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Comment by Keloo | Hacker News Reader

> You don't choose your genes

I agree with this one.

> or where you are born

Not really agree with this, you can change the country you live in. And it's more important where you live not where you are born. For example lots of people from poor countries go to US or Europe and are quite successful there.

> 2,3 can be reduced to 1.

Don't agree either. Let's be realistic, what are the chances of success for a person who stays at home watch movies vs. someone who go out talk with people get involved in all sorts of activities + prepare the homework for those social events.

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>Let's be realistic, what are the chances of success for a person who stays at home watch movies vs. someone who go out talk with people get involved in all sorts of activities + prepare the homework for those social events.

Probability of success depends what environment you are in. A person with poor uneducated and possibly negligent parents living in a slum with no network has a very different probability of "success" than a person with well educated, well connected, and rich parents.

Even they are able to see that perhaps instead of a minute chance of success on par with winning the lottery, perhaps they ought to spend the present enjoying a movie. Many times, not being around the right people and environment leaves you in the dark about opportunities in the first place. I'm not saying that one should despair and sit at home watching movies, but it can be rational to feel that way. We need to do better as a society to even out the odds.

Totally agree with you, parents and environment is one of the most important factor but this is not 100% of the odds, there are still things that you can influence yourself (especially in these times when we have access to the internet).

I spent most of a year living in Cambodia. I met some amazing people there. People who had put way more effort and work into improving their lives than anyone I had met in either the UK or Australia. But they were still (comparatively) poor. And that was never going to change, because they just didn't have the opportunities there that we take for granted. In some places, birth and family is more important than any amount of effort, talent or intelligence.

Changing the country you live in is not possible for most people - it requires luck to have the resources necessary to do so.

And even if you do change the country you live in, it won’t be equivalent to having been born there.

100% true. No idea why you were downvoted.

See: all those undocumented kids who grew up in the USA and now are stuck hoping that DACA doesn't get cancelled.

I couldn't get a visa to work in the USA even if I wanted one. My right to work in Europe is about to be taken away and replaced with... something. I don't know what other countries I can work in but there'd be visa requirements for most of them.

I could change country if I tried really hard but it isn't straightforward. And I'm an very experienced frontend dev. Other people would find it harder.

I think the person you are replying to is making the more basic interpretation that such propensities (someone who stays at home watching movies, someone with the motivation to move to another country, etc) are themselves composed of variables outside of one's control-- genes, gene expression, nutrition, etc, etc-- i.e. blind luck

I wonder how much of someone's genetics determines how likely they are to watch movies over hustle.

lots of people from poor countries go to US or Europe

Have you noticed the existence of extremely anti-immigration politicians who are trying to reduce that number to zero by rewriting the rules in the most inequitable fashion possible?

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