4 ms·

Source? Would like to read more about this if there's a write up somewhere. My perception was that they were doing was was effective very early on (vaccination

Source? Would like to read more about this if there's a write up somewhere. My perception was that they were doing was was effective very early on (vaccination drives etc.)

rgbrenner 11y ago
What he says is literally impossible.. it hasn't even been a decade since the Gates foundation started funding polio eradication. The first the Gates foundation did anything was in 2007, when they gave $100m. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/11/27/gates_group_gives_100m_to_polio_fight/ http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/1... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2007/11/Rotary-International-and-Gates-Foundation-Together-Commit-$200-million-to-Eradicate-Polio http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... And that money (along with $100m from Rotary International) went to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is the World Health Org's immunization program (started in 1988).
- dekhn 11y ago
  8 years, not 10, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation requested Intellectual Ventures LLC to find a way to fight and eventually end malaria. Intellectual Ventures resurrected the idea of using lasers to kill mosquitoes and now has a working prototype.[2] The idea has been criticized because most areas where malaria is prevalent do not have reliable electrical power.[3]
  - ForHackernews 11y ago
    There's no vaccine for malaria. You have to either invent one (I'm sure there are people trying) or try some other strategy.
  - rgbrenner 11y ago
    Good point. In fairness though, that began with a $100k challenge to Intellectual Ventures, and they came up with the idea. Gates then gave them $1m to continue developing it with the idea it could be used to protect large areas. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/laser_mpsquito_repellent/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/laser_mpsquito_repel... The funding is peanuts compared to what Gates has been spent on Malaria.. here's a couple of the press releases I could find for 2003 ($160m), 2005 (250m) and 2008 ($200m). http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2003/09/Grants-for-Malaria-Research http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2008/03/Malaria-Partners-Letter http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2005/10/Gates-Foundation-Commits-2583-Million-for-Malaria-Research http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2...
  - maxerickson 11y ago
    So you are discounting the $100 million pragmatic investment made in 2007 because there was a much smaller contemporaneous pie in the sky investment? This page discusses their similarly large pragmatic investments in malaria prevention, through things like insecticide spraying and bed nets: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Malaria http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Mala...
dekhn 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
- oldmanjay 11y ago
  I want to make sure I get this clearly Your criticism is that Bill Gates once spent an insignificant (relative to his resources) amount of money to take a flyer on a weird solution to a problem that vexes the world. Did I characterize it correctly?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - dekhn 11y ago
    That's part of it. If you look at the early gates investments in disease, they tended to be high-technology solutions like direct attempt to make vaccines and deliver complex infrastructure. Most of these attempts failed pretty badly, which Gates finally thought deeply about, and he reorganized around impact based on outcomes, rather than what his preconcieved notions about what would work would be. He switched to bed nets and other more practical solutions. I believe he wrote about this change in thought at some point but I can't find the article.
    - maxerickson 11y ago
      You could go through their press releases one by one and list all the worst millions that they donated to this or that: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases?page=1&perPage=8&orderBy=_searchdate&orderDir=Normal http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases?p...

Source? Would like to read more about this if there's a write up somewhere. My perception was that they were doing was was effective very early on (vaccination drives etc.)

rgbrenner 11y ago

What he says is literally impossible.. it hasn't even been a decade since the Gates foundation started funding polio eradication. The first the Gates foundation did anything was in 2007, when they gave $100m. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/11/27/gates_group_gives_100m_to_polio_fight/ http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/1... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2007/11/Rotary-International-and-Gates-Foundation-Together-Commit-$200-million-to-Eradicate-Polio http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... And that money (along with $100m from Rotary International) went to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is the World Health Org's immunization program (started in 1988).

dekhn 11y ago
8 years, not 10, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation requested Intellectual Ventures LLC to find a way to fight and eventually end malaria. Intellectual Ventures resurrected the idea of using lasers to kill mosquitoes and now has a working prototype.[2] The idea has been criticized because most areas where malaria is prevalent do not have reliable electrical power.[3]
- ForHackernews 11y ago
  There's no vaccine for malaria. You have to either invent one (I'm sure there are people trying) or try some other strategy.
- rgbrenner 11y ago
  Good point. In fairness though, that began with a $100k challenge to Intellectual Ventures, and they came up with the idea. Gates then gave them $1m to continue developing it with the idea it could be used to protect large areas. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/laser_mpsquito_repellent/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/laser_mpsquito_repel... The funding is peanuts compared to what Gates has been spent on Malaria.. here's a couple of the press releases I could find for 2003 ($160m), 2005 (250m) and 2008 ($200m). http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2003/09/Grants-for-Malaria-Research http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2008/03/Malaria-Partners-Letter http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2... http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2005/10/Gates-Foundation-Commits-2583-Million-for-Malaria-Research http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2...
- maxerickson 11y ago
  So you are discounting the $100 million pragmatic investment made in 2007 because there was a much smaller contemporaneous pie in the sky investment? This page discusses their similarly large pragmatic investments in malaria prevention, through things like insecticide spraying and bed nets: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Malaria http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Mala...

dekhn 11y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser

oldmanjay 11y ago
I want to make sure I get this clearly Your criticism is that Bill Gates once spent an insignificant (relative to his resources) amount of money to take a flyer on a weird solution to a problem that vexes the world. Did I characterize it correctly?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- dekhn 11y ago
  That's part of it. If you look at the early gates investments in disease, they tended to be high-technology solutions like direct attempt to make vaccines and deliver complex infrastructure. Most of these attempts failed pretty badly, which Gates finally thought deeply about, and he reorganized around impact based on outcomes, rather than what his preconcieved notions about what would work would be. He switched to bed nets and other more practical solutions. I believe he wrote about this change in thought at some point but I can't find the article.
  - maxerickson 11y ago
    You could go through their press releases one by one and list all the worst millions that they donated to this or that: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases?page=1&perPage=8&orderBy=_searchdate&orderDir=Normal http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases?p...