News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by bmcusick on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:18AM (#14865482)
This is wonderful news for humanity, in the long term. Bezos is dedicated to expanding humanity into the solar system in a more sensible way than Musk is. O'Neil cylinders are really the way to go for a lot of reasons, and that's the vision that Bezos is dedicated to. More money for that is fantastic.

I just wish there was a Bezos/Gates-level billionaire who care as much about life extension via SENS. That's the only thing of equal importance I can think of that needs long term vision and financial support.

Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:27AM (#14865580)
billionaire capitalists are not good news for humanity
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by vixen99 on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:52AM (#14865835)
Why not? These billionaire capitalists don't force people to work for them nor do they force people to buy their products and services - but people do in large numbers. A sort of democratic vote against your submission. Are the people who don't buy into their products suffering in some way? Explain!
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by cname on Thursday July 27, 2017 @11:16AM (#14866070)
Because everyone simply decided to participate in the prevailing social/economic system? I wish I could simply decide to opt out.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by rukittenme on Thursday July 27, 2017 @11:37AM (#14866256)
You can... You can move to a country that has the economic system you want or you can leave society all together.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by trophycase on Thursday July 27, 2017 @01:15PM (#14867346)
You can't just leave and live in the woods like a hunter gatherer because there aren't enough people doing that to form an actual tribe.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by rukittenme on Thursday July 27, 2017 @01:43PM (#14867633)
You can't find 10 people dissatisfied with capitalism, on the internet??
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by slice_of_life on Thursday July 27, 2017 @11:52PM (#14871829)
Like Marc Andreessen said, Venezuela's great this time of year.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @12:34PM (#14866901)
i don't want to live in the woods, i want a world in which people who make iphones don't kill themselves
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by rukittenme on Thursday July 27, 2017 @01:47PM (#14867664)
What a strange condition. Why not I want to live in a world where people aren't hungry? What about a world without suffering? A world without conflict and scarcity?

If iPhone manufacturing is your only gripe with this world we find ourselves in, I'd say we've got it pretty good.

Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @02:37PM (#14868118)
i want all those things. my point was "if you dont like the system, leave" is a bad argument
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @12:18PM (#14866695)
no individual capitalist forces someone to work, no, but the logic of the market necessarily leads to poverty and exploitation.

the market is not democratic, those who control more wealth and capital necessarily have more power.

Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by Karunamon on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:34AM (#14865651)
That seems like the kind of broad brush statement that could never be substantiated.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @12:07PM (#14866585)
it's bad that a single person has unaccountable command over a billion dollars
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by HeyLaughingBoy on Thursday July 27, 2017 @02:31PM (#14868075)
A $Billion isn't what it used to be...
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by cmahler7 on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:40AM (#14865716)
pretty much every technological advancement and the quality of life improvement that came with it is through capitalism. There's a reason that Cuba and Soviet Russia were basically trapped in time
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @12:03PM (#14866536)
nearly all technological improvements are built, at their core, on work that was done by publicly-funded research or volunteer/non-profit work. the internet is a good example
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by aaron-lebo on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:49AM (#14865810)
Capitalism does not require inequality and obscene compensation.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by cmahler7 on Thursday July 27, 2017 @01:28PM (#14867478)
people aren't equal so you're going to have inequality unless you regulate things so everything is equal outcome, in which case you will end up with a failed civilization due to there being no reason for talented people to work hard because they get no benefit for doing so.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by door on Thursday July 27, 2017 @01:38PM (#14867582)
theres a difference between inequality in the sense of "a junior developer makes 60k, a senior developer makes 100k" (what you're talking about, and which is totally fine) and the inequality that actually exists, whereby a small number of extraordinarily wealthy people control a massive proportion of wealth while those in poverty lack access to food security, healthcare, childcare, the basic necessities of life.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by slice_of_life on Friday July 28, 2017 @12:05AM (#14871879)
>whereby a small number of extraordinarily wealthy people control a massive proportion of wealth while those in poverty lack access to food security, healthcare, childcare, the basic necessities of life

May be a more important question is why those people lack those things you mentioned. If for instance Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos never existed, would it make those poor people richer? You are not addressing the problem when you simply vilify the rich as the cause of the poor's woes. Your argument is intellectually dishonest and I think it stems from unnecessary envy.

Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by ionised on Thursday July 27, 2017 @11:13AM (#14866040)
In human history?
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by slice_of_life on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:36AM (#14865670)
I agree. Don't forget Amazon still has so much it's doing with its current projects. Bezos has been really impressive. If you haven't read The Everything Store, you should get it - great book.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by StreamBright on Thursday July 27, 2017 @03:06PM (#14868367)
I think there is no more or less sensible way. The only way is the way that actually works. Right now non of the options are viable. Going to Mars won't make humanity interstellar species because there are much more serious issues to solve than just going there, starting with the lack of geomagnetic field. If we want to change that we need to build space stations with artificial gravity and geomagnetic field so that people living on it are safe. This is probably a better option than trying to go to a desert planet without geomagnetic field.
Re:Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person by 1_2__4 on Thursday July 27, 2017 @10:53AM (#14865851)
This is possibly one of the most insane comments I've ever read.