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Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

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Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#61

Post by sneak »

prionassembly wrote: post #10

I didn't know about this. I can't open the link, but I read https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/technology/tony-hsieh-dea... and the whole thing seems classic untreated bipolar disorder. I wonder how much of SV shenanigans can be attributed to manic breakdowns. There was already a "hypomanic advantage" meme going around a while ago; and, of course, thinking you can slightly toe the line towards a controled flirt with…

> and, of course, thinking you can slightly toe the line towards a controled flirt with mania is classical bipolar anosognosia.

This is one of those amazingly insightful things sort of hiding in plain sight. There is some plain wisdom right here.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#62

Post by sneak »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #59

With all due respect (and not saying these groups have overlap) there is a notable presence of people on Hacker News that minimize the danger of or encourage drug experimentation, if not regular drug use. Tony Hsieh is ultimately responsible for his choices that led to his tragic and early death. But it leaves a bad taste to see people calling out his entourage here and then other people advocating similar behavior i…

> With all due respect (and not saying these groups have overlap) there is a notable presence of people on Hacker News that minimize the danger of or encourage drug experimentation, if not regular drug use.

I think a better way of describing it is a continuum of belief around drugs. Most people aren't talking about caffeine or alcohol when they say "drug use" but those are indeed psychoactive drugs as well.

"All drugs are wrong, but some are useful." is perhaps a useful model for thinking about it? (Not that I think drugs are wrong, just that nothing, and I mean nothing, in life is without cost in a cost/benefit analysis.)

All substances we ingest, from distilled water, to table salt, to a cup of coffee, broccoli, a beer, a cheeseburger, morphine, or methamphetamine have various effects, long term and short, on our bodies, and we should understand those effects as best we can before we ingest any of them.

I've seen ketamine save people's lives, and I've seen it destroy people's lives. Same with firearms. Sharp tools are a good thing, on balance, in my opinion, but should be wielded with knowledge and understanding in order to be safe.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#63

Post by sadgrip »

jzellis wrote: post #40

I worked for one of the startups Tony funded in Vegas and was around for most of the Downtown Project stuff, and was also one of the most vocal critics of what happened there. This story covers just the tip of the iceberg. I'm really sorry he died, even though I was horrified by the externalities of what he did in my town and, frankly, didn't much like the cat personally. But this idea that all of this started when h…

Hey I'm from Vegas as well and I have a friend getting his MFA working on a story on the Downtown Project and it seems like he's coming to a lot of the conclusions you've come to. If it's possible I'd love to get you in touch with him to talk about your experience a bit.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#64

Post by colmvp »

neonate wrote: post #35
colmvp wrote: post #19

Within minutes of his death breaking the news, someone in the comment posted on HN about this enablement. I had skepticism but it also felt way too specific and out of nowhere for me to think they were lying. It was heartbreaking to eventually realize it was indeed the truth.

Do you mean https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=exzappos ?

Yup, precisely.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#65

Post by datavirtue »

jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #39

One simple and obvious lesson to point out here is that you better make peace with yourself before coming into possession of any large sum. Money can destroy you just as easily as it can empower you. Look at what happens to a significant percentage of lottery winners. It's an amplifier, and it can amplify your problems and self-destructive tendencies along with your desire to do good.

I've seen quite a few people go out like this. Back in the late 1990's I founded a head shop that later gave birth to multiple locations and had family members and friends getting rich. Lost two family members (dead), can't speak to another one (my father), I ended up arrested as a consequence of my brother's withdrawal symptoms, a business partner went off the deep end smoking crack and meth while leading an entourage of prostitutes and flipping a vehicle or two while ditching his family of twenty years, and my father was doing nearly the same shit while secreting hookers at his elderly mother's house. He ended up in jail on serious drug charges.

This isn't even about half the shit that went down.

So yeah, success and money can really trash lives if people aren't ready or they have underlying issues, but a lot of times you don't see it coming.

Before that we ran a fairly uneventful chain of video rental stores and otherwise led a bog normal and happy middle class life.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#66

Post by datavirtue »

omgwtfbbq wrote: post #45
sneak wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our lives and bodies are our own, to use, build, and destroy as we see fit. It's one thing to help a friend avoid an accidental death, but this speaks to a months long pattern of behavior that was clearly a deliberate personal decision. What's the point of wealth if not obtaining the basic freedom to live (and die) how we choose?

>a months long pattern of behavior that was clearly a deliberate personal decision Drug/Alcohol addiction is hardly a personal decision... This is a dangerous point of view to take.

I saw no mention of addictive drug use. Whippits and mushrooms isn't going to throw you off the deep end. Something else was going on. Pills/meth/crack/coke? Those can lock you into addiction and rewrite your brain and you will not be in control.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#67

Post by datavirtue »

goat_whisperer wrote: post #49

Anyone else get a sense that something similar is happening with Elon Musk? Guy seems to be unraveling

Yeah, obvious for some time now. His wife looks ematiated and his kid is named with hieroglyphic symbols or some shit. This on top of the weird tweets and eccentric displays. He reminds me of a high functioning addict. Met quite a few business owner addicts in my time.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#68

Post by datavirtue »

ng12 wrote: post #54
viklove wrote: post #38

Whip-its? This guy had $840M and his drug of choice was whip-its? That is strangely amusing...

Whip-its have become pretty popular among the burning man crowd. I remember seeing piles in East Palo Alto parking lots and wondering if they were from bored kids or bored techies.

They are very expensive and have pretty heavy effects. Not sustainable. I couldn't really do that many because of the impact. Hard to imagine what his knock on effects were. Well...

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#69

Post by avrionov »

datavirtue wrote: post #65
jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #39

One simple and obvious lesson to point out here is that you better make peace with yourself before coming into possession of any large sum. Money can destroy you just as easily as it can empower you. Look at what happens to a significant percentage of lottery winners. It's an amplifier, and it can amplify your problems and self-destructive tendencies along with your desire to do good.

I've seen quite a few people go out like this. Back in the late 1990's I founded a head shop that later gave birth to multiple locations and had family members and friends getting rich. Lost two family members (dead), can't speak to another one (my father), I ended up arrested as a consequence of my brother's withdrawal symptoms, a business partner went off the deep end smoking crack and meth while leading an entoura…

What is a head shop?

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#70

Post by kgin »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #59

With all due respect (and not saying these groups have overlap) there is a notable presence of people on Hacker News that minimize the danger of or encourage drug experimentation, if not regular drug use. Tony Hsieh is ultimately responsible for his choices that led to his tragic and early death. But it leaves a bad taste to see people calling out his entourage here and then other people advocating similar behavior i…

Are there really posts advocating similar behavior to this story? I think I've missed those.
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