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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

#71

Post by ghaff »

legitster wrote: post #49

It's interesting he decided to go this way rather than put it into a sustainable trust and just trickle money out indefinitely. I suspect he believes that these causes need shock therapy. To eradicate a disease, you are better off doing it all in one go. I also wonder if he looks at something like the Ford Foundation and realize in the long run that any charitable trust will just turn into an overstuffed political ad…

Was just talking with some folks last weekend about this in a different context. Open-ended foundations can easily have their missions drift and also become essentially sinecures for an executive director.

Ford Foundation is a great example of what can happen. Olin is a good example of a foundation that was set up to dissolve after some length of time.

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

#72

Post by rswail »

ipunchghosts wrote: post #30

How can u get some of this funding to do fundamental AI research?

Why do you think something that is getting extensive investment from private sources needs philanthropy?

Also, billg has laid out the goals of his Foundation and what they aspire to achieve. Which one of those aspirations do you think should be replaced with "fundamental AI research"?

A lot of the Foundation money goes on disease research and preventative and curative vaccine and medicine development. All of those areas are already being transformed by AI as a tool, and a lot of that development happens as a result of philanthropic, government, and private investment.

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

#73

Post by cruffle_duffle »

It’s too bad this guy turned into one of the bigger fear mongers during Covid times. He was one of the main pushers of the whole “New Normal” narrative and his doomsday prognostications did significant damage to society and generally went completely against every value he claimed to have.

But hey, people like him got a free pass to spit whatever nonsense came out of their mouth as long as it was pro-doom. Good news was never allowed and Gates was great at stirring up fear, panic and bad news.

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

#74

Post by sam_lowry_ »

skandium wrote: post #48

One of the great tragedies of the world is that while he is arguably the philanthropist with the highest positive impact in human history, a significant part of the population seems to still think he is the literal Antichrist.

He is literally buying indulgence for his earlier sins.

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

#75

Post by Invictus0 »

burkaman wrote: post #60

I don't think promises like this should be considered news. Take a look at the list of people who have signed Gates' own Giving Pledge and ask yourself if making the pledge changed their behavior at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Pledge .

Historically, it's pretty typical that rich people don't give their money away until their death, and the Pledge itself is not a statement of intent to give the money away during their life.

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

#76

Post by throwaway5752 »

jarbus wrote: post #16

Say what you want, but I respect this a lot. Sure as hell beats giving it all to your kids.

Exactly. Look at the Walton and other families hoarding wealth by abusing tax law and lobbying to make it even worse, and the armies of advisors and attorneys parasitically helping them.

Gates is thousands of times better than most. He and Melinda have done more good for the world than all but a few handfuls of individuals. I've heard estimates his original MSFT stake would be worth over a trillion dollars now.

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

#77

Post by geodel »

netsharc wrote: post #41
seeknotfind wrote: post #15

"virtually" wonder why it needs to be qualified like this.

Because keyboard-warrior pedants will moan if he bought himself a $200K Porsche (0.0001% of that $200B) or even just a dinner for his kids...

I can totally see here the headline "While millions sleep hungry in Asia and Africa Bill Gates throws away uneaten fries after dinner at a local restaurant like its nothing"

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

#78

Post by rswail »

kcatskcolbdi wrote: post #53

> We now understand the essential role nutrition—and especially the gut microbiome—plays in not only helping kids survive but thrive. Glad we finally know now that babies need nutrition.

which part of "not only" and "but thrive" weren't relevant to his point?

We've always known that babies need nutrition, but knowledge of the role of the gut microbiome, how to develop it and ensure it is healthy is relatively new.

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

#79

Post by BSOhealth »

skandium wrote: post #48

One of the great tragedies of the world is that while he is arguably the philanthropist with the highest positive impact in human history, a significant part of the population seems to still think he is the literal Antichrist.

My guess would be, actually a very small number of people think he’s the antichrist. Why would anyone other than someone with decades of operating system passion even care who this guy is? They know he’s a rich guy. Big deal. I’d guess most people just live their lives and don’t care about Microsoft monopoly or FOSS or anything. The same can probably be said for his altruism—most people probably have no idea.

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

#80

Post by biophysboy »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #44
RataNova wrote: post #33

How much power is concentrated in the hands of individuals... It's great that Gates is choosing to use that power philanthropically, but it also raises questions about the long-term role of private wealth in solving public problems.

Well, it's not as if the public sector is solving many problems these days. We seem to have decided, collectively, that we'd rather have more problems. At least that's what we've been voting for.

The public sector has many problems, but they do pick up the tab when disaster strikes.
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