The ‘Shamanification’ of the Tech CEO

https://www.wired.com/story/health-business-deprivation-technology/

by jamesdco • 4 years ago

31 12 4 years ago

wired.com

catchnear4321• 4 years ago

Asceticism in the streets.

(Execs are superhumans that are just different from us, they do not need our simple pleasures.)

Hedonism in the sheets.

(Execs need to be treated well to perform well! Time for an exec retreat at a lavish location!)

I’d say at least the shamans were sticking with their vows and rules, but that assumes they never took shamanic off-sites to locations with eel flesh and fornication partners, under the guise of a vision quest.

xg15• 4 years ago

The old adage "preach water, drink wine". I think this particular development has happened a lot of times in history...

toomuchtodo• 4 years ago

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Same story, different tools through time.

labrador• 4 years ago

If you're an uncool company and you can't find a shaman, import one from another country, and if he has weird hair, paints his fingernails strange colors and calls himself a "digital prophet" even better

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shing

lelandfe• 4 years ago

Digital, yeah? Digital, right? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KuTSAeFhdZU

kelseyfrog• 4 years ago

This is just good management. Delegate what you can, do what you must.

redmen2• 4 years ago

Sounds like Sam Altman and Paul Graham. Thinking theyre good for the world but in reality theyre destroying it but not wise enough to understand their actions. Maybe high on their success from going from being nerds who've never kissed a girl to billionaires who can afford to lose their virginities.

Harsh, but I don't know why they're idolized tbh.

faeriechangling• 4 years ago

You know I heard Sam Altman still hasn’t kissed a girl!

jdamon96• 4 years ago

i don't know if i've ever seen such a lame comment in my life. go outside!!

redmen2• 4 years ago

Triggered someone who has a proud yc badge in their profile. Makes sense.

xyzzy123• 4 years ago

Complaining about (VCs funding) teams of a few people destroying the world - it's like complaining about water flowing downhill.

If I had to identify the skill I think they have (and the valley trick in general), it's an ability to reason more accurately than most about replicators, scale and growth.

This is largely orthogonal to any moral basis (although there is a sort of inherent darwinistic streak to the whole enterprise).

There's a certain sort of inevitability about activities that generate momentum and scale, it's like finding a natural force. The opportunity is like a boulder at the top of a hill.

From this point of view, you start to see that someone is going to push the boulder eventually. Some boulders are harder to move than others, and there are great opportunities if you can identify teams proposing to put a lever in the right place.

You can also flip the view a bit, focusing on teams with the "right stuff", and fund them on the basis that they might find a boulder they can move eventually.

There is no shortage in this world of boulders waiting to be rolled down hills, but they are not all the same, you ideally want the biggest ones that need the smallest pushes, with a long way to run. It's better if no one else can copy your action or take your boulder off you or redirect it - and that's not easy - if it were generally easy for everyone, someone else would have done it already.

When you see the huge boulder rolling you might wonder "why didn't they push it that way instead", or "who made them so powerful they're in charge of that thing" or "why do they deserve to be in charge of it". The world isn't quite like that. Sure "they" pushed it, but they had to push it in the direction it "wanted" to move (or else it would have just sat there) and thereafter, things tend to acquire their own momentum.

Some degree of magical thinking is a fairly natural and forgivable response (IMHO) for human beings in uncertain ventures, harnessing powerful forces and involved in complex systems they don't fully understand.

louison11• 4 years ago

This is a pretty ignorant post written by an anthropologist who visited indigenous cultures but clearly failed to put his prejudice aside.

Sure, some wellness practices are fads. But there are reasons why top performers try to be inspired from ancient practices such as meditation and fasting. It actually works for many people. Anyone go live with a legit shaman and see if their practices are just a way to “appear special.”

The ‘Shamanification’ of the Tech CEO

Related Stories