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Comment by mrev19 | Hacker News Reader

Downvotes are probably there due to sarcasm and because you assert that it is all learning and discount mental illness in 2nd to last paragraph.

But I agree with your argument.

In my opinion the current strong social pressure to be a "founder" has led many people to attempt it who are unfit to handle the challenges it brings.

Its the way of nature. Attempting to lead and failing is painful and possibly fatal. If you're a lion you don't start a convention celebrating your and other beta lion's failure to unseat the alpha. You either get busy plotting your attempt, or ctfo.

What is anyone railing against anyway? Founders risk depression. Alpha chimps test extremely high for stress. If you play the game for the biggest rewards it will be brutal, full stop. If your potential upside is 50 zillion dollars, you have just run out of sympathy points with everyone but your own kind.

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I certainly wasn't intending to trivialize the suffering that some founders go through as a result of their experiences.

The point I was trying to make is what's touted as "mental illness" may be better looked at as a normal human response to the highly unusual, and extremely stressful circumstances these people have chosen to place themselves in.

That is to say: to the extent that we might subscribe to the concept of a "pain signal", and that depression and anxiety are among the various kinds of pain signals our body creates for us -- the "signal" in this case is not that they're "broken", or that something is systemically or constitutionally wrong with them. But rather, an indication of the fact that they've embarked on a course that perhaps they shouldn't have, and threatening to become (or perhaps already has become) unmanageable for them.

Aside from sarcasm, which invites opposition, I think you've touched on a taboo subject. I think what you say is true. At the same time I'd wager that a disproportionate number of founders have bipolar 2 tendencies, which will provide fuel and context to depressive episodes. If both are true, it becomes very tricky to determine cause. It becomes easier to focus on those potential causes which are outside our control, that depression is something that happens "to" us. Of course this is often the case where there is a medical issue, but as you point out, it is also often a result of circumstances and our reaction to them. Or even more confusingly of course, both.

Getting back to the original comment and how it was received, at the beginning of your comment you make a claim that is going to be controversial. From that point on, any introduction of sarcasm will push anyone not allied with your view towards open hostility.

Point taken. Thanks.

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