10 ms·

I'll never understand how these cognitive elites live. They're just a completely different kind of human than the rest of us.

LPisGood 4mo ago
What do you mean by “cognitive elites?” I’ve met some exceptional people: top researchers from top universities from several fields, super well paid engineers working on products you probably use, some of the best hackers an advanced persistent threat actor could ask for; they’re just people. I think if you get a collection of competent, thoughtful people together they would come up with similar solutions to the problems discussed in this talk.
- seb1204 4mo ago
  I am sure they are, my fascination is how they manage to get so much more out of the same 24 hours than me. Sometimes I would just like to know how others manage all the worldly churn that seems to suck my time. starting from cleaning the kitchen, toilets and the home, food prep and washing up, being active, moving the lawn, reading a good book, doing taxes, bringing the vehicle to service, fix that phone for grandma etc. so how do they do it? Is it character, personality, upbringing... What helped put them on this trajectory. So in short I'm curious about their story.
  - fatata123 4mo ago
    Get a dishwasher. Don’t rely on a car. There are plenty of life changing effeciency hacks that can free up hours of time a day.
  - hansvm 4mo ago
    > so much more out of the same 24 hours Do they? Are they doing more work, or is the set of things they've chosen to be good at more stereotypically impressive than the set of things you've chosen to be good at? > all the worldly churn Surely all of that adds up to <1hr/day (assuming exercise does double-duty with other intellectual activities and general unwinding)? You could work a pretty intense schedule and still have plenty of time for personal development with that level of overhead, so long as you actually stuck with it and got everything done. > food prep and washing I'd be curious to hear more about what this looks like for you. I might have ideas.
  - linkregister 4mo ago
    I assume that Jane Street employees likely use house cleaners, food delivery, laundry services, etc. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if part of the employee onboarding includes a list of common convenience services like these. Some employers pay for or subsidize such services; I don't know if Jane Street does. Personal sacrifice is often expected. Fixing the phone for grandma would simply be neglected for many employees in these positions.
- laidoffamazon 4mo ago
  Cognitive elites are the MIT and Ivy+ grads that make up Jane Street like the speaker. People like me aren’t getting $5m+ bonuses for being an SRE (I don’t have the pedigree to work at Anthropic either)
  - LPisGood 4mo ago
    I think you put way too much stock into pedigree and what university people went to for undergrad.
    - laidoffamazon 4mo ago
      There's not going to be many non-Ivy+ graduates at these companies. I make Jane Street/HRT/etc new grad pay 8 years into my career
rvz 4mo ago
Nope. Jane Street engineers just love what they do; and do it for fun in their own time and professionally and they love solving puzzles. They just think for themselves to make money and not what their manager tells them to do unless either the manager or trader believes they will lose money and the game. The only relevant difference to you is that you must have zero morals or ethics in this game and it is actually a high stress environment behind the videos and engineering propaganda which is the slender difference between beating or losing to other competitors for their clients. So really stop worshipping them and fuelling their egos as that is what they (Jane Street) want you to do.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]

LPisGood 4mo ago

What do you mean by “cognitive elites?” I’ve met some exceptional people: top researchers from top universities from several fields, super well paid engineers working on products you probably use, some of the best hackers an advanced persistent threat actor could ask for; they’re just people. I think if you get a collection of competent, thoughtful people together they would come up with similar solutions to the problems discussed in this talk.

seb1204 4mo ago
I am sure they are, my fascination is how they manage to get so much more out of the same 24 hours than me. Sometimes I would just like to know how others manage all the worldly churn that seems to suck my time. starting from cleaning the kitchen, toilets and the home, food prep and washing up, being active, moving the lawn, reading a good book, doing taxes, bringing the vehicle to service, fix that phone for grandma etc. so how do they do it? Is it character, personality, upbringing... What helped put them on this trajectory. So in short I'm curious about their story.
- fatata123 4mo ago
  Get a dishwasher. Don’t rely on a car. There are plenty of life changing effeciency hacks that can free up hours of time a day.
- hansvm 4mo ago
  > so much more out of the same 24 hours Do they? Are they doing more work, or is the set of things they've chosen to be good at more stereotypically impressive than the set of things you've chosen to be good at? > all the worldly churn Surely all of that adds up to <1hr/day (assuming exercise does double-duty with other intellectual activities and general unwinding)? You could work a pretty intense schedule and still have plenty of time for personal development with that level of overhead, so long as you actually stuck with it and got everything done. > food prep and washing I'd be curious to hear more about what this looks like for you. I might have ideas.
- linkregister 4mo ago
  I assume that Jane Street employees likely use house cleaners, food delivery, laundry services, etc. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if part of the employee onboarding includes a list of common convenience services like these. Some employers pay for or subsidize such services; I don't know if Jane Street does. Personal sacrifice is often expected. Fixing the phone for grandma would simply be neglected for many employees in these positions.
laidoffamazon 4mo ago
Cognitive elites are the MIT and Ivy+ grads that make up Jane Street like the speaker. People like me aren’t getting $5m+ bonuses for being an SRE (I don’t have the pedigree to work at Anthropic either)
- LPisGood 4mo ago
  I think you put way too much stock into pedigree and what university people went to for undergrad.
  - laidoffamazon 4mo ago
    There's not going to be many non-Ivy+ graduates at these companies. I make Jane Street/HRT/etc new grad pay 8 years into my career

rvz 4mo ago

Nope. Jane Street engineers just love what they do; and do it for fun in their own time and professionally and they love solving puzzles. They just think for themselves to make money and not what their manager tells them to do unless either the manager or trader believes they will lose money and the game. The only relevant difference to you is that you must have zero morals or ethics in this game and it is actually a high stress environment behind the videos and engineering propaganda which is the slender difference between beating or losing to other competitors for their clients. So really stop worshipping them and fuelling their egos as that is what they (Jane Street) want you to do.

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]