Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Gevlon's Latest Discussion

Gevlon has an ongoing discussion about the "missing link" of success. He is asking what the magical property is that successful people have that others do not.

His reasoning for the belief in this magical skill...or attribute, is that successful people can come from all walks of life. While rich children are more likely to "inherit" this magical trait and remain rich, some poor people can suddenly become rich for no apparent reason beyond the idea that maybe they just decided it was the right time to be awesome. Otherwise poor people tend to stay poor no matter what they learn, how hard they try, or how badly they want the wealth.

Rich people in other nations who leave everything behind and come to America with only pennies in their pockets, eventually become wealthy again.

Gevlon suggests that these examples show that the magical attribute is more hereditary than learned.

One of the comments in his most recent post on the topic suggest that the magical trait is a product of adaptation, an idea pulled from the Theory of Evolution.

I am tempted to agree with that comment.

I agree with Gevlon that the magical property that allows people to become wealth and powerful can not be learned. If it can not be learned then it must be inherited. The funny thing about evolutionary adaptation is that just because you have the ability, does not mean you will automatically want to use it. So, it should be seen in the field that some people who are poor, can choose to become wealthy even though they might be the first of their bloodline in recent memory to do so. We know that this does happen.

It should also be easily observed that some people no matter how hard they try, will never become wealthy. Even if they win the lottery or inherit or are gifted wealth, if left to themselves, they will become poor again in due time. Again, this is proven true.

At this time, I believe that Gevlon's magical attribute is adaptation. You either have the ability or you do not. It can not be learned. It can not be shared. It can not be taught or borrowed. Those who have it must simply choose to use it.

I suppose it is possible that some who have the adaptation of wealth creation might have to learn some other basic skills in order to properly, or quickly, use the trait. But that might be just my own wishful thinking.

I am not doing well in my money-making endeavors. I have lost more than I have gained. I can not seem to get past a certain point. I could blame market trends and the state of the game being between expansions at this time, but those things do not seem to stop others from making money in the game.

This is also a reflection of my own real life. I am not wealthy by any means. I own nothing that was not given to me out of charity or friendship.

So, yeah, I am sort of hoping that I might have this trait and that I am simply lacking some other basic skills that are needed to make it shine.

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