h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Branson was VERY notable in the UK in the 70s. He founded and was the public face of Virgin Records, the first release on which was "Tubular Bells", massive international hit that that was.

It's funny - I've been a fan of HHGG pretty much my whole life, and I'm still discovering new things about it. I didn't realise the Branson/Beeblebrox thing, but it does make a kind of sense.

What blew my mind bigly a little while back was finding that Rory McGrath, nasal-voiced birdwatcher and British comedian, was the reason for the names of both the Rory award for the most gratuitous use of a naughty word in a serious screenplay AND the planet Magrathea.

Apparently Branson spends 80% of his time on charitable matters. he has donated about four billion dollars (or is that pounds?) to charity. Trump had a charitable trust. I think it may have imploded. I suppose a Trump fan could argue that being POTUS was a charitable thing to do, were it not that Trump did everything he could to make money from what he did as POTUS.

A person can have a big ego and yet not be a sociopath -- in theory. The best test for sociopathic tendencies is described here:

http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-and-events/2011/november/psychopaths-brains-differences-structure-function/#:~:text=The%20study%20showed%20that%20psychopaths,of%20brain%20images%20were%20collected.

"The study showed that psychopaths have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of the brain responsible for sentiments such as empathy and guilt, and the amygdala, which mediates fear and anxiety."

But most people who consider Trump a sociopath are doing so because of his behavior, not a brain scan.

So let's consider whether Branson has empathy:

"When you first meet Branson, you quickly realize that he has a high degree of empathy that you don't see too often. While some might give off the impression that they can turn empathy on and off like a tap, with him, it seems much more authentic. It almost feels like his mission is to make all people happy."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/pavelkrapivin/2018/07/09/sir-richard-bransons-5-billion-reasons-to-make-your-employees-candidates-happy/?sh=5c43a55a6710

But again, a lot here is circumstantial.