My issue with American programmers and technologists who get rich is that it goes to their head and suddenly they think they're an intellectual on a wide range of subjects. It happened to me but I grew out of it when I got old. Marc Andreeson is no different. Have you ever really listened to Peter Theil in an interview? He's all over the map, saying things that sound profound but when you think about it actually make…
Is this true of experts in other fields? Why are programmers prone to this behavior?
My issue with American programmers and technologists who get rich is that it goes to their head and suddenly they think they're an intellectual on a wide range of subjects. It happened to me but I grew out of it when I got old. Marc Andreeson is no different. Have you ever really listened to Peter Theil in an interview? He's all over the map, saying things that sound profound but when you think about it actually make…
This is especially true for a lot of the people that got rich pre-dotcom bubble. Literally the easiest time in the world to make big money on dumb stuff. Then they could take that money and "buy the dip" post-war and post-crash. It basically describes all of these people.
And I've always found it intriguing that these people happen to get real libertarian after they get rich. It's beyond me how someone has such a blind eye regarding the luck that they had. Jim Simons is the only billionaire I've seen explicitly state that his success had a lot to do with luck, honestly addressing what his skills were that helped with his success.
My issue with American programmers and technologists who get rich is that it goes to their head and suddenly they think they're an intellectual on a wide range of subjects. It happened to me but I grew out of it when I got old. Marc Andreeson is no different. Have you ever really listened to Peter Theil in an interview? He's all over the map, saying things that sound profound but when you think about it actually make…
Reminds me of listening to Vitalik Buterin when I was younger. He's a smart guy in many respects (probably moreso than Thiel and Andreessen), but his whitepapers, talks and presentations were all characterized with a hopeless idealism. You want changemakers in tech to be pragmatic, not just focused on old stuff but the things that people want and already use. The latest wave of entrepreneurs and investors both feel like pie-in-the-sky populations that intend to disrupt everything or let their business go bust.
Quotes like “I’m glad there’s OxyContin and video games to keep [rural Americans] docile” are really bad… so it’s quite the achievement for the words outside the quotes to be even worse.
Every other sentence by the author feels like it’s practically bursting at the seams with spite, barely containing the writer’s apoplectic rage. A very off-putting read.
My issue with American programmers and technologists who get rich is that it goes to their head and suddenly they think they're an intellectual on a wide range of subjects. It happened to me but I grew out of it when I got old. Marc Andreeson is no different. Have you ever really listened to Peter Theil in an interview? He's all over the map, saying things that sound profound but when you think about it actually make…
Probably PEBKAC, as you expect someone to be 100% right. That's clearly impossible, thus it's a problem with you, not them.
I expect people (including myself) to be ~50% right in disputes, based on symmetry.
"While Andreessen may be all over the place ideologically, when you burrow down to his core beliefs they seem pretty simple. He’s a big fan of power. That is power for certain people—i.e., people like him. Rich people, in other words." Tax these fuckers so they shut up
> Tax these
Good luck. And I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, just that it won't be easy. Look at what happened in Canada when they increased capital tax rate few weeks ago. It was a ton of articles and opinion pieces about how it will destroy the economy and innovation. You try taxing more in US and it will likely be an even harder push back given the larger ultra-high net worth population.
My issue with American programmers and technologists who get rich is that it goes to their head and suddenly they think they're an intellectual on a wide range of subjects. It happened to me but I grew out of it when I got old. Marc Andreeson is no different. Have you ever really listened to Peter Theil in an interview? He's all over the map, saying things that sound profound but when you think about it actually make…
Peter Thiel was like that before he got rich. He was very politically active in his Stanford law days.
I don't think the problem is limited to American programmers. Actors and musicians have been behaving that way in this country before personal computers were even a thing.
Quotes like “I’m glad there’s OxyContin and video games to keep [rural Americans] docile” are really bad… so it’s quite the achievement for the words outside the quotes to be even worse. Every other sentence by the author feels like it’s practically bursting at the seams with spite, barely containing the writer’s apoplectic rage. A very off-putting read.
If I could choose between what’s more off putting: the authors way of writing or the subject he’s writing about, I think it’s an easy choice for me.