Comment by cladopa
4 days ago
The future value could be shared with the entire humanity.
For example, Bill Gates is going to die like everyone else and give most of the money away, like Warren Buffet.
They can spend a significant amount of money in life if they see nuclear fusion is possible, even if they do not recover the costs.
The only thing that is needed for this to happen is investors being confident that the money is not going to be wasted.
I personally know rich people that are betting a significant part of their wealth in fusion(millions USD) even when they know there is a risk that they will never recover the money.
Poor Bill Gates wants to give his money away, but he hasn’t gotten around to it yet. Why are we still pretending he is a philanthropist and not one of the biggest oligarchs of our time?
Is he one of the richest people in the world?
Yes
Has given money in the order of hundreds of billions to charity?
Yes
Both can be true.
Being a philanthropist connotes having a purely altruistic rationale for giving away money.
If you’re giving away money to shush people, or gather support for your politics, or gain something else out of it then you do not receive the beneficial connotation.
Strictly going by definition, dictators can be philanthropists.
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As I understand it, most of his wealth is tied up in Microsoft stocks, so without collapsing the company he built, his hands are at least partially tied.
As we should all know by now, what oligarchs do is use their stock as collateral for loans, providing all the capital access without the capital gains hit.
> Bill Gates wants to give his money away, but he hasn’t gotten around to it yet
How much have you given away? If you just don't like rich people, say that, don't disguise it with false facts and moralising.
> Why are we still pretending he is a philanthropist and not one of the biggest oligarchs of our time?
My pet is both a cat and brown coated.