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The Book of Graham

leveragedsellout.com

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Re: The Book of Graham

#111

Post by PakG1 »

norswap wrote: post #110
argonaut wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the point that the satire makes? Just saying that something is "satire" or "sarcasm" is a total cop-out.

Satire makes people laugh at the absurdity of things, by means of exageration. The point of satire is not always to "make a point". I don't think it is in this case anyway. But if you really want to see something you could see a criticism of the startup ecosystem that "puts bright people to work by making them shuffle bits of questionable value".

Actually, usually there is a point to satire, the vibe of which is caught in your first sentence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire

Satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government or society itself, into improvement.[1] Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon and as a tool to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.

Re: The Book of Graham

#112

Post by kd0amg »

spindritf wrote: post #10

I don't get it. What's the intended message for his younger brother? That you should go into a steady, well-paying career because then you'll be able to impress women by picking up the tab at a fancy restaurant/bar? Or was it just poking fun at YC-as-a-cult?

Well, if you're not setting out to read something clearly stupid into the author's intent, you might conclude that he's questioning whether equity in some early-stage startup is really worth anywhere near as much as what those who have/offer it talk like it's worth.

Re: The Book of Graham

#113

Post by speeder »

eru wrote: post #62
speeder wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So me it is all truth... I mean, your 2) point is critical: I am in Brazil, I am in a startup because I had no choice, and although I am getting paid with someone else money, if the startup crashes, I will go down with it, and go down I mean, get in worse situation than I already am... currently I am struggling to pay my rent and food, if my startup fails, I won't be able to pay rent and food, at all, considering my…

> I am in Brazil, I am in a startup because I had no choice [...] Would emigration be an option? Since you are on HN, I assume you can program. There are lots of companies in lots of places world wide looking for talent, and paying for it.

Well, I tried, but I don't figured yet how to do it...

Seemly people don't want remote that is not already in the US, and H1B is very hard to get or something.

Also I don't figured how to get in other countries.

Re: The Book of Graham

#114

Post by sjg007 »

dschiptsov wrote: post #79

Brainwashing youths to this or that habit of thinking and then to use them for a great good is an idea as old as humanity. All sorts of religious sects, political fractions even hobbyists are doing this. What is going on around YC is absolutely nothing special from a psychological point of view. "If you want loyal workers pay them less, so they would escape from the pain of cognitive dissonance by leveraging the big…

Huh?

Re: The Book of Graham

#115

Post by djyaz1200 »

205guy wrote: post #102
djyaz1200 wrote: post #71

I don't know to what extent this is a joke but I am not laughing. Yc is a school where they pay you, Paul Graham et al did not take over Airbnb or Dropbox... the people who founded those companies run them. The idea that a life is worthless or wasted if you make less money is beyond flawed. It is the most american/capitalist/rewarding thing to make a go of building something of your own. Being a wall street banker ha…

On the subject of women who love passionate startup founders, did you see his previous vignette? http://www.leveragedsellout.com/2014/01/the-founder-hounder/ /ducks

Hilarious!

Re: The Book of Graham

#116

Post by pyrrhotech »

aelaguiz wrote: post #70
ForHackernews wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> secure life making a few hundred thousand dollars a year in an essentially mind-numbing profession that does little for humanity is unthinkably depressing. You realize Wall Street bankers make a few million dollars a year doing mind-numbing work that does little for humanity, right?

Yeah that doesn't matter to me. Maybe others experience wealth differently but it made substantially no difference to my day to day happiness (once the newness of the money had worn off) - but working on a project I feel strongly about makes a strong and lasting difference.

Perhaps it's my own superego unable to understand experiences outside of my own mind, but I think you either didn't get enough money or haven't learned how to transmute it into happiness. Money is freedom and freedom is happiness. It's that simple. If money doesn't make you happy, nothing will. If you have enough money, you can do anything you want. If you don't have enough money, you can't do anything you want. If you can do anything you want, then by definition you either have happiness or you are unable to achieve happiness. It really is that simple.

Re: The Book of Graham

#117

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #116
aelaguiz wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that doesn't matter to me. Maybe others experience wealth differently but it made substantially no difference to my day to day happiness (once the newness of the money had worn off) - but working on a project I feel strongly about makes a strong and lasting difference.

Perhaps it's my own superego unable to understand experiences outside of my own mind, but I think you either didn't get enough money or haven't learned how to transmute it into happiness. Money is freedom and freedom is happiness. It's that simple. If money doesn't make you happy, nothing will. If you have enough money, you can do anything you want. If you don't have enough money, you can't do anything you want. If y…

> If you have enough money, you can do anything you want.

Man lives not by bread alone. Only a simple hedonist is going to find contentedness through a pallet of cash.

Re: The Book of Graham

#118

Post by AndrewKemendo »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #117
pyrrhotech wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's my own superego unable to understand experiences outside of my own mind, but I think you either didn't get enough money or haven't learned how to transmute it into happiness. Money is freedom and freedom is happiness. It's that simple. If money doesn't make you happy, nothing will. If you have enough money, you can do anything you want. If you don't have enough money, you can't do anything you want. If y…

> If you have enough money, you can do anything you want. Man lives not by bread alone. Only a simple hedonist is going to find contentedness through a pallet of cash.

It's not the actual cash. Money is actually worthless in and of itself, it's the using of it that makes it worthwhile.

Money gets you access to resources to MAKE things, that is why R&D takes so much money. You have to pay a lot of people to think and work hard - only if it's your money you can pay them to think and work hard on YOUR idea and YOUR dream.

Money also gets you the ability to influence change, politically or otherwise. Right or wrong that is how it works, and deciding you are better than that and not playing the game won't stop that from being true - all that will mean is that it will be that much harder for you to actually influence.

So no, money is worthless, it's the things you can do with it that will find your contentedness.

Re: The Book of Graham

#119

Post by mattwad »

argonaut wrote: post #108
illumen wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spend your youth however you want to, but there's no refunds.

And your point is...?

You can "aim high" working long days in your 20s, 30s, or 40s. But in your 20s maybe there's other stuff you want to do, like chasing college tail, or not having kids.

Re: The Book of Graham

#120

Post by argonaut »

pron wrote: post #109
argonaut wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bad example. I read your island example and thought to myself: "that's not exploitation." Is there a specific reason you think it's exploitation?

Certainly. Exploitation is taking advantage of the other party's lack of options – which results in its lack of bargaining power – for an unfair distribution, in this case the workers get far below their contribution, even when adjusting for the capitalist's risk. The meager payment ensures the workers will never have options. The theoretical economic model for this case is the dictator game[1]. In the dictator game,…

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I myself lean towards the free market side of this example, and don't necessarily agree with the idea that exploitation is taking advantage of another's lack of options.

Take the dictator's game. The flaw with your model is that it's not iterated. A more realistic dictator's game would be iterated (repeated). In which case over time a poor party can force the rich party to give it a higher share.

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