With great wealth comes great responsibility.
That's how we judge the tycoons of tech. While many of them spend their money on expensive luxuries, like cars, houses, planes — even islands — they are also expected to use their prosperity to do good works.
That's the implicit demand of the tech industry.
Some are astoundingly generous, giving tens of millions —even hundreds of millions — to their favorite causes. How much they give says a lot about them. Which causes they support does, too.
SEE ALSO: MISSING OUT ON BILLIONS: These 10 People Made Some Of The Saddest Choices In Tech History
Larry Ellison: A cure for aging
Larry Ellison is known for his extravagant lifestyle filled with cars, airplanes, mansions, even a Hawaiian Island. But he's a big philanthropist, too, giving to his own Ellison Medical Foundation.
Ellison jokes about it: "We are focused on diseases related to aging—I mean, for obvious reasons." (He's 69.)
But it's no joke. He's trying to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and arthritis. And he's generous. The foundation awarded 70 new grants, giving away $46.5-million last year alone, reports Philanthropy.com
Bill Gates: Improving life everywhere, especially below the waist
Through a $3.3 billion donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Microsoft cofounder is trying to fix lots of the world's problems. He's eradicating polio, trying to end poverty, improving education.
But some of his causes are more fundamental. For instance he's working on better ways to dispose of poop. The foundation sponsored a "Reinvent the Toilet" fair with the winners picked by him.
He's also offering $100,000 to anyone who can make a condom people actually like to use.
Paul Allen: Replicating the human brain
Paul Allen, Microsoft's other billionaire cofounder, is also known for an extravagant lifestyle that includes owning multiple pro sports teams, massive collections, building music museums.
He's invested a half billion dollars into the Allen Institute for Brain Science. It will study how the brain works with a goal of curing diseases like Alzheimer's, an illness his mother suffered from. And ultimately, institute has another goal: to replicate the brain and build machines with human intelligence.
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