Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014 • Hacker News Board

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#121

Post by hytdstd » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 12:12 PM UTC

spacebanana7 wrote: post #110

hospitalJail wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its one of the primal needs. Its why some companies are so effective at selling Veblen goods to status seekers. When I was growing up, I got abercrombie/american eagle because it was cool to girls. Today teens get Apple/Nike products. Not that any of these actually change your status, but the marketers were able to sell that idea/feeling. As an adult, you see people buying/leasing Tesla's or more expensive cars to do…

I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. If you escape spending at LVMH you'll spend it on cars, indie brands or ascetic holidays. Keep going and your money will go towards pseudo-educational leisure activities that make a social statement like submarine exploration or building web apps in O…

I'm no exception to your rule, but are you really so confident that all of humanity shares the same appetite for status signalling? I'm not a particularly social person, but even I can think of some counterexamples in my personal life. Obviously, we can also consider most of the extremely wealthy (Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc) as well.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#122

Post by spacebanana7 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 12:16 PM UTC

ghufran_syed wrote: post #116

Beldin wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. Are you serious? Because wow that's off by a few megaparsecs... A lot of people don't have enough disposable income to get them adequate amounts of food. Kids making toys out of garbage, just to have a toy. To share.

Do you feel there's any difference between "income" and "disposable" income? I would take it to mean income after paying taxes, and paying for housing, food, clothing, what definition are you using? I suspect the parent comment is using a similar definition to mine

Yeah my theory uses a definition of disposable income similar to what you’ve expressed.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#123

Post by TeMPOraL » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 12:39 PM UTC

hytdstd wrote: post #121

spacebanana7 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. If you escape spending at LVMH you'll spend it on cars, indie brands or ascetic holidays. Keep going and your money will go towards pseudo-educational leisure activities that make a social statement like submarine exploration or building web apps in O…

I'm no exception to your rule, but are you really so confident that all of humanity shares the same appetite for status signalling? I'm not a particularly social person, but even I can think of some counterexamples in my personal life. Obviously, we can also consider most of the extremely wealthy (Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc) as well.

I want to object to what GP says, but whenever I think about it, I realize that I too am evidence in favor. Different methods, different groups. Some spending more of effort than money. Some substituting an idea for a group. But the need to belong somewhere - that is common to all.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#124

Post by spacebanana7 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 12:40 PM UTC

hytdstd wrote: post #121

spacebanana7 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. If you escape spending at LVMH you'll spend it on cars, indie brands or ascetic holidays. Keep going and your money will go towards pseudo-educational leisure activities that make a social statement like submarine exploration or building web apps in O…

I'm no exception to your rule, but are you really so confident that all of humanity shares the same appetite for status signalling? I'm not a particularly social person, but even I can think of some counterexamples in my personal life. Obviously, we can also consider most of the extremely wealthy (Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc) as well.

I'm confident that all humans enjoy status. I suspect this is an innate characteristic of social creatures. Less than basic desires like food or reproduction but significant nevertheless.

The hypothesis about status signalling is more difficult because many individuals acquire status by rejecting conventional status objects. Many people respect Socrates, AOC and Gandhi in large part because of their modest lifestyles. It's possible to describe their behaviour as buying status via the opportunity cost of other consumption, but I worry the opportunity cost approach makes my theory too overpowered to the point of being unfalsifiable.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#125

Post by peteradio » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 12:53 PM UTC

spacebanana7 wrote: post #110

hospitalJail wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its one of the primal needs. Its why some companies are so effective at selling Veblen goods to status seekers. When I was growing up, I got abercrombie/american eagle because it was cool to girls. Today teens get Apple/Nike products. Not that any of these actually change your status, but the marketers were able to sell that idea/feeling. As an adult, you see people buying/leasing Tesla's or more expensive cars to do…

I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. If you escape spending at LVMH you'll spend it on cars, indie brands or ascetic holidays. Keep going and your money will go towards pseudo-educational leisure activities that make a social statement like submarine exploration or building web apps in O…

Is Lego a status product?

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#126

Post by spacebanana7 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 1:01 PM UTC

peteradio wrote: post #125

spacebanana7 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a pet theory that all humans spend roughly 30% of their disposable income on status products. And that there's no way to escape this. No matter how hard you try. If you escape spending at LVMH you'll spend it on cars, indie brands or ascetic holidays. Keep going and your money will go towards pseudo-educational leisure activities that make a social statement like submarine exploration or building web apps in O…

Is Lego a status product?

It depends on the social context. If your friends - or people you want to be friends with - hold it in high esteem then yeah. Also true if a lego is disliked by group of people you despise.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#127

Post by robertlagrant » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 1:42 PM UTC

t0bia_s wrote: post #97

jvanderbot wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andor is quite good. But still a bit too much Disney in some scenes.

Andor was actually very nice surprise to me. Only SW show that is not just casual "go there do this". 9th episode has best space "battle" I ever saw in cinema.

Horses on a space ship? Give me Wrath of Khan in the nebula any day.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#128

Post by jvanderbot » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 3:07 PM UTC

robertlagrant wrote: post #104

jvanderbot wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andor is quite good. But still a bit too much Disney in some scenes.

I agree Andor was great - I genuinely found myself on the edge of my seat once or twice watching it. But one decent TV show out of several, and no new movies in years? Terrible performance.

Rogue one was excellent movie wise. Mandalorian was ok, at least season 1 was downright good.

But yeah, it's no longer a guaranteed good time. But was it ever? It seems to me half of the first 6 movies stand up on their own. Then probably 1 out of the next 3 involving Ray.

The side plots are now better.

Any good animated entries?

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#129

Post by hospitalJail » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

sublinear wrote: post #95

hospitalJail wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its one of the primal needs. Its why some companies are so effective at selling Veblen goods to status seekers. When I was growing up, I got abercrombie/american eagle because it was cool to girls. Today teens get Apple/Nike products. Not that any of these actually change your status, but the marketers were able to sell that idea/feeling. As an adult, you see people buying/leasing Tesla's or more expensive cars to do…

> Can you tell I was ugly growing up? (Lift weights my pals, it changed everything) If all it took was working out, I promise you it was your self esteem. Though I agree that exercise definitely boosts your mood and anyone who is out of shape should try it.

No.

But also when I got older, I looked more masculine.

Re: Top suspect in 2015 Ashley Madison hack committed suicide in 2014

#130

Post by t0bia_s » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

robertlagrant wrote: post #127

t0bia_s wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andor was actually very nice surprise to me. Only SW show that is not just casual "go there do this". 9th episode has best space "battle" I ever saw in cinema.

Horses on a space ship? Give me Wrath of Khan in the nebula any day.

Horses?