this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023

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182

which ones do you think I missed? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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image transcription:

big collage of people captioned, "the only people I wouldn't have minded being billionaires"
names(and a bit of info, which is not included in the collage) of people in collage(from top left, row-wise):

Alexandra Elbakyan, creator of Sci-Hub. perhaps the single-most important person in the scientific community regarding access to research papers.
Linus Torvalds, creator of linux kernel and git, courtesy of which we have GNU/Linux.
David Revoy, french artist famous for his pepper&carrot, a libre webcomic. inspiration for artists who are into free software movement
Richard Stallman, arch-hacker who started it all. founded the GNU project, free software movement, Emacs, GCC, GPL, concept of copyleft, among many other things. champions for free software to this day(is undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment).
Jean-Baptiste Kempf, president of VLC media player for 2 decades now
Ian Murdock, founder of Debian GNU/Linux and Debian manifesto. died too soon.
Alexis Kauffmann, creator of framasoft, a French nonprofit organisation that champions free software. known for providing alternatives to centralised services, notable one being framapad and peertube.
Aaron Swartz, a brilliant programmer who created RSS, markdown, creative commons, and is known for his involvement in creation of reddit. he also died too soon.
Bram Moolenaar, creator of vim, a charityware.

on the bottom right is the text reading, "plus the thousands of free software enthusiasts working tirelessly."

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[–] [email protected] 99 points 9 months ago (1 children)

None of them. I don't care who they are, nobody should be a billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The point is, I think, if they were to become billionaires (say Bll Gtes leaves it to them in his will), then they wouldn't be billionaires for long -- their moral compasses (given they've spent their lives on non-profit causes) dictate that they'd likely put the money into other non-profit ventures.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Thats a fair point, but money changes people. That kind of money is obscene because it effectively puts you above most laws. I, too, would like to believe that the folks on this list would do only good with the money; but the longer the list, the more likely you witness the “Bad Change!” At the end of the day, most folks have families and other concerns outside of their public pursuits. That kind of money, while bringing its own problems, can get rid of just about any “normal people” worries (obviously not something like inoperable cancer)!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I would use [it] from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine

Gandalf, to Frodo, saying why he should not be given the one ring.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I thought the same exact thing lol

[–] [email protected] 66 points 9 months ago (9 children)

It's nice to appreciate people who do good things, but keep in mind that the only way people become billionaires is by exploiting people. So I would not want any of these people to be billionaires because it would mean they got that wealth not by doing good things, but by owning ridiculous amounts of capital and exploiting people.

Rant over, sorry.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago

it's alright mate. your rant helped me see things in a different light. so thank you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I choose to see this question as "If you could magically just make someone a billionaire, who deserves it," or more specifically "who would actually do good things with the money if they had a billion dollars."

As you said, the reason these people aren't billionaires already is because they haven't been exploiting others. That being said, there are likely a few people that would use the money to better support a lot of great causes, like the Free Software Foundation, medical research, or climate change action

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Well said. Thinking billionaires are assholes because they're naturally shitty is like thinking they got rich by being naturally hard working.

Take landlords for example. You can be the nicest person in the world. The kind of person who makes friends with the tenant. What do you think happens to you after you've evicted a few of your friends?

Systems are a bitch.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago

no one should be billionaires.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Me. I use arch btw.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I fucking love arch.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

pfft … you just haven’t discovered our lord and saviour, NixOS

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Haven't felt the want to learn NixOS, but the idea did 8ntrigue me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nix-git

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Can we throw Steve Irwin in here. I bet that dude could have saved the Great Barrier Reef and a whole lot of wildlife if he had more means.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

RIP Aaron Swartz.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

the US government has blood on their hands for this one...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Rip Swartz man, the idea of all human knowledge from how to change your tire to how to put out a fire being monetised is legitimately scary

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

As funny as the thought of Stallman becoming a billionaire is, ultimately, like all celebrities, these people are strangers to the overwhelming majority of you. Parasocial relationships are never healthy, and the result of being put on a pedastal is that they became idols and symbols and ceases being people.

And I don't think that's what they would have wanted.

After all, the only good billionaire is a Barbi-onaire.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

- me. i wouldn't mind being a billionaire. now give me money /s

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

If they were billionaires, they likely wouldn't be the people they are today.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Would these people actually be billionaires though? Seems to me many of them would put that money to good use instead.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Fundamentally speaking, none of these people would've ended up as billionaires for long. Most FOSS heavyweights already gave up their chance at being much more wealthy for their current roles. That being said, I'm pretty sure Linus and a few others here aren't exactly short on cash

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.

I don't think he was ever a billionaire, though he's certainly done quite well for himself. Since leaving Apple, he has founded several new companies and projects, focusing a lot on education and philanthropy. He was also involved in founding the EFF.

He's an engineer first and foremost, and several of his projects never achieved mainstream success, partly for being, IMHO, ahead of their time -- for example, a programmable universal remote in the 80s, and a GPS-based item tracker in the early 2000s.

As far as I know, he has never been involved in any notable scandals.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (8 children)

I have a standing theory that once a person is no longer concerned about their welfare or the welfare of their descendants, they go crazy.

Like, once you reach a point where survival is no longer a problem, that part of your brain goes nuts. It's not a flawless theory, since philanthropy is a thing and people like Dean Kamen exist, but it's a thing that seems to happen an awful lot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I think it’s more that billionaires have very few people to surround themselves with except for sycophants and other billionaires.

Nobody says no to them, everything they’ve ever done was the right thing according to everyone around them, so why should the next thing they do or say be wrong?

Covid really really accelerated the craziness among them.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Cory Doctorow

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Hummmmm...Lennart Pottering?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Ooh, I've met three of them on this list. Jean-Baptiste was the best though ;)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

The year Aaron Swartz died is the year that everything started going to shit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

yeah, no

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I would be OK if the guy that made Stardew Valley became a billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Rest in peace Bram Moolenaar

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I'm sorry, but Stallman is an asshole..

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Terry A. Davis

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

if Arnold Swartz was a billionaire lemmy wouldn't exist and most likely kbin also

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is it pronounced git or jit?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think it's git as in "Go on now! Git!"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Lol I always say something similar in my head. What do I need to do to obtain this program? I jus' need'a go'on n' git it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

First recognized Linus and was like where’s Aaron. [Probably saw him subconsciously but] Was super satisfied he’s there. Rest in peace, hero.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Patrick Volkerding could use a shout-out

founder, maintainer, and benevolent dictator-for-life of Slackware.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

it's precisely that they don't build themselves up by exploring the less privileged and really create value to society that we view them as good people. No billionaire is self-made, no billionaire is good. Eat the rich, help your communities, be kind.

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