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Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

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Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#111

Post by goialoq »

civilian wrote: post #104
jasode wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 resou…

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/#we-are-giving-what-we-can

(The web design is a disaster, but the content is fine once you dig it up)

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#112

Post by kazinator »

bitL wrote: post #101

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.

... with all books that were ever written.

All that and an electronic girlfriend application to replace the real one you could have picked up at the library.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#113

Post by tambourine_man »

mehrzad wrote: post #99
tambourine_man wrote: post #85

I 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.

I find your comment very off-putting. First of all, Bezos asked for advice on philanthropy. Second, most wealth generated by the property owning class (including Bezos) is through extracting the surplus value of their employees. Those billions were made through force (by the state monopoly of violence through police defending the so-called "right to property") as his employees never had a fair shot in getting a reaso…

Oh yes, he did ask for advice, I forgot about that. Never mind.

Not being sarcastic, to me that makes all the difference.

The rest of your comment didn't make much sense to me, however.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#114

Post by randyrand »

chickenfries wrote: post #18
graphitezepp wrote: post #15

I 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…

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.

> where people need them the most

On the contrary, even the poor have their own computers and smartphones these days and these libraries don't see much sense in upgrading their rarely used computers.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#115

Post by KGIII »

conductr wrote: post #57
chickenfries wrote: post #18

Earlier 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.

The best thing you can do is ask your librarian. Libraries are often poorly funded, very much so in rural areas. They are often partially funded with donations.

Somebody was willing to step up and rehab a local library. Had they not done so, it would have been forced to close. It is staffed entirely by volunteers. The town can barely afford to budget the heat.

Fortunately, the same person now donates regularly and there's no risk of immediate closure. They will have also left a small trust for the library when they pass away.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#116

Post by _rpd »

saosebastiao wrote: post #75

Here's a better idea...and one that will ultimately benefit libraries as well: start buying out all the evil academic publishers, overhaul their technology, get rid of copyright assignment, and offer free access to anyone. Then do the same with legal records, although that is more of a legal problem than a money problem.

Even a modest level of support for high quality peer review of open access journals would have a big effect.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#117

Post by EliRivers »

icebraining wrote: post #48
EliRivers wrote: post #36

Earlier 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.

Alternatively, that could be an argument for digitalizing those textbooks and offering them for free. Maybe Bezos should fund Libgen :)

I can't speak for anyone else, but every textbook I used during a master's in maths was available on the screen in front of me. I used paper textbooks instead. They're simply much better for serious learning.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#118

Post by [deleted] »

icebraining wrote: post #48
EliRivers wrote: post #36

Earlier 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.

Alternatively, that could be an argument for digitalizing those textbooks and offering them for free. Maybe Bezos should fund Libgen :)

[deleted]

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#119

Post by goialoq »

RivieraKid wrote: post #35
graphitezepp wrote: post #15

I 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…

I wish some tech billionaire or rich tech company invested in rethinking healthcare from the ground up (or like Elon Musk likes to say, from first principles) with focus on UX, state-of-the-art technologies and integration. Anytime I use our healthcare (although, this is the Czech Rep, could be different in USA), I feel like it should be easy to design a better service. Basically, something what Tesla did, apply Sili…

https://theranos.com/ :-)

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#120

Post by lebanon_tn »

cko wrote: post #109

Whenever 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…

You're missing the point. Bezos specifically tweeted requesting ideas for philanthropy. No one is saying he can't spend the money how he wants.
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