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Comment by lunaru | Hacker News Reader

I think it's also important to keep in mind that the topic in the article is heavily weighed towards financial success (and conversely, financial nowhere-ness).

There are plenty of ways to "go somewhere, be someone, and do remarkable things" without using smarts and luck as a means to wealth. It just takes time to realize that the standard definition of success is mostly a rat race.

Then again, this comes from someone who loves capitalism and is an entrepreneur wanna-be, so take my words for what they're worth.

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Yeah. I am tired of the get rich quick crowd. The best way to get rich on the internet is to sell 'how to get rich on the internet' advice to people who want to get rich on the internet.

I've been a software developer at internet startups for 15 years and never made anything beyond my (frequently minimal) salary (me=bad negotiator), but it was usually fun, challenging and I've learned a lot. But I've never claimed to be smart. The most money I ever made was something that had nothing to do with the internet (real estate) that a friend of mine talked me into against my better judgement. And the only reason I made any money at all was because I'm such a pessimist that I sold right before everything crashed.

Owyn, the article was not focused on "richness" from a money perspective. Success simply meant you have an "increased capacity to contribute to the world around you."

If financial success isn't your goal in doing what you do then I'm wrong and I apologize. My career is about code. My life "beyond it" is not about "business" and it's quite happy, thank you very much. That's the last thing I care about and it's not my fucking problem. Most of the companies I've worked for have gone out of business. This is hacker news. I am comfortable being the angry pessimist in the cave who snipes at others.

Nice sunglasses, btw.

Owyn, I couldn't reply to your last reply as there was no reply option there :(

Yes, you are welcome to be angry and be pessimistic or in whatever mood you choose to be. And it's OK to disagree too. I never claim to know all the answers anyway :)

My comments were mostly "meta". There has been a rash of entrepreneur bs here lately and I'm sick of it. I much prefer the NoSQL posts. However. To get to the meat of your post, I have personally (meaning, in my personal life) encountered issues with 1,3,6,9 which I have overcome to one extent or another. Or not. So whatever. Fuck it. I'm going to sleep. Good luck with your whatevers, I have to write a bunch of code tomorrow.

OK owyn. Please take care and have fun with your code tomorrow

But I've never claimed to be smart.

Well then this doesn't really apply to you. This is talking about smart people who don't achieve much, not about dumb people who don't achieve much.

hahaha. touche. :)

That was brutal.

Just because you're not smart (or you're not hailed as one) doesn't mean you're dumb.

Lunaru, there is a discussion in the comments section in the blog about the kind of success ( "increased capacity to contribute to the world around you" )

I could not move those comments to the main post just to keep the post to a reasonable size :)

Agreed. The end for one is simply the means for another.

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