2020-10-04
35 分钟Also: is there a downside to billionaire philanthropy?
After your third yacht, I mean, what.
Are you gonna buy a fourth yacht?
I'm Angela Duckworth.
I'm Steven Dubner.
And you're listening to no stupid questions.
Today on the show, Angela asks former Google CEO Eric Schmidt about his quest to find the Einstein of the 21st century.
How can that possibly be something we shouldn't be pursuing?
Also, are billionaire philanthropists doing more harm than good?
I'm not gonna go tutor anyone today because didn't I hear that Eric Schmidt is giving away his money?
Money to education?
All right, so let's get started.
Eric, I'm so happy to be in conversation with you today.
Listeners, of course, may know you as the former CEO of Google.
How would you like listeners today in 2020 to identify you, to know you well?
I think of myself as a computer scientist who was lucky enough to eventually run a number of companies.
And now I'm trying to apply the principles that I've always believed in to solve some societal problems.
It's far better to take the spoils of success and use them to advance the next generation than anything else I can imagine, because I did not understand, and now I understand very well that I was standing on the shoulder of giants and that the vast majority of my success was due to luck and not skill.
The work I know best is the work that I happen to be involved in, and that is Schmidt Rise.
I'd love you to actually begin.
And by just explaining what is Schmidt rise and how did it come about?