C’mon, how many of the Field medallists were doing maths in order to earn as much money as possible in order to get a bride? (I agree that that’s probably what’s going to happen in the medium-long term, but for different reasons.)
You are being suspiciously simplistic here. Needing to work hard to get a bride is one of the things that most vitally supports a culture of work ethic among men. Very few other things seem to have as big an impact. Most Fields medalists probably didn’t work hard primarily because they wanted to attract a wife, though I bet many of them actually did. But the culture of work ethic being normative for men certainly seems vital to supporting their efforts!
To summarize:
Men can attract women with hard work (note not about money per se, it can be status)
The above is one of the strongest factors that contributes to a cultural expectation of hard work being normative for men
This has strong impact on the output of high performers
If it wasn’t for the ruthless class segregation in the modern West, where people with high genetic potential are quickly identified and sorted by the academic system into subcultures where men attracting mates with hard work still happens things would probably be pretty bad. If you don’t think this happens I would direct you to Charles Murray’s book Drifting Appart. And even the upper classes are drifting away from this model, this looks to me like a social disaster in the making. Things will overall still get better due to other factors in the medium run, but the opportunity costs are terrible. (<_<)
But the culture of work ethic being normative for men certainly supported them!
I dunno about that; after all they were mathematicians, not investors. Historically mainstream society hasn’t exactly swooned at “nerds”.
I can only speak for myself. Unlike most people, I don’t “work” at all, in the sense of doing anything with the conscious goal of making money. All I do is think about what interests me, and discuss the results of that thinking with other people. As long as governments (and philanthropists like Mike Lazaridis) are willing to pay me for my non-work, I’m happy to take their money. If they ever stop paying me, I guess I’ll have to find some other source of income.
Throughout history most of the great art, music, science, literature, mathematics and technology was produced by guys who would today be classed as MGTOW.
I remember one ha-ha-only-serious from my mathematical days: Sex is just a sublimation of the urge to mathematics. (And it’s long been observed that even among young mathematicians, their output falls off dramatically if and when they marry).
I think the standard response is that changes happen at the margins, and the Fields medalist isn’t the marginal case. Here’s a quote from this post that explains it nicely:
Now, economists hear this sort of argument all the time. “That’s ridiculous! I would never start working fewer hours because my taxes went up!” This ignores the fact that you may not be the marginal case. The marginal case may be some consultant who just can’t justify sacrificing valuable leisure for a new project when he’s only making 60 cents on the dollar. The result will nonetheless be the same: less economic activity.
C’mon, how many of the Field medallists were doing maths in order to earn as much money as possible in order to get a bride? (I agree that that’s probably what’s going to happen in the medium-long term, but for different reasons.)
You are being suspiciously simplistic here. Needing to work hard to get a bride is one of the things that most vitally supports a culture of work ethic among men. Very few other things seem to have as big an impact. Most Fields medalists probably didn’t work hard primarily because they wanted to attract a wife, though I bet many of them actually did. But the culture of work ethic being normative for men certainly seems vital to supporting their efforts!
To summarize:
Men can attract women with hard work (note not about money per se, it can be status)
The above is one of the strongest factors that contributes to a cultural expectation of hard work being normative for men
This has strong impact on the output of high performers
If it wasn’t for the ruthless class segregation in the modern West, where people with high genetic potential are quickly identified and sorted by the academic system into subcultures where men attracting mates with hard work still happens things would probably be pretty bad. If you don’t think this happens I would direct you to Charles Murray’s book Drifting Appart. And even the upper classes are drifting away from this model, this looks to me like a social disaster in the making. Things will overall still get better due to other factors in the medium run, but the opportunity costs are terrible. (<_<)
I dunno about that; after all they were mathematicians, not investors. Historically mainstream society hasn’t exactly swooned at “nerds”.
-- Scott Aaronson
-- MGTOW.com
“Being a physicist is a drag, but it still beats working” (Aurelio Grillo as quoted by Giorgio Parisi, translation from Italian mine)
That presumes economic growth is positive, which is not obvious.
I remember one ha-ha-only-serious from my mathematical days: Sex is just a sublimation of the urge to mathematics. (And it’s long been observed that even among young mathematicians, their output falls off dramatically if and when they marry).
I think the standard response is that changes happen at the margins, and the Fields medalist isn’t the marginal case. Here’s a quote from this post that explains it nicely: