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A comment on IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries. Parent comment

Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by icedchai on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @02:56PM (#19984294)
Though it's not a guarantee, it certainly does help. I'd argue that intelligence is part of that "luck." You lucked out and won the genetic lottery.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by Youcandothis on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @04:44PM (#19985281)
A lottery suggests a sort of reincarnation where people are randomly being born in different bodies.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by icedchai on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @04:59PM (#19985429)
Not really. It's just a commonly used phrase.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by jondubois on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:01PM (#19984347)
I don't buy the genetic argument. Intelligence is worthless.

In this society, a complete idiot with capital can achieve much more than a genius can achieve without capital.

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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by icedchai on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:11PM (#19984448)
An idiot with capital will, relatively quickly, lose all of his capital through wasteful spending. You see this all the time with lottery jackpot winners, those who receive a large inheritance, etc.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by savethefuture on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @06:11PM (#19986107)
Then he will become an idiot, without capital, whats your point?
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by icedchai on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @06:43PM (#19986371)
The point is one might luck into getting rich. Staying rich requires some intelligence, or you're going to make poor decisions. This is even true of dynastic wealth.

One example: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/huntington-har...

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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by watwut on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @05:23PM (#19985676)
No. You can be extremely frugal while stupid as hell.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by jondubois on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:21PM (#19984532)
Not so. The reality is that his family banker will invest the money in an index fund like S&P500 for him and then he will see it compound a predictable 10% or so every year, becoming increasingly wealthy without ever having to lift a finger or exercise a single neuron.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by icedchai on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:35PM (#19984670)
More likely the banker will invest it in low performing actively managed mutual funds and slowly drain 1-2% in additional "management fees" out of him...
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by ksenzee on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @04:54PM (#19985380)
If you're getting a predictable 10% from your investments, you're investing in a different SPY than I am.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by xyzzyz on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:03PM (#19984364)
Which is why top companies are founded by children of lottery winners and media celebrities, while poor immigrants never achieve anything significant.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by atq2119 on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @03:19PM (#19984519)
Founding a top company is the most visible way of gaining a lot of wealth, but it is by far not representative.

Much more common are ways of starting with a lot of wealth and turning it into even more wealth.

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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by Viliam1234 on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @05:16PM (#19985595)
This is exactly the kind of information that will NOT be welcome at Hacker News.
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by zone411 on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @11:26PM (#19988128)
Even according to a source that wants to agree with you, 57% of Forbes 400 started with less than $1 million: http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ufe/legacy_url/410/Born....
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Re:IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries by james_s_tayler on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @09:01PM (#19987304)
That's exactly why sports stars and rappers with many millions of dollars often go broke and college kids eating ramen start billion dollar companies.
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