[mlthoughts2018]

Like many virtuous science applications, curing disease, fighting child abuse, feeding the hungry, unless we start seeing either profitable business models around it or charitably funded research organizations that actually pay competitive salaries to attract and retain talent, this is all just aggrandizing. It’s usually pet projects of certain gurus or career researchers with extreme personalities and penchant for drumming up funding hype.

When the science is real and we’re talking about professional, legitimate deployment of a medically revolutionary technology, it won’t show up as fractious riff-raff biotech startups built on the back of post-docs and super cheap labor hoodwinked by idealism. Rather it will be companies or non-profits that actually pay high compensation to get results.

[jokethrowaway]

It's a common pattern that people start donating to illness research as soon as they have enough money.

While there are taxes implications, once more immediate needs are met, saving yourself from death in the future becomes something worth investing into.

Not everyone is that selfish or conscious about their selfishness, but I would expect this to manifest as a trend - which seems to match reality