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Is the quest for immortality a solipsistic misunderstanding of evolution? -Yes. However it's substantially less stupid for bezos etc to fund science than it was

Is the quest for immortality a solipsistic misunderstanding of evolution? -Yes. However it's substantially less stupid for bezos etc to fund science than it was to build the pyramids. If we simply made the bastard pay as much taxes as his employees I would be happy to allow him to spend his wealth as he sees fit no matter how philosophically bankrupt it may be. It's easy to envy him, but it takes 1000 data scientists and engineers to optimize people into opting out of individuality. Bezos is not an axis of evil. Evil is banal. Hes just an aging narcissist with very common and somewhat regrettable urges. If we love liberty we must even love his liberty.

Teandw 5y ago
What about this makes him a narcissist? Seems a random thing to throw into the mix. Just because people do things differently to you and make different decisions to the ones you would, doesn't automatically make them bad or a narcissist. You spend your time commenting on websites, moaning about people doing things differently to you. You could spend the same time volunteering to help society in all manner of things. Not paying your fair share of tax to help society as a whole and not spending your spare time to help society, are not that much different.
- alpineidyll3 5y ago
  Wanting to live forever is the essence of narcissism. It's to say: "the world never has enough of meeeee". I'm actually a quite malicious person ...but commenting on HN doesn't rank high in my list of Antisocial behaviors :P
  - Teandw 5y ago
    That's not how narcissism works. Otherwise, based on your way of thinking, anyone that has a life saving treatment is a narcissist, as they're having the treatment to live longer. Also, the company he's invested in isn't directly trying to find a way to live forever, but to prevent aging, which is a completely different thing. They're looking for ways to live longer or to live the same time but healthier, not forever.
anonuser123456 5y ago
I don’t really see a way Jeff B gets out of this w/out paying taxes outside of becoming immortal. The fed still takes 40% of your assets on death and that looks to be going up soon. And it Amazon sells immortality as a service I don’t think reasonable people will be all that bent out of shape about him skipping a few hundred billion in taxes. I mean… FFS that’s like 1/2 a year we couldn’t invade a country and bomb its populations. Maybe we should be giving Jeff a medal for avoiding taxes for all the bombs he’s kept from getting dropped.

Teandw 5y ago

What about this makes him a narcissist? Seems a random thing to throw into the mix. Just because people do things differently to you and make different decisions to the ones you would, doesn't automatically make them bad or a narcissist. You spend your time commenting on websites, moaning about people doing things differently to you. You could spend the same time volunteering to help society in all manner of things. Not paying your fair share of tax to help society as a whole and not spending your spare time to help society, are not that much different.

alpineidyll3 5y ago
Wanting to live forever is the essence of narcissism. It's to say: "the world never has enough of meeeee". I'm actually a quite malicious person ...but commenting on HN doesn't rank high in my list of Antisocial behaviors :P
- Teandw 5y ago
  That's not how narcissism works. Otherwise, based on your way of thinking, anyone that has a life saving treatment is a narcissist, as they're having the treatment to live longer. Also, the company he's invested in isn't directly trying to find a way to live forever, but to prevent aging, which is a completely different thing. They're looking for ways to live longer or to live the same time but healthier, not forever.

anonuser123456 5y ago

I don’t really see a way Jeff B gets out of this w/out paying taxes outside of becoming immortal. The fed still takes 40% of your assets on death and that looks to be going up soon. And it Amazon sells immortality as a service I don’t think reasonable people will be all that bent out of shape about him skipping a few hundred billion in taxes. I mean… FFS that’s like 1/2 a year we couldn’t invade a country and bomb its populations. Maybe we should be giving Jeff a medal for avoiding taxes for all the bombs he’s kept from getting dropped.