Comment by ng12

5 years ago

Sure, but you run Coinbase. It wouldn't surprise me if people with less soft power than you had negative interactions.

15 comments

ng12

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spottybanana  5 years ago

Yeah, it is no wonder that a founder-CEO of a 70 billion dollar company is having very little negative interactions with about anyone.

Personally I have became from poor ass bootstrapping startup founder to rich and successful retired entrpreneur (now investor) and it is ridiculous how people will treat you wildly differently as you get wealthier. And at times the exactly same people.

  • nowherebeen  5 years ago

    > And at times the exactly same people.

    I have seen this type of behavior before even though I am not rich or successful. These people act like they never behaved the way they did or simply pretend it never happened, while they continue to do it to others. Its disgusting how people can be so fake.

    • Radim  5 years ago

      I'd guess this is Prisoner's Dilemma in practice:

      If you don't expect repeat interactions with an agent, or expect the agent won't remember / weigh these past interactions strongly, you do what's best for you in the moment.

      Which happens to be taking the counterparty's current situation into account – including their wealth/power, AKA how much they can do for you. Entirely pragmatic, if selfish ("disgusting" in your words).

      The way to combat this fake behaviour is to increase its cost, forcing the "fake" person to interact differently.

      But I wouldn't hold my breath:

      1) To "increase the cost" you need something of value in the first place. If you're poor and powerless, you are… powerless. Your only strength is in numbers: social pressure, `∑ little_power * lots_of_people`.

      2) This "fake" personality is likely something learned in early childhood. A person would probably need to experience lots of negative feedback to readjust later in life.

      3) Have you considered that their strategy ("fakeness", taking into account extrinsic factors like wealth or fame) may be superior to yours ("integrity", interacting based solely on a someone's intrinsic traits)? You know, it is not a physical law that being nice and consistent to people pays off. It's a pretty wild social dynamic, evolved only recently.

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    • ksec  5 years ago

      Exactly. It was at that moment I understand why most successful and rich people tends to be wary.

      I wasn't even rich or successful, I only got promoted to a senior position, and their faces changed the next day. Those a-hole faces still makes me want to puke.

      That was a long time ago. But I still have vivid memory of it.

    • rightbyte  5 years ago

      Well some people are just not so nice until you know each other. Not like "you start to appreciate them" but "they get friendly".