How much money would be enough money for you to give away millions of dollars to a noteworthy cause such as, oh, I dunno, how about the search for intelligent extraterrestial life in the universe? I would like to have so much money leftover at the end of the year, money I could not possibly spend on anything of importance, that I could give enormous sums away. I believe I would probably want to feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide medical services to the uninsured and educate our children in poverty. Cover people's basic needs that are not being met now. Yet, when I look at where I donate money now, it's mostly to conserve our national parks and monuments, a giraffe here and there in Africa, and animal welfare causes. Small checks that don't do nearly enough.
For some people, to be able to give away a large sum of money, that amount might be $100,000. For others, it might be $100 million. It's really hard to spend a lot of money. After you buy, say, the oceanfront home in Maui, what's left? Building an airport, maybe? You don't really need an airport.
That billionaire guy who made a fortune in the Silicon Valley, Yuri Milner, gave $100 million to UC Berkeley to fund the search for intelligent extraterrestial life. There will be others who say it's ridiculous and complain that there are better places to help humanity but it's his money so what the hey. It's pointless for me to worry about it when there is so much other crap dehumanizing our Earth.
You can read more about those thoughts at this link from my personal blog today: Is the Internet Stripping Away Human Contact?
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