As one Zen teacher puts it: "there are no enlightened beings, only enlightened actions". So do the actions and ignore the beings.
No you wouldn't. If that were true, you would have already done it.
i would gladly trade the system which produces iphones for one which puts food on the plates of otherwise starving children
there's a mismatch between the narrow "my iphone" and the broad "plates of starving children"
Instead, the author seems to be saying, "I want someone else to change their policies that impact the world so I can feel less guilty about the fact that I am doing nothing."
How much does it take before you have a "full life" that you can be judged by?
As both of them are of the same age (actually Bill is younger in terms of months), it is a perfectly valid comparison as to how far both men had come at this particular stage in their lives (56 years), so why should the writer judge the Bill Gates of 10 years ago (at 46 years) and compare it with the late Steve Jobs (at 56 years)
I mention the above to state only one thing... Practically everyone here does not know enough about Gates or Jobs on a personal level to make any kind of judgement. Anything you hear is all second hand information and what is displayed by the media. It could well be, relative to a lot of other rich folks, Jobs didn't play a big enough role and certainly Apple was not involved in any charity related stuff, but that doesn't mean he hasn't done his part towards causes he wanted to help out.
Metaphorically speaking, it's a lot like saying someone who has money but doesn't buy much is cheap. That's not necessarily true. They'll spend money, and lots of it, on things they actually care for and want. On other things, its not important. On this front, Jobs also is an example. All that said, it's their life, their money. Let them choose how to live it their way.
As another HN member already commented, don't idolize either but take away lessons from each and mold your own path.
I guess the important thing, then, is to have different people guide different parts of your life. No one was good at everything; pick and choose their good sides.
http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link.
Maybe we could get more flagging if you updated the guidelines or renamed it "junk".
Arguably, Jobs's lifestyle is probably more suited for philanthropy because of the (relatively) spartan nature of his tastes in fashion, housing and cars.
They don't need to be one better than the other.
Unfortunately the line may well be "Don't make money the way these billionaires did, no-one did it nicely. When you have billions, give it away like they all do."
