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I think overall Gates is a decent guy with his heart in the right place but these articles of him opining how the world should work always rub me the wrong way.

by anm89 6y ago

I think overall Gates is a decent guy with his heart in the right place but these articles of him opining how the world should work always rub me the wrong way. He has all the money in the world, and he should just go do what he is able. If you want to push some policy as credible, than have it stated by an expert, and stop attaching his name to every opinion as if it lends credibility.

rodonn 6y ago
What he is doing is good. He is using his platform (i.e. the fact that people know his name, journalists want to write about him, and people want to read articles about him) to promote policies that are created by experts. When those same experts say the same things it doesn't generate the same level of awareness/conversation. If you want to read these ideas straight from the experts, then go read the IPCC climate report, but most people aren't going to go read that on their own.
breck 6y ago
The one thing I can't reconcile about BG is how he could supposedly be in favor of helping the poor and especially poor regions like Africa, but then support #ImaginaryProperty laws (copyrights and patents), which absolutely crush the poor. He is with one hand supposedly trying to help India and with the other hand part of the conglomerate trying to get India to block SciHub at the ISP level, cutting a billion people off from access to the world's scientific knowledge. I just can't figure that one out. The only possibility I can see is that he came to that realization about the public domain late, and Microsoft's recent moves toward open source are him quietly but methodically turning the aircraft carrier around.
- sand_castles 6y ago
  There is a big difference in power and being helpful. Scammers are always helpful, and PIMPs tend to give gift to their subject. BC like being the PIMP, but won't accept somebody else having the power to be self-sufficient.
tzs 6y ago
He's been doing this a long time, and from what I've read he takes a pretty hands on approach to much of his foundation's work. By "hands on" I mean he puts in the effort to learn quite a bit of the underlying science relevant to the areas his foundation funds. The impression I've gotten when I've seen or read interviews with the experts that have worked with the foundation is that they don't have to dumb things down for him. He's not going to writing research papers in the field, but he can read them with good understanding.

by anm89 6y ago

rodonn 6y ago

What he is doing is good. He is using his platform (i.e. the fact that people know his name, journalists want to write about him, and people want to read articles about him) to promote policies that are created by experts. When those same experts say the same things it doesn't generate the same level of awareness/conversation. If you want to read these ideas straight from the experts, then go read the IPCC climate report, but most people aren't going to go read that on their own.

breck 6y ago

The one thing I can't reconcile about BG is how he could supposedly be in favor of helping the poor and especially poor regions like Africa, but then support #ImaginaryProperty laws (copyrights and patents), which absolutely crush the poor. He is with one hand supposedly trying to help India and with the other hand part of the conglomerate trying to get India to block SciHub at the ISP level, cutting a billion people off from access to the world's scientific knowledge. I just can't figure that one out. The only possibility I can see is that he came to that realization about the public domain late, and Microsoft's recent moves toward open source are him quietly but methodically turning the aircraft carrier around.

sand_castles 6y ago
There is a big difference in power and being helpful. Scammers are always helpful, and PIMPs tend to give gift to their subject. BC like being the PIMP, but won't accept somebody else having the power to be self-sufficient.

tzs 6y ago

He's been doing this a long time, and from what I've read he takes a pretty hands on approach to much of his foundation's work. By "hands on" I mean he puts in the effort to learn quite a bit of the underlying science relevant to the areas his foundation funds. The impression I've gotten when I've seen or read interviews with the experts that have worked with the foundation is that they don't have to dumb things down for him. He's not going to writing research papers in the field, but he can read them with good understanding.