This study is disingenuous. It seems self evident to me that as the amount of wealth increases the amount of luck needed to get there increases. But, its possible to improve your chance of getting lucky. It might not be worth the effort but it is possible.
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
31–40 of 75 posts
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#32The implication is that if you are 10x richer than someone else, but not 10x smarter or more talented, then you must have just got lucky. I disagree. Luck can certainly play a role in success, but what most people attribute to luck is just recognizing and seizing an opportunity when it knocks. They say that 80% of success is just showing up because large numbers of people fail to do that. You often just have to be a…
> Luck can certainly play a role in success, but what most people attribute to luck is just recognizing and seizing an opportunity when it knocks.
There are lots of opportunities being taken. The lucky ones succeed. That doesn't take away from the skill, guts, perseverance, etc. required. However, lots of very talented people fail time and time again.
One could definitely argue that failure is part of the journey to success and understanding that is part of the game. On the other hand, many smart people don't have the resources to fail over and over again, often due to factors outside of their control.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#33The title implies that "if you're smart, it's up to luck whether you end up rich", yet the opening of the article states that what the article is actually about is whether "the most successful people (the richest of the rich) were actually smart or just lucky". These are two very different things, completely different topics. Whether the richest dozens of people in the world deserve to be / are smart is a very differ…
The richer someone is the more it was due to luck.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#34The failure rate for smart people who don't try and don't take risks is 100%.
Wrong, for those with rich parents it’s very low.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#35All of us who haven't achieved fabulous success find this very comforting, of course. But I'm still going to put in effort, because I don't believe in any of this fate crap, etc.
This paper does not suggest in any way that effort is not important.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure that a game of basketball has enough parallels with the activities involved in generation of significant wealth for this to be a sound comparison.
All the basketball players I can name are very wealthy.
All the players you can't, probably aren't.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#37Because if you’re wise you don’t worship money.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#38All of us who haven't achieved fabulous success find this very comforting, of course. But I'm still going to put in effort, because I don't believe in any of this fate crap, etc.
This paper does not suggest in any way that effort is not important.
Effort without intelligence is just pointless toil though. Either this paper is saying it’s pure chance, in which case effort isn’t relevant, or some intelligence is required.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#39This is a sloppy article that summarizes sloppy research and conclusions. Any State school science graduate student could point out the various reasons why. Though I'm unfamiliar with the average quality of the MIT Tech Review, I'd guess that the article isn't worthy of it.
Re: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance
#40The failure rate for smart people who don't try and don't take risks is 100%.
That sounds weird, how can you fail if you don't try? What sounds better to me is that the success rate for those who don't try is 0%, which btw I don't see a counter argument for the article. Obviously if you don't try you don't even enter the lottery.