Life Is Driven by Network Effects

Something about this article doesn’t sit right with me... it’s not wrong, just... misguided? For one, he talks about these huge crossroads, all of which take place early in life, and starts making suggestions as if young people facing these decisions have everything figured out already and just need to optimize. It just comes off as very... inauthentic.<p>Reminds me of a line from Nassim Taleb’s <i>Antifragile</i>: “There exist the kind of people for whom life is some kind of project. After talking to them, you stop feeling good for a few hours; life starts tasting like food cooked without salt.”

&gt; The most lasting and effective way to change your life is to change who you’re surrounded by. Since networks so powerfully shape who we are and what we do, the best way to change ourselves is to change our networks.<p>That&#x27;s why it&#x27;s good to be part of groups when you move to a new town, groups that probably will have person with many similarities with you (and not the only one that made you choose them). Be part of a literature group and you&#x27;ll have things in common that go beyond reading books, as being part of that group will have effect in your time, routes you take within the city, places you&#x27;ll eat, stores that you&#x27;ll go, and so on.

&quot;The larger point here is that when groups get larger, it’s an exponential change, not a linear one&quot; --- this sentence is a big pet peeve of mine. It&#x27;s not exponential, its quadratic. I get that the author trying to say <i>superlinear</i> and the distinction of exponential vs. quadratic doesn&#x27;t feel much. However, if &quot;math&quot; is mentioned in every paragraph, better get the math right.

Interesting article, but normally &quot;network effect&quot; is associated with the concept that the value of membership in a network increases as a power of the size of the network. Rather than size, it seems that the type and quality of the various networks that an individual is embedded in is the controlling factor regarding the advantages and disadvantages that shape the individual&#x27;s life in a progression from family to education, employment, and community. In the end, it is more about &quot;path dependency&quot; than &quot;network effects&quot;.

Damon Runyon said, &quot;Always try to rub up against money, for if you rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you.&quot;

In a lot of ways - these network effects read more like privileges than anything. With most of them having been begun with - what family were you born into. Almost everything else will follow after.<p>It is why people who are born into such desirable families can end up with so much more desirable things so much more easily. The effects of being born into that family will lead to a good high school which leads to a good college which leads to a good first job... And if your family raised you even half decently then you&#x27;ll end up with a spouse who is likely similar to you because where you go is somewhat correlated with your upbringing. Many people meet their partner in college or the workplace after all. (And the activities you will have interest in can be correlated with your upbringing - and&#x2F;or your ability to afford them)

We truly live in a society.

So what does one do if they want to move somewhere where they don’t know anyone?

Religion, language, culture, where you lived, IQ&#x2F;EQ, socioeconomic status, and temperament are more important than some of the 7 listed networks. The 7 listed &quot;crossroad&quot; networks were: family, high school, college, first job, marriage, where you live, and &quot;Reassessments&quot; (silly).<p>However I think there is a glint of gold somewhere in the dross of that article.

I feel it goes against the idea I (we) may have about personal freedom.<p>This makes someone not aware of said systems a puppet doesn&#x27;t it? To the point you think you have freedom, but your attempts could be doomed to failure.<p>We are still free to shape our networks yes, and it requires work ... So success is a function of how good you are at Psyop then &#x2F;s

The title would be more accurate with &quot;My...&quot;.<p>Edit: It&#x27;s not about &quot;life&quot;, in any general sense. It&#x27;s about human lives.

Although I&#x27;m gonna change the World, not much network so far on my side. And I&#x27;m not taking trying to be friends with the rich and powerful. The poor and hopeless are equally unfriendly.<p>One word: middle class.

One of the reasons why I think 100% distributed, remote team might not be the best. Which is why a middle ground where you work remote but within 1 hour of a “company hub” so you get to see you team a few times a month.<p>Ive been remote for a year and a half and I feel I’m not making lasting connections. It’s probably different for single folks but it’s hard to visit coworkers with a family.