If Money Were No Object

If you had billions (and maybe you do), what dream would you realize? Among those who have the money to make real change, today’s billionaires are pursuing life-long passions.

A recent article in the South China Morning Post offers a glimpse into a few of those personal investments.

Among the exciting challenges these individuals (and their money) are taking on, a big one is space. Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch is a huge plane designed for space travel to the upper atmosphere. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is pursuing travel to, and settlement on, Mars. Jeff Bezos is betting on Blue Origin to introduce space tourism.

There are plenty of down-to-earth project on the drawing board as well. Alice Walton, currently number 16 (and the top female) on the Forbes billionaire list, is a noted philanthropist. One of her latest projects is Art Bridges, which seeks to make art more accessible by bringing art out of storage vaults and getting it into museums and galleries when it can be seen, studied, and enjoyed by everyone.

Paul Allen’s Institute for Brain Science hopes to find effective treatment for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs is taking on life extension and immortality, while media billionaire Dmitry Itskov’s 2045 Initiative is pursuing a similar goal via technology to impart a “non-biological carrier” with human consciousness.

Dazzling stuff! So, what would you do?