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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."

3 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 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.

  2. 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/