Yes! As the years go on, I’m more grateful that I managed to snag this interview. People sort of talk about this on social media, but it seems hard to get into the deeps without both anonymity and a sympathetic interviewer.
Thanks for publishing this. I have had somewhat similar experiences as a relatively-early Googler, and this both makes me feel less lonely in that role and offers a useful compare and contrast. It is a wonderful thing to have one's foremost problem be figuring out how to find fulfillment and purpose, but that does not mean the problem is easy! The highly imperfect solutions I have found revolve around goods that are cliched for a reason: strong social connections, clarity of values, skills which one is intrinsically motivated to use and refine. Everyone at every wealth level could benefit from more of those.
Thank you for commenting. This makes sense to me! I've been thinking a lot lately about how "wherever you go, there you are" - and if you are always waiting to make "enough" money to let you do whatever you think is important to do, you might wait forever to do it.
The depressed guy could probably say "I retired early and I have no idea what to do with my life now" and it would probably make sense to a lot of non-rich people too. 🤷♂️
Loved this interview! Capitalism needs us to equate our income with our self-worth, but stories like this show how spiritually corrosive that is, even (especially?) if you manage to win the game.
I can't think of another era or industry that's minted so many millionaires who weren't born into dynastic wealth. It's such a historically rare point of view, and the rest of us have much to gain from hearing it. We might not tolerate oligarchy if the media spotlit more people like this. Plenty of rich people have upstanding moral character. You'd never know it from reading the news.
Interesting point about media portrayals. As a person who actually lives in the Bay Area I’m often confused by the media portrayal of everyone here as greedy and insane.
Greedy and insane, that’s exactly it. I feel like it’s about eliminating the expectation that people with privilege would ever pay it forward willingly. If we don’t believe that rich people would ever deign to spread their wealth, we won’t summon the collective power to insist that they do.
Also, I feel like no one considers the impact on people who might otherwise have started businesses or tried to make money, but never tried in the first place (or never acquired the skills) because that would make them “evil” (in their own minds).
My father has made this point with regards to politics - if everyone cynically thinks politicians are all corrupt liars, eventually they're going to be right because honest people will stop wanting to be politicians.
YES this too! Money is just a resource and a tool, your character decides how you put it to work. Soooo many self-proclaimed anti-capitalists throw the baby out with the bathwater with their "money is inherently bad" mentality. Meanwhile this upholds the system they claim to hate.
This is the "non-asshole comes into money" story that doesn't get a lot of publicity. And you do see a lot of people who struggle from the lack of structure.
The cruelty is that human bedsores like Musk, Ellison, and Thiel really _can_ enjoy money in a way normal people can't. They love the power and status. When decent people get that kind of money, what they mostly get from it is relief from so many causes of unhappiness. Which comes back to the basic income topic: Very few of us want to be anything like Elon Musk, but we'd all be happier in a non-coercion economy.
Great piece! I’ve been working in the tech industry since 2019, never for start-ups anywhere close to an IPO, but it’s been an absolutely wild ride the entire time.
I feel like the details of how money doesn’t buy happiness are kind of interesting though? There is so much mythology around how it works, and also it’s clear that in some ways, money does buy happiness…
I think money is a lot better at preventing misery than buying happiness. There are a lot of problems that make people miserable that can be solved by money (such as having a leaking roof), but "not miserable" and "happy" are two different things.
so good!! matches what some others have said but this gives it a real 'inside the head of someone post-economic' thing
Yes! As the years go on, I’m more grateful that I managed to snag this interview. People sort of talk about this on social media, but it seems hard to get into the deeps without both anonymity and a sympathetic interviewer.
totally
Thanks, I loved this.
<3
Thanks for publishing this. I have had somewhat similar experiences as a relatively-early Googler, and this both makes me feel less lonely in that role and offers a useful compare and contrast. It is a wonderful thing to have one's foremost problem be figuring out how to find fulfillment and purpose, but that does not mean the problem is easy! The highly imperfect solutions I have found revolve around goods that are cliched for a reason: strong social connections, clarity of values, skills which one is intrinsically motivated to use and refine. Everyone at every wealth level could benefit from more of those.
Thank you for commenting. This makes sense to me! I've been thinking a lot lately about how "wherever you go, there you are" - and if you are always waiting to make "enough" money to let you do whatever you think is important to do, you might wait forever to do it.
The depressed guy could probably say "I retired early and I have no idea what to do with my life now" and it would probably make sense to a lot of non-rich people too. 🤷♂️
Loved this interview! Capitalism needs us to equate our income with our self-worth, but stories like this show how spiritually corrosive that is, even (especially?) if you manage to win the game.
I can't think of another era or industry that's minted so many millionaires who weren't born into dynastic wealth. It's such a historically rare point of view, and the rest of us have much to gain from hearing it. We might not tolerate oligarchy if the media spotlit more people like this. Plenty of rich people have upstanding moral character. You'd never know it from reading the news.
Interesting point about media portrayals. As a person who actually lives in the Bay Area I’m often confused by the media portrayal of everyone here as greedy and insane.
Greedy and insane, that’s exactly it. I feel like it’s about eliminating the expectation that people with privilege would ever pay it forward willingly. If we don’t believe that rich people would ever deign to spread their wealth, we won’t summon the collective power to insist that they do.
Also, I feel like no one considers the impact on people who might otherwise have started businesses or tried to make money, but never tried in the first place (or never acquired the skills) because that would make them “evil” (in their own minds).
My father has made this point with regards to politics - if everyone cynically thinks politicians are all corrupt liars, eventually they're going to be right because honest people will stop wanting to be politicians.
YES this too! Money is just a resource and a tool, your character decides how you put it to work. Soooo many self-proclaimed anti-capitalists throw the baby out with the bathwater with their "money is inherently bad" mentality. Meanwhile this upholds the system they claim to hate.
From what I’ve heard, the days of making big money in tech seems to be over.
I think some people are still going to cash out. But the high salary jobs are starting to be rarer
This is the "non-asshole comes into money" story that doesn't get a lot of publicity. And you do see a lot of people who struggle from the lack of structure.
The cruelty is that human bedsores like Musk, Ellison, and Thiel really _can_ enjoy money in a way normal people can't. They love the power and status. When decent people get that kind of money, what they mostly get from it is relief from so many causes of unhappiness. Which comes back to the basic income topic: Very few of us want to be anything like Elon Musk, but we'd all be happier in a non-coercion economy.
Great piece! I’ve been working in the tech industry since 2019, never for start-ups anywhere close to an IPO, but it’s been an absolutely wild ride the entire time.
Startups are all wild, every one of them
I think this is an unnecessarily dismissive comment, but okay
That’s fair enough I guess.
I feel like the details of how money doesn’t buy happiness are kind of interesting though? There is so much mythology around how it works, and also it’s clear that in some ways, money does buy happiness…
I think money is a lot better at preventing misery than buying happiness. There are a lot of problems that make people miserable that can be solved by money (such as having a leaking roof), but "not miserable" and "happy" are two different things.