3 ms·

It seems unlikely he is actually the richest. Historically many individuals have amassed pretty fabulous amounts of wealth. From some of the history I have read

It seems unlikely he is actually the richest. Historically many individuals have amassed pretty fabulous amounts of wealth. From some of the history I have read, Marcus Licinius Crassus or Lorenzo de' Medici seem to have had substantially more purchasing power, at least relative to the times they lived in. For example, I do not see Bezos building anything I would compare to cathedrals.

turndown 9y ago
>For example, I do not see Bezos building anything I would compare to cathedrals No, I'd say the majority of the things the wealthy build now are less self-aggrandizing and more useful.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
grawprog 9y ago
There's also the fact that historically, wealth was based on gold, land or other tangible things. Bezo's fortune exists on paper and in computers. Those ancient wealthy people were far more wealthy in actual things.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  ? Paper and computers can be converted into gold or land.
  - grawprog 9y ago
    Ya some of it can be. But Bezos can never get that full amount he's 'worth' in tangible real wealth. Where as you literally had to have mountains of treasure and gold or some kingdoms to be that rich in the past.
    - hkmurakami 9y ago
      Would you count US dollar bills as tangible real wealth? Because dollar bills are just as intangible as liquid securities. It has value because we've agreed it has value.
goodoldboys 9y ago
I feel like reusable rocket ships are way better than cathedrals
blacksmith_tb 9y ago
Bezos will need to quadruple it to beat Mansa Musa[1] - which is not to say that's impossible... 1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/meet-mansa-musa-i-of-mali-the-richest-human-being-in-all-history-8213453.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/meet-...
xster 9y ago
Though to be fair, the article claims Bezos is 'the richest man in history'. Not 'the richest man in their cultural sphere in history' or 'the richest man in their continent in history'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P... Rich as they may be, western europe was still a small fraction of the world's wealth.
thomasthomas 9y ago
bezos has the worlds information on a device in his pocket. he can go to the grocery store and buy 1000s of different affordable items. yeah, hes the richest.
scotty79 9y ago
> For example, I do not see Bezos building anything I would compare to cathedrals. I don't know. 105B$ can buy you a lot of concrete.
bobsil1 9y ago
>cathedrals https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170504_Amazon_Spheres_12-1260x840.jpg https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170504...
magneticnorth 9y ago
It's very difficult to compare wealth across different times in human history, but even in modern(ish) times, Rockefeller was much wealthier by many reasonable measures - his assets equaled 1.5% of America's economic output, and had an estimated net worth of more than $300 billion in modern dollars. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/11/the-rockefellers-the-legacy-of-historys-richest-man/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/11/the-roc...

turndown 9y ago

>For example, I do not see Bezos building anything I would compare to cathedrals No, I'd say the majority of the things the wealthy build now are less self-aggrandizing and more useful.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

grawprog 9y ago

There's also the fact that historically, wealth was based on gold, land or other tangible things. Bezo's fortune exists on paper and in computers. Those ancient wealthy people were far more wealthy in actual things.

hkmurakami 9y ago
? Paper and computers can be converted into gold or land.
- grawprog 9y ago
  Ya some of it can be. But Bezos can never get that full amount he's 'worth' in tangible real wealth. Where as you literally had to have mountains of treasure and gold or some kingdoms to be that rich in the past.
  - hkmurakami 9y ago
    Would you count US dollar bills as tangible real wealth? Because dollar bills are just as intangible as liquid securities. It has value because we've agreed it has value.

goodoldboys 9y ago

I feel like reusable rocket ships are way better than cathedrals

blacksmith_tb 9y ago

Bezos will need to quadruple it to beat Mansa Musa[1] - which is not to say that's impossible... 1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/meet-mansa-musa-i-of-mali-the-richest-human-being-in-all-history-8213453.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/meet-...

xster 9y ago

Though to be fair, the article claims Bezos is 'the richest man in history'. Not 'the richest man in their cultural sphere in history' or 'the richest man in their continent in history'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P... Rich as they may be, western europe was still a small fraction of the world's wealth.

thomasthomas 9y ago

bezos has the worlds information on a device in his pocket. he can go to the grocery store and buy 1000s of different affordable items. yeah, hes the richest.

scotty79 9y ago

> For example, I do not see Bezos building anything I would compare to cathedrals. I don't know. 105B$ can buy you a lot of concrete.

bobsil1 9y ago

>cathedrals https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170504_Amazon_Spheres_12-1260x840.jpg https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170504...

magneticnorth 9y ago

It's very difficult to compare wealth across different times in human history, but even in modern(ish) times, Rockefeller was much wealthier by many reasonable measures - his assets equaled 1.5% of America's economic output, and had an estimated net worth of more than $300 billion in modern dollars. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/11/the-rockefellers-the-legacy-of-historys-richest-man/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/11/the-roc...