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Not really. It’s more that courage doesn’t actually teach you very much even though returns can be high. It’s good to be courageous, but to the extent it’s a substitute for thought, you give up learning and growth.
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Replying to @vgr
Is it mostly the volatility aspect of the curse of resources?
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Eg: meta-multiple choice test a) Lazy and not cowardly: guess, score 25% b) Industrious and cowardly: study, score 100% c) Lazy and courageous: steal answers, score 100% d) Industrious and courageous: phone in test you don’t care about, score 60%, do something better with time
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d is a calculated risk: you could be wrong about “something better” and subject was worth learning more than whatever you blew it off for c is curse of resources effect of risk-taking courage if subject was worthwhile. You just robbed future self of knowledge by being courageous
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I’ve probably taken more risks than optimal and suffered curse of resources to some extent... to a degree I’ve taken the “easy A’s” path through life because I’ve been decent at spotting good risks to take. Might have been better for me to have been forced down harder paths.
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I’m not particularly courageous but I’ve been good at spotting high return-on-courage options that fit me personally very well that few others could have made use of. Options that didn’t call for much courage from me but would have for many people who aren’t me.
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The costs are now becoming apparent. I wish I had more hard-earned skills now than I do. Skills that would be very fulfilling to have now. The downside of “work smarter, not harder” is that you lose the subtle positive externalities of working harder in terms of more growth.
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Sometimes the point is to do the hard work. There’s no point being clever and figuring out a machine to log 10k steps on pedometer just to get insurance discount. You’re ultimately just fooling yourself.
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Curse of resources from risk-taking = external compounding rewards at the expense of internal growth you actually need. When you take a risk, account for lost internal growth too. Best if that stays constant while external payoff curve is reshaped.
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Think of risk taking as opening yourself up to luck, like drilling for oil. But if you actually strike oil... yeah you’re gonna turn into Saudi Arabia to some extent and wither away a big due to lost inner growth opp.
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Replying to
Not a great analogy since Saudi Arabia is doing better than its reference neighbours who didn't strike oil, and Norway is doing better than its reference neighbours who didn't strike oil, and...
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Replying to
Saudi Arabia is a repressive medieval thug state but is doing better than Yemen, which is probably its best reference neighbour that doesn't have any oil. Saudi Arabia was a very backward part of the world pre-oil and is still quite backward.
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