Winners Take All
The Elite Charade of Changing the World
by Anand Giridharadas · first published 2018
53% recommend44% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Critical look at billionaire philanthropy and elite 'change the world' efforts, arguing they protect the status quo. Suits readers questioning tech-elite and charity narratives.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The New York Times bestselling, groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite's efforts to "change the world" preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. An essential read for understanding some of the egregious abuses of power that dominate today’s news.
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…the government could simply tax those with wealth more and use taxation as a means of redistribution. Like most western countries do. Anand Giridharadas dissects this topic rather convincingly in his "Winners Take All", see also his infamous google talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zt3kGW1NM
on “Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of legacy status in admissions” ↗>Maybe I didn’t do as well as I thought I did on the tech, or maybe Palantir recruiting is selecting for people who don’t ask questions. My money is on the latter. In "Winners Take All" Anand Giridharadas has a really good sentence where he points out how major employers usually try to find entry level hires who possess an ideal degree of intelligence and impressionability. The latter…
on “The war inside Palantir: Data-mining firm ties to ICE under attack by employees” ↗For more on this, I highly recommend Anand Giridharadas's 2018 book "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World" on the problems behind billionaire philanthropy. It feels more and more relevant in a post COVID world.
on “Which billionaires are doing the most good?” ↗…we do win-win deals, and know to be happy, the people around us need to be happy. If you would like this world-view to undergo some critical analysis, I strongly recommend Anand Giridharadas' take in "Winners take All" (condensed in this google-talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zt3kGW1NM). He specifically addresses the negative points of the "win-win"-mentality, and in my opinion, makes a strong point that…
on “Artist faked being a billionaire to photograph New York City’s best views” ↗…"longterm", "rational", and "utilitarian". Because it was all a hustle to continue doing exactly whatever they wanted to do. Here is a good book that talks about the mindset: https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Take-All-Charade-Changing/dp/... It's easy to say you're doing things "longterm" for "future generations". The non-existent are the easiest people to advocate for. They demand absolutely nothing of you. And if…
on “The good delusion: has effective altruism broken bad?” ↗Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas. "An insider's groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite's efforts to 'change the world' preserve the status quo and obscure…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗Come on YC, the silicon valley elites have destroyed so much of our society. Do we really expect you to fix it? You all need to read Anand Giridharadas "Winners take all".
on “YC's request for startups: Government 2.0” ↗Winners Take All -- Anand Giridharadas Weapons of Math Destruction -- Cathy O'Neil Race After Technology -- Ruha Benjamin
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗For anyone interested in this topic I highly recommend the book Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas and his various media appearances and upcoming TV show on Vice as food for thought.
on “Which billionaires are doing the most good?” ↗In a trenchant, insightful and well-researched book about people who are conceptually producing social change, Anand Giridharadas takes a dig at the global elite. Read it https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Take-All-Charade-Changing/dp/...
on “America's 1% Has Taken $50T From the Bottom 90%” ↗…system. This last part is meant as an observation and not as a negative value judgement. This video with Anand Giridharadas is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zt3kGW1NM, as well as his book 'Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World'. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/24/the-trouble-wit...
on “Seeding by Ceding” ↗…in perpetuity. Does it really matter what I do? Personally, I think this should happen through taxation. But that's another can of worms that would de-rail this conversation. Side note: Have you read Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas? If not, I implore you to. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/14/winners-take-a... > we know the author can afford is buying, say, 100 subscriptions of a worthy paper and…
on “Please Pay for Your News” ↗I'm currently reading Anand Giridharada's 2018 book "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World" which, while not exactly revealing anything new , does present a good collection of behaviour from the elite class wrapped in a good narrative structure. There…
on “CEO of Uber: Gig Workers Deserve Better” ↗If you're genuinely curious, a few suggestions that I personally found incredibly enlightening: Anand Giridhardas, Winners Take All: The book is fantastic, there's also his now infamous google talk where he talks about dismantling google: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zt3kGW1NM Thomas Piketty, Capital in the 21st century: Probably…
on “American capitalism has taken an apocalyptic turn” ↗I agree, it looks pretty hopeless sometimes, and I definitely appreciate what Musk and Gates are doing. I’d highly recommend reading “Winners Take All”, as it completely flipped my opinion on this subject. The author argues that giving up and trusting rich philanthropists to fix things further undermines our faith in the political system, requiring…