Would you rather be rich and ugly with poor social skills, or lower-income but handsome and likeable?

It’s cruel to make Elon choose.

I would want rich over everything else.

Keep up the way you're going, r2 and you won’t even have that.

Why would I be poor if I looked like a young Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp and had good social skills? That makes no sense. Do I live in Siberia?

I'd rather have a car that flies!

I'd rather be homeless with a big dick.

R4 I used to work in a community centre in a low-income area. People all of ages used to come here for self-improvement courses, employment skills, therapy, etc. Some of the young men (and women) were good-looking and friendly but had a variety of issues holding them back.

Some were caregivers and had to give up their own lives to look after sick relatives, some had mental health struggles, some were young parents, others were plain stupid and couldn't do anything or had low self-esteem.

There's lots of good-looking people in the world who'll never be movie stars because they live in the middle of nowhere and don't have to funds to travel. If young Johnny Depp had stayed in that poor Florida neighbourhood, who would have noticed him?

I'M R7. I forgot to add that good looks are meaningless without connections/networking.

R7 = Ouisie Jefferson

I onve went to grab a fish sandwich at our local fish market which is situated in a rather run down part of town. As I was nearly there, I drove past a girl who appeared to be in her later teens walking along the sidewalk. She wore an oversized men's sweatshirt and an oversized pair of sweats with a large hole at the knee. Her dirty shoes were the inexpensive white canvass generic sneaker variety, and she was breathtakingly gorgeous! Beautiful. Tall, naturally light blond, and I could tell under all the baggy clothing that she had some body. Although I was driving in traffic, I felt the strongest urge to stop my car long enough to tell her "You're absolutely beautiful! You MUST leave here in this area!" I couldn't stop to do it, though. She could have easily been walking any runway in the world, and maybe even gracing the covers of any number of mainstream magazines. That was more than twenty years ago, and I've never forgotten it. I hope she made it out! She was stunning along the lines of a young Charlize Theron.

R4 R7 - I hung around a guy who makes essentially all of current male Hollywood look like toads. This was in Flyoverstan. He made a career of being a licensed paramedic. He's now in his 40's and still looks better than most of Hollywood.

If you’re young and hot and sociable, you’re not going to be poor for very long, so the question makes no sense.

R12 How would they make money? Aside from modelling and prostitution.

OP has other issues than merely having too much time on her hands.

[quote] If you’re young and hot and sociable, you’re not going to be poor for very long, so the question makes no sense.

R12 please see r7 and r8. Please ALSO see instagram, gay porn and mugshots from your local police department. There are lots of good-looking -- some gorgeous -- people who will remain destitute, discontent and never enjoy a life of material comfort.

Money is the endgame of the human condition notwithstanding any bullshit that anyone will tell you. Money cannot buy happiness but "happiness" will not clothe, feed or house you -- or fly you to the Dominican Republic to offer patronage to several beautiful young men.

I’ll take the money.

I think you already know my answer.

I am currently low income, but quite handsome with good social skills. I think I'd rather be less handsome, with more money. That would make me be less stressed, and maybe make me live longer.

This is like, "Your choice is between going to the moon, then never leaving your town for the rest of your life, or unlimited global travel but never returning to your hometown, even for your parents' funerals," blah blah . . . so anyway, the money DUH

Your premise that the rich guy has no one is also flawed. I’ve met rich guys who have the looks and personality of a bloody stump and are married to beautiful young women, or men. Rich doesn’t stay single for long if they don’t want to.

Believe me, if you're rich enough, you ARE handsome and likeable.

Rich and ugly by a country mile. Money can buy you plenty of friends, lovers and plastic surgery. Most of all, it buys you power.

R13, in addition to modeling and prostitution, guys who are young and hot with great social skills can easily find a rich person to marry. They can also be servers and bartenders who make great tips. They can become B-movie actors. They can go into sales, like real estate, and use their looks and charm to make the deal. They can be YouTubers or other social media content creators. They might never become rich, but they certainly won’t be poor for long.

Well OP, I am poor, homely and do have ASD, so...thanks, great to ruminate on my lot in life again...

Am trying to work on the social skills, at least. According to tests, I am already pretty accepting, genuine, positive and friendly enough, and can be dryly funny, but am not terribly kind and helpful, attentive, fun, encouraging or compassionate which can turn people off of having a longterm deeper friendship or working relationship with me. I can only perform the surface level of connection.

[quote]Why would I be poor if I looked like a young Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp and had good social skills? That makes no sense. Do I live in Siberia?

That tea guy in Pakistan (?) comes to mind. The one with the beautiful eyes. He was some poor guy selling tea, gets discovered and becomes a model.

Or that light-skinned black guy who was in prison. His mugshot goes public, he's suddenly dating some wealthy, ugly British chick who he knocks up, so he's set for life

Dear OP,

you know what keeps people down? The belief anything good has to come with a downside, a heavy price to pay and also: There's virtue, or upside, in suffering or being poor.

This is worse than Sophie's choice!

Clearly people do not know what a thought experiment is. This isn't about the real world. The choices are deliberately narrowed to see which is more important to the person making the choice. To simplify the question: would you rather have a life of wealth (with little else) or would you rather have a physical beauty (with little else).

I wouldn't be poor if I was good looking in the first place. You'd have to be unbelievably stupid to not figure out how to turn attraction and charisma into a comfortable life.

[quote] Clearly people do not know what a thought experiment is. This isn't about the real world.

Is that a fancy way of asking if someone is shallow or greedy? Because people like to share that one defining thing about them?

Your type of thought experiment isn't as clever or sophisticated as you make it out to be.

Most wealthy people are physically ugly, so what is your point OP?

Almost every wealthy person I know is not very attractive. Have you seen the CEOs of certain companies? Powerful men in Hollywood? Most of these people are repulsive looking.

Harvey Weinstein, anyone?!

[quote]Clearly people do not know what a thought experiment is. This isn't about the real world. The choices are deliberately narrowed to see which is more important to the person making the choice. To simplify the question: would you rather have a life of wealth (with little else) or would you rather have a physical beauty (with little else).

Then there's not that much thought needed. There is no point in beauty if it cannot be used to attain wealth. The only choice would be wealth if beauty is meaningless in this hypothetical. In the real world, beauty gives you far more opportunity.

You can be low-to-moderate income, ordinary looking and still have a good life. Get a job that provides loads of travel; have friends that will rent a flat or coach house at cost in exchange for dogwalking or things like that. Have lots of hobbies, save your money, stay upbeat, protect your health. It's not either/or.