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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

There are tons of things I would like to do, that I could afford to do, but that I still won't do if I have to bear the whole financial risk myself. I'm sure that's true for a lot of people.

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If I had to bear your financial risk, I would expect a return: if I'm an investor give me shares, if I'm loaning you money give me interest. Why do I not deserve the same rewards as any other investor? I find the entire proposition offensive.

The reward is a successful project. Would you chip in $50 bucks to help someone build some interesting widget that otherwise wouldn't get built?

That question is not germane to this kickstarter. Considering their level of funding and the large amount of time and money that they have already sunk into the project, it's patently obvious that it's going to get made anyway. They're just trying to collect some free money from suckers because hey, why not?

Giving $25 is not bearing financial risk! It's an optimistic pre-order, it's a statement of support, it's a donation to The Arts, it's patronage. And it's less money than it costs out for dinner in San Francisco.

It offends and infuriates me that you don't see any value in the creation of new technology other than "give me interest". Your species of cynical profiteering is the reason we have freewheeling boom and bust cycles with no significant social benefit.

It's none of these things. We're talking about financing a commercial enterprise by people far wealthier than myself. What we have here are rich people trying to set up a system where they are rewarded for their part of the investment, but the little guys are not. That is cynical profiteering. I'm saving my $25 donation for a worthy non-profit cause, thank you very much.

Given Mr Stephenson's extremely solid knowledge of the foundations of capitalism (e.g. the System of the World trilogy) it seems especially rich. Or maybe he learned a thing or two while writing that.

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