I'd basically become Bill Gates without the monopoly.

People criticise the big philanthropists for skewing all the work their way, but that's more a product of not enough funding elsewhere than of the foundations being bad themselves.

I'd use the same tactics misinformation spreaders use to counter them. I'd buy all the media outlets I could and start forcing them to run left leaning and communist praising stories. I'd send the Murdoch's a check with "Kill Yourselves" written across the envelope and then play the rich guy "Whoopsie!" when they try to get me in trouble. I'd establish permanent funding for public schools with an attachment; you have to investigate each child's style of learning if you want the sweet 10 mil a pop. Honestly I think I can make every oligarch throw up and try to assassinate me.

Literal infinite may be problematic. Let's say that I became rich enough by lottery for example. I for sure would live comfortably. But I trust myself to foster positive changes, but have in mind that collective problems can only be solved by collective solutions. Having money gives you power to mobilize people to work, but for the society structure to change, you need more than just that, you will need political change with population support, and that's demand time and a lot of work.

If this is a magical entity, then I would just tell it to give me $100 for every $1,000,000 I use for charitable work that doesn't directly benefit me.

If I give away $1,000,000 100,000 times, that's 100 billion dollars of charitable work. And my net worth would "only" be 10 million dollars, certainly wealthy, but not idiotically wealthy. Plenty for me to invest and have doctor money levels of passive income, but only by giving away the vast vast majority of the money I get.

Or I guess I could just ask the entity to cap my net worth at 10 million dollars, and only give me that money when I have given away some arbitrary amount of money it gives me, like 500 billion dollars or something, Idk.

Elon? That you? Start with overturning "citizens united"

I trust my will to do it. But I will fail for two reasons:

1. I don't fully understand humans. I will try a world that would be perfect if everyone would be like me. Problem? That's not the world we live in.

2. Even with all the money and a good plan I'm a bullet away from the ground. And I'm pretty sure anyone trying to fix things becomes a priority target right away.

Do you think that you would keep your integrity and use your money for the greater good, or that you would be corrupted by your power?

I suppose it's a matter of perspective. Very few people in the world ever see themselves as actually evil. Every villain is the hero in their own story.

But if we recognize basic truths about people's preferences, I think a greater good can be achieved. Everyone wants a place to call home and good food on the table. Everyone wants good health and to have a sense of purpose or meaning to their lives.

This is universal, regardless of race, sex, gender, nationality, language (I can't include religion as some religions demand the oppression & extermination of others).

I absolutely would not trust myself, but I also feel deeply that I should be allowed to test this hypothesis with lived experience.

I think I'd try it. Though I expect that I'd be corrupted easily if I tried to set up foundations and such as I understand that's very difficult. I think I would just hire an elite military trained unit. Use them to sabotage the wealthiest and convince them it was another ungodly rich person who did it. Maybe when they've killed enough of each other, we could fix society without their influence.

I'd be good at first but then slowly get corrupted as I continue on feeling disconnected. The change will be so gradual thatI wouldn't realize until it's too late

I think I would be fine. I already have limited wealth and I'm directing a significant portion of it to the betterment of the world around me. If my wealth/income increased tenfold (as an example) I don't think I'd be able to find a use for more than, idk, 15-20% of the additional money? So I'd just heavily ramp up the funds going to charities and local causes.

Extending this out to the infinite wealth scenario, I'd be able to help more causes so I'd need to find out which charities are actually putting money to use for what they say they are, extend my mindset beyond local causes and to the whole globe. Almost certainly drop some fat stacks into buying out basically every fossil fuel corp and start the process of getting that shit phased out. Sure I make some terrible people rich(er) in the short term with the buyouts but fuck it, the environment needs to be prioritized.

How I'd convince this hypothetical entity? Idk, probably just explain all of the above and I guess show some hard data on my track record for this. If the entity is determined to put the money in the hands of someone who is going to do good, either I'll be good enough or I won't.

If its not infinite and "just" billions then I'm probably going to funnel about half of it into local (national) causes and the other half into affecting what positive change I can worldwide. Process for convincing the entity remains the same.

I’d like to think so because I’m generally ethical and don’t really care about money (except in the sense that we all have to). I certainly don’t think rich people are smarter or more capable than poor people.

That being said, based on all the billionaires in the world, it seems that once you hit a certain level of wealth, you become an insecure twat and start acting like a victim and posting rot on the internet. So, maybe I’d just become a bozo clown who thinks being an investor is the same as being an inventor.

yeah I would just hire a really smart people And ask them what they think

Yeah, I'd give it a shot. I'd hire a bunch of experts instead of just shooting from the hip though.

Climate change is a big priority.

Infinite? Nah. I'm sure I'd use the money for good but even well-intended I do think there is such a thing as too much intervention.

Yes, if you're offering I'll take it

Yeah, I’m awesome!

I remembered reading a long post on Reddit about what to do if you win big on the lottery.

Reddit History: /u/BlakeClass's comment on What to do if you win The Lottery (GitHub gist)

Oh boy. Corruption for sure. Not like hush money or Epstein corruption. Like private party and excessive stunt corruption. Are you saying I could fund stupid shit? The zip line industry would boom. Adverts for spider cars would be everywhere. So much money would go into anti-fossil fuel propaganda.

No. I believe that adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely. I don't trust myself or any other single person with that kind of money.

Infinite? I would give infinite money away. Making the fiat currency worthless, and people would have to find a new way to exploit and fuck everyone over.

Believe me, humans will always find a way. Even if you took their imaginary money away. For now...

Maybe some day we will grow up past crying "mine mine mine!" Over literally every single thing. Doubtful i will even come close to living in those times.

I'm not saying I'm "forward thinking" or smarter or calling everyone dumb. I'm dumb as fuck 24/7. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how fucked up things are in our current way of life. I bet a huge majority of people would say it's fucked up to.

We just disagree on what to do next.

I mean, i might end up playing it a lil too much and it might get in the way of the tasks i should be doing. But eventually I'll either finish it or get bored so even if that does happen it won't be the world.

As someone who is currently working at a company that has no problems of cash flow yet is still penny pinching, often on things that would actively save costs after an initial serious investment, yes, I would not change and most probably burn through that money to do positive things for people.

I also have a tendency to look as how things might happen down the road, so time is not really that much of a concern for me.

With so much money at my discretion, I can say with a fair degree of confidence I'd been putting money into projects amd initiatives I would most probably never benefit from their results.

But would I be popular or well liked in that endeavour? I seriously doubt.

I'd maybe be better, but I'd still have a kickass life.

Egotistical altruism.... Yes.

The better that we can make everybody else's life, the better your own life becomes in return.

Nobody can be trusted with that much power. Not even yourself.

I would give it away by making college trust funds for poor kids in my area until I had the 4-5 million left that I would need to retire and never work again. Why anyone has more money than that is beyond me.

The foundations I would be donating to probably would