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What to Do

(paulgraham.com)
274 points npalli | 1 comments | 29 Mar 25 12:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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ChrisMarshallNY ◴[30 Mar 25 18:59 UTC] No.43526580[source]▶
> One should help people, and take care of the world. Those two are obvious.

From what I encounter, almost daily, I don't think everyone is on the same page, on that; especially amongst folks of means.

I have seen people without a pot to piss in, treat others -even complete strangers- with respect, love, caring, and patience, and folks with a lot of money, treat others most barbarously; especially when they consider those "others," to be folks that don't have the capability to hit back or stand up for themselves.

As to what I do, I've been working to provide free software development to organizations that help each other, for a long time. It's usually worked out, but it is definitely a labor of love. The rewards aren't especially concrete. I'll never get an award, never make any money at it, and many of the folks that I have helped, have been fairly curt in their response.

I do it anyway.

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DeathArrow ◴[31 Mar 25 07:40 UTC] No.43532239[source]▶
>I have seen people without a pot to piss in, treat others -even complete strangers- with respect, love, caring, and patience, and folks with a lot of money, treat others most barbarously; especially when they consider those "others," to be folks that don't have the capability to hit back or stand up for themselves.

This is a thousands years old apparent dichotomy between rich evil people and good poor people.

But the reality is not like that. Rich can be good and poor can be evil. The same person can be good in some moments and evil in others.

Depicting the world in only two colors, black and white, paints a false image of the reality.

I know people hate complexity, but we shouldn't try to oversimplify things.

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1. anon_e-moose ◴[31 Mar 25 08:33 UTC] No.43532608[source]▶
I have seen = at least one exists.

Refute that...

You could also say that power corrupts, money brings power therefore money corrupts.

You'd only really get an answer looking at trends and statistics. In my personal experience, people who have been through hardship develop empathy. They can become rich afterwards or stay poor, but most people tend to keep that empathy.