undefined | Better HN

0 pointsinglor_cz5y ago0 comments

This is starting to be a longish debate.

I am partly influenced by my own personal history. I grew up with a single mother and no child support from a father that lived abroad. We were somewhere in the lowest fourth of the income distribution.

Yet it helped me to be an independent person, paradoxically. I never had to take into account what my neighbors or rich, soon-to-die relatives think about me, what are "suitable" careers for a young man of X years and Y parents, what kind of real property binds my feet from moving anywhere. No one was interested in me and it felt very liberating.

Knowing my colleagues from school who were restrained by all those concerns and had to play a "role" instead of being themselves, I did not envy them the least.

0 comments

3 comments · 1 top-level

dmitriid5y ago· 2 in thread

I'm also a single child of a single mother from a country which has long been battling for the title of "the poorest country in Europe", Moldova.

And yes, everything, from having a computer at 10, not at 18 to unconstrained ability to travel would've helped me significantly more than the proverbial "having to pull myself up by bootstraps".

And this has nothing to do with "being independent" or "feeling lucky".

The CEO of a company I worked for came up with the idea for his company while having a year-long sabbatical from the university while traveling around (literally around) the world with his friends.

At university I was often chosing between buying a new T-shirt or (exclusive or) cheap bread.

So no. Luck has very little to do with where you are now. Money does.

inglor_czOP5y ago

University was a pretty tough time for me as well. The kind of trade-offs (t-shirt vs. food) is not exactly unknown to me. I had a first old PC XT at 17, too.

And yet I do not believe that if my single parent was richer, I would have been a better programmer or writer. I made some money teaching well-off, but pretty dim youngsters whose parents, even though rich by my standards (which meant middle class, probably), were concerned about their future. Even private tuition only gets you so far.

That said, the fact that I was born with a fairly good brain that could soak up both English and mathematics/programming easily, is by no means my own work. It is precisely random luck, together with the fact that I was born precisely at that period of history when such skills are considered useful and marketable.

dmitriid5y ago

> And yet I do not believe that if my single parent was richer, I would have been a better programmer or writer.

This has nothing to do with your belief.

The level you're at now? You could've reached it a decade earlier, had you had money. As could I.

Poor people fail significantly more than rich people. For every one of you or me there will be 100 others who couldn't make it. At a certain level of wealth, however, it does't matter if you're a "better programmer". You will still be able to enjoy life and achieve fulfilment, but at a vastly reduced timescale.

> It is precisely random luck

Yes. There are random chances, such as where you're born. Apart from that the chances of misfortune decrease exponentially with money.

- You're Einstein but born in poverty? Hello, malnourishment, no access to good education, menial jobs until the end of your life.

- You're a regular Joe, but born into well-to-do family? Hello, happy childhood, good education, necessary connections, largely stress-free life of your chosing.

There's 150 000 shades in bteween, of course, but luck has little to do with chance, and has a lot of to do with money.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse