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How to Be More Agentic

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Re: How to Be More Agentic

#141

Post by anthomtb »

Podgajski wrote: post #111
anthomtb wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What holds more significance - something written by the women's husband almost a year ago, or something written by the woman herself a few days ago?

Maybe you could just take a look at her Twitter bio! “Born lucky” https://twitter.com/catehall This aversion to the effect of luck is just making me realize how deluded many people are in the tech industry. And how they fell under the spell of lucky people who are successful, telling you it’s not about luck.

Fair play. I was working off the links and context from this thread and did not think to look at anyone's twitter bio.

Anyways, the argument you seem to be making (I may have it wrong) is that you can dismiss Cate's article on agency because she also admits to be lucky. That may explain why successful people, both in and out of tech, are hesitant to acknowledge the role of luck.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#143

Post by aimor »

abecedarius wrote: post #99
scoot wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That in turn reminds me of a British reality TV series from the 2000s called "Faking It". Participants were trained by experts in a specific skill that they had no existing knowledge of, and then they had to convince others that they were genuinely skilled in that area, which they almost always did. It was "fake it 'till you make it" condensed into a single episode. Loved that show!

Interesting how different the things we're reminded of are: I was thinking of a maxim Feynman liked, "What one fool can do, another can." (Not sure if it's original to him; my memory suggests it might've been from one of the calculus book he read as a teen.)

Ancient Simian Proverb

That's how it's attributed in Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus P. Thompson and it stuck with me too.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#144

Post by marcosdumay »

jvanderbot wrote: post #95
deegles wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think actually following through over time is the hard part. Wanting to do something is easy.

Sustained motivation is just a matter of degree of want. If you want something enough you will do it. At least that's my premise.

This is a wild oversimplification. And very dangerous if you try to apply to people in more complex situations.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#145

Post by d-lisp »

nick__m wrote: post #20

Assume everything is learnable This made me think of late grandmother who used to say : "c'est faite par du mondes" which roughly expand to "a person did/learned/discovered that so there is no a prioi reason that I cannot do so myself". That's the greatest value she passed unto me. When I feel that I cannot do something, I think about that phrase and persevere.

You probably mean "c'est fait par du monde" or maybe that's some way of mocking french language that I am not aware of !?

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#147

Post by FredPret »

Podgajski wrote: post #126
FredPret wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been lucky lots of times in life. I’ve been helped by many, deserved and undeserved. But to remove the role of agency from success is an overreaction. The extreme right says life is a perfec meritocracy. The extreme left says it’s all down to luck and power dynamics. As usual, they are both wrong and it’s a healthy mix of both. But since agency is the only thing you control, it’s best to focus on that.

I’m not removing the role of agency from success, as long as luck is on your side.

I wonder what someone like Viktor Frankl would think of all this.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#148

Post by thecrims0nchin »

adfisgnio1234 wrote: post #140

I think this post does a great job of arguing against its own thesis. This woman was apparently the rank one poker player in the world. She obviously has great natural ability and works hard at what she does. So why doesn't she stick with anything for longer than a few years? Why has she had an impressive start to four or five different careers without following through on any of them to real greatness? She believes,…

I think you see moving around careers as a failure of some type. I disagree and see that as success, so there is no "arguing against your own thesis".

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#149

Post by Podgajski »

pphysch wrote: post #136
Podgajski wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is to help you not forget your compassion. All this talk about agency is nothing if you don’t have the luck to go along with it. So if you see someone who’s homeless, don’t talk to them about their agency. Just help them.

> Just help them. Trivializing homelessness like this doesn't help, and I strongly disagree that "agency is nothing" to unhoused people. There are many free resources available, but the organizations providing them often don't have the capacity to efficiently allocate them to those in need, due to difficulties with reach, etc. Escaping poverty is a function of others' generosity (luck) but also agency; you can't do i…

I’m homeless. And I never said agency is nothing. I am saying that luck is everything. For instance, I’m unlucky to be a man who is homeless.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#150

Post by [deleted] »

Podgajski wrote: post #126
FredPret wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been lucky lots of times in life. I’ve been helped by many, deserved and undeserved. But to remove the role of agency from success is an overreaction. The extreme right says life is a perfec meritocracy. The extreme left says it’s all down to luck and power dynamics. As usual, they are both wrong and it’s a healthy mix of both. But since agency is the only thing you control, it’s best to focus on that.

I’m not removing the role of agency from success, as long as luck is on your side.

[deleted]
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