But it was not till the Industrial Revolution that wealth creation definitively replaced corruption as the best way to get rich. In England, at least… - Paul Graham

In England, at least, corruption only became unfashionable (and in fact only started to be called “corruption”) when there started to be other, faster ways to get rich.

it was not till the Industrial Revolution that wealth creation definitively replaced corruption as the best way to get rich.

A great programmer, on a roll, could create a million dollars worth of wealth in a couple weeks. A mediocre programmer over the same period will generate zero or even neg- ative wealth (e.g. by introducing bugs).
This is why so many of the best programmers are libertarians.

Empathy is probably the single most important difference between a good hacker and a great one.

Venture capitalists have a list of danger signs to watch out for. Near the top is the company run by techno-weenies who are obsessed with solving interesting technical problems, instead of making users happy.