4 ms·

Not really. You look at Andrew Carnegie who has a similar history, and even a hundred years out, no one cares. People like Einstein and Picasso are who lasts.

by soperj 8y ago

Not really. You look at Andrew Carnegie who has a similar history, and even a hundred years out, no one cares. People like Einstein and Picasso are who lasts. No one really gives a shit about businessmen, regardless of their philanthropy.

basementcat 8y ago
Perhaps few will wonder why their university has an certain name or why a particular mountaintop is full of telescopes.
mrb 8y ago
Carnegie was worth only $5 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. Gates is worth $100 billion, so we can expect him to have a philantropic impact 20 times greater.
- evilduck 8y ago
  I don't think the general public will particularly care about his behavior a century from now but historians aren't likely to forget or ignore that he's a robber baron. I'd expect the 180º of his moral compass will make his life that much more interesting to discuss for them.
- dgacmu 8y ago
  $372 billion for Carnegie in 2014 dollars: http://money.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-time-2/ http://money.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-... 3x gates.
  - mrb 8y ago
    They don't calculate his net worth correctly. They calculate his worth based on a percentage of GDP. If you actually do the math based on an inflation calculator, you find $5 billion: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-become-of-them-the-carnegie-family/#16614d9e7b55 https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-b...
graeme 8y ago
Depends. Carnegie is remembered more than, say, Jay Gould (the industrial magnate) or commodore vanderbilt. I suspect how well an individual remembers him has a lot to do with whether they like libraries and have been to a Carnegie library. In other words, he's remembered to the extent he made a lasting impact. (For most people I agree this isn't a large extent) So, the question with Gates is whether he manages to fund something that materially changes the world in a way people in the future will remember. Saving some lives? Probably not that meaningful 100 years from now. Funding a technology that solves climate change and/or provides cheap clean energy? People will probably remember. So it's hard to tell. Gates has funding in both areas of potential, and he's taking a very hands on approach to his philanthropy so he's more liable to get some credit, in the same way library afficionados do remember Carnegie.
paganel 8y ago
> People like Einstein and Picasso are who lasts Artists even more than scientists. When the Italian comedian Totò died in the late '60s this happened [1]: > Totò died at the age of 69 on 15 April 1967 in Rome after a series of heart attacks. Due to overwhelming demand, there were no fewer than three funeral services: the first in Rome, a second in his birth city of Naples—and a few days later, in a third one by the local Camorra boss, an empty casket was carried along the packed streets of the popular Rione Sanità quarter where he was born A similar thing happened when the Russian folk singer Vysotsky died in 1980 [2]: > After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.[78] The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin. I'm pretty sure no businessman on this planet would have his/her funeral attended by tens of thousands of people nor will they be interred thrice "by popular demand", so to speak. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot%C3%B2#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot%C3%B2#Death [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Vysotsky#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Vysotsky#Death
canardlaquay 8y ago
Except that Bill Gates was one of the precursors of modern computing. Einstein? Modern physics. Picasso? Cubism. That's why these three will be remembered for a long time. History books will probably talk just a bit about his wealth, maybe about his humanitarian actions, but he'll definitely be remembered as the person who made personal computing a thing.

by soperj 8y ago

basementcat 8y ago

Perhaps few will wonder why their university has an certain name or why a particular mountaintop is full of telescopes.

mrb 8y ago

Carnegie was worth only $5 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. Gates is worth $100 billion, so we can expect him to have a philantropic impact 20 times greater.

evilduck 8y ago
I don't think the general public will particularly care about his behavior a century from now but historians aren't likely to forget or ignore that he's a robber baron. I'd expect the 180º of his moral compass will make his life that much more interesting to discuss for them.
dgacmu 8y ago
$372 billion for Carnegie in 2014 dollars: http://money.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-time-2/ http://money.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-... 3x gates.
- mrb 8y ago
  They don't calculate his net worth correctly. They calculate his worth based on a percentage of GDP. If you actually do the math based on an inflation calculator, you find $5 billion: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-become-of-them-the-carnegie-family/#16614d9e7b55 https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-b...

graeme 8y ago

Depends. Carnegie is remembered more than, say, Jay Gould (the industrial magnate) or commodore vanderbilt. I suspect how well an individual remembers him has a lot to do with whether they like libraries and have been to a Carnegie library. In other words, he's remembered to the extent he made a lasting impact. (For most people I agree this isn't a large extent) So, the question with Gates is whether he manages to fund something that materially changes the world in a way people in the future will remember. Saving some lives? Probably not that meaningful 100 years from now. Funding a technology that solves climate change and/or provides cheap clean energy? People will probably remember. So it's hard to tell. Gates has funding in both areas of potential, and he's taking a very hands on approach to his philanthropy so he's more liable to get some credit, in the same way library afficionados do remember Carnegie.

paganel 8y ago

> People like Einstein and Picasso are who lasts Artists even more than scientists. When the Italian comedian Totò died in the late '60s this happened [1]: > Totò died at the age of 69 on 15 April 1967 in Rome after a series of heart attacks. Due to overwhelming demand, there were no fewer than three funeral services: the first in Rome, a second in his birth city of Naples—and a few days later, in a third one by the local Camorra boss, an empty casket was carried along the packed streets of the popular Rione Sanità quarter where he was born A similar thing happened when the Russian folk singer Vysotsky died in 1980 [2]: > After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.[78] The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin. I'm pretty sure no businessman on this planet would have his/her funeral attended by tens of thousands of people nor will they be interred thrice "by popular demand", so to speak. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot%C3%B2#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot%C3%B2#Death [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Vysotsky#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Vysotsky#Death

canardlaquay 8y ago

Except that Bill Gates was one of the precursors of modern computing. Einstein? Modern physics. Picasso? Cubism. That's why these three will be remembered for a long time. History books will probably talk just a bit about his wealth, maybe about his humanitarian actions, but he'll definitely be remembered as the person who made personal computing a thing.