can we taboo the word 'greedy'? Nearly every human being would like to have more material security than they currently have.
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greediness is about wanting money in a way that has nothing to do with material security
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i don't know how to imagine that. how could someone want money in a way that has nothing to do with material security?
p good vgr thread about this exact thing from a while back (super agree with qiaochu btw, I think actual greedy people have several layers of disconnect between wealth and security)
twitter.com/vgr/status/131
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I think about it like a food chain, everyone wants to ensure there isn’t a bigger fish, rationally
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would you believe me if i said ~trauma~
(money gets tied up with status, prestige, assuaging insecurities, childhood fears of inadequacy, getting back at parents, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.)
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money is just a currency you can exchange for things
turns out some of those things do nothing for material security
one extreme is making money so that you can burn it and satisfy a power trip. most things are a derivative form of that
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I think "nothing to do with" is too strong. But I super agree with Qiaochu that for some, material security isn't at all the main point. This also predicts that people "greedy" in this way will be more willing to risk it all to earn more, whereas normal people will hedge
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Buying a Rolex, Diamond plated phone, thousand dollar bags...
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Why does Jeff Bezos keep going? He has enough money to buy everything he could ever want a thousand times over. I'm sure he enjoys his job, but currently he only plays for high score
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