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The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

chris-martin.org

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Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#91

Post by dzink »

Some potential causes of the scarcity of breakthroughs in the last 10 years:

1. "What got you here won't get you there." The problems that need solved today might require a different mindset/level of experience and that may not be in people with enough time or circumstances to build, or enough likeness to the old model be funded by VCs.

2. Distractions galore - Social media and trillions poured into the distraction economy ensures the ADHD-prone builders have less hours and are less productive in that precious 5PM-10PM.

3. Tech giants of the past 10 years were slurping the most promising talent with high salaries and burning them out.

4. Filters that sift new founders and hackers are created by people who don't deal with the problems most people deal with.

7. Hackers at hackathons are not dealing with problems most people deal with. A number of hackathons I've participated in had very similar solutions pitched - you could name the categories, and see them all over again in each hackathon years apart. Usually catering to the tech or the sponsors instead of actual products anyone wanted to use.

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#92

Post by MeetingsBrowser »

renewiltord wrote: post #62

When did this style of psychoanalysis become popular? Everyone now uses these terms and instead of coming off like an informed take it just sounds like "I'm just trying to insult other people". At some point, the online forum take of "all the successful guys are sad and I'm not as successful because I'm well-adjusted" has gotten boring. I get that people want to feel better about their lives but this is just embarras…

This comment kind of comes off as "I'm just trying to insult other people".

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#93

Post by larusso »

I often contemplated about people like Zuckerberg who had massive success with the first thing they built and then have to come to terms that not everything they touch turns to gold. I wonder what kind of feeling that must be if your greatest success happened in your 20th. How do you measure your successes then?

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#94

Post by citizenpaul »

tough wrote: post #61
ryandrake wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just learned this quote now and I love it. Very true. Much of tech mythology, where we are told "started from nothing" actually started from a place of at least some capital and privilege.

Look into bill gates mom ;)

I mean Bill Gates grandparents were buddies with the Rockerfellers. Even if Gates didn't directly get money from them simply being close to that level of influence and power gives you essentially freedom to print money with very little effort through effortless connections to whatever you need.

Oh you need advice from a $10,000 a day law firm for a difficult business situation? My dads friend John works at "prestigious law-firm" I'll get him to get us some feedback on the situation.

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#95

Post by 9rx »

dsign wrote: post #38

Without any hard data about anything, this is just a speculative rant. Go and read my books if you want one of those. But I do agree on one thing: we are lacking a new frontier, a meaningful one. My hope for the years I have left is to see one.

There are plenty of frontiers to explore. What we lack is people crazy enough to try.

But that always happens when times are good. Crazy emerges out of desperation.

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#97

Post by eej71 »

jglamine wrote: post #52

This essay is weird. The author lumps James Damore, rank-and-file software engineer, in with Marc Andreessen and Mark Zuckerberg. Damore hasn't updated his LinedIn since 2018 - he might not even work in tech anymore? It closes saying they need to stop reliving their glory days and be good fathers and not the town drunk. Those are serious accusations - being a bad father and a drunk. The author doesn't give any eviden…

The Free Press recently did an interview with him.

https://www.thefp.com/p/google-memo-james-damore-vindication...

Basically he has kept a very low profile.

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#98

Post by cogman10 »

bradleyjg wrote: post #23
cogman10 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is that it's the absurd wealth in the first place that makes these people completely unhinged. Imagine you are in a situation where nobody you interact with will ever tell you something you don't want to hear. Everyone tries their best to only appease you and tell you that you are the best most brightest person. These people also all depend on your money for their own aspirations (that mysteriously never pa…

What they all need are good real friends, yet that's the one thing that's impossible for them to gain if they didn't already have it before they became rich. Even that isn’t a guarantee because friend dynamics often change with relative wealth disparities. You probably need friends that are also very rich.

> Even that isn’t a guarantee because friend dynamics often change with relative wealth disparities.

> You probably need friends that are also very rich.

I don't disagree.

There's a Wendover youtube I recently watched that's tangentially about this [1]. Why do all the rich people have Yachts? His contention it's not because they like having big boats but rather because every other rich person does and that is your real social circle. If you don't fit in with them, you'll basically be friendless.

That also goes into why all rich people end up with private jets, because to interact with your social circle you basically have a packed calendar flying across the globe for rich people social events.

However, it's an insular group of people all subject to the same problem of generally being surrounded by yesmen. Further, it's not like these rich people aren't also trying to shmooze each other. Their businesses are still trying to make money and they often need to work with one another. So hard for these people to actually be friends.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBNcYxHJPLE

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#99

Post by jeffbee »

eej71 wrote: post #97
jglamine wrote: post #52

This essay is weird. The author lumps James Damore, rank-and-file software engineer, in with Marc Andreessen and Mark Zuckerberg. Damore hasn't updated his LinedIn since 2018 - he might not even work in tech anymore? It closes saying they need to stop reliving their glory days and be good fathers and not the town drunk. Those are serious accusations - being a bad father and a drunk. The author doesn't give any eviden…

The Free Press recently did an interview with him. https://www.thefp.com/p/google-memo-james-damore-vindication... Basically he has kept a very low profile.

Nothing screams "merit" like retiring to Luxembourg after having never had a real job.

Re: The Gang Has a Mid-Life Crisis

#100

Post by mpweiher »

the_snooze wrote: post #77
ryandrake wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just learned this quote now and I love it. Very true. Much of tech mythology, where we are told "started from nothing" actually started from a place of at least some capital and privilege.

Silicon Valley itself came about in no small part due to direct government support: Fairchild Semiconductor selling chips for weapons targeting, ARPANET leading to the Internet, Sergei Brin and Larry Page's PhD's very likely funded by NSF and other federal funders. And now you have Silicon Valley "leaders" looking to tear down the public institutions that seeded the place.

Pulling up the drawbridge behind them...
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