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Larry is 71. He should be investing way more than this on life sciences research if he wants to move the needle on his own life span. Given his net worth, spend

Larry is 71. He should be investing way more than this on life sciences research if he wants to move the needle on his own life span. Given his net worth, spending at least a billion a year is a no-brainer. The answer to spending that money effectively is really simple. Invest it in PhD scholarships. There is no better value for fundamental science ROI on the planet. $6 billion could buy him 100,000 new PhDs. Every single one could be working on figuring out how to extend his quantity/quality of life. That's ~10% of his net worth. It's irrational for him to not do it.

zootam 10y ago
i think this gift is only the start to further charitable behavior, and a key selling point was his trust in Agus to be involved in the project. "Money doesn't mean that much to me," Ellison said, according to Agus. "I want to see progress" in cancer research.
billforsternz 10y ago
On the one hand 100,000 new PhDs all working on how to extend Larry's quantity/quality of life seems wrong. On the other hand what you say makes sense and would actually be a net win for humanity.
- Dagwoodie 10y ago
  That is the heart and soul of capitalism. What is good for me, is good for the common man. I don't think this will give any extra points in the afterlife but at the very least, someone or everyone will benefit in at least some small way.
  - nibnib 10y ago
    That is the heart and soul of capitalism. What is good for me, is good for the common man. This doesn't seem like a property of capitalism at all. In fact, doing this research through university seems to run against capitalist principles. If it was done privately there would be no obligation to share any of the outcomes.
solipsism 10y ago
He's going to "buy" 100,000 PhDs with $60,000 per person? To do what, for only one year? In which facilities, and with what materials? I think your numbers are off by a couple orders of magnitude.
- grizzles 10y ago
  My numbers are just fine. $20K a year is a typical PhD scholarship amount. In most western countries scholarships are tax free, and PhD students that need more usually do some teaching or RA work. Facilities: The University that received the money. Materials: A computer.
  - solipsism 10y ago
    Every single one could be working on figuring out how to extend his quantity/quality of life This made it sound like he would be hiring PhDs. If he gave a scholarship to 100,000 PhDs, very few of them would end up working on anything related to extending Larry Ellison's life.
    - grizzles 10y ago
      I would have said postdocs if that's what I meant. I see very focused industry sponsored PhD scholarships all the time. I don't see why this would be any different.
      - solipsism 10y ago
        I would have said postdocs if that's what I meant You seem confused about the terminology. I think you meant "PhD candidates". If you're talking about "hiring a PhD", this is a person who has earned his/her PhD and is in the field. A postdoc is specifically a person still pursuing additional research at an educational institution, still working with a faculty mentor, and usually alongside PhD candidates and other postdocs.
        grizzles 10y ago
tominous 10y ago
It's an interesting idea in theory but how do you ensure that money is well spent? It reminds me of the Australian government's "free insulation" scheme where a lot of money was poured into an industry very quickly. Result: wasted money, fraud, deaths from undertrained contractors, and the devastation of the existing stable industry. Your PhD scholarship idea would see similar issues, including unforeseen bottlenecks which would starve out existing worthy research -- not just in this field but others too. I think Ellison is right to be very particular about where he spends his money.
- grizzles 10y ago
  There are over 20,000 Universities in the world, with lots of potentially amazing dark horse PhD hopefuls that are passed over every year due to lack of funding. I think a decent argument can be made that the black swan that could give Larry an extra 15 years of sailboat time is more likely to be in that group than in a single institution endowed with $200M.
  - mathattack 10y ago
    There's already too many PhDs for academia and Industry to absorb. You'd need to create VC funding as well.
  - tominous 10y ago
    You could also say the next big tech startup will come from a random town around the world instead of Silicon Valley. But somehow the concentration of capital, expertise and opportunity in one place has a multiplier effect that makes Silicon Valley unreasonably effective at generating startups. Similarly, you are more likely to "hit the high notes" in research by concentrating effort in a few places. The alternative is lots of duplicated efforts that each don't quite achieve anything. This applies especially to medical research where the barriers to getting meaningful clinical results are sky high.
    - grizzles 10y ago
      Scientific progress is a worldwide phenomenon, and there are great scientific contributions made by brilliant people all over the world on a regular basis. If you are advocating that the best Universities deserve a higher share of funding I don't disagree but there are plenty of great scientists that started at what you might judge as lesser Universities. To give them nothing would be an error.
toyg 10y ago
Larry is not a fool, it's not about him; I think he's reached an age where you start thinking seriously about leaving the world, and things like hubris and greed (which drove him before, one could argue) don't make as much sense as before. His children are what they are and he won't be buying boats once he dies, so why not help people you like who can make a difference for people coming after you?
- grizzles 10y ago
  I think people like Larry are greedier than you give them credit for. I can't help but notice this story that casts Larry in a very benevolent light was made public on the exact day that litigation started in a massive $9 Billion dollar trial, Oracle v. Google. Very fresh, I won't forget it. A nice way to kill two birds with one stone.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  I don't think he is a fool but I do think it's about him; he wants a longer life and his prior investments throughout his life pointed to that. He survived the heartattack age and no dementia so far, so chances are cancer will get him are high (you have to die of something). Indirectly he already invested in cancer prevention by investing in research to aging etc. Those weren't spectacular amounts either so either it's just something he feels he owes himself or maybe he has managers that go about it smarter (like the PhD example). I don't know the guy personally and it's great he is putting money in this but he is doing it for him i'm sure. Edit: like the other comment 'Larry Ellison has cancer'; that's exactly the reason he would do this...
bksjdf 10y ago
Greed and status are stronger motivators for most billionaires than their own health and life.

zootam 10y ago

i think this gift is only the start to further charitable behavior, and a key selling point was his trust in Agus to be involved in the project. "Money doesn't mean that much to me," Ellison said, according to Agus. "I want to see progress" in cancer research.

billforsternz 10y ago

On the one hand 100,000 new PhDs all working on how to extend Larry's quantity/quality of life seems wrong. On the other hand what you say makes sense and would actually be a net win for humanity.

Dagwoodie 10y ago
That is the heart and soul of capitalism. What is good for me, is good for the common man. I don't think this will give any extra points in the afterlife but at the very least, someone or everyone will benefit in at least some small way.
- nibnib 10y ago
  That is the heart and soul of capitalism. What is good for me, is good for the common man. This doesn't seem like a property of capitalism at all. In fact, doing this research through university seems to run against capitalist principles. If it was done privately there would be no obligation to share any of the outcomes.

solipsism 10y ago

He's going to "buy" 100,000 PhDs with $60,000 per person? To do what, for only one year? In which facilities, and with what materials? I think your numbers are off by a couple orders of magnitude.

grizzles 10y ago
My numbers are just fine. $20K a year is a typical PhD scholarship amount. In most western countries scholarships are tax free, and PhD students that need more usually do some teaching or RA work. Facilities: The University that received the money. Materials: A computer.
- solipsism 10y ago
  Every single one could be working on figuring out how to extend his quantity/quality of life This made it sound like he would be hiring PhDs. If he gave a scholarship to 100,000 PhDs, very few of them would end up working on anything related to extending Larry Ellison's life.
  - grizzles 10y ago
    I would have said postdocs if that's what I meant. I see very focused industry sponsored PhD scholarships all the time. I don't see why this would be any different.
    - solipsism 10y ago
      I would have said postdocs if that's what I meant You seem confused about the terminology. I think you meant "PhD candidates". If you're talking about "hiring a PhD", this is a person who has earned his/her PhD and is in the field. A postdoc is specifically a person still pursuing additional research at an educational institution, still working with a faculty mentor, and usually alongside PhD candidates and other postdocs.
      - grizzles 10y ago

tominous 10y ago

It's an interesting idea in theory but how do you ensure that money is well spent? It reminds me of the Australian government's "free insulation" scheme where a lot of money was poured into an industry very quickly. Result: wasted money, fraud, deaths from undertrained contractors, and the devastation of the existing stable industry. Your PhD scholarship idea would see similar issues, including unforeseen bottlenecks which would starve out existing worthy research -- not just in this field but others too. I think Ellison is right to be very particular about where he spends his money.

grizzles 10y ago
There are over 20,000 Universities in the world, with lots of potentially amazing dark horse PhD hopefuls that are passed over every year due to lack of funding. I think a decent argument can be made that the black swan that could give Larry an extra 15 years of sailboat time is more likely to be in that group than in a single institution endowed with $200M.
- mathattack 10y ago
  There's already too many PhDs for academia and Industry to absorb. You'd need to create VC funding as well.
- tominous 10y ago
  You could also say the next big tech startup will come from a random town around the world instead of Silicon Valley. But somehow the concentration of capital, expertise and opportunity in one place has a multiplier effect that makes Silicon Valley unreasonably effective at generating startups. Similarly, you are more likely to "hit the high notes" in research by concentrating effort in a few places. The alternative is lots of duplicated efforts that each don't quite achieve anything. This applies especially to medical research where the barriers to getting meaningful clinical results are sky high.
  - grizzles 10y ago
    Scientific progress is a worldwide phenomenon, and there are great scientific contributions made by brilliant people all over the world on a regular basis. If you are advocating that the best Universities deserve a higher share of funding I don't disagree but there are plenty of great scientists that started at what you might judge as lesser Universities. To give them nothing would be an error.

toyg 10y ago

Larry is not a fool, it's not about him; I think he's reached an age where you start thinking seriously about leaving the world, and things like hubris and greed (which drove him before, one could argue) don't make as much sense as before. His children are what they are and he won't be buying boats once he dies, so why not help people you like who can make a difference for people coming after you?

grizzles 10y ago
I think people like Larry are greedier than you give them credit for. I can't help but notice this story that casts Larry in a very benevolent light was made public on the exact day that litigation started in a massive $9 Billion dollar trial, Oracle v. Google. Very fresh, I won't forget it. A nice way to kill two birds with one stone.
tluyben2 10y ago
I don't think he is a fool but I do think it's about him; he wants a longer life and his prior investments throughout his life pointed to that. He survived the heartattack age and no dementia so far, so chances are cancer will get him are high (you have to die of something). Indirectly he already invested in cancer prevention by investing in research to aging etc. Those weren't spectacular amounts either so either it's just something he feels he owes himself or maybe he has managers that go about it smarter (like the PhD example). I don't know the guy personally and it's great he is putting money in this but he is doing it for him i'm sure. Edit: like the other comment 'Larry Ellison has cancer'; that's exactly the reason he would do this...

bksjdf 10y ago

Greed and status are stronger motivators for most billionaires than their own health and life.