What's the point of libraries these days? We literally have the possibility for everyone to have a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in their pocket with all books that were ever written.
Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
101–110 of 250 posts
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#102I would much rather billionaire types take on large issues that governments don't want to touch, like space flight or specific diseases in foreign countries, than something already in service like libraries. Maybe I just have a bias due to having a library just up the street from where I live currently, but I have never not had access to an adequate library in my life time, and only see room for marginal diminishing…
> like space flight
Like NASA? Elon Musk is building on top of decades of government funding.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#103Or not? https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/paabgg/i-bought-a...
So the books have link rot but what of the webpages? They are gone, yet the books are still around.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Libraries have such an enormous impact on people that need them! It's as if you read the article and completely ignored all the points the author made -- musical instruments, tools, and art being loaned out. Makerspaces, computers with internet access, free classes, resume help, job applications -- a politically neutral meeting space! These are actually amazing investments because they're getting incredible duty-cycl…
>It's as if you read the article and completely ignored all the points the author made [...] Think of the library as the efficient distribution center of Common Good. One can agree with all the positives mentioned in the article and your points as well but still question if there is an _even better_ investment than libraries that will result in the most good. Even Jeff Bezos' wealth is finite so spending it is a zero…
Yup, jasode has got the right idea.
The meter-stick to compare all charities (or hell, government programs? Personal spending?) is that we can donate $3000 to the Against Malaria Foundation and save a child's life.
I might be a numbers-first globalist nerd, but $3000 per life? It makes me want to defund most welfare programs in the states because by comparison, they are horribly inefficient. And inefficiency of resources, in this scenario, results in dead children.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Visit a library in a low-income area (where people need them the most) and see the kinds of computers people use to hunt for jobs, do their homework, etc. I've been to a library that was running windows 2000 on TWO ancient Dells with with CRT monitors in 2015. And the two computers they had were being used by adults and students. There is so much to be gained from improving libraries.
I completely agree. Where I lived at in Houston, trying to find a place to sit and study quietly was near impossible, which is something I certainly took for granted. Libraries provide so much public good: giving the public internet access, allowing people to read classics and better themselves for free, and giving some quiet space for those wanting to study (and not have to pay for a $5 coffee).
not paying for a $5 coffee hurts the official GDP metrics. Reading a book in a library contributes $0 to official GDP.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Libraries have such an enormous impact on people that need them! It's as if you read the article and completely ignored all the points the author made -- musical instruments, tools, and art being loaned out. Makerspaces, computers with internet access, free classes, resume help, job applications -- a politically neutral meeting space! These are actually amazing investments because they're getting incredible duty-cycl…
>It's as if you read the article and completely ignored all the points the author made [...] Think of the library as the efficient distribution center of Common Good. One can agree with all the positives mentioned in the article and your points as well but still question if there is an _even better_ investment than libraries that will result in the most good. Even Jeff Bezos' wealth is finite so spending it is a zero…
An excellent point, there's always the possibility of something better: but there's time and energy invested in finding the better too, not to mention risk. Libraries are most certainly not going to result the highest utilization of that money but I would argue that they should form a stable, low-risk, immediate, guaranteed ROI core to his philanthropic efforts.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Visit a library in a low-income area (where people need them the most) and see the kinds of computers people use to hunt for jobs, do their homework, etc. I've been to a library that was running windows 2000 on TWO ancient Dells with with CRT monitors in 2015. And the two computers they had were being used by adults and students. There is so much to be gained from improving libraries.
This makes me think a recycle/reuse program should exist. "Our" old hardware is newer/better than what they have. I know this program probably does exists but I usually assume they are just breaking my device apart and pulling out gold/metals. If I knew the library needed a gently used device, I'd have no problem giving them my old stuff.
Thanks to the march of progress, it's cheaper to deliver new tablets and keyboards than to wrangle ad-hoc used hardware.
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#108I find this titles very off putting. It seems to imply that someone, who wasn't competent enough to make billions of their own, is somehow more apt to know how to better spend them than the one that actually did.
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Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#109Whenever a topic like this gets posted, it feels like the majority of commenters feel 'entitled' to other people's money and think they know best how to spend it. Or the notion they have to 'give back.'
I'm not rich in the popular sense of the word (besides having the fortune of being American middle class), but I do have investments by virtue of almost never spending on consumer goods. And having no wife or kids. My coworkers realize after years of seeing me drive the same beater correctly assume I'm in better shape financially, and some have the audacity to jokingly ask me to put them in my will.
Now, I will not deny that I am an extremely fortunate person who is cognitively able, like Bezos or anyone well-connected with material wealth, but what's with the 'he should donate to this cause instead'?
It's his money. He could buy a fleet of yachts, set them on fire, and upload the video footage - why shouldn't he be allowed to do that? At what arbitrary level of wealth does 'his' money become everyone else's money?
Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yet if I want to make a serious study of something, I hit the textbooks. The internet is, in my experience, a poor replacement for a stack of well written physical textbooks. The internet may be a big library, but in many ways it's not a very good one.
Counterpoint: My friends all went through mechanical engineering WITHOUT reading textbooks - that was the secret to their success. No one is going to touch the textbooks in a library.
Did a master's in maths with the internet in front of me the whole time. Learned almost entirely from textbooks on my desk. The internet was useful for discussing problems and ordering books from the local library.
The secret to my success was reading the textbooks and working through them. Had perhaps twenty days of formal instruction throughout, but when I added up the hours spent it was effectively me and the books for a time equal to eight months' full-time. Couldn't have done it without simply hitting the books. Can't speak for your chums. Maybe they learned in classes or lectures or practical sessions or some such. For me, it was hitting the books.