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Comment by daenz | Hacker News Reader

I'm not seeing any new arguments here. Summarized:

  They don't need that much money.
  It's not even that much money, relative to the world.
  That much money doesn't make you live forever.
  They didn't even build the things that they're known for.

Am I missing something new and interesting?

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I don't think there's anything new (nor do I think "newness" is the best way to judge an essay), but I do think you've mis-paraphrased the first point. It's not so much "they don't need that much money" as "after a certain point, more money has vanishing small utility, so having that much money is wasting the money."

I guess if Musk will leave all except a billion dollars, he'll leave both Tesla and SpaceX decision making, which would likely significantly change companies, and I'm afraid for worse.

Well, he's a writer. It's not so important that the arguments be new, as long as they're still valid points and provide fertile ground for discussion. It's more important that it's written well and that the examples are topical. And then we can continue the debate.

Even if the points aren't new, the level of wealth disparity we're seeing is new, so an updated discussion is warranted.

> the level of wealth disparity we're seeing is new

Is it, though?

Is it worse than between a serf and a king during the pre-industrial era? Is it worse than during the Gilded Age? I doubt it.

I should have qualified that, I meant that we ourselves are seeing. Perhaps there have been other times in history but for anyone who is alive now, this time compares to no other

Sometimes the old arguments are the best. Just because something has been said before doesn't make it any less valid.

Those arguments don't even seem to have been debunked yet.

There's endless discussions on the internet about these tired topics. If you don't feel they have been debunked, I don't think you ever will. There are others that feel the opposite, also strongly. That's why these are tired points, because they go around in circles and make no progress.

To respond in list

  Sometimes, people haven't read the older thing before.
  There was an excellent post a few months back about how overvalued creativity is.
  If that's true, there should be better counterarguments than "this is unoriginal"

> There was an excellent post a few months back about how overvalued creativity is.

Sounds interesting, do you have link, or may be keywords for search?

One new: billionaires are de-facto kings in their small domain, because companies are authoritarian, not democratic. Such concentration of power and wealth makes monumental things possible.

If the Egyptian elite didn't have such concentration of power and wealth, only very small pyramids would exist. If Elon Musk only was allowed $100 million, he probably wouldn't have the most advanced and cost-effective rocket company in the world, the insanely cool Spaceship, and the goal of a Martian colony.

On the other hand, few billionaires are working towards a lofty goal. Most just to make even more billions by whatever means, to put their initials in the high score board.

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