Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

fortune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 146 posts

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#131

Post by OldGuyInTheClub »

colineartheta wrote: post #126
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current crop of ultrabillionaires may lack many things but I don't think backbone is on the list. They are as ruthless as any robber baron or industrialist of old. They can buy, sell, and eliminate people and governments as they see fit. Good luck getting close enough to take actual or metaphorical aim.

I think “backbone” in this context is a stand-in for “integrity” and/or “honor”. I think the fact that they can “buy, sell, and eliminate people and governments as they see fit” is the obvious proof that they don’t possess any real integrity, dignity, or honor for themselves or other people - so, no, they don’t have “backbone”. Power, wealth, sure. But not backbone.

I don't know the movie. I took 'backbone' as a synonym for strength, will, and/or an iron fist to accumulate power and wealth vs. the other terms.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#132

Post by JohnMakin »

tpmoney wrote: post #95
sanderjd wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, I'm with you. I think this "suffering is necessary" point Huang is making is his weakest point. Maybe a more nuanced version of it that I think would be a stronger point is that there is a "sweet spot" of life challenges - not too much, but also not too little - that increase the odds of positive outcomes for people. But as you say, people who experience extreme suffering are much more likely to experience a lif…

The only universal truth is that no thruths are universal. And I think “suffering builds character” in this and its other forms is a perfect example. Yes, extreme suffering will cause long term problems. And yet at the same time, we’re all probably familiar with or know someone who experienced “the gifted student wall” where their natural talent was good enough to carry them to success, right up until the point it wa…

Survivorship bias seems heavily at play here though. You don’t hear about all the people that just die way too young.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#133

Post by 1letterunixname »

From a business perspective, the more painful and difficult some good or service is to offer, the better. Upon finding something very painful that is easy for you/your team to offer, it could be a viable, defensible business model by automating and schleping for customers efficiently when offering value for money.

(Just don't be a risky, low margin, labor intensive, short lifecycle, unscalable business like a restaurant unless you're really, really, ..., really good in some niche like a place that has people line up around the block at 8:30 am for BBQ several days a week.)

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#135

Post by 1letterunixname »

treespace8 wrote: post #71

The quote: `I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering’ really hits on the nose for me. My Dad had a successful business after a rough childhood, failing high school. He worked hard and built a successful business. He also really did wish ample doses of pain and suffering on me. And he got his wish. He always thought it was good that I was bullied, that I also failed school, and that everything in life was gen…

Intergenerational trauma echoes, and the kids spend their lives putting themselves back together and finding their blind spots.

I was gobsmacked today by Rod Nordland's revelations on Amanpour that were a degree more intense but strikingly similar to my own childhood, and how I somehow also share gravitation to extreme sports and dangerous situations.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#136

Post by 1letterunixname »

Observation: the people who are the most productive and capable tend to come from the most damaged backgrounds but are the survivor biased few who didn't resent or envy other people, rested on external locus of control, are humble, and aren't content with mediocrity, inefficiency, or the way things are today. Motorsports, surfing (the ocean kind), pilots, military/special forces, business owners, and start up founders have nonzero Venn diagram overlap.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#137

Post by uxcolumbo »

Draiken wrote: post #59
MrYellowP wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess at least some people realize how insulting you are. "Luck" is often a reason given by losers. It's the argument that shifts blame away from their own poor, often stupid decisions. It's used by losers when it comes to starting and running businesses, just like it's used by losers who failed to buy-in on cryptos or stocks when they were low. "Oh, your business actually took off? You got lucky!" "Oh so btc hit 6…

What a load of crap. Being a hard worker is not causation for being rich. That's such a naive take. How many people working 3 jobs you know are billionaires? Even millionaires? Are those not hard working people? Yeah, citing crypto, which is literally gambling, tells me the kind of argument you have. Not sure why the personal attacks are necessary.

I don’t understand why you are being downvoted.

Can folks who downvote please explain why?

Because survivorship is a real thing and becoming a billionaire isn’t just down to hard work or resilience.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#138

Post by StefanBatory »

watwut wrote: post #76
StefanBatory wrote: post #12

It's painful article but it's true. We have to remember that none of us deserves anything not that we have any right for anything; nothing is given and we have to work hard for that.

The other reality is that if you expect nothing, you will get nothing. If you expect low salary, you will get low salary no matter how hard you work or what skills you have. Working hard on itself does not bring rewards. Asking for what you want and negotiating brings rewards.

Isn't that fine though?

I was raised to believe that asking for anything more is a sign of pride and vainness.

If my work won't be recognized, than all it means that it wasn't good or useful, and asking for anything more is pride.

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#139

Post by StefanBatory »

dont_dox_me_bro wrote: post #27
StefanBatory wrote: post #12

It's painful article but it's true. We have to remember that none of us deserves anything not that we have any right for anything; nothing is given and we have to work hard for that.

Do you think he would feel the same if the government split apart Nvidia and forced them to either sell the software (CUDA) or hardware as separate companies? After all, it's not like he has the right to run his company at the detriment of society. Opening up CUDA would be a massive net gain to humanity, or at least allowing more open source software to run on Nvidia hardware. This is just an extremely tone deaf arti…

His response would be that government most likely has no right to break the company in the first place, as it's immoral/not theirs to touch.

I can't tell if that'd be correct or not, though

Re: Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance

#140

Post by Doxin »

StefanBatory wrote: post #138
watwut wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other reality is that if you expect nothing, you will get nothing. If you expect low salary, you will get low salary no matter how hard you work or what skills you have. Working hard on itself does not bring rewards. Asking for what you want and negotiating brings rewards.

Isn't that fine though? I was raised to believe that asking for anything more is a sign of pride and vainness. If my work won't be recognized, than all it means that it wasn't good or useful, and asking for anything more is pride.

That comes across as naive to me. Surely any boss would be more than happy to pay you (much) less than you are worth?

If your work isn't be recognized does not mean it's not good or useful. It just means it's not recognized.

Post reply on HN