Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by everyone on Friday November 30, 2018 @12:42PM (#18570784)

Why do elite decision makers, CEO's, boards of directors, make decisions that will certainly have adverse effects, that will literally kill people (eg. Trafigura), just to make more profit? Despite the fact that they are all already individually multi-millionaires and could not really materially improve their lives with more money?

I've ruminated on this.

I think the only reason that could explain such excess is competitiveness. To them, it is like a game. Its not about getting another yacht, its about beating the other guy. I think its the same mechanism that will drive someone to grind for many hours in an MMO or suchlike.

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by ufmace on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:28PM (#18571279)

I've tended to think that a lot of it is about different social circles. If everyone you know makes $50-100k/yr, you feel fine making that yourself, and may not even be sure what you'd do with a million dollars. If your social circle is full of millionaires and multi-millionaries, all of the sudden making a million feels like barely getting by and you think about all of the cool stuff you see people around you getting that you could get if you had tens of millions.

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by monocasa on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:50PM (#18571496)

I think it's different past ~$150k salary too (probably more like $200k-$300k in the valley). At that point there's this weird net worth dick measuring contest that becomes a lot of people at that level's xbox gamer score. As in it's this number that they've attached a whole lot of identity to to be able to compare to their peers. It has very little to about what they can actually do with that number and more that they just want a bigger one than their friends.

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by starbeast on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:38PM (#18571370)

>To them, it is like a game. Its not about getting another yacht, its about beating the other guy.

This is presumably what might inspire a billionaire to sue Forbes over their position in Forbes published rich list - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-saudi-billionaire...

Money is entirely ego-points for people like that.

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by remir on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:28PM (#18571280)

"its about beating the other guy. I think its the same mechanism that will drive someone to grind for many hours in an MMO or suchlike."

I think their sense of identity is tied to their performance. I noticed the same thing in sports or even in school were students compare exam scores.

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by pmarreck on Friday November 30, 2018 @12:48PM (#18570843)

> that will literally kill people (eg. Trafigura)

I had to google that. Shocking story.

> To them, it is like a game.

I think you're right. I also think Trump (ahem) once said something along these lines: "At some point, all this stops being money and is just numbers that you want to keep going up." That would support your competitiveness assertion. (It might also explain why men tend to make more than women, but I digress.)

> I think its the same mechanism that will drive someone to grind for many hours in an MMO or suchlike.

nah, that's just the variable-ratio reinforcement schedule :) https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-variable-ratio-schedu...

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Re:Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview by mFixman on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:38PM (#18571365)

Selection bias? You need to have a certain amount of ruthlessness to become a CEO or a serious director.

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