Re:10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You
by Eliezer on Thursday August 28, 2008 @08:35PM
(#289643)
So if you're the smartest person in the world, does everything stop being relative? Or do you start worrying about alternative Everett branches?
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Well at that point I guess you can strive to be the smartest person ever. But its a finite measure, at some point there is always that 1 person who is the richest/smartest.
Well, smartness is a bit more complex. I may be better at skill A, but my friend is way good at B. Thus, he is "smarter".
Re:10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You
by whatusername on Thursday August 28, 2008 @11:13PM
(#289755)
And thus the problem with IQ tests...
Wealth isn't like that though. If I have X Peso's (Or Dollars, etc) and you have X + Y then you are richer (for any positive value of Y).
The only 2 limits to comparison that I can see is: * Liquidity - (ie - Bill Gates can't sell all his MSFT stock without the price crashing significantly) * Historical Data - How do BillyG/Buffet/Slim compare to Rockefellar and King Soloman?
Actually it is the same. As you point out, the formula for converting all of the forms of wealth into the same units is subjective. In order to determine the richest person in the world this is just as important as defining the right way to measure the smartest person.
And both equally pointless.