Whatever his motivations are, the numbers don't lie. The Gates Foundation has the largest endowment in the world, by far, and they've got a pretty aggressive plan to spend it all. Here are some projects they've funded, a number of which seem pretty damn unsexy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundati...

And if you want to talk about maximizing social approval rather than benefit, check out the red iPod program. =P