"It's a lot easier to connect to the story of the one person or the five people... you know, because I'm mathematically literate, I know that when there's 3 million kids every year dying of things that are completely preventable with the technology we have today, you know I can try and magnify how I feel about that one situation by a factor of 3 million. It's tough. But at least you know it's super important."
- Bill Gates
Just when you thought the rich people don't care about anything but money and more money, out pops Geekus-Maximus to save the world from cancer, malaria, AIDS and other deadly illnesses. The visionary vision of the nation's richest merchant prince. BTW, this is two year old news.. kinda'.
Suggested Reading/Viewing list:
- Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy
- The Road Ahead
- Gates : How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America
- Bill Gates Speaks : Insight from the World's Greatest Entrepreneur
- Triumph of the Nerds
- Pirates of Silicon Valley
- Microman: What Life Might Be Like If You Were Bill Gates
- How the Web was Won
Here are some great Gates quotes:
- You see, antiquated ideas of kindness and generosity are simply bugs that must be programmed out of our world. And these cold, unfeeling machines will show us the way.
- Windows 2000 already contains features such as the human discipline component, where the PC can send an electric shock through the keyboard if the human does something that does not please Windows.
- There is a certain responsibility that accrued to me when I got to this unexpected position.
- The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
- People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn't they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines... There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.
- Let's face it, the average computer user has the brain of a Spider Monkey.
- Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.
- I see a time when Smartware would literally manage your money for you. Decide which investments are the most lucrative, which property would be the best buy based on value. If you're income isn't high enough, it could find you a new job. If your wife is spending too much money, the system would be programmed to discipline her, through a series of, say, spankings or what have you.
More billion(-aire) fun
Famous billionaires who share your horoscope
Forbes' Billionaires page
Google's news for "billionaire"
Billionaire magazine (finally!)
What billionaire's don't have
Other names for a billion
Brief history of the billion
World Population Estimate
Current Cost of Iraq War (unfortunately also in the billionaire region)
Well, now it's your turn -
What would you do with a billion dollars?
(Remember, that's $1,000,000,000.)
Click on that little comment link below to share your vision-
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5 comments:
I thought I'd start off the comments with my idea for spending a billion.
First, I'd hire someone to clean my room. Then I'd buy the apartment building I live in and blow it up on the 4th of July. The explosion would be contained within a large black sound-proof box. Only my closest friends would be invited to the viewing.
Who knows what I'd do with the rest? Maybe buy a year's worth of lottery tickets just for fun. Get a lawyer, buy a jet, learn a few languages.
WWYD?
If I had a million dollars, I would buy you a monkey.
Haven't you always wanted a monkey?
Yes, indeed. A monkey that throws million dollar poo.
But what would you do with a BILLION dollars?
I'd first write my will, so there isn't any confusion in the cases of my untimely demise. I'd write it in percentages, seeing as how I wouldn't know exactly how much would be left.
I would then buy a few houses in carefully selected areas around the world. I would buy a jet to travel between said houses and to fly me to where ever else I would want to go. I would buy myself a large dog and take him every where with me. We would both become fluent in many languages. I would give some money to medical research (not sure how much or what cause). Then, in my old age (assuming I live that long), I would settle down and build a restaurant or cafe and write a book (or two) about my travels.
If I had a billion dollars, I'd keep quoting Barenaked Ladies songs.
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