Speaking of gratitude... very grateful (and surprised) to see my writing referenced in your thoughtful piece. Thanks, as always, for the support!
Also, this was a killer piece that brought up so many thoughts. Two reactions:
1. This made me think of the guy who benchmarked his lifestyle to someone living in the 1930s. He pointed out how rich he would be in comparison to 99.9% of the world back then. He always seemed like one of freest people I've ever encountered, because he didn't give a damn about social comparison. Strategically choosing the right benchmark seems like a black-belt move (earlyretirementextreme.com).
2. I share disappointment in the level of worship we've given to successful business guys (I was there once, so I get it). I don't discount their success, but I also won't overestimate it either. There's a reason you probably can't name a single "Merchant" from prior to 1800 -- but you do know the names of philosophers, prophets, statesman, etc.. Merchants have always been powerful, but at least historically, we seemed to put them in their place when it comes to culture-impact.
Loved this post. Gratitude is one of the biggest keys to being happy. I also loved Rick Foerster's comment about they guy that benchmarked his lifestyle to someone living in the 1930s. One of the things that I have the most gratitude for is not having the competitive nature of so many others. Life is Good as long as you take a moment to appreciate it on a regular basis.
This is the right place right time for me sort of post. Gratitude, understanding enough, and an element of playing to win and not to lose - excellent post!
bro what is your target audience right now? i've read your writing for years, and lately these have been the most tepid, uninspired, appeal-to-authority takes i've ever seen. you are trapped by your past, and all your posts reflect you trying to argue with it, trying to reframe it in a way that prevents you from doing anything about the future.
"look at the most successful people… I just see relentless paperclip maximizers" you are literally getting what you looked for! the top people in an industry? come on, what is the definition of industry in a capitalist society? why would you expect to see non-optimizers in something that… optimizes for paperclip maximizers? you are clearly uninspired by the people you met in the past, _go do something different_.
If you've been reading for years you know I've been doing a lot different esp if you are reading the Money Angle sections. My writing must be missing somewhere because your first paragraph indicates you don't know me at all despite how personal the letter is.
(I'm quite proud of my past so to think I'm arguing with it is a surprising perception. I'm plenty critical of many of my prior ways of thinking but unless one never grew this is a universal experience. Disentangling the tradeoffs between the ways of thinking might look like arguing but this is what I've always done. Find the tension in everything..."this behavior is adaptive if you optimize for X but the cost is this". The Moontower wp website has the word meta in the URL from the beginning)
My message has always been towards creativity, finding, building and growing. And gratitude and inference.
I can understand the vibe your picking up in the last few posts. However it is worth mentioning that the observations your calling tepid are the ones that a lot of people reading this letter are reaching out to resonate with. And I'm not talking about hippies. By capitalists. Lots of super successful capitalists.
In other words what I'm feeling is not specific to me. I'm articulating it.
If the thread is off-putting I can respect that. It happens.
Speaking of gratitude... very grateful (and surprised) to see my writing referenced in your thoughtful piece. Thanks, as always, for the support!
Also, this was a killer piece that brought up so many thoughts. Two reactions:
1. This made me think of the guy who benchmarked his lifestyle to someone living in the 1930s. He pointed out how rich he would be in comparison to 99.9% of the world back then. He always seemed like one of freest people I've ever encountered, because he didn't give a damn about social comparison. Strategically choosing the right benchmark seems like a black-belt move (earlyretirementextreme.com).
2. I share disappointment in the level of worship we've given to successful business guys (I was there once, so I get it). I don't discount their success, but I also won't overestimate it either. There's a reason you probably can't name a single "Merchant" from prior to 1800 -- but you do know the names of philosophers, prophets, statesman, etc.. Merchants have always been powerful, but at least historically, we seemed to put them in their place when it comes to culture-impact.
Loved this post. Gratitude is one of the biggest keys to being happy. I also loved Rick Foerster's comment about they guy that benchmarked his lifestyle to someone living in the 1930s. One of the things that I have the most gratitude for is not having the competitive nature of so many others. Life is Good as long as you take a moment to appreciate it on a regular basis.
This is the right place right time for me sort of post. Gratitude, understanding enough, and an element of playing to win and not to lose - excellent post!
brilliant, i love this!
bro what is your target audience right now? i've read your writing for years, and lately these have been the most tepid, uninspired, appeal-to-authority takes i've ever seen. you are trapped by your past, and all your posts reflect you trying to argue with it, trying to reframe it in a way that prevents you from doing anything about the future.
"look at the most successful people… I just see relentless paperclip maximizers" you are literally getting what you looked for! the top people in an industry? come on, what is the definition of industry in a capitalist society? why would you expect to see non-optimizers in something that… optimizes for paperclip maximizers? you are clearly uninspired by the people you met in the past, _go do something different_.
If you've been reading for years you know I've been doing a lot different esp if you are reading the Money Angle sections. My writing must be missing somewhere because your first paragraph indicates you don't know me at all despite how personal the letter is.
(I'm quite proud of my past so to think I'm arguing with it is a surprising perception. I'm plenty critical of many of my prior ways of thinking but unless one never grew this is a universal experience. Disentangling the tradeoffs between the ways of thinking might look like arguing but this is what I've always done. Find the tension in everything..."this behavior is adaptive if you optimize for X but the cost is this". The Moontower wp website has the word meta in the URL from the beginning)
My message has always been towards creativity, finding, building and growing. And gratitude and inference.
I can understand the vibe your picking up in the last few posts. However it is worth mentioning that the observations your calling tepid are the ones that a lot of people reading this letter are reaching out to resonate with. And I'm not talking about hippies. By capitalists. Lots of super successful capitalists.
In other words what I'm feeling is not specific to me. I'm articulating it.
If the thread is off-putting I can respect that. It happens.