How Life Became an Endless, Terrible Competition

The following is not a comment about the poster or their reasons for putting the article up. More reading = better understanding of the world. It seems to be an important issue as it's posted not just here, but on Digg and Drudge today.

Pretty rich, coming from an educator with tenure - the ultimate in "I made it, and you never will" system. The writer somehow magically went to Oxford and Yale - schools that aren't free last time I checked - so someone within a meritocracy footed a bill somewhere along the line. This person is a direct benefits from a system he now criticises.

When I see articles like this it's fun to check the authors prior work. In this case, his first published work tells one all they need to know

"How much redistribution should there be?"

Spoiler alert: the correct answer is "none".

As well, I thought the only reason modern humanity exists according to these academics is through  macro evolutionary change - a process of meritorious survival of the fittest...

Should there be changes in an ever expanding Oligarcal society? Yes. Should merit based growth be stunted? Hardly.

My 02c
 
Interesting Soylent, the author addressed those issues and earlier work in the article.  The premise isn't meritocracy should be done away with as much as fixed since it really is disserving even the winners of the race.

Its not just elite schools and private prep academies.  It filters to Irvine and Tustin.  Even Santa Ana and Garden Grove.  Want to have your kid get in the public Magnate school?  It comes with extra demand on you the parent.  Both time and money.  Think your kid might want to do swimming, gymanistics or another sport?  At 3rd grade getting a little long in the tooth not be in a competitive club practicing and conditioning several days a week.

The potential reward?  Burning 60 or 70 hours a week like many of us.  Forever.

The author says the winners become the survivors that manage that and don't burn out or blow up.  Somehow keep their family and relationships.  I say he spent too much time in academia, 90% of the c-levels I've met aren't keeping their home life together.  They're a study in trainwreck.  Money papering over lots.

Yes the author went that route.  What the author is acknowledging is how much higher and steeper that mountain has become.  Not just for the privileged like him, but everyone. In spite of our efforts, the mountain top is now less attainable unless you start off with a silver spoon.

 
?Building a society in which a good education and good jobs are available to a broader swath of people?so that reaching the very highest rungs of the ladder is simply less important?is the only way to ease the strains that now drive the elite to cling to their status.?

?A parallel policy agenda must reform work, by favoring goods and services produced by workers who do not have elaborate training or fancy degrees. For example, the health-care ?. be overseen primarily by nurse practitioners, rather than ? doctors. ?

LOL

Mr.Markovitz?s lack of originality is shocking but typical of the overeducated. Chairman Mao already tried exactly what he is proposing during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution where everyone got the same pay no matter if you were a ditch digger or a doctor and all nurses were promoted to doctors.

Guess what, even in Mao?s meritocracyless paradise, people still were obsessed about getting ahead at the expense of their ?comrades.?

Intellectuals and governments cannot change what millions of years of evolution has hard wired into our brains.
 
Nailed it, Happiness.


Burning 60-70 hours per week.... used to be the norm in a pre-industrial society. Now that we have more machines and fewer skilled workers, we will always need some to work more than others. The reward is that the readers of this blog get to live in a premium area, sending their kids to top rated schools, enjoying the best climate on earth (IMHO). If one wants a slower pace towards an eventually successful but also meaningful life, there's always living in Riverside, or Louisiana, or West Virginia.

If this person really believed what he writes, perhaps giving up tenure would be a solid demonstration of this. His existence within the University blocks so many other hard workers willing to do the same job, perhaps better, yet have zero opportunity with so much "old growth forest" to chop down. I'm not holding my breath here as this is another solid example of "do as I say, not as I do" - from someone who also gets 3-4 months off each year at full pay!

My .02c
 
Soylent Green Is People said:
Nailed it, Happiness.


Burning 60-70 hours per week.... used to be the norm in a pre-industrial society. Now that we have more machines and fewer skilled workers, we will always need some to work more than others. The reward is that the readers of this blog get to live in a premium area, sending their kids to top rated schools, enjoying the best climate on earth (IMHO). If one wants a slower pace towards a successful, and meaningful life, there's always Riverside, or Louisiana, or West Virginia.

If this person really believed what he writes, perhaps giving up tenure would be a solid demonstration of this. His existence within the University blocks so many other hard workers willing to do the same job, perhaps better, yet have zero opportunity with so much "old growth forest" to chop down. I'm not holding my breath here as this is another solid example of "do as I say, not as I do" - from someone who also gets 3-4 months off each year at full pay!

My .02c

You both nailed it... this ivory tower professor is definitely all about "do as I say, not as I do". That sort of mentality does sound terrifyingly similar to Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution where capitalistic competition & meritocracy were condemned, and everyone was forced by the government to be "equal".

The fact remains that our country is still the land of opportunity compared to the rest of the world, despite our challenges. The complainers could really use some perspective... which is admittedly hard to get in an ivory tower, surrounded by the product of his meritocratic upbringing.

I totally agree that maybe should step down from his tenure & go on a sabbatical around the world, maybe learn a bit and also open up a chance for others to compete for his place eh?
 
Isn't this the reason why the FIRE movement is gaining popularity?

Those who "win" in this current meritocratic academic system get the "prize" of highly lucrative, yet also soul sucking careers in big law, consulting, hedge funds, venture capital, tech, etc.

Many dream of the day in which they have saved enough or had a liquidity event big enough that they can cash out, retire early.

I've got a lot of old schoolmates who fit this situation. (double Ivy degree).  Outward "success" does not necessarily translate into personal happiness or fulfillment. Many of my friends and acquaintances who have school aged children are wracked by insecurity about how to ensure their own children can achieve the same success they did in this test and achievement based system. Its a never ending treadmill where the prize for working hard and succeeding is to get to work even harder. 

Orange County is more relaxed than some of the big cities like NYC, LA, SF, and for that I am grateful to be living here and raising my kids away from that rat race.



 
The author would probably have liked the recent K Drama "Sky Castle":
https://www.viki.com/tv/36348c-sky-castle?locale=en


-------------------------------------------------

Food for the thought -- those who work hard in meritocratic academic system seem to have lower divorce rates:
https://www.businessinsider.com/10-...-divorce-rates-and-10-with-the-lowest-2017-10

The 10 occupations with the lowest divorce rates:

Actuaries ? 17%  (quite funny considering what this profession does for a living)
Physical scientists ? 18.9%
Medical and life scientists ? 19.6%
Clergy ? 19.8%
Software developers, applications and systems software ? 20.3%
Physical therapists ? 20.7%
Optometrists ? 20.8%
Chemical engineers ? 21.1%
Directors, religious activities and education ? 21.3%
Physicians and surgeons ? 21.8%


The 10 occupations with the highest divorce rates:

Gaming managers ? 52.9%
Bartenders ? 52.7%
Flight attendants ? 50.5%
Gaming services workers ? 50.3%
Rolling machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 50.1%
Switchboard operators ? 49.7%
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 49.6%
Telemarketers ? 49.2%
Textile knitting and weaving machine operators ? 48.9%
Extruding, forming, pressing and compacting machine setters, operators and tenders ? 48.8%
 
misme said:
Isn't this the reason why the FIRE movement is gaining popularity?

Those who "win" in this current meritocratic academic system get the "prize" of highly lucrative, yet also soul sucking careers in big law, consulting, hedge funds, venture capital, tech, etc.

Many dream of the day in which they have saved enough or had a liquidity event big enough that they can cash out, retire early.

I've got a lot of old schoolmates who fit this situation. (double Ivy degree).  Outward "success" does not necessarily translate into personal happiness or fulfillment. Many of my friends and acquaintances who have school aged children are wracked by insecurity about how to ensure their own children can achieve the same success they did in this test and achievement based system. Its a never ending treadmill where the prize for working hard and succeeding is to get to work even harder. 

Orange County is more relaxed than some of the big cities like NYC, LA, SF, and for that I am grateful to be living here and raising my kids away from that rat race.

Yup, FIRE baby! I'm willing to bet that most of those "winners" you're talking about might be spending too much and not saving enough. It's not like those C-level executives or other big wage earners don't get paid enough... for example, executive management compensation has really exploded in growth compared to the wages of the average worker. 

If they were to just save a little bit more, they could realistically retire early & then have all the time in the world to enjoy their lives... But we see too many instead choosing expensive homes, cars, and other trappings over savings. Those guys just need to dig-in, work those 60+ hours for decade or so, and then retire...

However I will admit that you really do need to be very thrifty DINK's nowadays to be able to something like that without the executive salary part. But hey, at least the opportunity is still there with some sacrifice.
 
Rich or poor, famous or obscure, smart or dumb, attractive or ugly, accomplished or not, we will all die in the end.

So don?t worry about where you are relative to your neighbors and peers. Everyone will eventually be equal.
 
Happiness said:
Rich or poor, famous or obscure, smart or dumb, attractive or ugly, accomplished or not, we will all die in the end.

So don?t worry about where you are relative to your neighbors and peers. Everyone will eventually be equal.

?Great things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.?
 
momopi said:
The 10 occupations with the highest divorce rates:

Gaming managers ? 52.9%
Bartenders ? 52.7%
Flight attendants ? 50.5%
Gaming services workers ? 50.3%
Rolling machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 50.1%
Switchboard operators ? 49.7%
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 49.6%
Telemarketers ? 49.2%
Textile knitting and weaving machine operators ? 48.9%
Extruding, forming, pressing and compacting machine setters, operators and tenders ? 48.8%

is switchboard operator still even an actual occupation?  did they poll 2 of the last switchboard operators from the 60s and 1 had gotten a divorce?
 
MTalltheway said:
misme said:
Isn't this the reason why the FIRE movement is gaining popularity?

Those who "win" in this current meritocratic academic system get the "prize" of highly lucrative, yet also soul sucking careers in big law, consulting, hedge funds, venture capital, tech, etc.

Many dream of the day in which they have saved enough or had a liquidity event big enough that they can cash out, retire early.

I've got a lot of old schoolmates who fit this situation. (double Ivy degree).  Outward "success" does not necessarily translate into personal happiness or fulfillment. Many of my friends and acquaintances who have school aged children are wracked by insecurity about how to ensure their own children can achieve the same success they did in this test and achievement based system. Its a never ending treadmill where the prize for working hard and succeeding is to get to work even harder. 

Orange County is more relaxed than some of the big cities like NYC, LA, SF, and for that I am grateful to be living here and raising my kids away from that rat race.

Yup, FIRE baby! I'm willing to bet that most of those "winners" you're talking about might be spending too much and not saving enough. It's not like those C-level executives or other big wage earners don't get paid enough... for example, executive management compensation has really exploded in growth compared to the wages of the average worker. 

If they were to just save a little bit more, they could realistically retire early & then have all the time in the world to enjoy their lives... But we see too many instead choosing expensive homes, cars, and other trappings over savings. Those guys just need to dig-in, work those 60+ hours for decade or so, and then retire...

However I will admit that you really do need to be very thrifty DINK's nowadays to be able to something like that without the executive salary part. But hey, at least the opportunity is still there with some sacrifice.

Many people that work hard and reach the point that their household income is $150k+ feel like they need to show off their success to others.  They need the house, the leased Bimmer, flashy vacations, expensive golf outings, or other status symbols. 

This holds people back from reaching FIRE and I would say the psychology is even harder to overcome once somebody has achieved FIRE.  If you have seven-figures sitting in the bank, you feel like it should be your right to start splurging on life, since you worked so hard to get there.  The thing is you can't do that, because part of being FIRE is maintaining that frugal lifestyle to enable you to live off of investments.
 
On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard?  Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path?  Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree?  I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?

I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard.  She's now a doctor in the Bay Area.  Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard? 

The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford.  He's now a lawyer in private practice.  Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school?  You only get one childhood.
 
Liar Loan said:
On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard?  Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path?  Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree?  I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?

I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard.  She's now a doctor in the Bay Area.  Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard? 

The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford.  He's now a lawyer in private practice.  Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school?  You only get one childhood.

Most of the people I knew at Harvard who were happiest did not pursue acceptance to the Ivy League as an end in itself. They just delved deeply into something they cared about, whether it was an interest in academics, or arts or sports or music or writing or whatever.  The college acceptance was a by-product of that.  Of course this was a generation ago. It may be different now.


Some classmates had inherently driven personalities and would probably pursue being "the best" no matter what school they went to. Or, they were super smart and kind of lazy (mostly math and physics majors).
 
Liar Loan said:
On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard?  Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path?  Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree?  I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?

I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard.  She's now a doctor in the Bay Area.  Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard? 

The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford.  He's now a lawyer in private practice.  Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school?  You only get one childhood.

I think it depends if their Ivy degrees got them to where they were or could they have got to the same place with say a UC or CalState education.

From what I've heard, it's the Ivy network that can open doors for you that is not available to others.

For my field, it doesn't matter if I was Ivy educated or not, I would gamble that I could probably get away with no degree... but I can't know if my first few opportunities would have never happened without it.
 
Liar Loan said:
On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard?  Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path?  Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree?  I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?

I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard.  She's now a doctor in the Bay Area.  Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard? 

The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford.  He's now a lawyer in private practice.  Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school?  You only get one childhood.

I think it boils down to two fold.  Successful people increasingly recognize the patronage and preferential treatment in professional institutional life. They're versed in the corporate biases that corporate leadership teams with a core group frequently share a common alma mater and the focus hiring preferred positions being placed from certain schools.  Interships go to certain schools.  The CEO's pet MBA 'assistant' comes from a premier school etc.

Couple that with the 30 year campaign of the education system for everyone needs to go to college and well endowed school systems waging a marketing barrage pimping their product harder than BMW in the go-go 90s, and the perception is you will be severely limited by picking an 'inferior' school.  Our education system for the last 100 years is very focused on creating 'employees' and not entrepreneurs.  Most that have succeeded going through the system are looking for their place in the system, not making something new in the system.

Or super simplifying, welcome to Feudal society, you're not a 1% aristocrat, so do you want to bust your butt and be Knight or Bishop, or are you going to settle for peasant?  Because doing your own thing is heresy and punishable by burning at the stake.

 
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