HN user
What keeps piracy alive is the fact that it's almost impossible to get caught. If people could shoplift in physical stores and there would be no consequences associated with it, I imagine that there would be more shoplifters.
I think it's essential for the future of digital products to come up with a viable ID system for the whole web, so people are more responsible. In this regard Facebook seems promising...
Loneliness is definitely a real issue.
The fact that this guy keeps a blog and Eckhart Tolle expects an audience shows the value they place on social contact.
Then what would happen to all the smart people who would think "why in bloody hell am I running a (filthy) marathon when I could be doing something important???"
That kind of evaluation works only when you're trying to breed a certain type of worker, like West Point is doing. But in a dynamic world (like our own capitalist environment), you can't predict where success is going to come from. Look at Bill Gates, he's a dropout...under that evaluation system he would have no "grittiness" whatsoever. What if he had approached achievement as a marathon? He probably still would have been "successful", but I doubt he would be bloody rich.
It's not grit that matters, nor is it self-esteem. The only thing that correlates with success/achievement in our day and age, for students and all of the above, is exploiting opportunity. Those who do, win. Those who don't, lose. Plain and simple.
His main point was, the more responsibility you take on, the richer you can become. In the financial industries, only the best talents get the type compensation that would qualify them as "rich". It's basically like becoming a Major League Baseball player, so I wouldn't call it a "safe" job. At that level the rewards are high, but the leash is even shorter. I'd go as far as saying that the unreasonable amount of risk these institutions took on was mainly because of that short leash (much like MLB players taking steroids, and how that whole saga played out). The pressure to perform is astronomically higher. These guys handle quite a few more figures than your typical everyday banker, and thus fit the criteria.