Billionaires under 40

[Sava]

none of these people work hard

people working fast food work harder

[Dr Strangelove]

No billionaires in the manufacturing category.

[-Jrabbit]

GoPro video cameras

[Jon Miller]

Facebook also would fit what you're talking about with hedge funds. Without Facebook we'd use a different social platform. There are/were plenty of other social platforms with similar capabilities.

I wasn't going to touch myspace with a 10 foot poll. I think that FB's dominant position shows that their innovation was important.

And of course being in the right place/right time is always important.

JM

[Aeson]

I wasn't going to touch myspace with a 10 foot poll. I think that FB's dominant position shows that their innovation was important.

Myspace was just one of many. It isn't about innovation. Hedge funds can innovate the way Facebook did, in that they do something in a "better" way according to their clients. That might be a better sales pitch ... which is essentially what Facebook had as well.

The subject though was whether Facebook did something that another platform couldn't have done, and that's obviously not the case.

Take Facebook out of the equation and we'd still all be playing flash games, sharing pictures, stories, and videos online. Just through different platforms. The reason those things happened wasn't Facebook. It was better computers and internet that allowed it. Once the technical capabilities were there, it was going to happen no matter who captured the market.

[/quote]And of course being in the right place/right time is always important.[/QUOTE]

Which is why it was weird for you to have singled out some as "right place/time".

[Fake Boris]

I don't think it is possible to be a billionare without being at the right place at the right time (i.e. without being lucky)

None of these people are what they are because they are a thousand times smerter or work a thousand times harder that the people who do not manage to become billionares.

Correct, but you seem to rest on the assumption that money values what you are - what it values is your work.

[giblets]

none of these people work hard

people working fast food work harder

How do you know people didn't work their butts off creating Google or Facebook or a successful hedge fund? Granted, it's likely they enjoyed what they did and found it satisfying to a greater extent than someone would working fast food.

[Jon Miller]

And of course being in the right place/right time is always important.

Which is why it was weird for you to have singled out some as "right place/time".

Because for some (trading commodities), that is all there is to it.

Basically:
1. Be in a country which is a major player in a commodity at the same time as the country is going through a major economic transition (right time)
2. Be able to place yourself in such a way that you get given semi-monopoly power by the state(/mafia/etc) (right time/place, often with bits of illegality)
3. Profit

Other areas require innovation or at least improving the overall market (by offering a competitive good) at the same time as being in the right time/place (2) and so are much more valuable and should be rewarded. Note that I consider hedge fund Z to be improving the overall market, even if it isn't providing a significant innovation.

JM

[Jon Miller]

Myspace was just one of many. It isn't about innovation. Hedge funds can innovate the way Facebook did, in that they do something in a "better" way according to their clients. That might be a better sales pitch ... which is essentially what Facebook had as well.

The subject though was whether Facebook did something that another platform couldn't have done, and that's obviously not the case.

Take Facebook out of the equation and we'd still all be playing flash games, sharing pictures, stories, and videos online. Just through different platforms. The reason those things happened wasn't Facebook. It was better computers and internet that allowed it. Once the technical capabilities were there, it was going to happen no matter who captured the market.

Actually, even successful hedge funds are not really much better for their clients.

I am not at all sure you are correct. It is like you saying 'take Bardeen and company' out of the picture and we would still have semiconductor computers. It would just be someone else who invented them.

You might very well be correct, but in that case replace Facebook with 'whatever else' and it would still hold. There was some important bit of innovating which was available and necessary for the growth.

This isn't true with hedge fund Z or other markets where there are many other choices which do the same job in a similar manner.

JM

[Sava]

How do you know people didn't work their butts off creating Google or Facebook or a successful hedge fund? Granted, it's likely they enjoyed what they did and found it satisfying to a greater extent than someone would working fast food.

it's not work if you enjoy it

[Aeson]

It is like you saying 'take Bardeen and company' out of the picture and we would still have semiconductor computers. It would just be someone else who invented them.

That is a ridiculous comparison. When you have a popularity contest with countless contestants, someone is still going to win even if you take away the top competitor.

When you take away an inventor, you can't be sure if/when it would have been invented otherwise.

Facebook didn't invent anything of note. Their success is essentially based on winning a popularity contest. That's great. They worked hard and built a good platform, and they did a great job of marketing. But the world wouldn't necessarily be any less/greater if someone else who worked hard and had a good platform had won out instead.

You might very well be correct, but in that case replace Facebook with 'whatever else' and it would still hold. There was some important bit of innovating which was available and necessary for the growth.

Of course I'm correct. If Zuckerberg spent college getting stoned and laid you can't possibly pretend that people wouldn't be playing flash games, sharing photos and videos online, and making profile pages at roughly the same time. Facebook didn't invent any of those things. They didn't create the hardware or infrastructure that made those things possible. They didn't create the desire for those things.

Take Facebook away and people would still be online doing those things, just on other websites.

This isn't true with hedge fund Z or other markets where there are many other choices which do the same job in a similar manner.

It's exactly the same. There are (and were) lots of other platforms that offer similar functionality to Facebook.

[Sir Og]

Correct, but you seem to rest on the assumption that money values what you are - what it values is your work.

By what they are I meant how rich they are.

Money values your work in comparison to your peers. Your work has no absolute intrinsic value.

[N35t0r]

How many ships dock at those piers?