
If I had a Billion Dollars - wslh
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/07/if-i-had-a-billion-dollars.html
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MikeCapone
Large chunk to SENS.org Foundation for research into the diseases of human
aging.

Large chunk to Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
(<http://singinst.org/>) because we need to work seriously on existential
risks, include the ones posed by AGI (we need a theory of Friendly AI to make
sure that when/if we develop artificial general intelligence, we can be as
sure as possible that its goals are going to align with ours). All we'll have
achieved so far will prove to have been futile if we go extinct because of
<insert threat here> (super-virus, asteroid, supervolcano, nanotech gone
wrong, AI gone wrong, nuclear holocaust, etc).

~~~
JoshTriplett
Seconded. We need to fix bug #1 in humans, rather than trying to cope with its
many symptoms one by one.

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smhinsey
$950 million towards capturing a resource rich asteroid and bringing it into
some kind of useful orbit near Earth. This would break down into 5 major
areas, in no particular order.

\- Identifying candidate targets. We need to find the right mixture of mass,
composition, orbit, and location. This likely has both observational and
unmanned probe components.

\- Intercept system. We need a system capable of intercepting the asteroid and
placing a propulsion system on or near the surface.

\- Return propulsion. The requirement is low power and long running. This
might be an ion engine like VASIMIR or even more exotic tech like a solar sail
or a gravity tractor.

\- Return approach. We need a safe way to put this in a location where the
resources can actually be utilized without terrorizing the world.

\- Rockets. A big chunk of this money would go into simply paying to get
things into orbit, and once in orbit, on its way out into the solar system.

My general sense is that a lot of the bits and pieces of this technology are
already in place, but there are still significant gaps and a tremendous amount
of integration work.

$40 million towards making sure this effort survives. I don't necessarily
expect it to be complete any time soon, maybe even until after I'm dead. This
might take the form of an endowment of some kind, lobbying, or seeking further
investment. I doubt this would be enough money, but I think it's in the
ballpark, especially if SpaceX, or something like, it really takes off.

$10 million for personal expenses so I don't have to worry about anything
else.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
raw materials aren't a major bottleneck for human development yet.

~~~
smhinsey
I didn't say that they were. The fact that a single well chosen asteroid can
represent ~5 times the annual global output of a given metal is a nice side
effect which happens to make the whole thing financially viable. The goal is
to bootstrap the industrialization of space as a prelude to the establishment
of permanent colonies throughout the solar system.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
your money would be better spent on space elevator R&D then.

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mrb
I would invest:

    
    
      - in 100 founders by giving them each $10k
      - in 100 startups by giving them each $100k
      - in 100 small companies by giving them each $1M
      - in 50 medium companies by giving them each $10M
      - and I would buy $10M worth of Bitcoins
    

That's $621M. I would keep the remaining $379M in safe long-term low-yield
investments.

I would likely end up with much more than $1B a decade later.

~~~
myhf
So, a decade later what would you do with all that money? What kind of legacy
would you want to create? This thought experiment is more about turning money
into cultural change than about turning money into more money.

~~~
mrb
I am effectively giving these companies, these hundreds of persons, the chance
to change the world.

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nazgulnarsil
existential risk

aging

industrial thorium reactor

intelligence augmentation/BCI/AGI R&D

everything else is kind of a joke, utility wise.

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hluska
I would invest:

\- $250M into an anti-child poverty startup 'incubator', sort of a yCombinator
for social ventures that work to eliminate child poverty.

\- $250M into a variety of 'save the ocean' ventures. Oceans and oceanic life
are incredibly important to our entire ecosystem.

\- $250M into an alternative energy incubator, again something of a
yCombinator that is wholly focused on alternative energy.

\- $250M into anti-racism/homophobia/sexism organizations

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geuis
The the two questions I haven't heard asked in the comments yet is this:

There are many multi billionaires in the world, especially in the tech sector
where there is lots of cross-over with the things mentioned in the article.

1) Why aren't people with say $3 billion in assets $1 billion along these
lines?

2) Why don't we ask such a billionaire why they don't?

~~~
nazgulnarsil
very hard to credibly signal that you are effectively working on certain
classes of problems.

------
known
I'd

    
    
        start a bank with $500 million
        create a new nation for $500 million

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obtino
Call me satisfied, but why not live off the interest?

~~~
m_myers
Yes, you could let the bank decide who gets the benefit of the money. Or you
could decide yourself. Depends on your personality, I guess.

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bperessini
...I would invest in Ron Paul...and liberty.

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avjinder
Having a Billion Dollars would make you unhappy, greedy and paranoid. You
would constantly wonder if someone is your friend or if a girl likes you
because of who you are or your money. You would also be a potential target for
kidnappers who could hold you ransom for millions of dollars. Being rich isn't
as cool as it's made out to be.

~~~
corin_
I guess it depends how you get the money, but if possible I wouldn't tell
people about it. And that works for less money too, I'm not a millionaire but
I do have more investments and savings than anyone who knows me would assume.

