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Comment by Qworg | Hacker News Reader

I worked as Paul's technical adviser at Vulcan - he was funny, warm, and prickly in turns, well aware of the outsized shadow he cast, and absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality.

His legacy in the Institutes, in his philanthropic ventures, and in the bones of Seattle itself cannot be overstated. Outside of the sciences, he built South Lake Union (home of Amazon and many other tech companies), saved the Seahawks, supported thousands of famous musicians, and played a mean guitar himself.

I'll miss him.

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> absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality.

We need more people like this.

Some of this stuff might be impossible, but there is only one way to find out. It takes a great person to throw themselves into the machine of failure for the benefit of humanity.

It is, ultimately, also philanthropy - it's just philanthropy on a timescale that is far greater than one life and far more than a few [million] lives.

People who push humanity forwards will be remembered forever - through their name on someone's lips, or their legacy in someone's hands. In many ways these type of people are immortal.

>It takes a great person to throw themselves into the machine of failure for the benefit of humanity.

Great line!

I will remember him as long as I'm alive and I'll try that my sons remember him as well. He was one of those humans which we don't have a replacement for.

I didn't have the privilege to work with Vulcan, but they are a really awesome organization. I think Vulcan best exemplifies Paul Allen's approach to philanthropy, which focused on measurable results and data-driven change. For those unfamiliar, check out Vulcan's outstanding work with elephant atlas (https://elephant-atlas.org/) and the great elephant census (https://www.paulallen.com/remembering-the-great-elephant-cen...). When I was at AI2, the great elephant census was used as both a barometer and analogy to think critically about the value and impact of the research and tools our scientist were developing.

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