Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Paul Allen has died

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 308 posts

Re: Paul Allen has died

#161

Post by pmichaud »

tinkerteller wrote: post #146

It's bit funny to see all these outpouring of emotions. Just last month we been talking about him and some folks pointed out how he has spent a tiny fraction of accidental lottery in to actual good such as Allen Institute and Semantic Scholar. A REALLY tiny fraction of his immense wealth. Many people think he has spent an order of magnitude more on organizing private rock concerts in desert, building yacht with his p…

I'm not sure what you're valuing by reposting versions of this comment in multiple places in this thread, but it seems like you think he should have given more money to science.

Speaking as someone who works in a nonprofit trying to get high end research done, funding is complicated--the equation is absolutely not More Money == More Progress. There are very tricky trade offs, perverse incentives, and huge talent bottlenecks, among other challenges. A lot of places I work closely around would turn down additional funding if it was offered, given other bottlenecks, the counterfactual use of that money, and the perverse incentives.

I didn't know Paul Allen at all, but if he's like other billionaires, he had teams of really smart people actively figuring out the actually correct amount of money to put in the actually correct places, to actually make a difference.

They might have been wrong in their analysis, but I'm confident that in no world did Paul ever say to himself, "Well, there is this slam dunk cause I could give to that would help a lot of people and more science forward, but instead I'll have a yacht with a music studio."

Re: Paul Allen has died

#162

Post by cheeze »

culturestate wrote: post #152
ad_hominem wrote: post #150

It doesn't detract from his greatness but I didn't like his hypocrisy in giving millions to gun control initiatives while personally owning a Panzer tank, SCUD missile launcher, MiG fighter jet, etc.

You can support gun control without supporting total suppression; even Japan, with some of the world’s strictest gun control laws, still lets you buy one if you qualify.

This is a really bad example, specifically wrt Paul Allen. Many of those arguing against him dislike the idea of having two classes of folks, the elite that can own weapons, and plain folks. Japan is the definition of this system...

Re: Paul Allen has died

#163

Post by zamalek »

Qworg wrote: post #147

I worked as Paul's technical adviser at Vulcan - he was funny, warm, and prickly in turns, well aware of the outsized shadow he cast, and absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality. His legacy in the Institutes, in his philanthropic ventures, and in the bones of Seattle itself cannot be overstated. Outside of the sciences, he built South Lake Union (home of Amazon and many other tech…

> absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality.

We need more people like this.

Some of this stuff might be impossible, but there is only one way to find out. It takes a great person to throw themselves into the machine of failure for the benefit of humanity.

It is, ultimately, also philanthropy - it's just philanthropy on a timescale that is far greater than one life and far more than a few [million] lives.

People who push humanity forwards will be remembered forever - through their name on someone's lips, or their legacy in someone's hands. In many ways these type of people are immortal.

Re: Paul Allen has died

#165

Post by cmkumar »

I recently had the opportunity to intern with Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle. Paul Allen was an individual whom the general public in Seattle spoke highly of in terms of his goodwill, magnanimity and philanthropy to the people of Seattle and the US.

Re: Paul Allen has died

#167

Post by seanmcdirmid »

zeusk wrote: post #102
oliyoung wrote: post #61

SpaceShipOne, owned the Seahawks and the Blazers, sunk $500m in brain research, $100m into cell research another $100m into AI, started the -Rock & Roll Hall of Fame- Museum of Pop He made a dent.

He was also the person responsible for UoW's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science, in total he donated around $50m (with another $10m in match from Microsoft) for the school's foundation.

Just the building, not the entire CSE department. Not to mention Allen library.

Re: Paul Allen has died

#168

Post by tinkerteller »

pmichaud wrote: post #161
tinkerteller wrote: post #146

It's bit funny to see all these outpouring of emotions. Just last month we been talking about him and some folks pointed out how he has spent a tiny fraction of accidental lottery in to actual good such as Allen Institute and Semantic Scholar. A REALLY tiny fraction of his immense wealth. Many people think he has spent an order of magnitude more on organizing private rock concerts in desert, building yacht with his p…

I'm not sure what you're valuing by reposting versions of this comment in multiple places in this thread, but it seems like you think he should have given more money to science. Speaking as someone who works in a nonprofit trying to get high end research done, funding is complicated--the equation is absolutely not More Money == More Progress. There are very tricky trade offs, perverse incentives, and huge talent bott…

Did he also had teams to advice on purchasing half a billion dollar yacht? Do you know the total investment that went in to Allen Institute? It's mere $150M. So you are crying over a guy who spent approximately 20X more money on sport teams, private rock concerts and yathces than on something that might define the future on humanity. Compared to Allen, Bill Gates has lived fairly understated lifestyle without owning fleet of jet planes and spent far far more amount of time on advancement of humanity. I might shed tear when he dies. But Paul Allen? Nah... The guy won absolute lottery for writing small amount of code in BASIC interpreter and got approximately same share of money with the guy who actually did all the work and worked his ass off for 40 years of life while Allen roamed around southern France with his girl friend and dreamed about purchasing sport teams so he can stroke his ego as Twelfth Man. I as well be sad when king of Saudi Arabia dies for doing bit of philanthropic work here and there.

Re: Paul Allen has died

#169

Post by dhairya »

Qworg wrote: post #147

I worked as Paul's technical adviser at Vulcan - he was funny, warm, and prickly in turns, well aware of the outsized shadow he cast, and absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality. His legacy in the Institutes, in his philanthropic ventures, and in the bones of Seattle itself cannot be overstated. Outside of the sciences, he built South Lake Union (home of Amazon and many other tech…

I didn't have the privilege to work with Vulcan, but they are a really awesome organization. I think Vulcan best exemplifies Paul Allen's approach to philanthropy, which focused on measurable results and data-driven change. For those unfamiliar, check out Vulcan's outstanding work with elephant atlas (https://elephant-atlas.org/) and the great elephant census (https://www.paulallen.com/remembering-the-great-elephant-cen...). When I was at AI2, the great elephant census was used as both a barometer and analogy to think critically about the value and impact of the research and tools our scientist were developing.

Re: Paul Allen has died

#170

Post by dhairya »

lnrdgmz wrote: post #71
oliyoung wrote: post #61

SpaceShipOne, owned the Seahawks and the Blazers, sunk $500m in brain research, $100m into cell research another $100m into AI, started the -Rock & Roll Hall of Fame- Museum of Pop He made a dent.

Do you mean Museum of Pop? (not Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)

MoPoP has one of the coolest Star trek exhibits! http://www.startrek.com/article/trek-exhibit-celebrates-new-...
Post reply on HN