The whole concept of the self‑made man or woman is a myth

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

I'm too tired to look it up, but I remember someone saying that resilience or grit was one of the best indicators of success. Someone replied that actually the best indicator of success is if you came from wealth.

Hey now. That "emerald mine in apartheid South Africa" but is not true at all. He benefited from being the son of a rich white guy in apartheid South Africa. The emerald mine was in Zambia. He materially benefited from colonial rule in TWO countries.

Permanently Deleted

The only self-made man I acknowledge is Philip J. Fry.

As Ann Richards so succinctly put it: born on 3rd base, thought he hit a triple.

um ackshually Musk's dad was only part-owner of that mine, so we give this two pinocchios

Self Attribution Fallacy

https://www.monbiot.com/2011/11/07/the-self-attribution-fallacy/

Not a meme...

Most of you would've failed even with those starting conditions.

If you think you can build a billion-worth company, go and do it. VC money can be secured these days with a half-assed power point presentation. You won't be owning your entire company and someone will make even more money than you, but in just some 10 years you'll make yourself and someone else a few billions. Then you'll have a billion or so in starting capital and you can go become the richest human in existence. Clearly, if you're capable of all those things, you should be already on your way to success instead of complaining on the internet.

The socioeconomic usefulness of the system allowing for such lifepaths has not been debated. Instead the message enviously pointed out that becoming rich is only possible by being rich in the first place. My argument is that if you're capable of taking less than a mil and making billions, there's a system in place already that will allow you to do just that and become famously rich in the process. So, your complaint is invalid. And you're not anti capitalism, you're just jealous.