[AstroChimpHam]

> but, he asked, why should they be treated as sagacious experts when they come from a completely different arena

Because they have a history of getting impressive shit done. Not complained about, but actually done. And they have the will to get it done, and a bunch of capital to put behind that will, even if they were taxed at whatever ridiculously high rate Giridharadas wants them taxed at.

Giridharadas is welcome to disagree with successful people, but they've at this point proven their opinions do tend to matter when it comes to shaping the country whether we want to pay attention or not.

[blub]

I'm sure everyone would be all ears if Zuckerberg were asked for advice on how to best violate people's privacy, or Bezos were asked how to abuse warehouse workers, but there's no reason why the opinions of those two regarding e.g. medicine would be worth more than those of actual specialists and experts.

Just because someone's successful it doesn't mean they're wise. Looking at Zuckerberg fumble from scandal to scandal certainly doesn't give one that impression. He's just another ruthless rich businessman.

[AstroChimpHam]

Snarky comments aside, Zuckerberg built a massive ads business from scratch, not previously knowing anything about ads. He built a massive social network from scratch, not knowing anything previously about social.

Bezos built the biggest e-commerce business in the world, never having worked in e-commerce or retail before. And seems to be doing some impressive stuff at Blue Origin, not knowing anything about space travel.

That's all not to mention Musk, who goes from new industry to new industry, building successful businesses that fundamentally change those industries, without previously knowing anything about those industries.

These are incredibly impressive accomplishments. They've proven their bonafides for solving general problems in fields they weren't previously familiar with, probably more than just about anyone else in the world.

[Konnstann]

The fact that they have built those businesses doesn't mean that they can draw informed conclusions on whatever they want. I doubt that Bezos has his think-tank of domain experts giving him background on every question he gets asked during interviews. Sure, if Bezos shifted his attention to healthcare, a month after the announcement I would give his opinions weight, because he's proven adept at analyzing situations quickly, given motivation. What's the motivation to learn about X problem in the world at any given time?

[AstroChimpHam]

This already happened on healthcare. He already has a healthcare initiative: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/dr-atul-gawande-to-lead-buff....

The thing to bear in mind with this is they're all constantly looking at a bunch of other initiatives before jumping in, so if one of these people had a comment to a reporter on just about anything it's probably not the first time they're thinking about that subject.

[blub]

Great example. Your government prefers to spend money on bombs instead of people, but Bezos will magically fix it with his billions.

Richest country in the world can't offer health care to so many of its citizens.

[blub]

What is there to know about ads? Is this some good mine of insights about humanity now, or what?

Zuckerberg accidentally invented surveillance capitalism by gathering more and more data to show ads to more and more people. Then he was completely surprised when it backfired and yet tries to continue down the same path, because that's all that Facebook knows.

Bezos can at least be credited with having some insights about online platforms, but a lot of his success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. The same man starting today would probably get bought out by one of Google, Fb, Apple or Amazon or succeed on a small/medium scale. Not to mention that Amazon apparently has a culture of making people cry and warehouse worker abuse.

What's most bothersome about your assertions is this CEO worshipping that's ignoring the real people doing the work. And I'm not talking about the janitors cleaning Tesla's tent-factory, but rather the engineers and experts which actually built the rockets, batteries and scalable platforms these companies stand on.

Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg haven't solved any problems, except how to be a CEO. The people they hired did the solving.