[teaearlgraycold]

That’s why as a well paid IC I don’t seek or envy that kind of money. Most people in America aren’t able to live comfortably (which IMO comes when you can do any reasonable thing without worrying about the price). But once you can what good is more money?

[Etheryte]

I think this is a common concept that people struggle to grasp, so let me offer a perspective. Those of us who have relatives who lived during the Second World War may have heard about famine, starving, and the like. But what you might have missed is that some of the people that lived through it look at food completely differently. There's no amount of food you can have at home where it feels enough, no pantry stocked well enough, because they remember, if the times get bad, they can get real bad. It needn't make logical sense, it's what they've instinctually learned. Money can work much the same way. If you come from a place of poverty then it can often be the case that there's no amount of money you can have in the bank that feels safe enough. This is of course only one way people can internalize concepts like this, peer pressure, family expectations, etc can all lead to similar ideas.

[wmf]

This has nothing to do with the Winklebros who were born rich.

[Etheryte]

It does, if you actually bother to read the full comment. A lack of something isn't the only way these emotions form, like any arguably broken emotion the sources can be numerous.

[NickC25]

It really doesn't.

You don't believe me? You might have a relative who experienced hard times, and sure, that affects you, I get it. But you've or they have probably not seen what the Winklevoss twins have, or what I have.

You weren't raised in Greenwich Connecticut where you were an elite rower and your parents were Ivy League professors. Cam and Ty's parents were very well off, and their sons went to a fabulously expensive private prep school ($30k per person per year, could be a lot more actually) in a fabulously wealthy town. The "I might not have enough" mentality is flipped, and it becomes an arms race of "I have enough, but my neighbor has much more" and thus forms an inherently competitive aspect to life, and worse, to making money. You've got a few hundred million? Cool story bro, that's pauper shit, my friend's got a billion. You've got a billion? Good for you, the guy down the street has 5 billion. Where the twins (and I) are from, you don't get admiration for getting that money, you get a target on your back, and everyone wants to outdo you. THAT is the world those guys grew up in (I did too). Nobody just says "wow, I made a billion dollars, time for me to go buy a place on some remote island or on the beach and just chill out with my family and those closest to me", they say "fuck, I got a billion but this asshole in my church just made 2 billion, and I want to beat him".

Nobody is content, which is stunning to me. If I ever get that kind of money, I'm buying a shack in the mountains, and a hut on the beach, putting a bit in a trust for my nephew, and donating the rest. Fuck the rat race.

[Etheryte]

Your inability to generalize a concept from one example onwards is stunning. Everyone's personality is a function of their surroundings. Just like misled behavior can stem from being desolately poor it can stem from social pressure, competitive nature, unmet wants and needs and so on. Which I already pointed out twice.