Comment by zusammen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by zusammen | Hacker News Reader

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I don't think you have to have Fuck You Money to get to this point. Most people eventually become disillusioned with work enough that they reevaluate what matters to them. Getting a very profitable exit is just one way to trigger that experience.

I’ve seen a lot of people have random outlier success they didn’t earn and it seems to have the same effect as what most people get out of their careers: crushing failure they didn’t earn. By 50 or so, everyone figures out:

* it was almost all random. * the things that seemed so important were not. * working for money is a waste of time for almost everyone. * you can count your real friends on two hands, whether you’re broke or a billionaire.

It’s surprising how the paths converge. There are differences, and the rich version of alienation is better than the poor one, but the mindset this society leaves people with is remarkably stable. No one feels like they won, which is why Musk and Trump are so full of rage at everyone. Either the gods shut you out or you are forced to find out that the gods never existed.

There's a lot of truth in what you are saying, but I also think this framing can lead to unnecessary nihilism and depression.

I think the simple reason that no one feels like they've won is because we're not biologically wired for that. Like all living things, we've evolved to struggle for survival in a harsh environment. Of course modern civilization has separated us from that harsh reality by layers upon layers of human systems and supply chains, so we apply the same instincts to games of our own devising. There's nothing actually wrong with this though. The problem comes from the belief that "winning" will make one happy. The reality is ones drive leads to engagement and perhaps accomplishment, but it can't answer the why. That is something every person with leisure time needs to work out for themselves.

Thank you for this post, remarkably articulated, I concur.

> working for money is a waste of time for almost everyone

No. Chance doesn’t fall evenly. It falls more often on those who work.

Thinking that Trump is full of rage is missing the forest for the tree. It’s a forest of journalists who are full of rage that this race and gender unapologetically exists, who try to depaint Trump as full of rage. It’s a forest of selfish crowd who wants the fruit of the labor of the second half of people, who complain that Trump is selfish.

Looked at the tree. Missed the entire forest. Not surprising that you think people are struck by a lightening to become billionaire.

Chop chop chop, back to work, quit being jealous.

Extrapolate from your current lifestyle. What will you have in your last year alive?

A world where I’ve done everything I could, that was wasted by everyone I know.

But hey, you choose what you do with the cards you’re dealt with, you still don’t choose in what kind of crossfire or revolution you were born in in. Even if you are my fellow citizen, relative or own mother, you may have chosen to commit war crimes like displacing populations, hating on whites, voting for islam, making us live under occupation, and not showing human traits. I didn’t.

My only choice was to keep doing my duties, providing wealth and safety to those around me, and explaining them the consequences of their actions.

Nothing else I can do. That was an awful life, thank you. Maybe one day you’ll wake up, look up for success measurements of your choices, and think: “Damn. We could have avoided all that. We could have saved that guy and that guy.”

Or not. Your choice not mine.

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