I agree with almost everything, except that it's a problem if someone donates.

Some of the donation game is a competition (for example, applying for grants, or foundation funding), where the dynamic you described dominates. Much of it is not. In many cases, a rich person just cuts a check out of their leisure budget. That's why I compared this to buying a supercar. The rich person learns something, and has something fun to do more constructive than, well, many of the things rich people do.

Money is a social construct; it's just a way of keeping score, and organizing people. At the end, what matters is what you do, and what resources you use. The better question isn't what else the /money/ could be used for, but what else the actual inputs --- the /people, space, and tools/ --- could be used for.

If those same people are making military weapons, optimizing ad clicks, or running cons, that's a negative use of resources.

It's very possible a rich person decides they just want to:

- give a bunch of people space to follow their passion (same as an arts grant);

- view this as a part of personal development (same as giving tuition to a college);

- a research grant (interesting open information will come out, which is perhaps a few steps away from being useful;

- promotion of recycling; or

- just funding this on the off-chance something big comes of it.

It's all good.