Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking through Rao's prism (in which disposition to unshakeable loyalty is a "clueless" trait), Benjamin is a clear "sociopath" candidate: he's (a) laconic, and (b) underperforming. [In the 80s, Rabinovich was allowed a tour of Europe. He sent telegrams from everywhere: "Greetings from free Bulgaria. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Romania. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Hungary. Rabinovich" "Greetings from Austr…
In Rao’s model, the sociopaths and losers share an understanding that the organization exists for the benefit of the sociopaths, they just respond to it differently. It’s only the clueless who are bamboozled. So idk if it’s a great lens for AF, where all the proletarian animals are more or less equally taken in. But anyway, Benjamin is definitely a loser, not a sociopath! He comes closest to understanding what’s happ…
(To abuse a Ridley Scott favourite: slip a Marechal’s baton into his rucksack)
[this is opposite of the Rabinovich “strategy”, which hints that YC are not sociopaths]
EDIT: I dont think this is comparable to Steve Jobs’ 100-Person Retreat without more insider data, e.g.,
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41416275
Would be interested to know if anybody got promoted as a result of these retreats, my hunch is, no, because everybody knows about the 100-person retreat.
EDIT 2: another system to compare with, kind of the opposite of Rao’s model, is the Lambeth race, thats more like openly favouring the tortoise? So that no rabbit would sign up in the first place. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41468567