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Comment by oh_sigh | Hacker News Reader

That's nice, but let's be honest: She is a billionaire, and will continue to make hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars during her future tenure at Google. A person of average means donating $500 may be a bigger personal sacrifice than Greene donating $150M.

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I dont know why this is being down-voted. While what she did is great, it is a true point in terms of personal sacrifice.

I saw an interview with Bill Gates where he said much the same thing to a comment about his generosity. He pointed out he doesn't sacrifice a single item/experience he wants in life giving away what he does. And a ordinary person that gives a few hundred gives up more than him in terms of what it costs them.

Its a valid point as long as it doesn't take away from the fact the other is also generous.

True, but how many humans are able to take that perspective? If history has taught me anything, it's that our desires don't end when they are satisfied.

As someone who used to give away hundreds when he was on the average wage, no, it didn't really cost me life experiences. When I was on less than the average wage, I never had hundreds to give away, but on the average wage (with no kids), a few hundred didn't make much difference.

Few people giving to charity actually sacrifice their own life experiences to do so. As a result, it seems silly to dismiss philanthropic billionaires. We want more of those, not fewer.

Y'know Bill Gates' current charity, and anti-malaria work, do make me forgive him for his anti-competitive behaviour in th 90s/00s.

How the world changes, eh?

Me too, almost as if acquiring all that wealth, primarily from corporations then redistribution was not something that was pre-considered, surely he is not that smart ;)

Are you seriously trying to brush off and dismiss a $150m charity donation?

How do you know how much money she has? What is her net worth? She's way below someone like Bill Gates (who could count $150M as disposable at .17% of his net worth), and (unless she's doing some impressive money laundering) is not a billionaire. So even if you say she has $999M, $150M is 15% of her money. Unless someone average has ~$3k to their name, $150M is a lot more to her.

That may be true in terms of personal sacrifice but not in impact.

How can you say "let's be honest", and than simply pull random numbers out of thin air ?

I hear this line of reasoning frequently and have come to agree with it. Is it even really a donation when donating 150 million has zero impact on your quality of life? There should be some self-sacrifice for it to actually be a gesture of goodwill. I don't pat myself on the back for donating excess clothes.

oh_sigh, oh, sigh.

Perhaps you can guess the meaning behind my username here.

Very well said.

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