Recent Zuckerberg poaching of AI talent from competitors for insane amounts of money – and the fact that not everyone has agreed to move to Meta – made me think about people who believe they can buy everything with money. My insight doesn’t fully apply to Zuckerberg’s hiring spree, but I know many wealthy individuals in Russia who made their fortunes and could buy almost anything: politicians, justice, social norms, you name it. Many of them ended badly, often falling from the balconies of their expensive villas along the luxurious Mediterranean coast.
I think when people believe they can buy everything – or nearly everything – their judgment becomes flawed, and they start making reckless bets in their lives. Probably, the last thought in their mind while falling freely from a balcony is: “I avoided so many laws; why on earth can’t I bend this damn Newton’s second law?” At least for those who paid attention in school physics.
Even if capitalism puts many things up for sale, I’m glad that, even in the mecca of venture capitalism, there are still things Zuckerberg can’t buy with money.