Luck vs. Privilege in Success

Nope, plenty of mediocre people doing great based on nothing but virtue of where they were born or their parents. It’s all luck. Don’t believe me? Imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t get the key moments in your life which defined them. Would you fundamentally be doing the same thing? It’s hard for most people to answer this honestly. For poor people who made it: be honest about what gave you the opportunity to work hard or whatever. It’s probably the fact that you had parents or o

Statistically, someone raised poor is far less likely to become more successful financially vs. someone raised wealthy. You may be an exception, but why is that so hard to comprehend? Personal drive is but one portion of following a path to success. Of course, personal drive comes from somewhere - were you born with it or did it grow in you from your various interpersonal relationships with family, friends, peers and mentors? What about those poor people who did not have the same personal drive

I'm sure I'll get down voted for this comment but yes, I actually do think this result is available to everyone willing to work hard but not the only reason.The town I grew up in was very polarizing. We had both extreme wealth and extreme poor. As a retrospective, we had very equal opportunities from all income brackets. There were wealthy kids who had huge success but many others who fizzled out and didn't do anything. Some ended up with extensive criminal records.On the op

Well most of us have been very very lucky in life, we have won the lottery, but among other things:* Born in a 1st world country* Born in a wealthy enough family that can afford computers and education for their children* Born with parents that are supportive of her actionsIt's a very common misconception on Hacker News that we have started from nothing and if people don't succeed it's because they don't "try enough". If you really want to see nothing go to Africa and say you haven't

Since people from "easier" backgrounds don't need those things to succeed, isn't it reasonable to suggest you are "lucky" to have the attitude and determination that made you the exception?Edit: I think it might be productive to society for the exceptional cases to ask how a better attitude could be encouraged in their former peers. Do the ones who fail lack faith that their efforts would pay off, or do they just not care?

According to wikipedia, 9 of the 10 richest persons are white men from an upper-middle-class or upper class social background. Even people like Sergey Brin, Mukesh Ambani and Carlos Slim, while not born in the U.S. or Western Europe, have parents that were part of their countries' academic or business elite. Do you have any conception of how lucky you have to be to be born into such circumstances instead of being raised in the slums of Nairobi?Simply put, if hard work would be the decidi

Counterpoint: Luck (broadly seen, including your genetic disposition and where you’ve been born - you might not call it luck, but it’s certainly not something you’ve chosen or earned) plays a much bigger role than most people think it does.Source and book recommendation:Robert H. Frank: Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracyhttps:&#

Having disposable income and connections means much much more than genetics.This comment has the relevant quote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35024721

No one suggested it was magic. What it often is - statistically - is socioeconomics. It’s more or less the single best predictor of outcomes for you and yours.There are outliers, but we’re talking about broad systemic patterns.You evidently went to an okay UC - you probably had supportive parents. Be it emotional or financial support. Perhaps both! Perhaps your family life was reasonably stable. Perhaps you had three square meals most of your youth.The point is that you are in a positio

I think it makes sense when viewed another way. Only a select few, about 3% of this country are wealthy, even though one can create their own wealth here. I think the reason is two-fold. First, it's remarkably rare for a person to actually act on their ambitions. Next, when you consider that the default for startups is failure (as PG wrote), and that even smart people fail, it seems to indicate there is something more the people with self-made success have. If all were not born with these valuab