Would you trade lives with Mark Zuckerberg?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, just in case you have been living under a rock, Mark Zuckerberg (Wikipedia, Time Magazine) is Time’s person of the year.

He is 26 and the world’s youngest billionaire (total net worth around $6.9 Billion). He has his face on millions of Time magazines across the world. He is in charge of one of the most popular web sites (Facebook).

Most people think that is an awesome start to life.

Would you trade places? Why?

Things to consider:

  1. He probably gets lots of attention. Do you like lots of attention?
  2. He has been fighting lawsuits for a long time dealing with facebook. Do you like being sued?
  3. He is worth billions and most people can recognize him. Can he ever have a friend or significant other that he knows is not in it for the money?
  4. Maybe he has hit his peak, maybe is it all downhill from here.
  5. Interviews are harder than you think.

I would not. Many people say they want riches and fame, but it ain’t all roses.

2

In a heartbeat. Sure, there are hassles - but once you pass the billion-dollar mark, that’s not just wealth. That’s world-changing wealth. If Zuckerberg wished, he could put billions of dollars into economic development projects, or human-rights organizations, or developing anti-censorship technology - anything he wanted, he could do. Money like that lets you make a real stab at reshaping the world as you see fit.

Never mind that Zuckerberg doesn’t seem interested in this sort of thing - I certainly would be, which is why I’d trade lives with him without hesitation. I’d settle my lawsuits, duck out of Facebook, and spend the rest of my life running my NGO (or set of them).

3

All those downsides can be mitigated by selling off Facebook to someone else. Once I’m him, I’m not running it. I don’t know how.

And I guess I’d have to get fat and change my look and name, and move to some little town–where I would want to live anyways. Out in the boonies, no one would recognize me.

I’m not the type who would keep all the money, either. But I’d like to at least be able to not have to worry about money problems for the rest of my life and the lives of my living family. The rest can go to various charities.

The only downside I can see is the stress of having to set all that up–but that would be worth it.

4

Do I have to be him, or do I get to be me, who just happens to be in his situation?

If the former, no. If the latter, maybe.

5

If I get to keep my wife, younger sisters, and stepdaughter, yes. But only then.

6

That really wouldn’t be a trade of lives, then, would it?

7

I suppose not. But I’m not giving up my wife voluntarily for any amount of money.

8

But then you wouldn’t be you, you would be him. So we are right back where we started.

9

No way. I love my life. No, I’m not a billioniaire, but big f’in deal. I’m not even sure I’d want to be a billionaire even if I could keep my own life.

A couple million would be nice, though.

10

Maybe you could convince your wife to ditch the old you for the new you with $7 billion in the bank.

Maybe she’s always liked younger guys too. :wink:

11

So with this deal does Zuckenberg end up in your life? You could offer him, like, 5% of his old money back to back you up when you explain to your wife what happened.

12

I wouldn’t trade lives with anyone, because no one else is married to my wife and has my children.

13

I don’t think most people could recognize him. I think he could very easily blend into obscurity.

14

Yeah, even with his face on Time Magazine, he’s a pretty average looking guy (and that’s not a qualitative statement about his looks, I’m just saying that he looks like a million other guys his age roaming northern California). Plus, his “thing” is that he still buys clothes at sloppy college student stores, so that aids in his blending-- nobody thinks the guy in the Abercrombie t shirt is a billionaire.

15

Not only do I want to me him, I feel like I should be him. I deserve it. Moreover, there’s no reason I can’t be…at least to some degree. $6 billion? No. $1 million? Well, it can’t be that hard, can it?

16

Hell yes.

17

Nah, I have no desire to be him. My (uneducated) take on him is that he’s uncomfortable being himself. He can have the money, wealth, and power. I’ll just be happy being me. :slight_smile:

18

Only to take the money and run.

19

That counts. I kind of take it as read with these things that you don’t have to keep running Facebook. You can take your money and go buy an NFL team, or a record label, or a bunch of harem girls… or…

ahem

Not that I have any interest in a harem, of course.

20

I wouldn’t. I’d love to be rich, but not that rich. It’s too much responsibility. The only kind of fame I would ever enjoy would be that of something like a moderately successful author (where most people haven’t got a clue what you look like)–I would go crazy being in the public eye that much.

Also, I wouldn’t give up the good things about my life to take over somebody else’s, even if they are filthy rich.