It is a wonderful program. I wish more billionaires were trying to leave a legacy where their name stands for something more admirable. Will anyone know who Zuckerberg is in 100 years? Probably not.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has apparently given out $2 billion in grants. I haven't really heard anything about any of its projects, while Parton's library project sounds very effective. It did say on Wikipedia though that the Zucc's initiative issued a grant to matplotlib, so that's nice.
I only recognized a three of them: J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Three more I recognized universities named after them: James Duke (Duke University), Andrew Mellon (Carnegie Mellon University), Cornelius Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt University).
To the degree that I have a positive opinion of Rockefeller and Carnegie, it's because of their philanthropy rather than their industrialism or politics.
> To the degree that I have a positive opinion of Rockefeller and Carnegie, it's because of their philanthropy rather than their industrialism or politics.
I've a friend who's grandparents, in Vietnam, were quite ruthless and accumulated sizable wealth. Now, they sponsor Buddhist monks in an effort to avoid being reincarnated as cockroaches. I suspect analogous motivations for people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, or modern equivalents like Gates and Zuckerberg (even if simply a secular motivation to rehabilitate their poor reputations).
Parton just seems to be a genuinely kind human being.
I wouldn't assume that at all. One hundred years is a long time.
If people in 2123 are still talking about early social media companies, I'll be shocked. Actually I'll be dead, but I would be shocked.
Zuckerberg and Facebook are relevant in the here and now, but they are not obviously Edison/Bell/Ford-level relevant in the long term.
Unless either he, or his company, does something of lasting significance. Maybe Meta will have a next act. Maybe through his charitable foundation. Very much TBD.
