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Also, do you have a better way to spend that money?
by siscia 1y ago
Also, do you have a better way to spend that money?
- SturgeonsLaw 1y agoIf it were me, yeah, park it in bonds and live off the interest on a tropical beach. Spend my days spearfishing and drinking beers with the locals. Have no concerns except how even my tan is (and tbh I don't see myself caring too much about that). I'd forget the word shareholder even exists.
- eastbound 1y agoAnd let others govern the world?
- sabedevops 1y agoI met a traveller from an antique land, Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. - Percy Bysshe Shelley
- aswanson 1y agoI take that more as a rumination on the futility of vanity and self-aggrandizing rather than "ruling the world " which in the modern day comes down to politics. Yes, there is considerable overlap with ego, but there's more to that topic than pure self-worship.
- nopinsight 1y agoSounds good in theory but I'd be bored to death in a month, at most two. Traveling the world...maybe good for a few more months and that's it. Wouldn't you yearn for any more impact given how much that amount of resource could improve the lives of many, if used wisely?
- Mistletoe 1y agoThe world is sufficiently large and complex that a few months wouldn’t even scrape the tip of the iceberg.
- nopinsight 1y agoI agree. I just personally wouldn’t want to wander around exploring it continuously for months without more interesting work/goals. Even though cultures and geography may be wonderfully varied, their ranges are way smaller than what could be.
- bildung 1y agoIf you want to improve the lives of many, by all means go for it, I think that is a wonderful ambition to have in live and something I strive for, too! But we are talking about an ad company here, trying to branch out into ai to sell more ads, right? Meta existing is without a doubt a net negative for mankind.
- aleph_minus_one 1y ago> Wouldn't you yearn for any more impact given how much that amount of resource could improve the lives of many, if used wisely? Cynical take: increasing Meta's stock value does improve the lifes of many - the many stock holders. Thus: when you talk about improving lifes, you better specify which group you are targeting, and why you selected this particular group.
- bluefirebrand 1y agoI am interested in improving the lives of the many people who cannot afford to be stockholders The reason I'm interested in this is twofold First, I think the current system is exploitative. I don't advocate for communism or anything, but the current system of extracting value from the lower class is disgusting Second, they outnumber the successful people by a vast margin and I don't want them to have a reason to re-invent the guillotine
- 1y ago
- scrollaway 1y agoWhat you’re suggesting does not at all require a lot of money.
- scoreandmore 1y agoI met a youngster on Boca del Toro island in Panama a decade or so ago. I was about to be fired from my FAANG job so I used up years and years of vacation for one big trip before I was let go. We hung out for a few days while I was there (I don’t recommend the place at all btw). He cashed out from early twitter and was setting up surf schools all of the world. All he did was travel, surf, drink, and fuck. I’m still angry that laughed at all the dumb startups in the late 2000s instead of joining them. But this guy did what you’re suggesting, and I think there are many more unknown techbros who did it too.
- beala 1y agoSetting up an international chain of surf schools actually sounds quite ambitious and stressful, though.
- unshavedyak 1y agoI imagine stress is relative to risk. I’d hope someone who has retirement on lock wouldn’t risk that for a side project. Though for me the risk of the shops failing and people being out of a job would still stress me heh
- croes 1y agoThere are some problems in the world that Meta could help fixing with that money.
- achenet 1y agodownsize Facebook back to like a couple thousand people max, use the resulting savings to retire and start your own AI instead of doing the whole shadow artist "I'll hire John Carmack/top AI researcher to work for me because deep down I can't believe I'd ever be as good as them and my ego is too afraid to look foolish so I won't even try even if deep down that's what I want more than being a capricious billionaire"? or am I just projecting my beliefs onto Mark Zuckerberg here?
- hattmall 1y agoRetire? Anyone with more than about 10-20 million that continues to work has some sort of pathology that leaves them unsatisfied. Normal people rarely even get to that level because they are too busy enjoying life. Anyone making billions has some serious issues that they are likely stuck with because hubris won't let them seek meaningful help.
- aleph_minus_one 1y ago> Normal people rarely even get to that level because they are too busy enjoying life. And that's why these "normal people" don't become insanely rich. (just to be clear: the reverse direction does not hold: just a tiny fraction of such workaholics will become insanely rich).
- aleph_minus_one 1y ago> Also, do you have a better way to spend that money? Yes, I do. I am aware of some quite deep scientific results that would have a deep impact (and thus likely bring a lot of business value) if these were applied in practice.