Paul Graham really just sucks. Which is why I didn't write this blog during the time I spent at UMass for my grad visit.
PG is an idiot. I disagree with all the things. Let's start with his pitch about startups.
If you wanted to get rich, how would you do it? I think your best bet would be to start or join a startup. That's been a reliable way to get rich for hundreds of years.
Idiot. Most startups fail. Like, almost all of them. If you want to get broke quick, try to start or join a startup.
I have never desired to start my own company. It's funny because non-STEM people assume that if you are a CS major that your dream simply must be to make your own startup (and related, make the next biggest app), but that has never been my dream. The thought of doing business-y things makes me want to punch a wall and to deal with those stingy and cringy start-up engineers makes me want to run and hide behind Jeffrey. I wanted to do research ever since I first went to IBM. Before that, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Now, all I want to do is teach and play Pocket Tanks with my sugar. I probably will not ever want to pursue a start-up, unless I'm on the research or outreach side of a CS education startup.
On to income inequality, so excited for this.
Technology should increase the gap in income, but it seems to decrease other gaps. A hundred years ago, the rich led a different kind of life from ordinary people. They lived in houses full of servants, wore elaborately uncomfortable clothes, and travelled about in carriages drawn by teams of horses which themselves required their own houses and servants. Now, thanks to technology, the rich live more like the average person.
Ugh I extremely dislike PG.
Why does anyone want to widen the income gap? Why is that something we think is good? Why did Trump become president? These are all questions that keep me up at night. What happened to our society?
I do not think