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Would you consider Google or Facebook a charity, then? Or the person at a sports event selling me beer? Are they a charity? I do want beer, and they are facil
by blhack 14y ago
Would you consider Google or Facebook a charity, then?
Or the person at a sports event selling me beer? Are they a charity? I do want beer, and they are facilitating that...for $10/glass.
(I think that most people would not consider the beer vendor a charity, and since English is a living language, I think that the cited definition is incomplete)
- pg 14y agoObviously I wouldn't call either "a charity" because charity used in that (comparatively recent sense) means a nonprofit. Crazygringo's point is that there is a much older and more important sense of "charity," which simply means helping those in need. In that sense, Google is a very charitable project. In fact it is hard to imagine a nonprofit doing a better job.
- ars 14y agoSee the 8 levels of charity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah#In_rabbinical_literature_of_the_classical_and_Middle_Ages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah#In_rabbinical_literatu... Starting a business with someone is considered the highest level.
- blhack 14y agoInterest free loan.
- ars 14y agoYes, that is one of the options. But not the only one - starting a business with someone or finding them is job is considered just as good. However, I'm not sure that providing someone with a service would qualify though.
- J3L2404 14y agoHe is claiming a business is a charity to its customers.
- rdl 14y agoNot a charity, but generates huge consumer surplus (i.e. makes my life better by a lot more than they cost). If Google didn't exist, my life would probably be $20k/yr worse due to search, $5-10k for maps, and $3k/yr worse due to Reader. Maybe $500/yr for News. Google Plus not existing would make my life better (since people who post would post on fb instead, where I'd actually read them).