For what it's worth Soros is quite a well-read guy, if you plan on dominating the world from behind the curtains you need some sort of intellectual cachet. Think he was a student of Popper at some point, and the university bearing his name is pretty well respected.

For comparison, the other multi-multi-billionaires are pretty plain when it comes to their standing on the "intelligentsia" scale. They're pretty good at making money, that's for sure (Soros is, too), but I don't see myself having hours-long conversations about Hobbes, Locke or Mandeville with the likes of Gates, Bezos or the two Google guys, while I'm pretty sure a guy like Soros has read very interesting books like Machiavelli's "Discourses on Livy" (and has actively learned from it) in his early age.

And if you want to control the world "from behind the curtains" you need your Hobbes, Locke and Machiavelli.

So what you're saying is you're smarter than 4 of the most successful people in recent history? You must be sooooo smart!

At this point we have to suspect that 'paganel is one of those shadowy forces controlling the world.

Yes, lots and lots of people (I’d say millions) are smarter than some people that have made lots of money, it has always been like that. Yes, I did read more compared to the likes of Bezos or Page, but I’m sure the same holds true for lots of HNers (Gates looks like he reads a lot but he’s reading lots of fluffy stuff, or so my impression is).

And yes, in the very long run people who read more have a more lasting influence (and you could say their ideas “control” the world more) compared to the people who have lots of money, that’s why nowadays Machiavelli is still actively discussed while the Fuggers are mostly just an interesting Wikipedia entry.

To be fair, most billionaires aren't meddling as openly. You don't hear much about Musk or Buffet spending large sums of money on changing society to align with their political ideology.

Additionally, you should put Soros into the Hedge Funds billionaires group. I don't think there are many of those that "get a free pass", they're usually disliked.

> You don't hear much about Musk or Buffet spending large sums of money on changing society to align with their political ideology.

On that point you're wrong.

Buffett played a role in abortion being legal in the US and is financially the single largest individual promoter of abortion access & rights in the US (and world). He has done his fair share of meddling, whether one agrees with it or not (I'm pro-choice, but that's irrelevant to the point; Buffett is merely quiet about his meddling, whenever possible). It's fair to say that Buffett helped to dramatically change US society through direct political action. Buffett has poured several billion dollars into pro-choice groups, direct abortion funding, abortion political efforts, etc.

For example, from Vox [1]:

"This is how we’ve arrived at a point where Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the biggest philanthropists in the world, are the leading providers of access to contraception worldwide, and Buffett is the leading provider of abortion access for poor women in the U.S."

"The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for the late wife of hedge fund billionaire Warren Buffett, is also the biggest funder of access to abortion for low-income women in the United States." [the foundation's money stems from Warren's wealth creation and it appears that Warren's efforts over the decades toward abortion were likely inspired partially by Susan; Buffett also has publicly stated that he greatly fears over-population]

"Bloomberg reports that Buffett has avoided publicity for his work on IUDs and access to birth control, because of fears that it’d damage his reputation in the investment world where he made his fortune. When he began his work on access to contraception, it was a taboo topic, and in many circles it still is."

In his biography, The Snowball, it's noted that Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger created a major abortion organization (later merged with Planned Parenthood), which assisted women in getting access to abortion services prior to Roe v. Wade. And then Munger (as a lawyer) and Buffett (financial backing) were both involved in supporting People v. Belous, which helped make Roe v. Wade possible.

[1] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/17/20754970/billio...

> Buffett is merely quiet about his meddling, whenever possible

That's what I'm talking about though, and abortions is a single issue, not a "society should be run this way" ideology. Buffet isn't running around sitting in the spotlight talking about how society should function etc. Soros is, that's why Soros gets push back and Buffet does not.

Murdoch might be a case similar to Soros on the right. And he's definitely not getting a free pass.

This sounds like a pretty plausible motive and source of the Gates conspiracy theories. Some loud and aggressive minority strongly disagrees with their objective, but figures that saying «contraception is bad» or «helping poor people in Africa survive is bad» is passé. Instead, they go full-tilt spreading vicious conspiracy theories to discredit them.

An army of useful idiots picks them up and spreads them worldwide, lowering the rate of people who will accept help from Gates the presumed supervillain. Partial success.