Um, but the point is that most of that is stuff he had no control over. The Econ 101 fantasy of "work hard, get ahead" doesn't apply if being a straight white male born into a middle class western family means you're starting 80% of the way to the finish line.

Would you please stop posting in the flamewar style to HN, and stop using HN for ideological battle? Those are things we're trying to avoid here and you've unfortunately been doing them repeatedly.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

A combination of hard work and good luck. But of course, it was a lot harder to inherit massive wealth in those days. :)

I can suggest that fishermen don’t get ahead through working harder, but more through being near a livelier bigger body of water with plants more suitable for fashioning into fishing lines.

Hunter gatherers - by being the son of the chief and getting chosen for the most instruction and preferable kills? By not having raids of people stealing everything you gather? By hoarding a secret fund of very desirable plants which they guard jealously to retain status? By being more attractive?