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Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

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Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#61
post #40

It's easy to create value for others and not worry about returns when you have enough money to not worry. Unfortunately for most people, there's plenty of companies willing to take the returns and leave you paycheck to paycheck. That's literally what they are optimized to do. I don't even disagree with the ideal, but I think a prerequisite step to this philosophy is UBI.

Not necessarily UBI; one just needs an adequate day job. Then the hobby could be creating value with no expectation of any direct return: writing a blog, writing and giving away music, writing open-source software, doing any volunteer work, etc.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#62
post #40

It's easy to create value for others and not worry about returns when you have enough money to not worry. Unfortunately for most people, there's plenty of companies willing to take the returns and leave you paycheck to paycheck. That's literally what they are optimized to do. I don't even disagree with the ideal, but I think a prerequisite step to this philosophy is UBI.

While I think you are not wrong, these are excuses to continue doing useless things

What useless things?

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#63
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This strategy is highly effective but it's also difficult to tolerate as an ordinary advanced ape. Watching others play less noble games and obtain easier wins can be discouraging over time. A noble man that spends all his time jealous of the things the men without scruples have is not so much far from doing what they did. It's also what the men that did it before him told themselves "why play the right game if eve…

Disagree. You can still get fucking angry at how they’re capable of fooling others because of the skewed incentives we built in our capitalistic society

Of course you can, you're just way closer to being them. If you're in positions to take decisions that prevent others from doing it, do it without getting mad, actually improve things. If you're not, your getting mad will just make you more likely to join them later on. The cliche version is "hate consumes you".

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#64
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the context makes it even worse. its a strange kind of tribalism that is being promoted here. "do what you are asked to without understanding the real consequences". btw war is actual zero sum usually.

Do what you are asked to ≠ Your duty. Duty of a warrior is to fight for his country/tribe/side. Duty of a king might be to reduce suffering for his subjects.

Historically, no. It's like Tennyson: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#65

[deleted]

People volunteer e.g. playing games for free, spending considerable time and effort. The point is that the process is enjoyable by itself.

When it starts to feel like work, it starts to feel like needing wages for it.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#67
post #40

It's easy to create value for others and not worry about returns when you have enough money to not worry. Unfortunately for most people, there's plenty of companies willing to take the returns and leave you paycheck to paycheck. That's literally what they are optimized to do. I don't even disagree with the ideal, but I think a prerequisite step to this philosophy is UBI.

money is a judgement of value to society and a motivator to only allocate work in a useful way.. wouldn't UBI, even if coupled to actually producing _something_ will lead to a lot of useless stuff being made?

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think e.g. the AI/LLM boom is all rent seeking? Do you think there's no positive value for the world on the recently announced e.g. MacBook Neo and that it's purely a monopolistic activity? Those are 2 clear recent examples of big players making massive benefits for the world, and I'm okay if they get X% of that value as company valuation.

Wait what's a new laptop doing to push the needle exactly? Genuinely curious

It's an 8GB RAM 256GB SSD laptop with a lower spec'd 6-core chip for $599 USD. Seems overhyped to me, PCs have done that for a while, just not as elegantly. Admittedly it probably has far better battery life than a PC, so that's a genuine advantage.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#69

[deleted]

That's not what he's saying. At a company level he's saying that if they make more profit than they add value they have an indefensible business model and will eventually lose to bigger players.

At a personal level you can live your life similarly, add value where you can. You can do that by joining an organization that adds value as well.

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