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What if you need $10B to reach your goal? You'll need to raise money somehow, and reputation is the deciding factor for many investors. Also, once you become f

What if you need $10B to reach your goal? You'll need to raise money somehow, and reputation is the deciding factor for many investors. Also, once you become fabulously wealthy, you want something more than financial security, you want to be remembered. Look at the flip Bill Gates did with becoming a leading philanthropist. He doesn't want to be remembered as the evil, anti-competitive CEO of Microsoft during the 90s, he wants to be remembered for his work in the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Trump didn't want to be remembered as the shrewd personality on The Apprentice, he wanted to become President of the United States. Some just want to be extraordinarily rich to make "richest people in the world" lists (that's where I place Larry Ellison). $2B is far from enough for most people to "be remembered".

brewdad 8y ago
So either way, it's all ego. Why should I care at all if I'm "remembered" after I die? I'll be dead. Conan O'Brien's NYTimes interview the other day captured this sentiment exactly. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/arts/television/conan-obrien-tbs-show-reboot-half-hour.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/arts/television/conan-obr... "I had a great conversation with Albert Brooks once. When I met him for the first time, I was kind of stammering. I said, you make movies, they live on forever. I just do these late-night shows, they get lost, they’re never seen again and who cares? And he looked at me and he said, [Albert Brooks voice] “What are you talking about? None of it matters.” None of it matters? “No, that’s the secret. In 1940, people said Clark Gable is the face of the 20th Century. Who [expletive] thinks about Clark Gable? It doesn’t matter. You’ll be forgotten. I’ll be forgotten. We’ll all be forgotten.” It’s so funny because you’d think that would depress me. I was walking on air after that."
- magduf 8y ago
  With some people, it really does take a long, long time for them to be forgotten. How many people don't know the name of Nero, after all? It's been roughly 2,000 years and people still know about him.

brewdad 8y ago

So either way, it's all ego. Why should I care at all if I'm "remembered" after I die? I'll be dead. Conan O'Brien's NYTimes interview the other day captured this sentiment exactly. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/arts/television/conan-obrien-tbs-show-reboot-half-hour.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/arts/television/conan-obr... "I had a great conversation with Albert Brooks once. When I met him for the first time, I was kind of stammering. I said, you make movies, they live on forever. I just do these late-night shows, they get lost, they’re never seen again and who cares? And he looked at me and he said, [Albert Brooks voice] “What are you talking about? None of it matters.” None of it matters? “No, that’s the secret. In 1940, people said Clark Gable is the face of the 20th Century. Who [expletive] thinks about Clark Gable? It doesn’t matter. You’ll be forgotten. I’ll be forgotten. We’ll all be forgotten.” It’s so funny because you’d think that would depress me. I was walking on air after that."

magduf 8y ago
With some people, it really does take a long, long time for them to be forgotten. How many people don't know the name of Nero, after all? It's been roughly 2,000 years and people still know about him.