Venkatesh Rao

Been reflecting on wealth and success (in conventional sense, which may involve some combination of wealth, fame, accomplishment, historic impact, etc) lately. Both are things I am not personally very motivated by. But they are not things I have a problem with either.

The US is a society that fetishizes wealth and success. It takes its societal organization cues almost entirely from the dynamics of wealth and success. Much can be explained by people either idolizing or demonizing wealth and success.

There’s no such thing as a centrist in the US when it comes to wealth/success. Believing that wealth/success are neither essentially good/evil, or virtuous/sinful, is not an option. You must construct a totalizing view of society as an extension of wealth/success views.

This is something I cannot grok deeply. I can only run American “wealth/success calculus” in emulation mode. I know many wealthy and/or successful people as well as many destitute and/or unsuccessful people. W/S has low correlation with whether I’ll find someone interesting.

To me wealthy or successful people are simply people who set out to solve for wealth or success in some sense, and succeed. Others who try, fail. It is what it is. Their stories reveal very little about the nature of the human condition beyond the nature of wealth/success.

This is a thought many Americans seem incapable of thinking, but it is possible to live a life based on solving for other things: service, happiness, spirituality, adventure, thrills, family, etc. Most societies in history have had people solving for all of these.