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> “I won't spend any time in my life working on anything I don't think is important,” he told me. “I'm just not going to. I don't need to.” How about contribut

> “I won't spend any time in my life working on anything I don't think is important,” he told me. “I'm just not going to. I don't need to.” How about contributing to dealing with global hunger and lack of education? Consider what would have happened had we actively helped developing countries become developed? That change alone would have accelerated the rate we make discoveries and improve technology simply because there are more brains at the task. Sure his Day One fund exist, but until proven otherwise, I will take the cynical perspective and doubt the rich are willing to do anything besides pay lip service with respect to homelessness/lack of education. He could start by paying his workers a decent wage.

maxwell 6y ago
Global obesity is actually a bigger issue than hunger now. Based on his quote, sounds like he realized Amazon is no longer important to him. The chair role is to give the impression that he's still involved, like Gates and Schmidt. He can do whatever he wants, so has seemingly decided on full Dr. Evil, with the front conglomerate, obsession with rockets, and even the friggin' hollowed out mountain.
- tenacious_tuna 6y ago
  Maybe this is a nitpick, but I don't like the phrasing of "X is a bigger problem than Y" as it implies a global standard for how we should address suffering, and (perhaps this is merely my interpretation) your phrasing and tone sound dismissive. On one hand we have people who are starving because they don't have access to a reliable food source. On the other, we have people who have severe health complications due to poor nutrition/obesity/whatnot. I believe it is also a mistake to compare relative suffering--e.g. perhaps (hypothetically) more people are obese than starving, but starving sounds more painful than being obese: these comparisons also run afoul of subjective experience and understanding. Both problems are significant, and require attention which we are capable of doing, as a civilization: we can multi-task. I believe it is naive to frame them in opposition to each other as well. Apologies if my reading of your post is not what you intended.
  - maxwell 6y ago
    Agreed, didn't mean to sound dismissive, hunger and obesity are both major problems and you made good points. I was more implying that efforts should be based on data and vision, rather than assumptions of relative importance. As hunger, obesity, and climate change seem to share common root causes, solutions will likely be interconnected.
eloff 6y ago
So he should drop what he's doing to help the world in the way you want him to? He doesn't owe us anything. He's free to spend his time on what he thinks is important. That's what you and I do as well. The difference is he actually works on things that make the world better. I don't know about you, but I don't. Not yet anyway.
- lookdangerous 6y ago
  Small things can make the world better too.
  - eloff 6y ago
    Indeed they can. I don't do much there unfortunately.
- PartiallyTyped 6y ago
  > So he should drop what he's doing to help the world in the way you want him to? He can start by not avoiding his taxes. That would be a good help. > He doesn't owe us anything. Naive. He owes at least the taxes he avoided. Any business that avoids taxes ends up costing the society more simply because they make use of infrastructure which needs maintenance, it likely pollutes the environment either directly or by proxy, and it ends up exploiting people for their bottom line, people who then need to be financed by the society. He also owes back for the brains he amassed that end up not giving back to the society, brains that were likely educated on the tax payer's pocket. > He's free to spend his time on what he thinks is important He is free, but he can also not be pretentious, or put his money where his mouth is. The argument for helping other people instead of creating new ventures to pat your back is quite simple, but goes over most people's heads; the more scientists we have that actually tackle problems, the easier it becomes to deal with issues like cancer that plague everyone, the rich included. By accepting that the probability that many people smarter than us are impoverished, or born in awful circumstances is large, we see that the expectation that comes from dealing with poverty/lack of education has greater impact on our life expectancy and overall QOL over starting new projects and trying to sample people from a limited pool of candidates.
hooande 6y ago
what is he supposed to do about the problem of hunger? at best he could fund research into new farming and production techniques, hoping for a breakthrough. and it seems like he's already doing that, along with many others. I guess one of the downsides of great wealth is that people assume you can solve problems that have plagued humanity for millenia, but are just choosing not to
- PartiallyTyped 6y ago
  He can start with his own workers. He can pay his taxes, so can Amazon.
  - DamnYuppie 6y ago
    Paying more in taxes isn't going to do much for hunger. I mean the bulk of taxes collect goes to pay salaries and benefits of government employees. The next tranche goes military spending, then after that to companies who lobby well to get government contracts. Taxes are not a panacea to improve the lives of the lowest in society.
elindbe3 6y ago
> Consider what would have happened had we actively helped developing countries become developed? Have you looked at what happened in China over the past several decades? Amazon definitely had a hand in that.
xhkkffbf 6y ago
Education? Have you ever seen Kindle Unlimited? For about $50 and $10 per month, you have access to a huge collection of books. An insanely large collection. That alone is one of the greatest contributions to education I can imagine. Hunger? Amazon's subscribe and save isn't as insanely cheap, but it's still quite a deal. I would say that he's done a pretty good job on both of these fronts already.
- PartiallyTyped 6y ago
  > Education? Have you ever seen Kindle Unlimited? For about $50 and $10 per month, you have access to a huge collection of books. An insanely large collection. That alone is one of the greatest contributions to education I can imagine. What am I going to do with kindle unlimited if I need to pay for price fixed scientific books [1]? > Hunger? Amazon's subscribe and save isn't as insanely cheap, but it's still quite a deal. He can't guarantee a good meal and roof for his workers. What are you on about? [1] https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/85499-big-five-publishers-now-defendants-in-e-book-price-fixing-suit.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p...
slowmovintarget 6y ago
He donated $10 Billion (with a B) to a charity aimed at working on the problem of climate change. Perhaps he sees that as a bigger deal.

maxwell 6y ago

Global obesity is actually a bigger issue than hunger now. Based on his quote, sounds like he realized Amazon is no longer important to him. The chair role is to give the impression that he's still involved, like Gates and Schmidt. He can do whatever he wants, so has seemingly decided on full Dr. Evil, with the front conglomerate, obsession with rockets, and even the friggin' hollowed out mountain.

tenacious_tuna 6y ago
Maybe this is a nitpick, but I don't like the phrasing of "X is a bigger problem than Y" as it implies a global standard for how we should address suffering, and (perhaps this is merely my interpretation) your phrasing and tone sound dismissive. On one hand we have people who are starving because they don't have access to a reliable food source. On the other, we have people who have severe health complications due to poor nutrition/obesity/whatnot. I believe it is also a mistake to compare relative suffering--e.g. perhaps (hypothetically) more people are obese than starving, but starving sounds more painful than being obese: these comparisons also run afoul of subjective experience and understanding. Both problems are significant, and require attention which we are capable of doing, as a civilization: we can multi-task. I believe it is naive to frame them in opposition to each other as well. Apologies if my reading of your post is not what you intended.
- maxwell 6y ago
  Agreed, didn't mean to sound dismissive, hunger and obesity are both major problems and you made good points. I was more implying that efforts should be based on data and vision, rather than assumptions of relative importance. As hunger, obesity, and climate change seem to share common root causes, solutions will likely be interconnected.

eloff 6y ago

So he should drop what he's doing to help the world in the way you want him to? He doesn't owe us anything. He's free to spend his time on what he thinks is important. That's what you and I do as well. The difference is he actually works on things that make the world better. I don't know about you, but I don't. Not yet anyway.

lookdangerous 6y ago
Small things can make the world better too.
- eloff 6y ago
  Indeed they can. I don't do much there unfortunately.
PartiallyTyped 6y ago
> So he should drop what he's doing to help the world in the way you want him to? He can start by not avoiding his taxes. That would be a good help. > He doesn't owe us anything. Naive. He owes at least the taxes he avoided. Any business that avoids taxes ends up costing the society more simply because they make use of infrastructure which needs maintenance, it likely pollutes the environment either directly or by proxy, and it ends up exploiting people for their bottom line, people who then need to be financed by the society. He also owes back for the brains he amassed that end up not giving back to the society, brains that were likely educated on the tax payer's pocket. > He's free to spend his time on what he thinks is important He is free, but he can also not be pretentious, or put his money where his mouth is. The argument for helping other people instead of creating new ventures to pat your back is quite simple, but goes over most people's heads; the more scientists we have that actually tackle problems, the easier it becomes to deal with issues like cancer that plague everyone, the rich included. By accepting that the probability that many people smarter than us are impoverished, or born in awful circumstances is large, we see that the expectation that comes from dealing with poverty/lack of education has greater impact on our life expectancy and overall QOL over starting new projects and trying to sample people from a limited pool of candidates.

hooande 6y ago

what is he supposed to do about the problem of hunger? at best he could fund research into new farming and production techniques, hoping for a breakthrough. and it seems like he's already doing that, along with many others. I guess one of the downsides of great wealth is that people assume you can solve problems that have plagued humanity for millenia, but are just choosing not to

PartiallyTyped 6y ago
He can start with his own workers. He can pay his taxes, so can Amazon.
- DamnYuppie 6y ago
  Paying more in taxes isn't going to do much for hunger. I mean the bulk of taxes collect goes to pay salaries and benefits of government employees. The next tranche goes military spending, then after that to companies who lobby well to get government contracts. Taxes are not a panacea to improve the lives of the lowest in society.

elindbe3 6y ago

> Consider what would have happened had we actively helped developing countries become developed? Have you looked at what happened in China over the past several decades? Amazon definitely had a hand in that.

xhkkffbf 6y ago

Education? Have you ever seen Kindle Unlimited? For about $50 and $10 per month, you have access to a huge collection of books. An insanely large collection. That alone is one of the greatest contributions to education I can imagine. Hunger? Amazon's subscribe and save isn't as insanely cheap, but it's still quite a deal. I would say that he's done a pretty good job on both of these fronts already.

PartiallyTyped 6y ago
> Education? Have you ever seen Kindle Unlimited? For about $50 and $10 per month, you have access to a huge collection of books. An insanely large collection. That alone is one of the greatest contributions to education I can imagine. What am I going to do with kindle unlimited if I need to pay for price fixed scientific books [1]? > Hunger? Amazon's subscribe and save isn't as insanely cheap, but it's still quite a deal. He can't guarantee a good meal and roof for his workers. What are you on about? [1] https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/85499-big-five-publishers-now-defendants-in-e-book-price-fixing-suit.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p...

slowmovintarget 6y ago

He donated $10 Billion (with a B) to a charity aimed at working on the problem of climate change. Perhaps he sees that as a bigger deal.