[fnbr]

I think you’re right. I’d do stuff like that if I was a billionaire. You have the ability to shift resources to what you think is important; this probably costs a comparable amount to a single SWE.

Having said that- Stripe does have a credible claim to making a % of the GDP of the internet. Maybe they view this sort of activity as increasing that; progress studies in general does have the potential to have a non-trivial impact on the economic impact of the internet.