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Comment by __MatrixMan__

18 hours ago

"not necessarily pretty smart" is a very nice way of putting it.

I don't know where the threshold ought to be, but beyond a certain size a pile of money can only indicate bad things about its owner. Either they're too unimaginative to turn that potential into action, or their designs are so against the will of the people that it's going to take gargantuan amounts of coercion to get them done. Either way, a billionaire is an individual of dubious merit.

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__MatrixMan__

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derektank  18 hours ago

Most rich people aren't sitting on piles of cash; their capital is (usually) invested in a corporation which is busy turning potential into action, as you put it. I think there's an argument to be made that amassing and hoarding great wealth, particularly near the end of one's life with the intent to pass it directly onto one's heirs, is morally questionable if you believe in any kind of universalist ethic. But I think criticizing someone as uncreative simply because they're not selling off all their equity to go pursue some other venture is way off

  • __MatrixMan__  14 hours ago

    That sounds very good but it's difficult to square with the behavior of those corporations. Can it really be that the change all of these well meaning rich people want to see in the world is... products that spy on an manipulates their users, products that can't be repaired, and products that putting future generations at risk by damaging the environment?

    Either these investments are not paying off, or they are and the investors have a very dark vision for us. Neither reflects very well on the investor.

    • ido  8 hours ago

      I would guess it's not so much that they "want to see this change" as much as "they want to make as much money as possible and don't care about these consequences"

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    • robertlagrant  8 hours ago

      > products that spy on an manipulates their users, products that can't be repaired, and products that putting future generations at risk by damaging the environment?

      You seem to have a very narrow view of the range of products that exist. Are you basically just talking about smartphones?

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