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Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

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Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#101

Post by BWStearns »

jameslk wrote: post #91
Mahn wrote: post #67

It's interesting how flat human nature stays over time, how advice given 136 years ago is still perfectly applicable today. Over the course of centuries life has changed dramatically, but we still think, worry, feel and act like our ancestors did from a millennium ago. I'd bet you could easily find advice given in the roman empire times that would still be relevant today.

I've thought about this a lot on a philosophical level. A person goes through life repeating the same mistakes their parents made and their grandparents made before them, and so on. We spend so much time re-learning things that have already been learned. And doing things that have already been done. Imagine how life could be different if we didn't have to start over each time.

I listened to a talk on counterinsurgency given by David Kilcullen (I am about 90% sure, it could have been Nagl), but he asked the audience about whether it was better to learn from experience or from academics. The audience was about evenly split but with a lot of abstainers, and he said academia was the better choice of course, because no on ever died from reading a book.

While "teachable moments" in most contexts aren't fatal, the overall point that it's better to learn from other people's mistakes remains the same.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#102

Post by _yosefk »

jameslk wrote: post #91
Mahn wrote: post #67

It's interesting how flat human nature stays over time, how advice given 136 years ago is still perfectly applicable today. Over the course of centuries life has changed dramatically, but we still think, worry, feel and act like our ancestors did from a millennium ago. I'd bet you could easily find advice given in the roman empire times that would still be relevant today.

I've thought about this a lot on a philosophical level. A person goes through life repeating the same mistakes their parents made and their grandparents made before them, and so on. We spend so much time re-learning things that have already been learned. And doing things that have already been done. Imagine how life could be different if we didn't have to start over each time.

I think in such a case, say with humans with a 1000-year lifespan, we would have learned a lot of things that aren't so and stayed that way. "Progress in science happens through the old guard dying" and all that, and it's not limited to science. I've felt since forever that my views are ossifying every day, so that I must be increasingly hopelessly wrong in those areas where I'm wrong. I try to fight it but I'm not sure there's any cure to it remotely as reliable as death...

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#103

Post by edanm »

Mahn wrote: post #67

It's interesting how flat human nature stays over time, how advice given 136 years ago is still perfectly applicable today. Over the course of centuries life has changed dramatically, but we still think, worry, feel and act like our ancestors did from a millennium ago. I'd bet you could easily find advice given in the roman empire times that would still be relevant today.

There are things from 1000's of years ago that are still relevant.

But I think it's mostly survivorship bias. The very few things from long ago that we still read, are still relevant today. That's why we know about them! Take a random book from from most periods of history, and it will be uninteresting, if not outright unintelligible, to a modern audience.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#104

Post by chedar »

ezequiel-garzon wrote: post #24

SNL made a wonderful infomercial in 2006 about point 3: avoid debt. Depending on your location you should be able to watch it in [1] or [2]. During my years in the US it always puzzled me that, upon reaching my credit limit, it would not just increase without any interaction, but sometimes double! American "plastic", as hailed in "The Graduate", was a significant lesson for me. [1] http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-l…

For the unlucky that couldn't see it on [1] & [2], here is [3].

[3] https://vimeo.com/145194633

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#105

Post by edanm »

pessimizer wrote: post #83
lr4444lr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the goods it can buy on the next round of division still don't come from the spendthrift vagabond, and if his way of life is incentivized while the producers' is disincentivized by this redistribution, then that circulation won't continue so innocuously.

You assume that the rich man was a producer. He actually just plays video games most days, and takes a trip to skydive in Bali twice a year.

As most rich men do? Quite a statement if so.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#107

Post by SturgeonsLaw »

zouhair wrote: post #94
kamaal wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that socialists feel entitled to free cash is hardly a surprise. In India which went though decades of socialist rule, its quite common among people to expect others to provide for them all their life. I know a lot of people from my circles, especially older people in the late 50's and 60's who have spent their lives in the socialist era endlessly expect elder brothers/relatives to provide for them. Any refu…

Socialists feel entitled to free money? Do you have some sources on this?

foxnews.com

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#108

Post by sanoli »

Mahn wrote: post #67

It's interesting how flat human nature stays over time, how advice given 136 years ago is still perfectly applicable today. Over the course of centuries life has changed dramatically, but we still think, worry, feel and act like our ancestors did from a millennium ago. I'd bet you could easily find advice given in the roman empire times that would still be relevant today.

Like the other poster said, a lot of it is survivorship bias. There are tons of stuff that people did 1000 years ago that have just been discarded through time by being clearly ridiculous/wrong. We mostly never even hear about them anymore. Think of all the stuff people did and acted upon in the past based on superstition or baseless beliefs that was just passed on, but today has about a zero chance of being taken seriously if it were to be brought up.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#109

Post by SturgeonsLaw »

grkvlt wrote: post #77
coliveira wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please let me know how you started producing oil using only your mind.

Presumably by studying geology, then thinking a lot about the oil formation process, and working out where to find some before anyone else. Then, you can negotiate to obtain value for your knowledge of the location...

That's a bit of a stretch dude. In our world it's easy to think in terms of intellectual capital, but look around you - every object you see was manufactured somewhere.

The knowledge economy wouldn't exist without physical objects to express it through, and they all have to be produced.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#110

Post by sanoli »

ChrisDutrow wrote: post #38
clishem wrote: post #21

The author of 'So Good They Can't Ignore you' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can... ) basically argues that the first rule he mentions ("Don't mistake your vocation") is a false myth: "In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how mos…

I feel like this a matter of balance. Taken to either extreme, you could end up poor doing something you love. Or paid decent to do something you never got super good at cause you hate it. Probably the best strategy is to select something within the venn diagram of things you like and things that are lucrative.

And depending on the society you live in, you feel more confortable moving further to one side or the other.
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