Ray Dalio/Reddit

Ever wanted to ask a billionaire anything? Hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio sat down for a surprise Reddit AMA on May 7 where he answered questions from Reddit users ranging from climate change to his favorite books.

Reddit users (or Redditors) are part of a vast online community with a subreddit for nearly everything. One of the most popular subreddits is "/r/IAmA," where celebrities and authorities in specific fields sit down for the digital equivalent of a radio call-in show (AMA stands for "ask me anything")

Dalio - who founded the world's biggest hedge-fund, Bridgewater Associates, in 1975 - is a self-made billionaire with a net worth of $18.4 billion. He recently launched an app, Principles in Action, based on his 2017 best-seller "Principles," designed to give advice on success in work and in life. Now, Dalio has decided to give out his life advice on the internet to anyone curious enough to ask.

Dalio opened up the question-and-answer session with a post that began: "I'm Ray Dalio - founder of Bridgewater Associates. I'm interested in how reality works and having principles for dealing with it well - especially about life, work, economics and investments. Ask me about these things-or anything."

Here are some highlights from that discussion:

A Reddit user asked Dalio how climate change will impact the economy.

Another user asked him for his favorite books of all time.

A user named malkojohn pointed out that Dalio recently downgraded the chances for a recession to 35%, then asked for investing advice based on this prediction.

Eventually, someone brought up a key tenet of Ray Dalio's workplace philosophy: radical transparency. User espada1717 nudged Dalio to share ways one could apply the philosophy in their day-to-day life.

8 highlights from hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio\'s Reddit \'AMA\' session

A Reddit user asked Dalio how climate change will impact the economy.

Another user asked him for his favorite books of all time.

A user named malkojohn pointed out that Dalio recently downgraded the chances for a recession to 35%, then asked for investing advice based on this prediction.

Eventually, someone brought up a key tenet of Ray Dalio's workplace philosophy: radical transparency. User espada1717 nudged Dalio to share ways one could apply the philosophy in their day-to-day life.

With graduation season already here, user Neoking asked what Dalio would study in college if here were 18 right now.

The Bridgewater founder also spent time explaining "the art of thoughtful disagreement."

Dalio took a reflective turn when user AustinSam3000 asked him what's something he wished he had that money can't buy.

Speaking of which, he had time to plug his app, Principles in Action.