Asklemmy

I think I'd try it. Though I expect that I'd be corrupted easily if I tried to set up foundations and such as I understand that's very difficult. I think I would just hire an elite military trained unit. Use them to sabotage the wealthiest and convince them it was another ungodly rich person who did it. Maybe when they've killed enough of each other, we could fix society without their influence.

I think I would because I know what it's like to have a real job and pay my bills with it - as opposed to being born into a rich family or striking it rich because you were the right tech bro at the right time and you got lucky (and you fucked your partners over a little too).

There's a million interesting social projects I would like to donate to. People and organization who don't need all that much to do a ton of good around them. I would feel truly happy to donate to them and feel as though I had a net positive impact in my community.

And also, I despise the arrogant tax-evading billionnaire class so much, I don't think I could live with myself if I realized I had become one of them without realizing some day. Just that thought alone would keep me on my toes every day I think.

Does "corrupted by power" cover mega building projects?

I don't know where morality falls on my desire to build New Tenochtitlán.

I think both. I imagine I would do a lot of good on global level, but probably abuse it on personal level.

Although the specifics also matter, e.g. will there be a way to steal it from me, forcing me into paranoia?

And if you believe in yourself, how would you try to convince an hypotetical entity to give you this wealth?

It can't end worse than the direction we are going, and will very likely end much better overall.

Yeah, I'd give it a shot. I'd hire a bunch of experts instead of just shooting from the hip though.

Climate change is a big priority.

Yes, because I didn't sell my soul bit by bit stepping on the hands of others over an extended period of time to get it, my mind is still that of a worker with a rage for injustice.

I would be assassinated long before I could deliver a world that deserves to exist.

Give me the money, it will be wild.

Yes. I would end homelessness by building housing for everyone that wanted it. Then I would donate almost all the rest to orgs that share my values while keeping a portion large enough to do whatever I want until I die and fuck off into obscurity. I would not buy media companies and try to get lots of attention.

I don't understand people who need to constantly accumulate more. Once I can live comfortably doing whatever I want until death, that's enough. Put the rest towards making the world a better place.

Infinite wealth?

No.

I would do petty things like buy Tesla, destroy all the factories and then dissolve it. That way there are no assets to recover.

I would start buying massive tracts of land to build a functional passenger priority rail system.

I would start removing lanes on highways. Electric cars are not the future.

I would destroy cities and remake them so that city roads only prioritize emergency services.

I would buy up all the crypto and do absolutely nothing with it in hopes that it would die.

I would upgrade Texas’ power grid so it could connect to other states. That way they won’t freeze to death every time it snows.

I would buy up buildings in desert regions and start demolishing them.

I would buy up all the insurance companies and shut them down.

I would build a big dome over the state of Ohio so nobody comes in or out.

I am very petty.

I absolutely would not trust myself, but I also feel deeply that I should be allowed to test this hypothesis with lived experience.

I'm too lazy to be problematic, so yeah. Never doing laundry would be nice. Wear once. Recycle.

Interestingly, I'd be forced to take this deal if wiping my memory of it was a side effect of rejecting it.

And when I took it? Yeah, the money would influence me and self interest would shape some of my decisions, but at the end of the day, I have to live with myself. If my decisions aren't also shaped by empathy and compassion for others, then I'd have lost myself.

Oh hell no. I would not trust myself.

Even less I would trust those I empower to fix problems because corruption is everywhere

Yes, because I have fixed goals that are for what I consider the greater good of humanity, and an unlimited amount could be spent on them.

I'd use the same tactics misinformation spreaders use to counter them. I'd buy all the media outlets I could and start forcing them to run left leaning and communist praising stories. I'd send the Murdoch's a check with "Kill Yourselves" written across the envelope and then play the rich guy "Whoopsie!" when they try to get me in trouble. I'd establish permanent funding for public schools with an attachment; you have to investigate each child's style of learning if you want the sweet 10 mil a pop. Honestly I think I can make every oligarch throw up and try to assassinate me.

I trust my will to do it. But I will fail for two reasons:

1. I don't fully understand humans. I will try a world that would be perfect if everyone would be like me. Problem? That's not the world we live in.

2. Even with all the money and a good plan I'm a bullet away from the ground. And I'm pretty sure anyone trying to fix things becomes a priority target right away.

Oh boy. Corruption for sure. Not like hush money or Epstein corruption. Like private party and excessive stunt corruption. Are you saying I could fund stupid shit? The zip line industry would boom. Adverts for spider cars would be everywhere. So much money would go into anti-fossil fuel propaganda.

I'd basically become Bill Gates without the monopoly.

People criticise the big philanthropists for skewing all the work their way, but that's more a product of not enough funding elsewhere than of the foundations being bad themselves.

I’d like to think so because I’m generally ethical and don’t really care about money (except in the sense that we all have to). I certainly don’t think rich people are smarter or more capable than poor people.

That being said, based on all the billionaires in the world, it seems that once you hit a certain level of wealth, you become an insecure twat and start acting like a victim and posting rot on the internet. So, maybe I’d just become a bozo clown who thinks being an investor is the same as being an inventor.

Infinite? Nah. I'm sure I'd use the money for good but even well-intended I do think there is such a thing as too much intervention.

Nobody can be trusted with that much power. Not even yourself.

Yeah. Knowing myself, I'm probably going to just forget i have the wealth and spend it on getting a nice house in a nice area and getting my wife pretty dresses to wear to work while I stay home and take care of the kids.

I think the only hypothetical entity willing to give me the money would have to be Satan himself; I'd be making a bet with him that I wouldn't be corrupted by the wealth, he takes my soul if I get greedy. Can't imagine convincing any other sort of entity to give me billions of dollars to do nearly nothing with it.

The foundations I would be donating to probably would

Yes, if you're offering I'll take it

I mean, i might end up playing it a lil too much and it might get in the way of the tasks i should be doing. But eventually I'll either finish it or get bored so even if that does happen it won't be the world.

As someone who is currently working at a company that has no problems of cash flow yet is still penny pinching, often on things that would actively save costs after an initial serious investment, yes, I would not change and most probably burn through that money to do positive things for people.

I also have a tendency to look as how things might happen down the road, so time is not really that much of a concern for me.

With so much money at my discretion, I can say with a fair degree of confidence I'd been putting money into projects amd initiatives I would most probably never benefit from their results.

But would I be popular or well liked in that endeavour? I seriously doubt.

No. I believe that adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely. I don't trust myself or any other single person with that kind of money.

Egotistical altruism.... Yes.

The better that we can make everybody else's life, the better your own life becomes in return.

I'd maybe be better, but I'd still have a kickass life.