โฒ 84 โผ People of Lemmy, I dare you to name ONE billionaire that's done anything good. (lemm.ee) submitted 2 years ago by Eventlesstew@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml 352 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[โ] skookumasfrig@sopuli.xyz 26 points 2 years ago* (2 children) Chuck Feeney. He gave away everything to charities. Edit: it was around 8bn. permalink fedilink source hideshow 4 child comments replies: [โ] reksas@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 years ago (1 child) So only good billionaire is someone who is not a billionaire. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 8 points 2 years ago (1 child) In a sense, voluntarily choosing to not be a billionaire is the goodest thing a billionaire could do. If they do it right before they die though, that makes it pretty dubious. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 1 point 2 years ago (1 child) In spirit I agree with you, but I can imagine a scenario in which someone ended up with a group of people who aren't explicitly evil but do exploit employees and end up helping their "friend" who doesn't exploit people to become a billionaire, either to ease their own conscience or for any number of selfish reasons. The person ends up as a billionaire and doesn't get rid of it in their life for whatever reasons (people usually like to appease people they know personally) It's mostly just a thought experiment, the existence of a good billionaire, but it's technically possible for sure, even if not actually possible. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 1 point 2 years ago It's interesting as a thought experiment because there's no real world example of this. Which I guess is the gotcha OP was going for, but kinda fumbled. Arguably hoarding the wealth for yourself (and even your immediate family), never mind how you accumulated it, is still not "good". It's indirectly oppressive to collect a bunch of money, while many suffer, and say "noone else is touching this, it's mine". permalink fedilink source parent [โ] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago Yeah I still find it hard to digest that someone with a conscience actually made that much money in the first place. I'd love to see how he arrived at this decision, and if he could convince others too. permalink fedilink source parent
[โ] reksas@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 years ago (1 child) So only good billionaire is someone who is not a billionaire. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 8 points 2 years ago (1 child) In a sense, voluntarily choosing to not be a billionaire is the goodest thing a billionaire could do. If they do it right before they die though, that makes it pretty dubious. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 1 point 2 years ago (1 child) In spirit I agree with you, but I can imagine a scenario in which someone ended up with a group of people who aren't explicitly evil but do exploit employees and end up helping their "friend" who doesn't exploit people to become a billionaire, either to ease their own conscience or for any number of selfish reasons. The person ends up as a billionaire and doesn't get rid of it in their life for whatever reasons (people usually like to appease people they know personally) It's mostly just a thought experiment, the existence of a good billionaire, but it's technically possible for sure, even if not actually possible. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 1 point 2 years ago It's interesting as a thought experiment because there's no real world example of this. Which I guess is the gotcha OP was going for, but kinda fumbled. Arguably hoarding the wealth for yourself (and even your immediate family), never mind how you accumulated it, is still not "good". It's indirectly oppressive to collect a bunch of money, while many suffer, and say "noone else is touching this, it's mine". permalink fedilink source parent
[โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 8 points 2 years ago (1 child) In a sense, voluntarily choosing to not be a billionaire is the goodest thing a billionaire could do. If they do it right before they die though, that makes it pretty dubious. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 1 point 2 years ago (1 child) In spirit I agree with you, but I can imagine a scenario in which someone ended up with a group of people who aren't explicitly evil but do exploit employees and end up helping their "friend" who doesn't exploit people to become a billionaire, either to ease their own conscience or for any number of selfish reasons. The person ends up as a billionaire and doesn't get rid of it in their life for whatever reasons (people usually like to appease people they know personally) It's mostly just a thought experiment, the existence of a good billionaire, but it's technically possible for sure, even if not actually possible. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 1 point 2 years ago It's interesting as a thought experiment because there's no real world example of this. Which I guess is the gotcha OP was going for, but kinda fumbled. Arguably hoarding the wealth for yourself (and even your immediate family), never mind how you accumulated it, is still not "good". It's indirectly oppressive to collect a bunch of money, while many suffer, and say "noone else is touching this, it's mine". permalink fedilink source parent
[โ] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 1 point 2 years ago (1 child) In spirit I agree with you, but I can imagine a scenario in which someone ended up with a group of people who aren't explicitly evil but do exploit employees and end up helping their "friend" who doesn't exploit people to become a billionaire, either to ease their own conscience or for any number of selfish reasons. The person ends up as a billionaire and doesn't get rid of it in their life for whatever reasons (people usually like to appease people they know personally) It's mostly just a thought experiment, the existence of a good billionaire, but it's technically possible for sure, even if not actually possible. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 1 point 2 years ago It's interesting as a thought experiment because there's no real world example of this. Which I guess is the gotcha OP was going for, but kinda fumbled. Arguably hoarding the wealth for yourself (and even your immediate family), never mind how you accumulated it, is still not "good". It's indirectly oppressive to collect a bunch of money, while many suffer, and say "noone else is touching this, it's mine". permalink fedilink source parent
[โ] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 1 point 2 years ago It's interesting as a thought experiment because there's no real world example of this. Which I guess is the gotcha OP was going for, but kinda fumbled. Arguably hoarding the wealth for yourself (and even your immediate family), never mind how you accumulated it, is still not "good". It's indirectly oppressive to collect a bunch of money, while many suffer, and say "noone else is touching this, it's mine". permalink fedilink source parent
[โ] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago Yeah I still find it hard to digest that someone with a conscience actually made that much money in the first place. I'd love to see how he arrived at this decision, and if he could convince others too. permalink fedilink source parent