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If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

technologyreview.com

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Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#11

Post by gruez »

moshun wrote: post #8

One of the best predictors for financial success is your ZIP code. https://www.opportunityatlas.org/

While I have no doubt that your zip code is a good predictor of financial success, the link you provided doesn't really support the claim that it's "one of the best". As so far as I can tell, it doesn't even bother try quantifying the predictive effect, let alone comparing it to other factors. It's just a map of income by zip code.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#13

Post by WXLCKNO »

rootusrootus wrote: post #3

All of us who haven't achieved fabulous success find this very comforting, of course. But I'm still going to put in effort, because I don't believe in any of this fate crap, etc.

Well yeah, you still gotta play to win and put the odds on your side. You may never make it but it won't be because you didn't have what it takes.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#14

Post by echelon »

m463 wrote: post #9
echelon wrote: post #6

It's hardly "just chance". Wealth is a fitness landscape. The way to climb it is a function of talent, intelligence, perseverance, connections, leverage, charisma, mindshare, labor capital, financial capital, "right place, right time" (chance), and a multitude of other factors in an n-dimensional, m-agent game that is simultaneously cooperative and competitive. You can start at an advantage or disadvantage. You can m…

It seems like the article might be addressing a slightly different question, which is "How should you distribute research funds" (and if you're smart and want to get rich) you should distribute them evenly.

I must admit I come to HN for the comments 80% of the time. Especially given the fact that most articles are now paywalled.

I let the title serve as a prompt for discussion and short-form essays. Or I find an interesting thread to jump into.

Sometimes a comment will make me dive into the article, or if the headline is sufficiently interesting, I'll start off with it. The headline in this case sounded like a bit of a platitude.

This makes me reflect on just how messy my approach to information gathering and synthesis is. A bit everything, everywhere, all at once.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#15

Post by JRKrause »

It doesn't seem like there is much to say on this topic. Wealth accumulation is the outcome of many dice rolls, some that are weighted in ways that are within your control and some that are weighted in ways outside your control. The most you can do is to roll as many dice as you can and, to the best of your ability, choose those that are already optimally weighted.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#16

Post by thegrim33 »

The title implies that "if you're smart, it's up to luck whether you end up rich", yet the opening of the article states that what the article is actually about is whether "the most successful people (the richest of the rich) were actually smart or just lucky".

These are two very different things, completely different topics. Whether the richest dozens of people in the world deserve to be / are smart is a very different question than whether it's just pure luck whether a given smart person ends up rich.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#17

Post by robotresearcher »

000ooo000 wrote: post #5
bagacrap wrote: post #4

I mean, did Michael Jordan just get lucky every time he shot a basketball? No, he had talent. Maybe not 10000x the talent of some street baller, but then maybe wealth doesn't scale linearly with talent.

Not sure that a game of basketball has enough parallels with the activities involved in generation of significant wealth for this to be a sound comparison.

All the basketball players I can name are very wealthy.

Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance

#20

Post by overthrow »

moshun wrote: post #8

One of the best predictors for financial success is your ZIP code. https://www.opportunityatlas.org/

Good thing your ZIP code is not some innate genetic quality then. It's luck where you're born, but not where you move.
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