4 ms·

It takes time to get used to see Bill Gates as the Gates Foundation man. I saw the TED talks both by him and his wife, and his contributions to different causes

by hrktb 13y ago

It takes time to get used to see Bill Gates as the Gates Foundation man. I saw the TED talks both by him and his wife, and his contributions to different causes reported in different independant venues. But what's making it uncomfortable is the basic dishonesty his previous company was tainted with. Microsoft had a very noble stated mission and had a pretty good image in my teenager memories, Bill Gates inspired a generation of programmers and entrepreneurs...until it was very clear that they had profoundly damaging business practices for the ecosystem and very low company ethics. Now we are talking about all of Bill Gates' energy and dedication to make the world better, but I'd think that his ethics may not have changed so much, nor his his way of thinking. But he's doing good things, right ? Or do we really have a complete view on his activities ? Microsoft brought computing to the masses, the Gates Foundation is bringing vaccines to people in need. Will there be a day when we won't be so fond of the actions of the Gates Foundation ? Are there side effects to what is going on that Bill Gates is aware of, but won't be widly known until years from now ? For all the good we see now, will there be dirt coming out slowly that we won't be so OK with ? I hope there is none of that, really. I just find the narrative of 'he did questionnable things in the past, but now that he's leading a charitable entity it can't be bad. Grow up and praise the man' a bit naive. Fighting polio is good, and the Gates Foundation seems to be doing seriously amazing things. Now I'd still keep a healthy distance, and I'll prefer pushing other entities that I could trust more easily.

NhanH 13y ago
The thing to note is that even if Microsoft has damaged the ecosystem or having not-so-high company ethics, they didn't do that just for the sake of being evil. They have a goal (and I don't mean the publicly stated mission) and they just did whatever they need to achieve that. Now, if the goal of Bill Gates is to make the world a better place to live, and he's doing whatever needed be done to achieve that ... Of course things could still not be ideal, but there is actually not that much reason to not trust the foundation. Unless you implies their goals were something else all along :-).
- studentrob 13y ago
  if someone makes a habit of deviating from their publicly stated mission, do you trust them? nobody sets out to be evil from their perspective, but living up to your word does impact others' perspective of you
- Amadou 13y ago
  they didn't do that just for the sake of being evil. No one ever does. Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides, "Today I will strike a blow for evil!" No, everybody has their own narrative in which they are the hero. Evil is simply the by-product of being so focused on your own narrative that you forget that other people have their own narratives in life.
  - sirkneeland 13y ago
    "Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides, "Today I will strike a blow for evil!" Hipsters might. Ironically of course. They may even have a twirly villainous mustache to go with it.
chollida1 13y ago
> http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/that-guy-with-a-thousand-inconsequential-objections http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/that-guy-with-a-thousand-incons... I think you may just be the person this article talks about. Bill Gates is doing good but... Yes vaccines are great but... All of Bill Gates energy and dedication to make the world better but....
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
stiff 13y ago
For heavens sake, it's not like Microsoft was exploiting little children in Africa or producing gas chambers. They were just running business, being quite rough, but doing nothing exceptionally evil to the world. I mean, I didn't like some of their products, but I am far from judging the people involved there negatively as human beings, I don't see any reason for that. Have a look here for comparison: http://www.11points.com/News-Politics/11_Companies_That_Surprisingly_Collaborated_With_the_Nazis http://www.11points.com/News-Politics/11_Companies_That_Surp...
- Amadou 13y ago
  it's not like Microsoft was exploiting little children in Africa That is actually one of the major criticisms of the Gates Foundation rather than MS. The foundation has been vociferous in its support of intellectual property laws. Strongly lobbying for patent protections of medicine in developing countries. My understanding is that the foundation will not fund any programs that purchase drugs from unlicensed local manufacturers, even when local laws do not require licensing. Here is a recent article on the topic, but the criticism regarding the foundation's support for maximalist intellectual property laws is nothing new: http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-giving-ethics/ http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-...
  - stiff 13y ago
    I am not remotely interested or educated in the topic of charity in the third world, I just don't see the connection between Microsoft's history and the assessment of the foundation, but this article is clearly written with a certain agenda in mind and by the end becomes plainly ridiculous: He and Gates are products of an economic system that has produced monopolies and redistributed wealth upwards for 30 years. Parallels may be drawn between the inequalities of today and the Victorian era, when health provision for the poor depended on the largesse of the rich. There sure is plenty of inequality in the world, but the conditions in Africa are as they are primarily because the geographical conditions are one of the harshest on earth and because the huge amount of people that now has to try to survive in those conditions. In many places the West can not exploit anything because there is nothing to exploit, the natural resources are very scarce, the people have literally nothing and in best case have barely enough energy to survive. I doubt the authors know much about what they are writing about. One needs to consider, that willing to do something in the real world, you can often either compromise or do nothing or do much less. From what I understand the Gates Foundation does this to engage American pharmaceutical companies in the whole project, without which they could do little.

by hrktb 13y ago

NhanH 13y ago

The thing to note is that even if Microsoft has damaged the ecosystem or having not-so-high company ethics, they didn't do that just for the sake of being evil. They have a goal (and I don't mean the publicly stated mission) and they just did whatever they need to achieve that. Now, if the goal of Bill Gates is to make the world a better place to live, and he's doing whatever needed be done to achieve that ... Of course things could still not be ideal, but there is actually not that much reason to not trust the foundation. Unless you implies their goals were something else all along :-).

studentrob 13y ago
if someone makes a habit of deviating from their publicly stated mission, do you trust them? nobody sets out to be evil from their perspective, but living up to your word does impact others' perspective of you
Amadou 13y ago
they didn't do that just for the sake of being evil. No one ever does. Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides, "Today I will strike a blow for evil!" No, everybody has their own narrative in which they are the hero. Evil is simply the by-product of being so focused on your own narrative that you forget that other people have their own narratives in life.
- sirkneeland 13y ago
  "Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides, "Today I will strike a blow for evil!" Hipsters might. Ironically of course. They may even have a twirly villainous mustache to go with it.

chollida1 13y ago

> http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/that-guy-with-a-thousand-inconsequential-objections http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/that-guy-with-a-thousand-incons... I think you may just be the person this article talks about. Bill Gates is doing good but... Yes vaccines are great but... All of Bill Gates energy and dedication to make the world better but....

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

stiff 13y ago

For heavens sake, it's not like Microsoft was exploiting little children in Africa or producing gas chambers. They were just running business, being quite rough, but doing nothing exceptionally evil to the world. I mean, I didn't like some of their products, but I am far from judging the people involved there negatively as human beings, I don't see any reason for that. Have a look here for comparison: http://www.11points.com/News-Politics/11_Companies_That_Surprisingly_Collaborated_With_the_Nazis http://www.11points.com/News-Politics/11_Companies_That_Surp...

Amadou 13y ago
it's not like Microsoft was exploiting little children in Africa That is actually one of the major criticisms of the Gates Foundation rather than MS. The foundation has been vociferous in its support of intellectual property laws. Strongly lobbying for patent protections of medicine in developing countries. My understanding is that the foundation will not fund any programs that purchase drugs from unlicensed local manufacturers, even when local laws do not require licensing. Here is a recent article on the topic, but the criticism regarding the foundation's support for maximalist intellectual property laws is nothing new: http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-giving-ethics/ http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-...
- stiff 13y ago
  I am not remotely interested or educated in the topic of charity in the third world, I just don't see the connection between Microsoft's history and the assessment of the foundation, but this article is clearly written with a certain agenda in mind and by the end becomes plainly ridiculous: He and Gates are products of an economic system that has produced monopolies and redistributed wealth upwards for 30 years. Parallels may be drawn between the inequalities of today and the Victorian era, when health provision for the poor depended on the largesse of the rich. There sure is plenty of inequality in the world, but the conditions in Africa are as they are primarily because the geographical conditions are one of the harshest on earth and because the huge amount of people that now has to try to survive in those conditions. In many places the West can not exploit anything because there is nothing to exploit, the natural resources are very scarce, the people have literally nothing and in best case have barely enough energy to survive. I doubt the authors know much about what they are writing about. One needs to consider, that willing to do something in the real world, you can often either compromise or do nothing or do much less. From what I understand the Gates Foundation does this to engage American pharmaceutical companies in the whole project, without which they could do little.