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by mattwg 3561 days ago
How is this true of the Gates Foundation? Or Good Ventures? Chan Zuckerberg is specifically aimed at improving equality. Do you have any actual examples of wealthy philanthropists using "the rest of us" as guinea pigs to cure themselves of disease?

ryandrake's point is an important one, but I don't think this level of cynicism is justified.

2 comments

> Chan Zuckerberg is specifically aimed at improving equality.

Do you really believe this? They are doing so using a private company. The Gates foundation, for all their hubris, are at least a foundation and a nonprofit.

I hope the pitchforks come out against Chan Zuckerberg.

They are doing everything possible to build exactly the opposite kind of world that they claim to promote.

I always hope the smart people of HN can see through this. But I guess the folks here are too smitten by wealth to care.

> Do you really believe this? They are doing so using a private company.

Do you have to be a non-profit to do good?

> I hope the pitchforks come out against Chan Zuckerberg. They are doing everything possible to build exactly the opposite kind of world that they claim to promote.

I don't know enough specifics about Chan Zuckerberg to respond to this. Sounds like I need to do some more reading, are there any particular resources you've found useful?

> Do you have any actual examples of wealthy philanthropists using "the rest of us" as guinea pigs to cure themselves of disease?

Peter Thiel wants to make himself ageless and immortal by injecting himself with the blood of the young. How's that?

I hadn't heard about that before, thanks for sharing it. The idea makes for a comically evil headline, but it isn't obvious to me that the concept is necessarily nefarious or exploitative. It seems very similar to the blood transfusions we already do today to stop people from dying.