recursive_recursion they/them

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Joined 14 days ago
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Cake day: September 14th, 2024

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  • By highlighting singular instances of a sharp rapid success story; people can be shown a mirage-like image which encourages others to follow suit.

    If by following the formula it works, then there should be an explosion of successful entrepreneurs in the market. This is untrue otherwise the market distribution would look unlike how it currently is (probably more mid class, less low income class, higher top income bracket).

    The reality is that most of the time (>60% I’d approximate), replicating “rags-to-riches” strategies does not produce the same successes as the highlight primarily showcases exception cases. Sometimes a person stumbled onto gold, and by putting a spotlight on that instance you’re showcasing only the business ventures that happened to pay off, sometimes it’s skill, perhaps a combination of both, other times pure RNG🎲.

    Ex: Sharktank, from the start you only see a fraction of the people that can even afford to start ventures show up as a contestant, just how many are able to get an investment, and what are the chances that they’d succeed without an investor, publisher, starting funds, etc?

    To me “rags to riches” are a prime example of a combination/parallel of a couple of things:

    • Survivorship Bias
    • Focus Group
    • Misdirection Propaganda
      • by repeatedly showcasing exception cases, the perception of common norms is deliberatly changed (“this is how people usually get rich”, “Huh maybe I have a shot at getting rich too, maybe I should spend time to replicate their successes and turn it into my own🤔”)

    If rags to riches worked, I and many others would be millionaires if not billionaires.

    Personally I don’t trust the systems that these stories are built on and displayed as. I think the shows are entertaining but only that and nothing more.