I have heard he is a very nice man and he is a known philanthropist, having donated something like $250 million to various STEM, environmental, and refugee causes.
But he's been saying a lot of really stupid, ignorant things about tech lately. He's obviously inflicted by the AI curse, and he's been getting downright conspiratorial about it. (And it's not the only example) He's been digging a really particular type of hole for himself.
But he's rich. He's super rich. He's probably in the top 5% of the richest people on earth. And I've said it before, but being that rich seems to come with psychological consequences. I said it when somebody asked me about MrBeast:
And when you’re that rich for too long you also kind of lose touch with reality (whether you want to or not). I don’t say that to be mean, either, I mean it’s basically medically proven – in the same way your muscles atrophy and you get weak from not having enough exercise, if you have a lot of money, the parts of your brain normally occupied by “the struggle” of living day to day slowly shrivel up and die.
Not having to worry like that sounds like it would be paradise, but in practice it genuinely reduces your ability to be compassionate and empathetic. If you ever wondered what is wrong with guys like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg, it’s probably this. They’ve been so rich for so long that they have no concept of what it’s like to be a normal human being anymore. Their brain has been completely re-wired by the fact they’re able to buy (or pay someone to build) anything they could ever think of, at any time of the day, no matter where they are in the world. It’s beyond just being spoiled, it’s a form of brain damage.
I'm sure Sweeney is doing a decent job holding on to what's important to him, and I'm sure on those issues he does actually have a legitimate heart of gold. But he's still losing touch in other areas, and that's coming through now more than ever.
If he wants to be the enemy of the working people, he better get used to being vilified.
