Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not • Hacker News Board

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#241

Post by idoh » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

cryptica wrote: post #205

nradov wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a taxpayer I'm not interested in paying people to take a year off. If they want to do that they can save up their own money.

So you prefer to pay 10 times or 100 times the amount to subsidize debt which drives the capital appreciation of stocks to benefit rich shareholders and executives who either sit around and do nothing, or worse: they use the money to create shitty companies which waste everyone's time and energy... Then when the companies finally go bankrupt after a decade everyone loses except the executives who are actually respons…

Even if what you say is true, transferring money from taxpayers to other taxpayers to take a year off doesn't fix it.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#242

Post by benjohnson » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

8note wrote: post #239

JPKab wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Once I've been a citizen long enough (i.e. paid enough taxes) I get to invoke my free year, which is a year where the government pays me enough to cover my bills and maybe a bit extra for projects and stuff." I really wish people would stop saying "the government" in these scenarios. It's the taxpayers. Actual humans whose money is taken by force. Not saying it's a bad idea, just saying that we need to be thinking a…

is it really the tax payers? and is it really being taken by force? the government also gets funding by taking on debt, or can print more currency; not everything comes from a tax payer. you're not exactly forced to be taxed either. it's an agreement in exchange for citizenship. if you don't want to be taxed, go make and spend your money somewhere that doesn't have taxes

Do you have an unspoken premise that this nation belongs to the government? If so, I would say that this nation belongs to the citizens instead.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#243

Post by danenania » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:15 PM UTC

eaenki wrote: post #227

danenania wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you offer millions of dollars to anyone with a far fetched idea and a prototype, everyone will have a far fetched idea and a prototype, and you'll need some way to filter millions of applicants down to the 30k you can afford to give the money. It would be extremely competitive, just like VC is now, and picking the winners smartly/fairly would be just as difficult. This doesn't mean that having some public subsidie…

I don’t know. According to personal experience and to Chamath and Peter Thiel, a lot of great people doing great things can’t raise anything beyond friends and family.

Yeah, I don't dispute that. I just don't know that your plan would help with that much beyond simply injecting more money into the system. Instead of money going to the top < 1% of founders who figure out how to effectively pitch investors, it would go to the top < 1% who figure out how to effectively pitch a government agency. Determining who is and isn't "great" is extremely difficult and I don't see any reason why the government would be any better at it than investors are currently, so you'll still have truly great people getting passed over and others who don't deserve it getting the money.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#244

Post by Jimmc414 » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

rc_mob wrote: post #109

sdiq wrote: post #57

I think the better question would have been, how would Steve Jobs have ended up if he were born in Syria

He would have stolen ideas from Syrians

Are suggesting Musk's invention ideas are stolen?

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#245

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:22 PM UTC

cossray wrote: post #112

moltar wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not identical example. But Elon Musk was born in South Africa. Far from Syria, but still not a major world economic Center.

You may want to refreshen your knowledge regarding South Africa in its apartheid days. I would confidently posit that Elon was more privileged than your average American at that time. Of course he may want/ has created a different picture of his young days.

Certain individuals may be have been more privileged, in South Africa, during Apartheid, presuming skin colour.

South Africa has not produced a thriving industrial or technological sector, though there have been individual advances in certain areas, notably medicine (heart transplants, yellow fever vaccine), and Mark Shuttleworth's Thawte, which left the country.

Musk would have been 23 at the time of the election of Nelson Mandella. Musk's youth certainly was under an Apartheid regime and would reflect the benefits of being a white male under that system. He'd already left for Canada some five years earlier, which might itself speak to your parent's observations.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#246

Post by selestify » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:22 PM UTC

Jimmc414 wrote: post #240

cryptica wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you prefer to pay 10 times or 100 times the amount to subsidize debt which drives the capital appreciation of stocks to benefit rich shareholders and executives who either sit around and do nothing, or worse: they use the money to create shitty companies which waste everyone's time and energy... Then when the companies finally go bankrupt after a decade everyone loses except the executives who are actually respons…

There is so much wrong with this post, I don't know where to begin. It scares me how quickly the US population is turning on entrepreneurs. Do you really believe starting a company is the easier route? Is it better to just complain and demand tax payers equalize all opportunities for non risk takers like yourself?

It is definitely sometimes the easier route for some people when it comes to getting rich quickly without contributing much to society

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#247

Post by Jimmc414 » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:23 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #54

Invention is overvalued as well as the idea of "creativity." The biggest proof is the current China-USA standoff. USA is on the paper the biggest nation on earth by manufacturing output, but what was the last time you saw made in USA household goods in supermarket without having to specifically look for them? Why China has industrial base and USA doesn't? Wages difference? No, not by a chance. In some places in China…

Purchasing power parity.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#248

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:24 PM UTC

Jimmc414 wrote: post #244

rc_mob wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He would have stolen ideas from Syrians

Are suggesting Musk's invention ideas are stolen?

The popular interpretation is that Apple arrived at most of its ideas from Xerox PARC's Alto computer through an on-site visit by Jobs:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2017/01/15/steve-jobs-...

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#249

Post by SkyBelow » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:42 PM UTC

cryptica wrote: post #205

nradov wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a taxpayer I'm not interested in paying people to take a year off. If they want to do that they can save up their own money.

So you prefer to pay 10 times or 100 times the amount to subsidize debt which drives the capital appreciation of stocks to benefit rich shareholders and executives who either sit around and do nothing, or worse: they use the money to create shitty companies which waste everyone's time and energy... Then when the companies finally go bankrupt after a decade everyone loses except the executives who are actually respons…

I believe this is a false dichotomy. Many of us would rather not pay for either and dislike the notion that if we don't pay for one, we have to pay for the other. Why isn't 'neither' an option?

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#250

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 6:44 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #29

eaenki wrote: post #9

Imo Education is overvalued, Capital is under appreciated, And, Because Capital is trapped into networks, that Capital is squandered among an infinite array of companies employing the talent and producing products that don’t make you, or the planet, better, healthier, smarter or happier. (Apple’s SJ era, Google until 2014~ and Tesla fit the useful smarter happier paradigma, and not many other) My solution is: take a…

If I had been given $1 million when I was 22 to build something, the world would have a pretty awesome Honda Civic with a flamethrower on the front, a 40" subwoofer in the hatch, and a dial to change the camber angle of the wheels on the fly.

You'd have been highly motivated to complete the project, and would almost certainly have learned things.

How wheel camber changes handling. How to re-camber wheels without losing stability or structural integrity of the car. Government regulations regarding the deployment and use of flamethrowers on highways. The consequences of being a Car that Goes Boom.

Much useful innovation does come from people pursuing apparently frivilous or non-utilitarian projects, and acquiring skills, experience, and maturity. As well as rubbing elbows with other inventors, a principle message of TFA.