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Careless People

pluralistic.net

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Re: Careless People

#391

Post by hirvi74 »

rottc0dd wrote: post #111
technothrasher wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. I remember being miles ahead of my peers in computer science in high school. When getting to college and finding people most definitely better than I was, I was incredibly excited to finally find such people, not scared away.

Excuse me for generalizing the point. That's not fair to do just based on these anecdotes. But, I can also understand their perspective. Paul continued to be a guitar player all his life and hosted jamming sessions in his home. I started with piano very late in my life and not very regular, but I am just happy to join the fun party.

Congratulations on learning piano. I think everyone who is capable of learning an instrument should consider it.

Rachmaninoff once said, "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music." So, no matter when one starts, there would never be enough time to truly master the craft.

I believe it is better for one to start late and enjoy it than start early and burnout.

Re: Careless People

#392

Post by hirvi74 »

wyclif wrote: post #316
apercu wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Oh well, I'm not going to be Andres Segovia, so I guess I will never pick up a guitar." I think that attitude comes from people who are deeply unhappy. They need therapy.

When I was 18 years old and a new classical guitar student, I was very fortunate to hear the Maestro in concert. I even got to meet him briefly afterward because my music professor had some connection to him. I was blown away at the time by what was possible and that, even though he was very old at the time and had to be led out onstage by the arm, needed help getting seated, and had the guitar placed in his lap, wha…

I wonder if our professors knew each other?

My classical guitar instructor was well acquainted with Segovia, and he himself, was a student of Julian Bream. However, my instructor was without a doubt one of the most angry people I think I have ever interacted with. He was somewhat better known for his arrangements and less so as a performer.

> "I should just quit now because I'll never be that good."

I never had to think about this because my instructor would often tell me this. XD

Re: Careless People

#393

Post by -__---____-ZXyw »

hnpolicestate wrote: post #313
remus wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect talent and hard work are pretty well correlated with becoming wealthy (say >$10m), but I think you then need a big injection of luck to take you from wealthy to ultra wealthy.

I think it was a Steve Jobs quote, paraphrase "it's 5% the idea, 95% implementation". Lots of very intelligent and talented people out there. But when you have the good fortune of coming up with a great idea (Facebook in the mid 00's) you have to use your talent to relentlessly implement it. This is what separates the plebs from the ultra wealthy. Intelligence + talent + idea + implementation = success

I think it was a Tutankhamun quote, paraphrase "it's 5% the idea and the implementation, 95% having been born into a family who are very wealthy and who also happen to do a good job instilling the innate belief in you that dominating in business is everything".

There's a shockingly large number of people out there with buckets of "intelligence + talent + ideas" who never get the opportunity to move to the "implementation" phase of anything as they're too busy surviving, and the world is all the poorer for it.

As if that cruel ignominy weren't enough on its own, we are also blessed with the spectacle of ignoramuses piling up and blaming the "plebs" for a situation they've no control over. What a double whammy.

Re: Careless People

#395

Post by imp0cat »

wyclif wrote: post #316
apercu wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Oh well, I'm not going to be Andres Segovia, so I guess I will never pick up a guitar." I think that attitude comes from people who are deeply unhappy. They need therapy.

When I was 18 years old and a new classical guitar student, I was very fortunate to hear the Maestro in concert. I even got to meet him briefly afterward because my music professor had some connection to him. I was blown away at the time by what was possible and that, even though he was very old at the time and had to be led out onstage by the arm, needed help getting seated, and had the guitar placed in his lap, wha…

Mastery comes with age, no way around that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pi7WcHqBNU - Here are some bits of wisdom from Japanese master chefs, both young and old.

Re: Careless People

#396

Post by matusp »

hermitcrab wrote: post #117
grafmax wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as we have this concentration of wealth in this country we are going to have this selective enforcement of laws based on class lines.

"The big thieves hang the little ones." Czech Proverb

It's actually Roman: Magni minores saepe fures puniunt

Re: Careless People

#397

Post by tasuki »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #9

> There's Zuck, whose underlings let him win at board-games like Settlers of Catan because he's a manbaby who can't lose (and who accuses Wynn-Williams of cheating when she fails to throw a game of Ticket to Ride while they're flying in his private jet). Why does this seem to be a recurring pattern among the modern ultrawealthy? Does anyone who fails to bend over backwards for them just end up getting exiled? Have th…

At my work, we play much much better board games than Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. I feel for Zuck and his colleagues.

Re: Careless People

#398

Post by [deleted] »

pseudalopex wrote: post #352
optymizer wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was the TL on a Facebook app feature driven by us, the engineers, that was 100% in the category of "good for humanity and it solves a problem for billions of people". I had to fight internal org leads to launch it, because there was almost no benefit for FB. Jane leaked the feature and put this entire 'evil Facebook' shade on it, with no real proof, just wildly false speculation based on what she thought the featur…

Who was Jane? Tell us the feature so we can evaluate your claim. Absolute certainty, bitter criticism, and expectation of unearned trust do not build confidence in your ability to judge what is good for humanity.

[deleted]

Re: Careless People

#399

Post by xivzgrev »

this cracked me up

"When he gets to the mic, he spontaneously promises that Facebook will provide internet access to refugees all over the world. Various teams at Facebook then race around, trying to figure out whether this is something the company is actually doing, and once they realize Zuck was just bullshitting, set about trying to figure out how to do it.

They get some way down this path when Kaplan intervenes to insist that giving away free internet to refugees is a bad idea, and that instead, they should sell internet access to refugees. Facebookers dutifully throw themselves into this absurd project, which dies when Kaplan fires off an email stating that he's just realized that refugees don't have any money. The project dies."

Re: Careless People

#400

Post by mrguyorama »

thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #191
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #9

> There's Zuck, whose underlings let him win at board-games like Settlers of Catan because he's a manbaby who can't lose (and who accuses Wynn-Williams of cheating when she fails to throw a game of Ticket to Ride while they're flying in his private jet). Why does this seem to be a recurring pattern among the modern ultrawealthy? Does anyone who fails to bend over backwards for them just end up getting exiled? Have th…

>> Why does this seem to be a recurring pattern among the modern ultrawealthy? Does anyone who fails to bend over backwards for them just end up getting exiled? Have the elites through history always been this insecure or is it a modern phenomenon? There is a long history of wealthy elites wanting to always win, even at games, and who want to be the center of attention. Kaiser Wilhelm II had many of the same characte…

>This shift toward a more "personalist" system, where loyalty to the Kaiser outweighed true statesmanship, weakened the effectiveness of German leadership and contributed to its eventual strategic missteps."

I'm not convinced there has ever been a positive or constructive outcome from cults of personality.

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