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God I just don't buy the "these people will go on to benefit humanity" argument anymore. We don't need more tech companies. We don't need more hedge funds. We d

God I just don't buy the "these people will go on to benefit humanity" argument anymore. We don't need more tech companies. We don't need more hedge funds. We don't need to feed our genuinely brightest minds into the wealth consolidation machine. Occasioanlly one of these people will find some one-off bit of brilliance that lifts an entire class of people out of poverty, but that ticket has an expiration date tied to the 19th century. Eventually those free spaces will run out. They're already starting to in the western world.

blackshaw 4y ago
> that ticket has an expiration date tied to the 19th century. Eventually those free spaces will run out. They're already starting to in the western world I'm sorry but I genuinely don't understand what you're saying here. What will expire? Which "free spaces" are running out where?
- lordnacho 4y ago
  Think he means low hanging fruit?
- monkeydreams 4y ago
  > Which "free spaces" are running out where? Not OP but the college entrance scandal is a great example. With the super wealthy taking up all the philanthropic entrance positions the "just" wealthy set had to resort to cheating and rorts to ease little Johnny Blueblood's way into society. There is only so much room at the top.
- coldtea 4y ago
  Huge impact technologies like the steam engine, the factory line, electricity, and so on, that are not just incremental steps, things nobody asked for with minimal utility ("smart fridge") or glorified stupidification engines (the social web).
  - adrianN 4y ago
    Steam engines existed in ancient greece. It took a couple of incremental steps until they were good enough to kickstart the industrial revolution.
pembrook 4y ago
> We don't need more tech companies. We don't need more hedge funds. What we absolutely don’t need, is autocrats dictating what society needs. Luckily we already have this cool innovation called a market economy. It’s not perfectly efficient (especially in the short term), but pretty damn efficient. By throwing off price signals, the market allows us to allocate efforts to things society wants more of. Unfortunately, contrary to the wishes of the King, it turns out society wants more tech companies. But sometimes we do indeed over-allocate resources to tech companies! Luckily we have the hedge funds incentivized to make profit by arbitraging those prices back to reality (As we’ve just witnessed in tech). I guess we also need more hedge funds.
- bheadmaster 4y ago
  > Luckily we already have this cool innovation called a market economy Market economy got us into the situation where the most brilliant minds in the world are researching best ways to make internet advertisements as addictive as they can be. Very cool innovation, indeed. Ever read The Space Merchants?
  - a4a4a4a4 4y ago
    > the most brilliant minds in the world are researching best ways to make internet advertisements as addictive as they can be. They're doing a great job, ads are so addictive I've even turned off my Ad blocker so I can get more of them! Won't someone save me!
    - bheadmaster 4y ago
      I assume you're saying that ads are irrelevant because we have AdBlock? Ads would always exist, but think about how many great (even lifesaving) solutions we're missing out on because market decided they aren't worthy of pursuit.
      - a4a4a4a4 4y ago
        I'm saying ads aren't "addictive", because they're pretty despised. They might be effective, when people see them, but I don't think anyone is "addicted" to ads.
nmca 4y ago
data? source?
hackernewds 4y ago
You don't think affording free education for majorly ridiculously hard working students is going to pay dividends? Please explain your cynicism
- 27153 4y ago
  Think about the counterfactual: a student doesn’t go to Harvard, they instead go to Duke or a public Ivy. They’re only marginally worse off. All of these schools already have enough money to where families making under $75-$100k won’t be paying anything. Donations to Harvard are exposed to extremely diminished marginal utility at this point.
  - ismokedoinks 4y ago
    I think a lot of this investment for him is personal brand. Giving millions to community colleges would probably create tens of thousands of opportunities versus marginal benefit to Ivy leaguers, but having your name on a building at Harvard versus 180 community college libraries is big difference in prestige and brand-recognition for the types of graduates you want to apply to your firm.

blackshaw 4y ago

> that ticket has an expiration date tied to the 19th century. Eventually those free spaces will run out. They're already starting to in the western world I'm sorry but I genuinely don't understand what you're saying here. What will expire? Which "free spaces" are running out where?

lordnacho 4y ago
Think he means low hanging fruit?
monkeydreams 4y ago
> Which "free spaces" are running out where? Not OP but the college entrance scandal is a great example. With the super wealthy taking up all the philanthropic entrance positions the "just" wealthy set had to resort to cheating and rorts to ease little Johnny Blueblood's way into society. There is only so much room at the top.
coldtea 4y ago
Huge impact technologies like the steam engine, the factory line, electricity, and so on, that are not just incremental steps, things nobody asked for with minimal utility ("smart fridge") or glorified stupidification engines (the social web).
- adrianN 4y ago
  Steam engines existed in ancient greece. It took a couple of incremental steps until they were good enough to kickstart the industrial revolution.

pembrook 4y ago

> We don't need more tech companies. We don't need more hedge funds. What we absolutely don’t need, is autocrats dictating what society needs. Luckily we already have this cool innovation called a market economy. It’s not perfectly efficient (especially in the short term), but pretty damn efficient. By throwing off price signals, the market allows us to allocate efforts to things society wants more of. Unfortunately, contrary to the wishes of the King, it turns out society wants more tech companies. But sometimes we do indeed over-allocate resources to tech companies! Luckily we have the hedge funds incentivized to make profit by arbitraging those prices back to reality (As we’ve just witnessed in tech). I guess we also need more hedge funds.

bheadmaster 4y ago
> Luckily we already have this cool innovation called a market economy Market economy got us into the situation where the most brilliant minds in the world are researching best ways to make internet advertisements as addictive as they can be. Very cool innovation, indeed. Ever read The Space Merchants?
- a4a4a4a4 4y ago
  > the most brilliant minds in the world are researching best ways to make internet advertisements as addictive as they can be. They're doing a great job, ads are so addictive I've even turned off my Ad blocker so I can get more of them! Won't someone save me!
  - bheadmaster 4y ago
    I assume you're saying that ads are irrelevant because we have AdBlock? Ads would always exist, but think about how many great (even lifesaving) solutions we're missing out on because market decided they aren't worthy of pursuit.
    - a4a4a4a4 4y ago
      I'm saying ads aren't "addictive", because they're pretty despised. They might be effective, when people see them, but I don't think anyone is "addicted" to ads.

nmca 4y ago

data? source?

hackernewds 4y ago

You don't think affording free education for majorly ridiculously hard working students is going to pay dividends? Please explain your cynicism

27153 4y ago
Think about the counterfactual: a student doesn’t go to Harvard, they instead go to Duke or a public Ivy. They’re only marginally worse off. All of these schools already have enough money to where families making under $75-$100k won’t be paying anything. Donations to Harvard are exposed to extremely diminished marginal utility at this point.
- ismokedoinks 4y ago
  I think a lot of this investment for him is personal brand. Giving millions to community colleges would probably create tens of thousands of opportunities versus marginal benefit to Ivy leaguers, but having your name on a building at Harvard versus 180 community college libraries is big difference in prestige and brand-recognition for the types of graduates you want to apply to your firm.