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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

#71

Post by okareaman »

datavirtue wrote: post #66
omgwtfbbq wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

> Whippets ... aren't going to throw you off the deep end

That may be true in your experience, but not mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25327689

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

#73

Post by eli »

datavirtue wrote: post #66
omgwtfbbq wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

one can be addicted to drugs, even ones without severe physical dependency

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

#74

Post by pasttense01 »

avrionov wrote: post #69
datavirtue wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

"A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shop

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

#75

Post by rchaud »

redisman wrote: post #43
rchaud wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this will be the new frontier of bio-hacking: attempting to replicate the symptoms of mania to get a "performance advantage".

Is mania a desired state though? It's very chaotic and we already have adderall. I would guess it was more of a facsimile of happiness than a productivity hack. I'm partying all day, my mood is chemically elevated so surely this is what happiness is right?

That's why it's called 'bio-hacking'. Implicit in the name is the assumption that you can have the benefits of something without the natural drawbacks.

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

#76

Post by devinegan »

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…

I was a founder of a VTF (downtown project VC) funded company. We had an exit. I can’t vouch for the rest of the companies but hard drinking wasn’t part of our culture. Careful painting all of us with that brush. I was around for the first Vegas Jelly, and was funded in 2012 so I would be part of the “surge” you defined.

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

#77

Post by lolc »

sneak wrote: post #60
omgwtfbbq wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Whose decision is it, if not the person who opts to become addicted and continue that addiction? People like to personify addiction, as if there is some outside force controlling the person, but this is to discount and discard every single addict who decided to clean themselves up. I know lots of addicts who chose to continue, and I know lots of addicts who chose to stop. Don't personify the addiction: the brain of a…

"Opting" to become addicted?

I know one person who says of herself that some days she just can't go into the city. Because she knows on those days she'd get hooked again if she were to pass a place where she used to shoot. And she talks about "it", that urge, in the third person.

I fully "discount" her judgment in some areas and she would agree. Like I can't reason you into holding your breath for longer than a minute, I can't reason her into ignoring the urge. I would not treat as "legitimate" a decision she takes following that urge. Whether she stays clean or not depends a lot on her surroundings. Does that put responsibility on her friends? You bet.

I wonder, what do you make of Toxoplasmosis? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Rodents

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

#78

Post by sneak »

lolc wrote: post #77
sneak wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whose decision is it, if not the person who opts to become addicted and continue that addiction? People like to personify addiction, as if there is some outside force controlling the person, but this is to discount and discard every single addict who decided to clean themselves up. I know lots of addicts who chose to continue, and I know lots of addicts who chose to stop. Don't personify the addiction: the brain of a…

"Opting" to become addicted? I know one person who says of herself that some days she just can't go into the city. Because she knows on those days she'd get hooked again if she were to pass a place where she used to shoot. And she talks about "it", that urge, in the third person. I fully "discount" her judgment in some areas and she would agree. Like I can't reason you into holding your breath for longer than a minut…

> I know one person who says of herself that some days she just can't go into the city. Because she knows on those days she'd get hooked again if she were to pass a place where she used to shoot.

If one can opt out (by eg not going into the city), one can also opt in.

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

#79

Post by fuzzfactor »

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.

Money can buy so many things that people crave, and in itself has always been a subject of craving.

When toxic or habit-forming materials are involved a craving can be observed which is the type very difficult to control.

But an excess or virtually unlimited supply of a craveable requires an unusual degree of control otherwise it often does not end well and more than just the excess is lost.

Cravers will be drawn like a magnet.

Toxic materials which affect decision-making and are accepted as eccentric within popular culture can give rise to some of the most volatile situations.

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

#80

Post by datavirtue »

okareaman wrote: post #71
datavirtue wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Whippets ... aren't going to throw you off the deep end That may be true in your experience, but not mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25327689

Ok, take that back. I have seen people go a bit crazy on NOS but at Hsieh's level I can see how this would have been over the deep end for sure.
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