There is a whole scene of these super-heroes. The amazing Snap Judgement did a piece on them:
Batman's Real Story
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Re: Batman's Real Story
#12Great story. Just what some of us need.
"Though Batman has long been aware that I’m a journalist, he has never suggested I write about him. He does not crave publicity. Like his comic book namesake, he doesn’t seek credit for what he does."
Re: Batman's Real Story
#13At first glance weird story for HN. But figuring out interesting ways to give back should be in the future of every successful entrepreneur, and never to early to get started.
Interesting ways to give back should not really be a desideratum. Look for maximally efficient, effective ways of giving back.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#14Having just come off multiple months of our daughter being in the hospital in some very grim (at the time) circumstances, I can say that while visits from celebrities are many, visits from celebrities that actually care are few. I would have loved to have seen Batman (even the Lenny B. Robinson version) wander down our ward. The world needs more of this guy.
Yes. My son spent several months in a cancer ward. ... His best (and only, to my memory) visit from an "outsider" was an honest-to-goodness Santa Claus in the nicest Santa outfit I'd ever seen.
My son's Wish (from Make-A-Wish) was to visit Spider-man. He was very much into superheroes. Although we did get to see him on a "wish-trip" to Universal Studios, he was too small for the Spider-man 3-D ride by about four inches. We would have loved to have a hospital visit by superheroes ... but alas, I think the controlled entry nature of the cancer ward made it so many there at the hospital "just to visit" ended up in other areas.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#15At first glance weird story for HN. But figuring out interesting ways to give back should be in the future of every successful entrepreneur, and never to early to get started.
I'd imagine a lot of people who read HN also love Batman :)
Re: Batman's Real Story
#16Would realy love to see a documentary of this Batman. Seems like he would move more people then the Dark Knight.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#17At first glance weird story for HN. But figuring out interesting ways to give back should be in the future of every successful entrepreneur, and never to early to get started.
Interesting ways to give back should not really be a desideratum. Look for maximally efficient, effective ways of giving back.
Maybe it's impossible to find the "maximally efficient, effective ways", so you should do the interesting ones (i.e., not everyone is doing) that enrich you and make you happy, and have a measurable positive effect on others, like this guy does.
With him being well-off, would it be more "maximally efficient" for him to do something else with his money? Maybe, but he wouldn't be making people happy with his black Lambo or the "real" Batmobile he is building. We don't know what would happen if he did something else, but we do know people like what he's doing.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#18Having just come off multiple months of our daughter being in the hospital in some very grim (at the time) circumstances, I can say that while visits from celebrities are many, visits from celebrities that actually care are few. I would have loved to have seen Batman (even the Lenny B. Robinson version) wander down our ward. The world needs more of this guy.
Yes. My son spent several months in a cancer ward. ... His best (and only, to my memory) visit from an "outsider" was an honest-to-goodness Santa Claus in the nicest Santa outfit I'd ever seen. My son's Wish (from Make-A-Wish) was to visit Spider-man. He was very much into superheroes. Although we did get to see him on a "wish-trip" to Universal Studios, he was too small for the Spider-man 3-D ride by about four inch…
As a child i spend a christmas in a hospital and indeed they had a santa claus comming by and giving me a small present.
Still spending christmas in the hospital suck. I hope your kid is alright.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting ways to give back should not really be a desideratum. Look for maximally efficient, effective ways of giving back.
Maybe it's impossible to find the "maximally efficient, effective ways", so you should do the interesting ones (i.e., not everyone is doing) that enrich you and make you happy, and have a measurable positive effect on others, like this guy does. With him being well-off, would it be more "maximally efficient" for him to do something else with his money? Maybe, but he wouldn't be making people happy with his black Lamb…
Not having perfect information is not an excuse to ignore the information you have.
I don't know exactly how different the world would be if he donated $250,000 to, say, combating malaria instead of building a better Batmobile. But I would give at least 10:1 odds (if such a bet could be judged) that it would have more people alive in 20 years, for example.
But saving many lives thousands of miles away doesn't feel as good as making sick children happy right here, and it doesn't make as good press.
Don't get me wrong: he earned that $250,000, he's under no particular obligation to do anything with it. I consider it $250,000 that he's spending on a cool hobby that he enjoys, that also makes kids happy, and that also brings publicity to doing-good-things (probably not optimal publicity, but better than nothing).
And he's certainly making the world a better place than I am, right now.
But if his objective is to do as much good for the world as he can, he's not acheiving it.
And we shouldn't be too critical of him, because I think criticism is more likely to turn potential Batmans to the path of not-bothering, rather than the path of utility-maximisation.
Re: Batman's Real Story
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe it's impossible to find the "maximally efficient, effective ways", so you should do the interesting ones (i.e., not everyone is doing) that enrich you and make you happy, and have a measurable positive effect on others, like this guy does. With him being well-off, would it be more "maximally efficient" for him to do something else with his money? Maybe, but he wouldn't be making people happy with his black Lamb…
Not having perfect information is not an excuse to ignore the information you have. I don't know exactly how different the world would be if he donated $250,000 to, say, combating malaria instead of building a better Batmobile. But I would give at least 10:1 odds (if such a bet could be judged) that it would have more people alive in 20 years, for example. But saving many lives thousands of miles away doesn't feel as…
But I would give at least 10:1 odds
(if such a bet could be judged) that it would
have more people alive in 20 years, for example.
(1) many people sick with cancer or malaria are going to die anyway and bringing a little happiness into their lives is worth the trouble, even if those people won't count towards your "alive" statistics.
"Making the world a better place" is not necessarily about keeping people alive. It's also about literally making the world a nicer place to live in.
(2) When it comes to research, $250.000 is basically the salary of a good researcher or two for a year. That still counts for something, but it's peanuts.