4 ms·

Take a look at the faces on the Forbes list and get back to me. Just how white, male and western are they exactly? It's not that Gates wasn't smart or hardwork

Take a look at the faces on the Forbes list and get back to me. Just how white, male and western are they exactly? It's not that Gates wasn't smart or hardworking. It's just that it's easy to be hardworking and ambitious when you had books growing up, proper nutrition, when your parents stayed together, when you're in good health, when you got tutors and went to great schools, when you were engaged in extracurriculars, when you lived in an affluent society, when your parents were well connected, and on and on and on. Are his contributions to humanity worth 60B+? Scientific discovery springs up in a bunch of places simultaneously and organically. I have to assume his contribution to society would've too, maybe with a smaller amount of value extracted to his personal fortune? He's a philanthropist now, so that's good. I would be too the way social and political tides are turning. Funny how philanthropic the wealthy become. Even Epstein.

CheezeIt 5y ago
Having good health, proper nutrition, and extracurriculars in an affluent society, i.e. having two parents who don’t suck, is a regular American baseline that public school kids experience. Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school in his day, which countered the bad luck of not being born a few years earlier such that he’d encounter computing in college with the same lead time before the 8086. Of course he found some great luck in business, too, well after the company was established and had employees on the payroll.
- tolbish 5y ago
  > Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school in his day That's a rather inaccurate description of his advantages.
  - CheezeIt 5y ago
    If that’s inaccurate, tell us what gives us more bits of information distinguishing him from the general population born in the same year he is. The smart part puts him in the 0.1%, 10 bits right there, and early access to computers adds another rare multiplier to that.
    - tolbish 5y ago
      What did his parents do?
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  > Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school You're forgetting something important[1] about Bill Gates' mom: > Her tenure on the national board's executive committee is believed to have helped Microsoft, based in Seattle, at a crucial time. In 1980, she discussed her son's company with John Opel, a fellow committee member, and the chairman of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other IBM executives. A few weeks later, IBM took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer. More about this here[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates#Career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates#Career [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influenced-the-success-of-microsoft.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influe...
- musingsole 5y ago
  > having two parents who don’t suck, is a regular American baseline that public school kids experience Is it? Not from my experience, but I wish every community could boast such "baselines".
- AvocadoCake 5y ago
  Good health and proper nutrition is the not the baseline, as over 40% of children in the US are overweight, obese, or severely obese [1]. Two parents, let alone parents who "don't suck", is also not the baseline, as 25% of children grow up in single parent households [2]. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obesity-child.htm#table1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obe... [2] https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/543941-americas-single-parent-families https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/543941-americas-single-p...

CheezeIt 5y ago

Having good health, proper nutrition, and extracurriculars in an affluent society, i.e. having two parents who don’t suck, is a regular American baseline that public school kids experience. Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school in his day, which countered the bad luck of not being born a few years earlier such that he’d encounter computing in college with the same lead time before the 8086. Of course he found some great luck in business, too, well after the company was established and had employees on the payroll.

tolbish 5y ago
> Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school in his day That's a rather inaccurate description of his advantages.
- CheezeIt 5y ago
  If that’s inaccurate, tell us what gives us more bits of information distinguishing him from the general population born in the same year he is. The smart part puts him in the 0.1%, 10 bits right there, and early access to computers adds another rare multiplier to that.
  - tolbish 5y ago
    What did his parents do?
heavyset_go 5y ago
> Gates’s particular advantages were being smart and having access to computers in high school You're forgetting something important[1] about Bill Gates' mom: > Her tenure on the national board's executive committee is believed to have helped Microsoft, based in Seattle, at a crucial time. In 1980, she discussed her son's company with John Opel, a fellow committee member, and the chairman of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other IBM executives. A few weeks later, IBM took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer. More about this here[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates#Career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates#Career [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influenced-the-success-of-microsoft.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influe...
musingsole 5y ago
> having two parents who don’t suck, is a regular American baseline that public school kids experience Is it? Not from my experience, but I wish every community could boast such "baselines".
AvocadoCake 5y ago
Good health and proper nutrition is the not the baseline, as over 40% of children in the US are overweight, obese, or severely obese [1]. Two parents, let alone parents who "don't suck", is also not the baseline, as 25% of children grow up in single parent households [2]. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obesity-child.htm#table1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obe... [2] https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/543941-americas-single-parent-families https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/543941-americas-single-p...