@vgr One billion wouldn't go all that far- family land near my home @ us-east-1 is going for $2.8M / acre, but I'd try to preserve sensitive threatened ecosystems in Appalachia.

@vgr I suppose if all my hedonistic desires are satisfied I'd already own riverfront acreage along the Shenandoah as well as the mountainside above my cabin for hiking trails & invasive plant removal (the seeds carry, very frustrating).

@vgr If budget allowed, I'd also build a live-work center... Place that specifically supports focused work by removing distractions and providing optimal conditions and support... It'd be a high-end thing, but ideally I could use it to iterate on more automated mass solutions too

@vgr (profits would be put towards incentives for certain authors to come stay and finish certain books I want to read.... Ahem Patrick Rothfuss and George RR Martin)

@vgr Actually also would assemble teams to build out my backlog of other app ideas... Or maybe all of this falls under hedonistic satisfaction?

@vgr Oh also, with sufficient billions I'd build an octopus-human communication center, somewhere between resort & research center... Octopi are fascinating and deserve far more respect 💕

@vgr Also with sufficient billions I'd push harder on the starchips project and maybe alternate approaches, and push to seed other planets & starsystems with bacteria

@vgr Ofc I'd also buy & massively fund my local news (ARLnow) to expand into other markets while collecting metrics on civic engagement... Anywhere I live or travel should have quality local news with a sense of humor

@vgr Also would pay for studies of systemic risk of cloud concentration and other technological risk, and pay to develop / improve alternatives to heavily relied upon software.... Like, Adobe, ♥️ u, but if I have enough money to not care, Gimp is getting forked

@vgr Also I would totally try to build my version of web3- one that actually delivers on freedom from nation-state regulation (but under my own governance protocol, not a haven for criminals)

@vgr Also I'd fund investigative journalists paired with idealist techies to go develop sources and dig into all the shady stuff I can't talk about myself