I prefer to consider it “job creation.”
Are you saving lives right now? You could probably save one life with less than a billion dollars. I’m not trying to pick on you specifically, but I’m questioning the idea that billionaires ought to be saving lives (which I generally agree with) but the rest of us can order pizza instead of saving a life, or watch something on Streaming instead of saving a life, or buy that new spatula instead of saving a life. If the only moral purpose is to save lives, we’re all hypocrites. (Better yet, why don’t we all shuffle off our mortal coils right now and donate the proceeds to charity? Imagine the lives we could all save by dying.)
That’s poignant.
No! What good is the money if you’re dead?
It’s not a binary state. I am absolutely doing bad by spending a small portion of my income on creature comforts rather than funneling even more to aid.
But the amount of bad I would be doing by withholding billions is orders of magnitude worse. It’s a sliding scale according to each of our means and few of us can’t do more.
If people want to get into the pros and cons of argument Peter Singer makes in his book, that sounds like a great topic for a new thread. As for this one, I answered the OP and provided my reasoning why.
I think I’d take the money. I’m 67 and I have bad bones. I could do enormous good for my family and I could travel a little bit. I’d also set up a charitable foundation for something.
I’d have to give some thought to and do some research on which particular societal ill I’d like to throw money at.
I’ve got a few more than 5 years ahead. But no. I would NOT want to know when I’m going to die no matter what I could to with $1,000,000,000. That’s kind of selfish I guess, but my Wife and I are doing fine. Not rich, but fine.
Life is a journey, not a destination. It often has storms, and waves. And also clear sailing. I’ll adjust my trim as needed.
You’re ignoring the glaring issues of fraud, waste, and abuse. With that sort of money, corruption will inevitably follow in its wake. If you dump that sort of money into the global charitable system all in one chunk, a significant amount of it will not reach its goal.
In the course of 5 years, I’m sure I could find, say, 998 individuals and organizations whose lives could be massively positively changed, and/or who could do a great deal of good, with a windfall of one million each. I’d only need to identify a couple hundred each year. At least most of the organizations would be small local setups – there’s half a dozen at least just in my one county.
Some of the individuals would probably screw it up; and some of the organizations, too. But not all of them.
With the remaining couple of million, I could pay off debt, live comfortably myself, get a conservation easement on my farm, and make sure it was going to the family I want it to go to; leave a chunk to the people taking the cats/dog; and have enough left over not to be worrying that I’d misjudged and would die broke after all.
And, if I get a guarantee of those five years followed by a quick death at the end – which I haven’t had an answer to – not be worrying that I’d die in dementia, shut inside some place that wouldn’t let me outdoors.
I’m not ignoring it. I’m well aware of corruption and waste. Though I’d take the money for my own sake and the sake of my loved ones even if I only managed to save the lives of 10,000 people it would be worth it to me personally.
Five years goes really fast, and knowing you’ll die at the end of it would inevitably make at least the last year or so miserable, watching the clock ticking you towards the end of existence, I think.
Or make that last year free? I don’t have to keep planning for next year, I don’t have to do or not do anything with care for what it might mean for me next year, I can turn my work over to later generations and do only the parts of it which I please –
I wonder how much of this has to do with the age and health condition of the poster. It would be a whole lot more of a wrench to take that bargain at 40 in good health than at 70+ in poor health.
I can see that.
My first thought was, “Sorry, I’m raising a kid!” That’s going to be important work until I’m at least 60.