The ycombinator title is made misleading by swapping "gambling" for "blowing" money - these are not the same words at all. One implies they are just living in the moment, the other implies they are trying to get rich quick at high risk.
An interesting distinction. My view of gambling is that it is basically investing with an expectation of negative return. In other words, donating at least a few pennies of every dollar you wager to a casino or sports bookie, in the long run. I think the numbers support that. Given that mental model, the only difference I can see between gambling and blowing money is that some people enjoy the experience of gambling, and say they're paying for that experience.
But you can make that argument about anything, I guess, and if you make that argument I don't think it's even possible to think of yourself as blowing money, no matter what.
I wonder if the publisher is A/B testing various titles? For me, the title is
"The big new way to get rich" with a sub-heading of "Want to make a fortune? Target bored young men who want to make a fortune."
Looks like the HN post title has now been updated to that subheading.
karaterobot|1 year ago
But you can make that argument about anything, I guess, and if you make that argument I don't think it's even possible to think of yourself as blowing money, no matter what.
nfriedly|1 year ago
Looks like the HN post title has now been updated to that subheading.