Harvard Diploma for Sale | Hacker News Reader

Harvard Diploma for Sale

golliher.substack.com

36 pointspmillerd25 comments

I appreciate the author's point, but it's not like selling the diploma prevents him from saying he went to Harvard, nor does it allow the purchaser to claim that they did themselves..

I had the same reaction. Yes, it’s good to try to find meaningful work (a point well made my the author). Selling your Harvard diploma doesn’t seem to have any relationship to that point, other than giving an excuse to repeatedly remind the reader that you went to Harvard. Which seems contrary to the message of the piece.

I think that wasn't the point. "I'm selling my Harvard diploma", in my opinion, fits under the category of clickbait because it makes you (me anyway) curious to find out more - why is the author selling his diploma?

If the author had just shredded the document and written a generic article about prestige without mentioning his associations, I fear that title would do less well.

But yeah I agree with your point that buying/selling a piece of paper doesn't transfer the knowledge, friendships, networks that one can build in college.

I think we agree, that it solely serves as clickbait to the rest of his point. My initial impression was that there was the implication that something significant is being given up, which is not the case.

writer always has to have a hook.

>but it's not like selling the diploma prevents him from saying he went to Harvard

Which in my experience is something that people who went to these institutions will do, constantly. Goes down incredibly well in countries where the the idea of tiers has yet to catch on.

It's just a symbolic gesture.

He wants attention, but he has nothing to say. He starts out "The third decade of the twenty-first century is going to be a wild ride. There will be bad with the good — standard procedure here on Earth—but the pandemic and its concurrent demons have unwittingly provoked a backlash of human ingenuity that’s cracked through the ossified strata of work, technology, and more." Then he doesn't have anything to say about that important subject.

We could use some perspective on what's likely to happen next. It's not coming from that source.

I have to admit that I only skimmed this, but the core message seems to be it's a publicity stunt to publish the message that you should do work you truly enjoy and find rewarding, and not keep putting off to another day the chance to find personal satisfaction in your career.

And that perhaps one's gross yearly income is not the ultimate and best measure of personal success.

Clay Christensen used to tell a story about the atmosphere at HBS reunions over time. It sounds like this person learned early on the lesson that HBS graduates learn by their 25th reunion.

Edit: https://youtu.be/tvos4nORf_Y?t=470

This makes me wonder if the whole North American cultural phenomenon of the age 40+ male "mid-life crisis" is the result of people independently discovering the same thing, from their own experiences and perspectives.

> They don’t leave because, at the end of the day, they can’t allow themselves to risk their acquired prestige, which is another way of saying: they can’t risk losing external validation, the driving force of the prestige industrial complex.

Or they need to maintain their income to continue their lifestyle.

I am not particularly passionate about my job as a sysadmin. I don't hate it, but it would be nice to just spend all day skateboarding or playing Starcraft.

But, I have aging parents to take care of. Housing prices have skyrocketed around me. This is what I need to do to maintain a certain level of security, and indeed luxury, for myself and my close family.

And this isn't weird.

Go back 3-5 generations to when half of the population was employed in agriculture. Was everyone passionate about cows? Potatoes?

The reality is, I have a better shot at following my passion by trying to get into FAANG and working there for 10-20 years so that I can then pursue the things that I am personally passionate about.

Meta HN question: How does something with 5 points, 1 comment and was posted an hour ago make it to the front page? Just curious.

I would assume that some points are worth more than others. As I believe Orwell said, we're all equal here, but some of us are more equal than others.

> "How are stories ranked?"

> "The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way."

> "Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action. "

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

I have a theory, without any knowledge one way or the other, that the admins have the ability to temporarily push an essay they find interesting to the middle of the 1st or 2nd page for a temporary period of time, and then let it naturally gather points from the users who see it.

I recall reading something official that confirmed this (just don't remember where).

Um, or you could just craft and enjoy a great life and not tell anyone about it.

How noble to vocally discard a thing you can't actually lose.

> And once you’ve realized this, the diploma starts to resemble Monopoly money. You have to start evaluating people on a case-by-case basis, instead of using the degree as a reliable proxy.

I’ve found this to be true of job titles, too.

I'll bid if it comes with a guarantee that the author can never say he went to Harvard again.

There is an emotional truth here- to free yourself of your credential by recasting it as someone else's-

Yes, on one level that's fraud, and selling prestige fraud is a grift.

But inclusion and amplification rely on the same emotional operation of using one's platform and assets to jump start a story for others. So in the most generous telling there is some credit here for the intent.

But only some.

Whatever one thinks of Harvard, whatever one thinks of the prestige industrial complex, the actual proposal here is not a transaction any responsible person should participate in on either side. And if I were the issuer, if I were Harvard, I would revoke this credential.

And then we would see the true weight of this prestige proof in the eyes of its former holder.

He's selling a piece of paper that belongs to him. There's no fraud here.

There is.

He offers to rewrite the name with that of the buyer.

And while the paper "belongs" to him, in reality that paper is a credential issued by Harvard, and the source of truth for credential holders is Harvard, not the holders/subjects.

All colleges maintain lists of credential holders.

An attempt to verify the ownership and subject of the credential- which happens quite often, many mid to high level employment offers, all background checks, etc, perform this verification- using the buyer's name, fraudulently rewritten on the piece of paper- will fail.

Issuing fraudulent credentials of various kinds and advertising them as valid...is fraud.

And if you don't think so...I've got a bridge to sell you.

Cheers.

There is no fraud here. The guy addresses all of these things. It's a PR stunt with a piece of paper he owns, carried out openly for all to see. That's not fraud. Certainly, the recipient could turn around and try to do something fraudulent with the diploma, but there is nothing inherently fraudulent about anything this guy is suggesting.

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