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My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

gatesnotes.com

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Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#641

Post by Slava_Propanei »

blooalien wrote: post #594
Aeolun wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn’t really matter though? The end result is we’ll get to Mars faster than we’d otherwise do.

The way things are going here on Earth (thanks in part to Musk and "Glorious Leader" Trump), we ain't makin' it to Mars before global resource wars completely cripple all our scientific aspirations, including becoming a "space-faring" species. It's all wasted effort at this point, because nobody seems willing to do what it's gonna take to ensure that humanity has any future at all.

[dead]

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#642

Post by card_zero »

lechatonnoir wrote: post #600
owebmaster wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It assumes that the people of the future are more worthy of it than the people of now I don't think that is the assumption. The assumption is that people will treat them well for planning to give away their money without them needing to live their life without their precious wealth.

This is a weirdly conspiratorial idea to my eyes. Not because people don't have unsavory hidden motivations that they give good excuses for, but because this doesn't really seem to confer any benefit. The benefit of wealth is your capacity to spend it. If they don't spend it in order to give it away on a future date, they have lived their lives without it. You can say that they are selfishly maintain optionality whil…

I might spend millions easily enough, but I might struggle to spend millions more on top of that. Bill Gates has a hundred thousand millions. Personally I probably wouldn't spend it because figuring out how to spend it sounds like hard work. I think this idea was first explored in trashy 1902 comedy novel Brewster's Millions, but is somewhat true.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#644

Post by calepayson »

lazyhummingbird wrote: post #636
calepayson wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an AI skeptic when it comes to business cases. I think AI is great at getting to average and the whole point of a business is that you're paying them to do better than average. But I think current AI (not where it might be in a few months or years) is absolutely amazing for disadvantaged people. Access to someone who's average is so freaking cool if you don't already have it. Used correctly it's a free math tutor…

I know a few of the leaders designing and developing Microsoft’s AI applications for the Gates Foundation. I think you’re on the right track, and, alongside the scale of service (reaching more people and more topics with an average level of advice or recognition), there’s a second component to it: scale of analysis. The newly possible solutions that AI advances have created include more than those famous models that…

This is a wonderful and detailed response. Thank you!

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#645

Post by iamleppert »

It's never made sense to me that the ultra rich wouldn't want to give their money away while they are still living? You know, to see the actual results and impact of that money and make sure it is having the impact you want? What is the point of holding onto it until you die? Meanwhile you see the world's problems getting worse and worse, yet you hold on to the money waiting for your own death? It makes no sense if you truly are altruistic.

It's the same thing as if a child who was given all the toys decided they want to hoard them for themself until after they were no longer a child.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#646

Post by ghaff »

card_zero wrote: post #642
lechatonnoir wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a weirdly conspiratorial idea to my eyes. Not because people don't have unsavory hidden motivations that they give good excuses for, but because this doesn't really seem to confer any benefit. The benefit of wealth is your capacity to spend it. If they don't spend it in order to give it away on a future date, they have lived their lives without it. You can say that they are selfishly maintain optionality whil…

I might spend millions easily enough, but I might struggle to spend millions more on top of that. Bill Gates has a hundred thousand millions. Personally I probably wouldn't spend it because figuring out how to spend it sounds like hard work. I think this idea was first explored in trashy 1902 comedy novel Brewster's Millions, but is somewhat true.

Yeah, multiple opulent houses seems like a lot of work. Even if I hire people to manage seems like a lot of head-space. I can stay in really nice hotels and eat in nice restaurants for a lot less money and effort. OK, maybe a private jet or at least NetJets or whatever the current thing is.

At a much smaller scale I've thought about a small city place and concluded it just wasn't worth the effort vs. renting at a nice time of the year.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#647

Post by Windchaser »

_bin_ wrote: post #334
derektank wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who grew up in a Christian faith tradition that said Jesus Christ died for the sins of all of us and that we are all made in God's image, I find this position so bizarre. If we are all children of God, why should I prioritize the well being of a single stranger in Ohio over twenty strangers in Kenya? I can understand an argument for prioritizing one's family, especially if you are a parent, or even one's i…

This is a pretty common question that's raised: how can we square this with loving our fellow man? The short answer is Christianity isn't a utilitarian belief system. While God loves everyone equally, he puts some of us closer together in love: family, friends, neighbors, countrymen. This incurs a greater obligation , plus we ought to love more those who are closer to us. Sadly, a lot of Christian faiths teach dogma…

> The short answer is Christianity isn't a utilitarian belief system. While God loves everyone equally, he puts some of us closer together in love: family, friends, neighbors, countrymen. This incurs a greater obligation, plus we ought to love more those who are closer to us.

This is very directly contradicted in the parable of the Good Samaritan, though. When Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, and Peter asked “but who is my neighbor”, Jesus pulled up the Samaritans - a group that the Jews had ethnic and religious conflicts with. (A modern equivalent for modern Jews might be the Palestinians). And he pointed and told a whole story that basically said “these guys. Love these enemies as if they were your family”.

So, yeah, I’m gonna hard disagree that Christianity supports treating your own townspeople as more worthy of help, versus helping the poorer people in other countries.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#648

Post by Windchaser »

ghaff wrote: post #82
Windchaser wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So he’s going to selflessly donate it to himself to save himself from taxes? What a hero. You don't really "save yourself from taxes" by donating money to charity. Option A: sell stock for $100, pay taxes of $20, spend $80 on yourself Option B: donate stock of $100 to charity, and spend $0 on yourself Which of these options leaves Gates with more money in his pocket to spend on himself? Giving money away doesn't sa…

>You don't really "save yourself from taxes" by donating money to charity. That's not really true if you have sufficiently appreciated assets and are in a high tax bracket. You can donate those appreciated assets and collect an annuity from some percentage of the face value donation and basically be shielded from any capital gains. See e.g. https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/guidance/philanthropy/cha... I'm sure ther…

I mean, maybe? But long-term capital gains are a low tax bracket, so the “in a high tax bracket” part doesn’t apply.

I’m curious what portion of his wealth is even taxable. Remember that Bush Jr did a “capital gains forgiveness” year with 0% long term gains rate. I expect many many many of the wealthy sold and then rebought all their major assets that year.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#649

Post by _bin_ »

kubb wrote: post #616
_bin_ wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how when I specifically share opinions that you specifically dislike, you sling mud about "echoing". Of course, everyone else's opinions are well-founded and of their own mind. Mine, on the other hand, are downloaded straight into my head from a daily Fox News broadcast. You can tell by how my opinions aren't your opinions, and therefore must be those of some Bad Guy or not Real Opinions. Get a life dawg.

> opinions that you specifically dislike You’re only sharing one opinion (America should isolate), and you’re presenting it as a fact (you refer to being „correct”). I think you’re projecting the dislike towards your opinion. If I see American electoral politics seep into HN, I’ll call it out, as dictated by my intellectual curiosity.

Ahh there it is. I figured you weren't American. Look man, politics sometimes comes up on here. I don't see you materializing whenever that happens to pitch a fit. Since America is the most significant nation, and where most of this site's users live, we can expect that when politics-adjacent topics are posted, American politics will always be at the forefront. You're going to have to get over that. If you have a counterargument, I suggest you present it.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#650

Post by vinceguidry »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #410
vinceguidry wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. They ask him for government backdoors, to add stuff to it for military purposes. It's quid pro quo. Bill Gates gets to capture the lion's share of the wealth from his government-protected monopoly with all its anti-competitive practices and the public is left out in the cold.

So other OS's like Sun and MacOS refused to put in backdoors, and that's why Bill Gates is richer?

If you want to be reductive about it, be my guest, but don't infect me with that crap. People who get buddy-buddy with the government are allowed to enrich themselves. I don't know why it's such a hard concept to grasp. Been this way for all of human history. Tech billionaires are just the latest iteration.
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