Nepotism to me implies a kind of incompetence, in that people are selected purely for their relationship to the decision maker. I don’t think these people are generally incompetent at all, although certainly some exceptions exist. It’s more that the filtering mechanism eliminates anyone that doesn’t color in the lines exactly.
I don't think it implies incompetence, but rather, an ability to not know the world outside of the one that was made for the recipient of the nepotism.
I grew up in a fabulously wealthy suburb of NYC, a town often dubbed the "hedge fund capital of the world". I went to school with the kids of people who managed or worked at some of these funds, or worked on Wall Street. These kids were not and are not dumb, let alone incompetant by any stretch. I'm talking top scores on SAT & AP exams, Ivy League acceptance, Consulting/Banking internships, and top tier jobs out of college. Some extremely book smart people, and some with a degree of street smarts too. They all ended up working for the same types of businesses their peers and parents worked at. People would hire their golfing buddy's kids without blinking.
However, there's something these kids all lacked: practical real world knowledge and a complete inability to see outside their biases and inability to perceive outside of their bubble. It's not on them though, not at all - it's just how their experiences shaped them.
It takes an outsider to see the value in another outsider. Insiders are clouded by their own experiences that they can't understand disruption or change in an unknown way.
That same disruption or change is what oftentimes makes for startups whose early investors see insane returns.
First I’d like to thank you for the thoughtful, introspective, self-aware comment.
I have no grievance with people who had slightly better starting conditions than others. My background wasn’t exactly fun but I didn’t grow up in the same postal code as Easy E, a lot of people have it a lot worse than being pushed around as a kid. My childhood was like: “you’re on your own”.
My ex-wife’s background was a horror film, an Ellis novel and she cleanly tests 185-ish on proctored Stanford-Binet. I’m at least somewhat aware of the difference.
What I have an issue with is the fungibility of one’s parent’s or lover’s or advocates wealth into further capture. That’s the thing I’ll be running for office to make not only a felony but one that gets enforced.
You sound like a cool person who is aware you supplied two of three ingredients around success: long hours and table stakes, but my quasi-informed read of your remarks is that you paid that rake.
It also sounds like you understand good cards tend to be the dominant term, and I find that even more noteworthy and admirable than the first two.
First off, I appreciate your comment. I rarely see such expressions of thanks on HN, so having one directed at a comment I made actually makes my day.
Re: starting off from different conditions - it's the world we live in, and it's inherent in people who have found success (for the most part) - if I have the means to give my kids the best chance for success, why wouldn't I do so? If that means making sure they go to a good school, or get a good job, or a loan to start a business, by all means, it's a no-brainer.
>What I have an issue with is the fungibility of one’s parent’s or lover’s or advocates wealth into further capture. That’s the thing I’ll be running for office to make not only a felony but one that gets enforced.
Agree 110%. You've got my vote (and donation, when you have a campaign and I have money to donate). Question is though, what are the mechanisms for catching this, much less enforcing it? It's one thing to be one of those multi-billionaires who send their kids to the best private schools, but at the same time take advantage of every tax loophole, lobby politicians to slash public education. It's another thing to be moderately successful and do right by society, yet also do one's best to make sure their offspring get every chance to succeed. Success does beget success (in most cases) so policing it is tough IMO but a worthwhile goal.
I'm paraphrasing the Prof G podcast here, but the system needs to really do 2 things. 1. Make sure the people that society would typically forget about (the bottom 90%) get a chance to enter the top 10%, and 2. for the top 10% to produce someone who enters the top .0001% who then makes enough money that taxing that person (or persons) helps #1.
>You sound like a cool person who is aware you supplied two of three ingredients around success: long hours and table stakes, but my quasi-informed read of your remarks is that you paid that rake.
Thank you. I was definitely supplied a lot by my parents, who raised a large family and my mom never had to work (for money - she still had to raise 4 kids, 2 adopted kids, a whole bunch of neighbors, and a dog). My dad worked his ass off and did well for himself, and for his community. Of course, he also had a great start in life (his father was a very successful surgeon) and was afforded top opportunities. The respect for him doesn't change though. I have put in my time, and dealt with a lot of BS, but hopefully one day I'll make it. That said, I also was born with crippling ADHD and am somewhere on the ASD spectrum, so it ain't all roses and sunshine - I barely passed through school and didn't get a good job. But I'm aware of where I came from, and how that influences my worldview. Some of my age-group peers who are doing much better than me financially and socially don't have that awareness, or are blind to the inherent biases that come from it. Odd, but I guess that's how it is.
>It also sounds like you understand good cards tend to be the dominant term, and I find that even more noteworthy and admirable than the first two.
It is what it is! I realize how lucky I was to be brought up when, where and how I did. Some don't, and those tend to be people that get suckered into crazy political beliefs or those that have no idea how society actually is versus how they think it is. Sad, but again, that's just how it is.
Good day to you as well; when you stop by my city to campaign, I will buy you coffee.
I express some pretty controversial opinions on HN and a few other places where people even sometimes listen to aggressive criticism of the status quo, and it’s kind of part of the package deal that when you walk away from the big time over an objection of conscience, you’re probably pretty passionate about it. I’ve chosen to embrace some pretty contentious relationships with some of the most powerful people in the world because even a few years of living large at the expense (in my opinion) of the public welfare was making me physically ill. Those folks for the most part have chosen to hit back much harder with their much greater resources, but be very careful to make the more vulnerable party by far appear to be the aggressor. There are just limits to how much a guy who walked away from the FAANG pay can menace a C-suite executive or board member at a major corporation.
I try hard to leaven an attitude and articulation around this that depending on one’s taste starts at “passionate” and it’s not ridiculous to call it “strident” or maybe even “toxic” or something with acknowledging thoughtful, public-minded comments like yours at every opportunity.
I would like to acknowledge that you’re very articulate and clearly ethically-motivated remarks and attitude created an opportunity for me to be thoughtful and reasonable in spite of being very frustrated with the status quo, which is not an opportunity afforded on every thread for someone who is engaged in what amounts to some level of “civil disobedience”.
I think everything you’ve said is eminently reasonable, though even describing a position on these topics implies some different difficult dilemmas, many of which you pointed out.
I’d very much like to continue this conversation as it’s one of the most productive I’ve found on the Internet in recent memory, but arbitrarily nesting the thread without more expressed interest from the community is probably pushing it.
If you’d also like to kick the tires on some of these conundrums in a bit more detail, please email me at b7r6@b7r6.net and I will make an effort to reply promptly!
Either way, thank you for raising the bar on the conversation: you pulled my level of debate up, and I doubt I’m alone in that.
