More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market • Hacker News Board

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#11

Post by throwup238 » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 12:37 AM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #9

I remember a controversial scamming figure in Italy that made millions by selling lucky numbers for lotteries or exploiting people's stupidity to part them with their life savings. Her motto was "idiots _have_ to be scammed". While this figure was morally and ethically deplorable, it always made me think how her motto essentially implied that there was an element of pure natural selection happening and she saw hersel…

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing?

Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#12

Post by defrost » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 12:55 AM UTC

joegibbs wrote: post #4

gsky wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Really? It works fine for me. What browser are you on?

I recognised the comment .. it was made three days ago when this link was first submitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=marban

This HN post has been "second life"'d and made fresh again with this one original comment refreshed in timestamp.

Why? No idea - Le Mystère des HN.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#13

Post by dleary » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:14 AM UTC

throwup238 wrote: post #11

epolanski wrote: post #9

I remember a controversial scamming figure in Italy that made millions by selling lucky numbers for lotteries or exploiting people's stupidity to part them with their life savings. Her motto was "idiots _have_ to be scammed". While this figure was morally and ethically deplorable, it always made me think how her motto essentially implied that there was an element of pure natural selection happening and she saw hersel…

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing? Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

It’s overly simplistic to say that if a person has reproduced, then they have ‘succeeded’ in the natural selection game.

There is a whole (potential) downstream genealogical tree branching off from each individual

Certainly, any person who reproduces has done “better” at the game than someone who has not reproduced at all. But that is still not quite enough.

If a parent reproduces, but none of their children themselves reproduce, then the parent has not actually succeeded in the game.

A gambling addict who can’t hold onto any money absolutely affects their downstream tree.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#14

Post by aithrowawaycomm » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:23 AM UTC

throwup238 wrote: post #11

epolanski wrote: post #9

I remember a controversial scamming figure in Italy that made millions by selling lucky numbers for lotteries or exploiting people's stupidity to part them with their life savings. Her motto was "idiots _have_ to be scammed". While this figure was morally and ethically deplorable, it always made me think how her motto essentially implied that there was an element of pure natural selection happening and she saw hersel…

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing? Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

The purpose of sneering about "idiots" and inventing pseudoscientific gibberish about natural selection is to wash one's hands of moral responsibility for scamming naive young people, the elderly, or adults with psychiatric or cognitive disabilities. "It wasn't me robbing your college-age son out of a new car, that was just natural selection doing its thing! So long, losers!"

My mom was a very crappy person who strongly believed in the "sucker born every minute, separate a fool from his money" mantra. I think it's become a core American ideology.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#15

Post by throwup238 » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:24 AM UTC

dleary wrote: post #13

throwup238 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing? Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

It’s overly simplistic to say that if a person has reproduced, then they have ‘succeeded’ in the natural selection game. There is a whole (potential) downstream genealogical tree branching off from each individual Certainly, any person who reproduces has done “better” at the game than someone who has not reproduced at all. But that is still not quite enough. If a parent reproduces, but none of their children themselv…

In theory yes, but given the birth rate demographics I don't think it's actually true. The families giving birth to the most children in the developed world are mostly either hyper-religious or poor, whether that's because it's generational or because they just immigrated from a developing country.

I think the kind of men (probably in their late 20s/early 30s onwards) that can afford to gamble on stock market apps aren't in the running to begin with.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#16

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:31 AM UTC

aithrowawaycomm wrote: post #14

throwup238 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing? Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

The purpose of sneering about "idiots" and inventing pseudoscientific gibberish about natural selection is to wash one's hands of moral responsibility for scamming naive young people, the elderly, or adults with psychiatric or cognitive disabilities. "It wasn't me robbing your college-age son out of a new car, that was just natural selection doing its thing! So long, losers!" My mom was a very crappy person who stron…

I've adopted the sucker born ever minute attitude since it's all I can do. These fools have the tenacity to be scammed at a rate faster than we can ever hope to do anything about and it's depressing otherwise. Society ends up bearing the cost.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#17

Post by User23 » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:45 AM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #9

I remember a controversial scamming figure in Italy that made millions by selling lucky numbers for lotteries or exploiting people's stupidity to part them with their life savings. Her motto was "idiots _have_ to be scammed". While this figure was morally and ethically deplorable, it always made me think how her motto essentially implied that there was an element of pure natural selection happening and she saw hersel…

This is a position commonly referred to as "Social Darwinism." The same logic can get you to "drunk women out by themselves _have_ to be sexually assaulted" and so on. No, it's not OK to victimize people just because they're vulnerable. It's an absolutely odious caricature of moral reasoning.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#18

Post by hunch_throwawy » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:46 AM UTC

nozzlegear wrote: post #10

downrightmike wrote: post #2

[flagged]

What does this mean?

A guess, but I think they may be suggesting that when men don't see a future outside of striking it rich, they turn to gambling.

downrightmike, please chime in if I'm reading it incorrectly.

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#19

Post by saagarjha » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:47 AM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #16

aithrowawaycomm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purpose of sneering about "idiots" and inventing pseudoscientific gibberish about natural selection is to wash one's hands of moral responsibility for scamming naive young people, the elderly, or adults with psychiatric or cognitive disabilities. "It wasn't me robbing your college-age son out of a new car, that was just natural selection doing its thing! So long, losers!" My mom was a very crappy person who stron…

I've adopted the sucker born ever minute attitude since it's all I can do. These fools have the tenacity to be scammed at a rate faster than we can ever hope to do anything about and it's depressing otherwise. Society ends up bearing the cost.

I mean you can also not scam these people

Re: More men are addicted to the 'crack cocaine' of the stock market

#20

Post by roenxi » Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 1:47 AM UTC

throwup238 wrote: post #11

epolanski wrote: post #9

I remember a controversial scamming figure in Italy that made millions by selling lucky numbers for lotteries or exploiting people's stupidity to part them with their life savings. Her motto was "idiots _have_ to be scammed". While this figure was morally and ethically deplorable, it always made me think how her motto essentially implied that there was an element of pure natural selection happening and she saw hersel…

> how can it be anything but natural selection doing it's thing? Does it affect their reproductive chances? If not, then natural selection has nothing to do with it.

Take a wider view - the people with economic power are generally the people who use it for economically sensible things. Someone who spends irrationally is going to end up with no money. This is a similar process to natural selection - because the unviable strategies are removed, everything that is around is using a viable strategy. This woman was forcing people with unviable financial beliefs (that led to them being easily scammed) to give up their ability to exert economic pressure. In that sense, the same processes as natural selection are at play and we can call it the same thing.

Although I don't buy the logic in a lot of edge cases, it is somewhat necessary that these tactics are legal. Diverting resources to people who waste them is ruinous.