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[dupe] Larry Page: I would rather give my billions to Elon Musk rather than charity (businessinsider.in)
16 points by AxisOfEval on Dec 23, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 10 comments


> "Page even went as far as suggesting that everyone give their money to a corporation that was trying to accomplish big stuff."

We call that investing.


I thought he talked about giving money not buying shares. Any gift at all can be thought as an investment in the broader sense of the word so beloved of governments spending taxpayers' money.


And that's why I have more respect for Bill Gates than for Larry Page. Sorry.


I think what underlies Page's thoughts is that he thinks Musk is more effective than most charity. He sees charity as a sink that will provide no long term improvement of the human condition. Honestly, it's hard to disagree.

Except for Bill Gates, precisely. His fight against Malaria has been tremendously successful. Would Page object giving his money to Bill Gates? I don't know, I hope he wouldn't.


Well, Bill Gates seems to want to fight humanity's problems of today - AIDS, Malaria, Poverty. Elon/Larry want to go to Mars and build vacuum-tube trains from SF to LA. One is a real need, one is Science-Fiction. Obviously the latter is more 'fun'/nerdy.


[deleted]


It is a _hypothetical_ situation intended to express some values that Larry Page has.


Like the belief that technological progress for its own sake is more important than human welfare?


People don't always die in chronological order.


This is from March...


March discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7437940 (640 points, 278 days ago, 434 comments) (It was a repost in slate of the businessinsider note.)




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