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I often think back to this 90s 60 minute interview with Bezos and wonder, what happened. He was already a billionaire at this point, but he felt so much more or

by _fs 2y ago

I often think back to this 90s 60 minute interview with Bezos and wonder, what happened. He was already a billionaire at this point, but he felt so much more ordinary, down to earth, geeky. He seems very much like the developers I meet all the time. What was the catalyst to the changes we see in him today. https://youtu.be/u-SFaIhzpsw?t=74 https://youtu.be/u-SFaIhzpsw?t=74

cjrp 2y ago
Continued exposure to the kinds of people that hang around with billionaires, I’d guess. That can change a person.
- fragmede 2y ago
  And being that rich in and of itself, I imagine. Tony Hseih of Zappos is another interesting story where, if I had that kind of money, wouldn't I try and help all of my friends, if they knew about it? It seems the real trick is changing who you are, and realizing that, counter to what you may have learned as a child, lying to everybody, especially your friends, is actually a good thing. We only hear about these stories because they get told. Far more mysterious is the lottery winner who got $20 million who calls up Dave Ramsey and asks what to do with it so their son doesn't become a waiter. That is, someone just waiting for their parents to die and get their inheritance. You'll never hear about their boring life where they lived comfortably and gave money to causes they believed in and helped people they know anonymously and didn't cause a scene. If it's possible for money not to change a person, we wouldn't hear about it, almost by definition, so we can only conclude that it does.
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    > And being that rich in and of itself, I imagine. There was a thought experiment posted on Reddit and I think was from elsewhere. Something like: Imagine you get $1 million dollars a day. You can't keep it -- it's all gotta get spent. You can invest it, sure, but those holdings aren't going to go up as much as, like, another $1 million the next day. And you have to spend it So at some point you're going to start doing stuff basically on a whim. You're going to get 3 Lambos in different colors -- because you can. You already have the harem, you already have donated to most causes you care about. You've already got a house (houses, really), so now you start thinking about political causes you're mildly interested in, on top of ones you strongly are. And then you can get petty; if you don't like person X? Take out ads on billboards... cuz you can. Or fund their lawsuit against Gawker, cuz fuck em. etc. etc.

by _fs 2y ago

cjrp 2y ago

Continued exposure to the kinds of people that hang around with billionaires, I’d guess. That can change a person.

fragmede 2y ago
And being that rich in and of itself, I imagine. Tony Hseih of Zappos is another interesting story where, if I had that kind of money, wouldn't I try and help all of my friends, if they knew about it? It seems the real trick is changing who you are, and realizing that, counter to what you may have learned as a child, lying to everybody, especially your friends, is actually a good thing. We only hear about these stories because they get told. Far more mysterious is the lottery winner who got $20 million who calls up Dave Ramsey and asks what to do with it so their son doesn't become a waiter. That is, someone just waiting for their parents to die and get their inheritance. You'll never hear about their boring life where they lived comfortably and gave money to causes they believed in and helped people they know anonymously and didn't cause a scene. If it's possible for money not to change a person, we wouldn't hear about it, almost by definition, so we can only conclude that it does.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  > And being that rich in and of itself, I imagine. There was a thought experiment posted on Reddit and I think was from elsewhere. Something like: Imagine you get $1 million dollars a day. You can't keep it -- it's all gotta get spent. You can invest it, sure, but those holdings aren't going to go up as much as, like, another $1 million the next day. And you have to spend it So at some point you're going to start doing stuff basically on a whim. You're going to get 3 Lambos in different colors -- because you can. You already have the harem, you already have donated to most causes you care about. You've already got a house (houses, really), so now you start thinking about political causes you're mildly interested in, on top of ones you strongly are. And then you can get petty; if you don't like person X? Take out ads on billboards... cuz you can. Or fund their lawsuit against Gawker, cuz fuck em. etc. etc.