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The Fallacy of Money As A Means

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Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#31

Post by comrade_ogilvy »

dnautics wrote: post #17

"I’m talking about becoming someone with strong moral fiber, a zeal for life, and complete comfort in who they are and what they’re all about." I think that this is exactly not what you want to do to find a life partner. Whether you are a man or a woman, if you do this, you will find that (almost) all of your potential partners are shallow and extremely disappointing. Moreover, the people you are attracted to will be…

What is great dating advice is to be comfortable about who you are, built on a well-founded confidence that you have a lot to offer a partner, friends, the world. "Moral fiber, a zeal for life, etc..." is on the right track.

When that is achieved your dating options will explode (relative to whatever they are now). The fact that 80% of them are shallow will be irrelevant because the pool of candidates will be much larger.

But if your pool is small and scant of fish, and is destined to always be that way, keeping your standards low would be useful advice, yes.

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#32

Post by jacoblyles »

I once asked people to choose between

1) Making a contribution to society as profound as Isaac Newton's, but leading such a harried life that they died before the age of 50 from a stress-related illness

2) Leading a content, good, happy, and unremarkable life

Everyone in the Valley chooses (1)

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#33

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

Money may or may not be the path to happiness, but I find it hard to believe that true happiness is going to found in trying to convince others that it isn't.

To quote the author, I'm sure there is "a much more direct path" to living a fulfilling life than focusing one's energy on asking others to question their true motivations and suggesting that if they're "brutally honest with themselves," they'll come to the same conclusions as the author.

Ironically, much of the time, public displays of introspection like this are driven by the acceptance-seeking that the author is apparently not very fond of.

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#34

Post by dinkumthinkum »

calinet6 wrote: post #4

This is a generally short-sighted article, that looks inward but not at the bigger picture. I want to make a lot of money because I want to start a family, and I want them to have the best life and the best opportunities available. Not to be spoiled, but simply to have a good life. And that's just the start. I want to make money so I can help people. To be able to invest in things which might cure diseases, solve hun…

I get your view and it is not an uncommon, in fact it is quite a predictable reply ... except this part ...

>Travel? Nice things? Acceptance? Popularity? You think that's why people want money? Child's play, all of them.

You've got to be kidding me. These are billion dollar industries and people certainly do work and commit crimes for such things. To dismiss that as child's play is to live in a fantasy world and to have, plainly, a tenuous grip on reality. Just being honest.

>But you never responded to it. It's because it's the real reason. Money is a means to create the biggest impact possible. It is a means to create. Full stop.

Maybe for you but come on, let's be serious. You act as if it is silly to think there exist entrepreneur for whom the sole goal isn't ending world hunger or creating world peace. I'm flummoxed by that.

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#35

Post by sethbannon »

tl;dr: "Chasing money is not usually the most efficient or enjoyable route to happiness. So does it make sense to waste our lives doing things we honestly don’t love to make it so we can eventually.…uhh [insert something that will eventually make you happy here]?"

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#36

Post by _njuy »

jacoblyles wrote: post #32

I once asked people to choose between 1) Making a contribution to society as profound as Isaac Newton's, but leading such a harried life that they died before the age of 50 from a stress-related illness 2) Leading a content, good, happy, and unremarkable life Everyone in the Valley chooses (1)

Next time ask them to choose between: 1) The very slim possibility of making a contribution to society as profound as Isaac Newton's, but leading such a harried life that they died before the age of 50 from a stress-related illness. 2) The pretty good chance that you can lead a fairly good, fairly happy, fairly content, but generally unremakable life.

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#37

Post by dinkumthinkum »

calinet6 wrote: post #15
Afforess wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: If people without families to support are brutally honest with themselves So you are not the audience.

So think bigger: call the world your family. How can you support them? Might need some money to do it. It might not be your goal, but you can't deny it would be a noble one.

But now you are getting so far flung away from either the point of the article or even any serious criticisms of it. No one would deny helping humanity is a noble goal but, and I don't intend this in a mean way, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#38

Post by dinkumthinkum »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #19
Afforess wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: If people without families to support are brutally honest with themselves So you are not the audience.

Wanting to start a family and having a family to support are two different things. I imagine the goal of a ton of people without families is to generate the capital necessary to start a family.

I really thought this was a glaring hole in the article. It's not as if those without families will never be in the set of those with families. It was a bit odd for me as well.

Re: The Fallacy of Money As A Means

#40

Post by dinkumthinkum »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #33

Money may or may not be the path to happiness, but I find it hard to believe that true happiness is going to found in trying to convince others that it isn't. To quote the author, I'm sure there is "a much more direct path" to living a fulfilling life than focusing one's energy on asking others to question their true motivations and suggesting that if they're "brutally honest with themselves," they'll come to the sam…

Well, it's just armchair moralizing. Who is to say having wealth and bottle service, and so on and so forth does not lead to happiness for anyone?
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