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Nathan Myhrvold, Do-Gooder

Posted by timothy on from the not-to-mention-serious-cook dept.

theodp writes "Perturbed by a GigaOm item which likened him to 'Darth Vader doing some charity work as he completes the Death Star,' Intellectual Ventures CEO Nathan Myhrvold talks about the goals of his 'Global Good' program and fires back at critics in an interview with GeekWire's Todd Bishop. The technology industry is a little too obsessed with 'sending little messages to each other and having fun on a social network' for Myhrvold, who hopes to tackle bigger problems like malaria, polio, and HIV with the help of funding from buddy Bill Gates. 'I don't mean to call Zynga out in a negative way,' says Myhrvold, 'but is Zynga doing God's work? Is Facebook doing God's work? Even setting aside what God's work means, I think it's pretty easy to say, those companies are doing wonderful things, but they are for-profit ventures. It's either tools or toys for the rich.' BTW, if you're ready to do God's work, IV's looking for a Vice President, Global Good."

12 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd rather they do good, than God's work.

    1. Re:Or... by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Which god is he talking about, is what I want to know. I mean does he want us to start hitting people with hammers, praying for the undead lord to return from another dimension to cleanse the world of unbelievers with fire, start talking to our ancestors through their severed heads, raise Cthulhu from his watery grave, or what?

    2. Re:Or... by AmazingRuss · · Score: 4, Funny

      God is supposed to be omnipotent. He can get off his ass and do his own work.

    3. Re:Or... by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Informative

      Which god is he talking about, is what I want to know. I mean does he want us to start hitting people with hammers, praying for the undead lord to return from another dimension to cleanse the world of unbelievers with fire, start talking to our ancestors through their severed heads, raise Cthulhu from his watery grave, or what?

      One of the crazy ones, anyway. His plan for solving global warming is to pump sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere and hand out uranium to private citizens to build small personal reactors. His hobbies include searching for alien life, barbequing french food, and photographing wildlife. I'm not sure if the last two are related or not...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    4. Re:Or... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They aim for "Global Good", while asking for you to do "God's work". They should make up their minds and either aim for "Global God" or do "Good's work". Right now, the message is inconsistent.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:Or... by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Gack. Messiah complex-with-money-and-patent-portfolio.... and really judgmental, too. Do gooders, doing God's work. Not bad, of course, but when you ostensibly have God's work to do, your agency can do no wrong, hurt no one, and the ends justify the means. You're inherently right, and others are apostates. Wait, wear did we hear that before?

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    6. Re:Or... by flyingsquid · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Is this story some kind of sick joke? Nathan Myrvold lecturing us all about being better people? What the hell has Nathan F***ing Myrhvold ever done for the world? Myrhvold first became filthy rich as chief technology officer for Microsoft. He helped the company make billions of dollars abusing their monopoly power to get consumers to buy crappy software.

      Unlike Bill Gates, who sees the light and decides to devote his life to charity, Myrhvold goes on to devote his life to setting up Intellectual Ventures, the world's largest patent troll. Gate's post-Microsoft career is dictated by his desire to work at something other than making money. Myrhvold's post-Microsoft career is dictated by the idea that he still wants to make an assload of money, he just doesn't want to actually do any work any more. He'd rather screw around in the kitchen and write a cookbook, while his company makes money by threatening to sue the people who are actually trying to innovate and create something.

      Hell, he's not even funding this effort. Guess who's funding it? The article says it's "funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Asset Trust". So Gates is putting up the money, and Myrhvold is running around trying to take all the credit for being this great philanthropist. Well, I've got a suggestion for you Nathan. Want to make the world a better place? Shut down Intellectual Ventures. That would do far more to spur innovation than anything you've ever done.

      What a pretentious douche.

    7. Re:Or... by flyingsquid · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, assuming he's being absolutely truthful, it's a lot like a maffia Don using his protection money to feed the homeless.

      Which would be great if that's what Myrhvold was doing. Here's what the article says:

      Scientists and researchers working with Intellectual Ventures have come up with lots of wild ideas over the years. Some of them have the potential to help the world, ranging from a laser to zap mosquitoes to a container for preserving vaccines for long periods of time. And now Nathan Myhrvold, the former Microsoft chief technology officer who founded Intellectual Ventures, wants to see those ideas rolled out and made available to the developing world. That’s the story behind Intellectual Ventures’ decision to seek a new vice president to lead its “Global Good” initiative. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Asset Trust..."

      So it's not even Myrhvold's money, he's actually using Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's money and then lecturing to others about how they should do more. Yes, Nathan, by using other people's money to help people and then boasting about it, you've really shown us the way. Your selfless sacrifice, nobility and sense of humility have truly touched us all... you're up there with Jesus and Gandhi.

  2. smear campaign by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

    'Darth Vader doing some charity work as he completes the Death Star',

    Slashdot editors need to stop posting what is clearly rebel rhetoric. The first Death Star was used on Alderaan to save lives. The planet was partly hollow and heavily fortified; A great many imperial lives would have been sacrificed to end the war in a conventional ground-based attack. By destroying Alderann with the Death Star instead, billions of lives were saved. After that, the galaxy enjoyed its longest period of peace and prosperity in centuries.

    The second Death Star was blown up before it was even completed, and it's construction was solely as a deterrent against future war -- it would have reduced the cost of maintaining a fleet of thousands of flag ships as fewer would have been needed for routine patrols. There were not many military personnel on the base at the time, most of those people were contractors working during the recession, caused by supply shortages because funds were diverted to combat the constant terrorist attacks by the rebels. When the Death Star fell, millions of contractors and private citizens lost their lives in an unparalleled terrorist attack. The Empire had no choice then but to respond to these right-wing religious nutjobs with overwhelming force.

    Never Forget the Liberty Star disasters!

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  3. C.S. Lewis on tyrants by russotto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not directly related, but whenever an evil asshole starts prattling on about "God's work" or anything similar, it brings to mind this C.S. Lewis quote

    âoeOf all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.â

  4. Doing God's work? Seriously? by MaxTardiveau · · Score: 5, Informative

    >> is Zynga doing God's work? Is Facebook doing God's work?

    Yes, Nathan, you're doing a lot of wonderful work. But that doesn't excuse *how* you're getting your money these days. Your business practices are hurting the entire industry, and putting a big crimp on innovation. The end does not justify the means.

    Anyone who has not yet listened to This American Life's episode on Mr. Myhrvold really ought to:

    http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack/

  5. Re:whenever someone invokes god(s) by sideslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe you really believe that and aren't just trolling. But if you take the wanton destruction left in the wake of Stalin and Mao (hint: some of the strongest modern nation-wide waves of atheistic popular movements combined with persecuting and murdering untold millions of people), you find an apt counterexample to your generalization. The attribute of religiosity is orthogonal to evil. You find religious people who are some of the most humanitarian and wonderful people on earth, and you find religious people whose consciences allegedly require them to persecute other people. And you find both of the same kinds of people among atheists -- some wonderful and some evil.