Obviously he has to be smart, you don't make a multi-billion dollar company/fraud without being incredibly smart, but doesn't that generally mean an acceptance of reality?
He seems so disconnected from reality most of the time, like he is mentally ill almost.
I think that he's just more criminally minded than most. This wasn't an overnight thing and he seemed to do quite a bit of press, lying through his teeth the whole time.
> Obviously he has to be smart, you don't make a multi-billion dollar company/fraud without being incredibly smart
I think we want this to be true. We want a meritocracy based on intelligence. But I’m very skeptical it’s true.
I think he could be a total moron combined with some money, some connections, luck, and the lack of the things that hold many of us back such as self doubt, fear, morals and ethics, and obeyance to the law.
In my two decades of working Ive only seen people get rich by two things: risk taking and connections. These are real friends and not some media piece.
Risk taking can be bitcoin, deception or leveraged property ownership. Without morals and self doubt you get a way bigger field in the risk taking arena.
Rarely have I seen knowledge as a main factor, because renting knowledge-workers is easy and cheap.
you can't make it through an MIT physics degree while being a total moron. Same with the Jane Street interview process. he was at least a smart guy and probably a good trader.
now in some sense you can still be very smart but "a total moron" meaning you make stupid and bad decisions and ruin your life and cause all kinds of disasters.
my read on him is he was sharp, and able to succeed for a while as long as someone else put up guardrails that would compensate for his terrible judgment and executive functioning -- which you get in school or working for a large firm. when he struck out on his own, he lost all that, but his reputation + connections + stupid risk appetite took him far until he blew up.
Yeah, I think I agree. Many many examples of people who made it or almost made it, without being smart or lucky (WeWork CEO) or in the right place at the right time or able to deceive people (ie Elizabeth Holmes)
Obviously he has to be smart, you don't make a multi-billion dollar company/fraud without being incredibly smart, but doesn't that generally mean an acceptance of reality?
He seems so disconnected from reality most of the time, like he is mentally ill almost.