Astral Codex Ten Podcast

Against Against Billionaire Philanthropy


Listen Later

[Conflict of interest notice: I've volunteered for both private and public charities, but more often private. I received a small amount of money for work done for a private charity ten years ago. Some of the private charities have been partially funded by billionaires.]

From Vox: The Case Against Billionaire Philanthropy. It joins The Guardian, Truthout, Dissent Magazine, CityLab, and a host of other people and organizations arguing that rich people giving to charity is now a big problem.

I'm against this. I understand concern about the growing power of the very rich. But I worry the movement against billionaire charity is on track to damage charity a whole lot more than it damages billionaires. Eleven points:

1. Is criticizing billionaire philanthropy a good way to protest billionaires having too much power in society?

Which got more criticism? Mark Zuckerberg giving $100 million to help low-income students? Or Mark Zuckerberg buying a $59 million dollar mansion in Lake Tahoe? Obviously it's the low-income students. I've heard people criticizing Zuckerberg's donation constantly for years, and I didn't even know he had a $59 million Lake Tahoe mansion until I googled "things mark zuckerberg has spent ridiculous amounts of money on" in the process of writing this paragraph.

Which got more negative press? Jeff Bezos donating $2 billion for preschools for underprivileged children? Or Jeff Bezos spending $2 billion on whatever is going to come up when I Google "things jeff bezos has spent ridiculous amounts of money on?".

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Astral Codex Ten PodcastBy Jeremiah

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

129 ratings


More shows like Astral Codex Ten Podcast

View all
Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,314 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,111 Listeners

Very Bad Wizards by Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Very Bad Wizards

2,673 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,350 Listeners

EconTalk by Russ Roberts

EconTalk

4,283 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,459 Listeners

The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury

The Glenn Show

2,279 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

905 Listeners

ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

ChinaTalk

293 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,200 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by The Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, Daniel Barcay and Aza Raskin

Your Undivided Attention

1,624 Listeners

Last Week in AI by Skynet Today

Last Week in AI

309 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,833 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

531 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

637 Listeners