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Comment by nico | Hacker News Reader

This is as old as the guy from Rich Dad Poor Dad, who got rich by selling the book about how to become rich.

And it’s what happens when the system doesn’t make sense.

People are doing this because the system tells them the main goal of the game is to make money.

Would people still work on these things if they couldn’t make money off of them? Or better yet, if they didn’t need any money at all in the first place?

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> Rich Dad Poor Dad

The continuing popularity of that book baffles me. I've seen people recommending it even on HN.

I’ll bite: that book really taught me the importance of passive income. Now passive income is a fundamental idea with better materials covering the topic. However for me, and perhaps others, it was an eye-opener when it came out. That lead to really believing in SaaS early on, which lead to good financial outcomes for me years later.

It’s like saying Lord of the Rings is just yet another book series about elves and orcs and ents.

> Now passive income is a fundamental idea with better materials covering the topic.

Is my point. When the book is mostly terrible and the author is a charlatan, why continue to recommend the book instead of alternatives?

Oh, older. In the 1970s and 1980s there were ads in the back of Popular Mechanics and the like that advertised pamphlets that you could send away for from people who "made it big" and "wanted to share it with others" but asked for a small fee ($5 or $10, which was more than that is today) to show that you were "serious" about wanting to learn the secrets to become rich.

> Would people still work on these things if they couldn’t make money off of them? Or better yet, if they didn’t any money at all in the first place?

The acid test, indeed. "too many hands in too many pockets, not enough hands on hearts"

Not enough Robin Hoods. Too many halos, not enough heroes.

Fly little housemartin, fly!

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