay someone to learn what kind of outfits I like and pick out my clothes for me.

You have to be really careful about these sorts of things otherwise they become like the reccomendation algorithm on youtube or something.

One stray "water is nice out of a glass bottle" or picking out the yellow m&m from a bowl turns quickly into an assistant with a list of demands like "water, glass bottle, 9.4 degress. Bowl of plain M&Ms, no more than 76 no fewer than 38, yellow only"

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#584

Post by blitzar »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #12
jonnycomputer wrote: post #5

Boss gives a dinner party at their home for their employees. All the guests show up in their best. Boss is in shorts, t-shirt and sandals.

Top shelf power play. This guy Zooms

> This guy Zooms

Shirt and tie up top, shorts below the camera line. Rock the same at the bosses dinner.

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#585

Post by blitzar »

eternalban wrote: post #103
Obscurity4340 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top shelf power play. This guy Zooms

You missed the part where the maid serves little burgers on buns as lunch.

"They are just like those white castle ones you see people eating in mukbang challenges online"

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#586

Post by dsfyu404ed »

steveBK123 wrote: post #508
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will never see a matchup that makes the old car look "eh, good enough" because the incentive for the kinds of organizations doing these kinds of tests is to showcase their work. If they produced content downplaying their work heads would roll.

Eh, a bit conspirational much. There have been dramatic improvements in car safety in each of the last few decades. Accidents that used to be death sentences are now dust yourself off and walk away. Actuarially as well, the value of a human life is so high that a few $1000 in safety options on a car for marginal increases in safety will almost always be worth it. https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail…

I'm not being conspirational. You can F right off with that implication.

Follow the incentives. You will NEVER see them show you the difference between like a 93 and 94 of a given model (tons of vehicles went from airbags optional to airbags standard over that year so that's basically what you'd be testing) because a single variable or low variable test doesn't get them the DARE-esque messaging and "look how far we've come" back patting that these sorts of old vs new comparisons are meant for. Watching a dummmy face plant into the steering wheel of a 93 OJ bronco and then do the same thing into the airbag of a 94 (to just pick one example) just doesn't scratch those itches the same way comparing vehicles that are half a dozen major engineering revisions and 20yr of model bloat apart from each other.

>Arguably the other thing you can do is live in a state with a 55~65mph max speed limit.

Eh, I think you're reading too much into it.

Speed limits don't reflect reality, anyone from the northeast will tell you that limited access highway speeds are predicated on traffic, weather and road conditions and 80mph middle lane speeds aren't uncommon pre and post commuting "hour" (in sarcasm quotes for obvious reasons).

Reducing potential for high speed traffic conflicts probably matters a lot more than you're giving it credit for. You almost never have cross roads just dumping traffic onto a state highway where traffic goes 70+ in the northeast. This is pretty standard once you get out of the beltway in the more rural states and account for a lot of avoidable crashes.

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#587

Post by steveBK123 »

billjings wrote: post #570
steveBK123 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well its nearly 2023, and we have had 10%-ish inflation going on about 2 years. In specific areas such as cars, you had complete dislocations. For example used cars which normally depreciate 15-20%/year, instead inflated about 15%/year for 2 years. Over the summer I traded in a 4 year old car at the end of its warranty of 85% of what I paid for it new. I probably could have sold private party and haggled harder to ge…

> Well its nearly 2023, and we have had 10%-ish inflation going on about 2 years. Are you not in the US? We haven't even had 10% inflation for all of the past year.

Particularly for cars, and especially used cars.. inflation was >10% for >1 year, before turning over ~3-4 months ago.

https://publish.manheim.com/content/dam/consulting/ManheimUs...

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#589

Post by steveBK123 »

billjings wrote: post #570
steveBK123 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well its nearly 2023, and we have had 10%-ish inflation going on about 2 years. In specific areas such as cars, you had complete dislocations. For example used cars which normally depreciate 15-20%/year, instead inflated about 15%/year for 2 years. Over the summer I traded in a 4 year old car at the end of its warranty of 85% of what I paid for it new. I probably could have sold private party and haggled harder to ge…

> Well its nearly 2023, and we have had 10%-ish inflation going on about 2 years. Are you not in the US? We haven't even had 10% inflation for all of the past year.

Similarly for watches, luxury watches basically doubled during the pandemic in pricing before crashing from their springtime 2022 peak. Still +40% versus pre-pandemic levels.

https://watchcharts.com/watches/brand_index/rolex

Re: Be wary of imitating high-status people who can afford to countersignal

#590

Post by namaria »

tptacek wrote: post #552
rayiner wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the point is everyone looks like they’re trying to conform to the dress code. Much better than America, where just when you think it’s hit bottom, people plumb the depths further. (Most recently, by way of hair, tattoos, earrings on men, etc.)

I have rings in both my ears and sleeve tattoos on both arms. What does that say about me?

Twenty years ago those would signal strongly that you don't depend on or respect social conventions. Now, that you have a lot of disposable income.
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