I do think that there are benefits to entrepreneurs, and that most people can’t actually empathize with being a business person. I also think entrepreneurship lends itself to local-maxima-seeking effectual thinking, and that having a class of people (regulators and activists) who regulate billionaires’ sordid behavior is useful.
Per Robert Kuok’s, a Malaysian conglomerate’s, memoirs:
“As I stated, we shall never build ornate hotels, or monuments to perpetuate the memory of anyone. I have always felt that business very quickly tends toward the sordid. It may start with noble ideas, but it quickly descends to the sordid. Maybe it’s because the extremely competitive nature of business renders it so, and for you to survive you gravitate toward the sordid world. But if you are a member of the sordid world, what noble enterprise or calling are you practicing? There is nothing to create a monument about.”
I’m not sure regulation and activism are less sordid than business, though. However, SF does seem to have an unusually positive view of business, possibly due to the nature of VC.
As far as the rage that some people feel towards billionaires, I don’t feel such rage, but I’m also quite fortunate in my life circumstances. I liked Zvi’s post on rising expectations and rising requirements, which felt like it described the high-level forces involved in modern personal finance. One line that I like from the post that touches on the nature of the billionaire complaints here is:
> A rule for game designers is that:
1. When a player tells you something is wrong, they’re right. Believe them. 2. When a player tells you what exactly is wrong and how to fix it? Ignore them. 3. Still register that as ‘something is wrong here.’ Fix it.
People are very good at noticing when things suck. Not as good at figuring out why
It does seem like, at very least, something is “wrong” with our world. I don’t think people’s dislike of billionaires is empty mimesis. But I also would not endorse the idea that billionaires are the problem. I think, for one, the modern world is very complex, and most people are not equipped to deal with that complexity and rightly feel duped in many aspects of their lives (not having slack, being forced into relationships with institutions that take away their slack, making big life decisions without proper information or education, etc.).
Some musings:
Being a CEO does seem to require skills, commitment, and responsibility that normal professions do not, but it also seems to be rewarding in that it provides people a sense of adventure, fun, and meaning that normal professions do not.
I do think that there are benefits to entrepreneurs, and that most people can’t actually empathize with being a business person. I also think entrepreneurship lends itself to local-maxima-seeking effectual thinking, and that having a class of people (regulators and activists) who regulate billionaires’ sordid behavior is useful.
Per Robert Kuok’s, a Malaysian conglomerate’s, memoirs:
“As I stated, we shall never build ornate hotels, or monuments to perpetuate the memory of anyone. I have always felt that business very quickly tends toward the sordid. It may start with noble ideas, but it quickly descends to the sordid. Maybe it’s because the extremely competitive nature of business renders it so, and for you to survive you gravitate toward the sordid world. But if you are a member of the sordid world, what noble enterprise or calling are you practicing? There is nothing to create a monument about.”
I’m not sure regulation and activism are less sordid than business, though. However, SF does seem to have an unusually positive view of business, possibly due to the nature of VC.
As far as the rage that some people feel towards billionaires, I don’t feel such rage, but I’m also quite fortunate in my life circumstances. I liked Zvi’s post on rising expectations and rising requirements, which felt like it described the high-level forces involved in modern personal finance. One line that I like from the post that touches on the nature of the billionaire complaints here is:
It does seem like, at very least, something is “wrong” with our world. I don’t think people’s dislike of billionaires is empty mimesis. But I also would not endorse the idea that billionaires are the problem. I think, for one, the modern world is very complex, and most people are not equipped to deal with that complexity and rightly feel duped in many aspects of their lives (not having slack, being forced into relationships with institutions that take away their slack, making big life decisions without proper information or education, etc.).