Counterintuitive Facts (84): Why Can't You Catch Up to the Rich Man Earning Money While Lying Down?

I. Most of us live in the world of Normal Distribution. Height, weight, IQ. Differences among people aren't that big. The tallest person is at most twice as tall as the shortest. The smartest Einstein couldn't be a billion times smarter than ordinary people. In the normal world, effort is useful. One more step forward, one more point won.

II. But wealth, fame, influence live in another universe: Power Law / Pareto Distribution. Here, the biggest winner isn't two times stronger than you. They're billions of times stronger. Bill Gates' wealth is more than what you'd earn in ten thousand lifetimes combined. One influencer's followers are more than ten million small accounts combined. The top 1% owns everything. The remaining 99% share scraps.

III. Why is this? Because of Positive Feedback. In