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The least impactful way to spend $300M?

passingtime.substack.com

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Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#31

Post by prng2021 »

Galanwe wrote: post #8

I don't think one donates money to Harvard just for the sake of a plaque. I guess there is some sort of indirect benefit to be had after such a donation, like an entry pass for a child, an entry pass for a PhD, or something of that vein?

I think that’s thinking too much into it. He could have spent 1/10th of that and got those things in return.

These billionaires want fame and to be the focus of discussions like this one. They know people will be in awe over such a huge sum of money. That’s what $300M buys you and is so much more interesting than buying a product: attention and fame.

Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#33

Post by hinkley »

orangepurple wrote: post #19

Invest it in a beverage company whose customer base is conservative, frat boys, and the working class then aggressively rebrand it with everything they oppose front and center. Proceed to lose six billion dollars of capitalization in six days.

Buy a popular communication platform and then ruin it by making it a mockery of both free speech and censorship at the same time.

Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#36

Post by iancmceachern »

Medical devices and medical innovation in general. There are so many medical devices and therapies that are technically possible, exist in some form or another, but do not meet the 10x returns that typical VC and big medtech players demand on their products. There are so many opportunities to really help people that are suffering that may not be super profitable, but aren't money loosers either.

Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#37

Post by cool_dude85 »

ethanbond wrote: post #27
cool_dude85 wrote: post #20

This article very briefly encapsulates everything wrong with Effective Altruism: a boneheaded assumption that this money is being donated for its societal impact, an unwillingness to try to actually understand what's going on, instead choosing to engage with the Harvard endowment on its own terms by taking the university "mission statement" seriously, and a screenshot of an Excel spreadsheet purporting to identify be…

I doubt anyone in EA is actually misled by what’s going on here. They’re trying to out it as not a charitable donation at all so no one who hasn’t thought about it is misled. This is a good thing to do.

Then why take it seriously at all. You're looking to perform a forensic analysis to determine whether the wallet inspector's credentials are a forgery. The whole thing is a scam.

Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#38

Post by balderdash »

It seems like the only morally acceptable outcome for the author is that rich people give away all their money in a way that comports with their view of what a “good” use of these donations would be.

Don’t disagree that the marginal utility for the world populace might be pretty limited, but it seems like it has utility for the donor

Re: The least impactful way to spend $300M?

#40

Post by scrollaway »

kfrzcode wrote: post #32

Give everyone in America $1. That'll impact basically nothing.

A donation like this would be extremely impactful because it would: 1. Get a lot of people talking and 2. Probably cause a bureaucratic headache for a LOT of people and waste insane amounts of time nation wide.
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