[saulpw]

This is 100% an ego project--count the number of "I" statements in your declaration above. Even in your stated reasons why you "struck gold" with this idea, the first three are solely about your effort and taste and resentment. The fourth is about your site "acknowledging the existence" of one billion unregistered people in the world. I'm sure their actual existence is already being acknowledged by others in their own community; they don't need some tech chucklehead adding a row into a database for that. It's laughably egotistical to think it matters one whit to someone whether your site has counted them for bragging rights.

I see absolutely no value in the result for humanity and especially not for the downtrodden billion. You would have done more philanthropy had you instead donated the funds to literally any other non-profit organization. I'm surprised you were able to claim non-profit status for this venture.

It's obvious you put a lot of work into this, and you're clearly capable of creating and executing a project. It even looks nice. So hopefully this can be a point of reflection as you decide what to do next with your remaining time on this planet.

[snapplebobapple]

You miss the point of free markets. This is exactly the questionably useful ego driven nonsense that is most beneficial for self made rich people to engage in for two reasons: 1. We may be too dumb to see the value in this, in which case we win big time when something that appears stupid ends up useful. 2. Every dollar spent on this is a dollar unavailable for their trust fund kids and/or grandkids to do even more likely useless and/or harmful things with. Free markets create huge value for people who create goods and services that make others lives better to the point where it creates the secondary problem of trust fund kids who did not create anything having excess power from excess inherited wealth and doing excess harm with it due to incompetence. This is the least destructive way to dissipate that effect. (We cant just tax it away, people will hide it and also be disincentivized to create value because they risk losing control of it at death).

Note: i am not being a dick here on purpose. I am dealing with this exact problem myself and so have thought about it a lot.

[tmikaeld]

> After a successful career as an entrepreneur, a business angel and a novelist

Of course it's a personal project, why undermine it, let the person do it's thing.

[saulpw]

> start a philanthropic venture > created a non-profit

Sure, people can do whatever they want, and this project seems mostly harmless (I can also see forced data collection/publication on individuals having negative consequences for some people). I collect crossword data myself. But I don't go around patting myself on the back for my philanthropic efforts and non-profit status. I mean come on.

[antoine_b]

I don't think I was patting myself on the back but you're definitely spanking.

[antoine_b]

No need to be venomous. No, it's not an ego project. I'm not saying it will lift the Third World out of poverty but it's a genuinely disinterested endeavor. And I give to other charities, some of which you would probably approve of.