Hacker News Reader

Why criticize someone for caring about their legacy when they're making an enormous contribution to the public good?

Wrong lens. Who cares about his ego when he's making a real impact?

A lot of people feel that the fact a single human can amass so much money is part of the problem. It incentivizes people to maximize profit and money over all else, sucking up all available cash they possibly can with little regard to how it's generated and what damage they do in the process. Profits are privatized while losses are socialized. Meaning when they start paying their profits back into the public good, are we talking about a net positive gain for society here, or is it just a form of restitution to atone for the damage they caused?

How is donating to Stanford, a private university, making an enormous contribution to the public good?

You can't see how improving educational programs specific to climate change benefits the public?

Very tenuous that this specific donation will do that. Most likely it will be used for a building (which requires concrete, a major CO2 contributor), and the rest will go to the university's endowment where it will sit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com