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Comment by rglover | Hacker News Reader

Not a big fan of his these days but Gary Vaynerchuk has my favorite take on this:

"To run your business with your personal romance of how things should be versus how they are is literally the great vulnerability of business."

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It's very likey the main reason that small businesses like local restaurants, bakeries, etc. fail. People start them based on a fantasy and don't know how to watch the hard realities of expenses and income. But like gravity, there's no escaping those unless you are already wealthy enough for it all to just be a hobby.

Maybe you're not the biggest fan precisely because the endgame of that statement is to develop a business without any moral grounding.

Gary's point is: sell what people are buying. But you think: that's immoral.

What about a functioning market is immoral?

You're still responsible for the consequences of what you produce and sell.

Surely you would agree that making landmines simply because there are people who want to buy them would be an immoral choice.

gary's point: embrace reality

your argument: but what about this hypothetical?

Your argument: "I have no morals, why is everyone arguing about them?"

You do you, but let's not act in bad faith and dismiss others dispositions.

If you think X is immoral, and a functioning market creates much more X, presumably that is what is immoral about a functioning market.

That's a choice. I can fish where the fish are without having to bait the hook with my soul.

If the fish are in a natural reserve, then you pretty much pit your soil on the line. We're missing that detail here and treating it as if this is the difference between one lake or another

So we should cater to those with the lowest ethical standards instead?

That's what this community has shifted towards these past few years. Didn't take too long for the "hacker scene" to crumble to corporate greed.

I had hope during the NFT days, but I guess many here always wanted a not that told them they were smart and correct. Alas.

You might think it's unethical, but ethics is subjective

Not just about business, but almost everything professional.

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