I’m all about a healthy distrust of government and the wealthy but vaccines are absolutely badass. I’ll never understand the antivaxxer view, mainly in part to the amount of efficiency they give any government organisations in their fantasy.
There’s a post in one of the Australian protest groups which has gone viral due to how funny and insane it is. The protesters there are convinced that they’re being hit with blow darts filled with Moderna because they’re feeling bee stings but can’t see any bees. If you haven’t seen it I’ll email it to you, it’s next level.
We've got a bunch of billionaires in this world. A bunch of them are into rockets, this one is into vaccines which is an improvement. I hope we get one as motivated to solve the systemic problems that create billionaires in the first place.
So I'm a microbiologist. In early Feb 2020, newly graduated from my doctorate I went to a conference in Australia. At the time, cases of COVID-19 were starting to increase in China, and the WHO was saying travel bans are mainly racist and unhelpful (oh, the joys of hindsight). Anyway, at this conference there was a session on COVID-19 and I heard from experts around Australia re their responses. One group who develops vaccines was ~3 months into a 5 year project designed to prepare for "disease X" including developing a vaccine for this unknown disease. The exercise was to help plan for as well as practice the process of rapid vaccine development. What ended up happening was COVID-19 became "disease X". The point is, multiple teams of immunologists, epidemiologists and microbiologists around the world have been researching infectious diseases and pandemics since well before the general public; we've already experienced multiple pandemics of coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1 in 2004 and MERS 2012) so it's absolutely baffling to me that the tabletop exercise got picked up on.
Having said that over the weekend in Wellington there was a tropical storm in Wellington called Cyclone Dovi and I saw multiple threads where protestors/conspiracy nuts thought that the name of the cyclone (C. Dovi) being an anagram for COVID meant that the Govt. must be causing the weather to give them all COVID-19.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about anti-vaxxers and their motivations, since before the pandemic when NZ had a couple of measles outbreaks and parents still didn't want to vaccinate their children. Honestly, NZ's vaccination rates being so high has really impressed me. And I've also found comfort in reading about historical pandemics (all the way back to Roman times) and the first outbreaks of smallpox where people discovered variolation (similar to immunisation, but involved grinding up a smallpox pustule and exposing it to healthy people to prevent them getting sick) - even then there were anti-vaxxers.
Thanks for posting this snippet of conversation, it's really interesting to have some insight into how Bill thinks about these things.
Oh god, of course a Cyclone called Dovi is going to be anagram-ised by nutters to explain why they would end up infected. Not anything simple like how close they are to each other eh.
Why are so many of these 'conspiracies' so easily figured out with a simple anagram? How are governments / shadow organisations so clever at developing ways to get rid of them, but soooo shit at code names!? /s
I think the tabletop thing got picked on somewhat randomly, but also the fact his foundation sponsored it made certain conspiracy brains pop off. But yes - as you say, constant talk on this, and constant scenarios/simulation.
I think at it's most basic, it's just a fundamental lack of understanding from a lot of these people about how the world works.
PS - I hope work in microbiology land is going good! We need you!
Daft question maybe, but hey are you wearing a hat, inside, on stage?
I can easily sort out Bill's moral dilemma: give $129 billion back to the world that he, his peers and their inventions are deeply involved with destroying. National Parks, Rewilding schemes, Sea Shepherd, WWF, Sierra Club, Greenpeace - the organisations working to undo all the harm that we have done. Restoring nature would be infinitely cheaper and more effective than his technological fixes and provide more jobs for ordinary people, who aren't super educated and privileged. I'm sure he could manage on the billion orDaft question maybe, but hey are you wearing a hat, inside, on stage?
I can easily sort out Bill's moral dilemma: give $129 billion back to the world that he, his peers and their inventions are deeply involved with destroying. National Parks, Rewilding schemes, Sea Shepherd, WWF, Sierra Club, Greenpeace - the organisations working to undo all the harm that we have done. Restoring nature would be infinitely cheaper and more effective than his technological fixes and provide more jobs for ordinary people, who aren't super educated and privileged. I'm sure he could manage on the billion or so he has left.
It's my lucky hat! And so I wear it sometimes when I feel the urge!
I am curious with someone like Bill - why / where he draws the line with how much he gives. Obviously he picks vaccine and health related endeavours to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into - but yeah, why draw the line at 10%, or 50%. I assume there is a business reason, and he doesn't strike me as someone who wants to keep money for the sake of it (although I may be wrong there!)
Annie Hill I guess you missed the part where Bill Gates left the corporate world so that he could focus on fixing social issues. Look up the Gates Foundation and take note of the massive impact it has made in some of the most impoverished places. Did you notice that 5 million fewer children die each year because of the work they are doing?
On one hand, I fully understand the fact that our world (and the US especially) has an issue with wealth hoarding that cannot be ignored. It’s deplorable in almost every case. However, it’s harder for me to feel that way towards Bill Gates; he’s one of the most (if not the most) important philanthropist of my lifetime, maybe even of all time. In many cases he is using his money for good, not personal flights to outer space.The conversation about wealth definitely becomes more nuanced conversation when you are also recognizing the massive amounts of public good being done — it’s complicated!
Before the episode, I didn’t have too many feelings about Bill Gates one way or the other. But actually hearing him talk about his experiences and his feelings was really enlightening. The skeptic in me says he’s had decades to prepare for hardball questions and public scrutiny, and has the money to hire the best PR people in the world — not surprising that he comes off as so humble and genuine. At the same time, you could say the same thing about Bezos, and that man is almost universally despised. So there’s something to be said for Gates’ approach!
Hearing him just talk and joke with you guys like any other guest really humanized him, and I was really impressed by his general outlook. I really appreciated his perspective when Dax asked about his feelings getting hurt — while we’re not all Bill Gates, I think there’s something very admirable about that kind of outlook. Overall, many of us have it pretty good in life, maybe more than we always appreciate or acknowledge.
Great episode, super impressed that you guys managed to pull Bill Gates, of all people!
I think someone like him, who has so many things riding on so many things, to turn up in a live element like that (with an audience in the room of about 4000?) is kinda nuts. Blew my mind. And yes - he's no idiot and I am sure has plenty of PR training as image is everything - but it's still a lot of wildcards in the air for him. So yes - very happy he came.
Well, yes, he's given away a lot of his money. But you really have to ask yourself why he hasn't given away a hell of a lot more. I give 10% of what I get every month to charity. I doubt that Bill does, but his 10% would be a LOT more useful than mine!
It wasn't you that said it, but as a scientist it does bug me when someone says "Shot of dopamine". This statement is often rooted in the idea that Dopamine = Pleasure, which is 30+ year old science & incorrect.
Oh, that very interesting. I've been a bit skeptical that we are able to so casually infer the workings of our brain in the moment. I'm not a scientist.
Can you recommend an improved expression? "A shot of brain rewards?"
I would just say "makes them feel good". That is what matters. Appeals to "brain" stuff isn't really needed?
The underlying physiology and chemistry is a lot more complicated than a "shot" of any one thing. It is a intricate system inside of us.
There is a saying in neuroscience that I particularly like which goes something like "If the Human Brain Were So Simple That We Could Understand It, We Would Be So Simple That We Couldn’t" - which isn't saying it is worthless to work on understanding the brain, but rather be wary of simple explanations :)
Wow the visualisation of his wrath is mind blowing! It made me wonder, if he gave a million dollars to every person he meets, for the rest of his life, would that even get through it all…? Probably not!
I think the main issue with the rich giving money away to individuals is that most individuals don't know what to do with it! Cue all the tragic stories of Lotto winners lives crumbling under bad decisions, family and friend rifts and bad luck!
As billionaires go, Bill and his foundation do substantially more good than most. Although the bar is so low others like Bezos and Musk seem to be having a limbo competition with the devil.
The Gates foundation pressured Oxford to reverse their decision of making AstraZeneca a patent-free vaccine. He doesn't trust the global south to make their own vaccines and instead believes the greatest good will come from a monopoly of vaccine creators which are divvied up by the pharma giants.
Gates has done good things but he is not a good person.
Feb 13, 2022·edited Feb 13, 2022Liked by David Farrier
It makes sense to me he wants to talk about the conspiracy theories against him now considering the other recent news items about him are his history of sexual harassment, his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his divorce from Melinda.
I think anyone on here agrees vaccines are amazing, I don't think we need to harp on it. My question is, do you think the conspiracy theories against these billionaires are something they really care to dispel? I've seen tons of news coverage about the protestors of vaccines/mask mandates in NZ and very little about Thiel's proposed developments on Lake Wanaka. And I have certainly noticed an uptick in my partner's family in NZ or acquaintances posting Ayn Rand quotes/memes. If the average person goes down some insane rabbit hole, doesn't it keep people from reading or giving a shit about the Pandora Papers? (Side note: also a very incredible journalistic feat).
Also, I just want to give some more credit to the ex-wives, Melinda French Gates, and Bezo's ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott who I really think are doing incredible things with their wealth. Mackenzie's Medium is really good and I have to say, I do love that she married their son's science teacher.
You're great, David and everyone appreciates your research on these items. I do wish we had just gotten a bit more of you in the podcast. Also, I was trying to figure out if Mr. Clippy was the real name of the paperclip (I couldn't remember when I made a comment a few days ago referring to lil' dude) and realized I was googling Mr. Chippy....yikes.
Oh yeah, defo google "Clippy". Yikes! Me not talking much in the middle of the ep was more a function of the live podcast, and making sure we weren't all talking over each other. Having a guest on the format of the show which already had 3 hosts was a stretch!
I am very on board with you about the women in this equation and very worth raising.
Also as for Thiel - Matt Nippert has done some good digging in the past but mainly, these rich lunatics are so hard to track. So many layers in the paperwork, and just in ever physically getting anywhere near them. But the Thiel thing has fascinated me for years. Was developing a doc idea in that direction but did not find a way to crack it. Also: These men are fucking terrifying.
I was thinking about that too. I have no doubt a bunch of people hung with Epstein in order to get his money, and not all of those people were off trafficking. But it's a weird association and look, I'm glad I never met that horrible fucking man.
I didn't realise you were in the US David. What a grea experience to meet and talk with Gates and get a sense of his genuine hopes for society. Another great webworm and thank you for referencing the protests here in New Zealand. It is very distressing.
Feb 14, 2022·edited Feb 15, 2022Liked by David Farrier
When you talk about Bill Gates' PR prep, another description of it is that coined (i think) by Anand Ghiridardas in his book "Winners Take All" : Reputation Laundering. I.e. make your obscene profits using whatever methods make the most, then clean your image by giving some of it away preferably on do-good projects.
As others have mentioned, Gates may be on the nicer end, then we have Musk, Bezos, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Koch bros, Sackler family etc. etc.
This enormous concentration of wealth, obtained at the expense of public good, that is then deployed at an individuals whim is toxic to democracy at all levels.
I'll finish with a favourite quote from William Gibson "“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”
I also love the Bill Gates (and Steve Jobs et al) gave the world computers, and the internet, and all that stuff. It's awesome. But now, it appears to be biting him in his proverbials.
I mean, computers definitely helped us during the pandemic, so there's always that! But yes, he is certainly experiencing what happens when a mass of conspiracy theorists start communicating and picking a common enemy.
*nod* mass bullying, based on no reason at all but a narcissistic agenda - which is what they are actually accusing the so-called 'deep state' of doing!
Wow, having Mr Gates turn up for a chat!?? That is SO next level!!!! Frankly he terrifies me - the wealth he has is frightening in itself and what he could do with that wealth if he chose is to end world hunger and illness - some of which he is doing with vaccine supports. If he gave everyone on the planet $200K, he would still be filthy stinking rich. So that makes me somewhat hesitant to like, or even trust, someone in that category. But to turn him into the anti-Christ is just, well, too easy. Let's face it. And based in utter unreality. There are so many other things to be scared of re very rich people but the crud being spouted by the conspiracy theorists is clearly self serving. Its the whole "I wanna throw a giant tantrum and get loads of attention, let's try this!!" Totally does my head in.
The "why doesn't he give everyone a million dollars" vibe is something I think of too - but also distributing wealth and not having it lead to more chaos in people's lives in the trick! At least that's what I tell myself as he refuses (well, I haven't asked yet!) to give me a clean $10 mill!
Feb 13, 2022·edited Feb 13, 2022Liked by David Farrier
You might have missed a few decimal points in your calculation. If he gave everyone (7.9 billion) on the planet $16.50, his worth ($130.7 billion) would be down to ~$400 million. Which is still an obscene amount of money.
So what you're saying is that if he kept his money in a big bundle and then allocated large portions towards research then this collective wealth would be more useful than allocating small portions of it to individuals? Is that not the purpose of the Gates Foundation?
Chris, sorry (especially if it seems like I am being aggressive or contrary), I am asking you the question on the math to make a point another point.
It seems noble to break up huge wealth and give it to individuals. However, once the small amounts have been apportioned it is no longer as effective as combined wealth to effect change.
There is a huge imbalance in wealth distribution, but just "giving it away" is not the answer. Giving it away purposefully is the better option.
And sorry again, I should have just replied to Linda.
I’m all about a healthy distrust of government and the wealthy but vaccines are absolutely badass. I’ll never understand the antivaxxer view, mainly in part to the amount of efficiency they give any government organisations in their fantasy.
There’s a post in one of the Australian protest groups which has gone viral due to how funny and insane it is. The protesters there are convinced that they’re being hit with blow darts filled with Moderna because they’re feeling bee stings but can’t see any bees. If you haven’t seen it I’ll email it to you, it’s next level.
Oh, I love this SO much. Brainworms. So many brainworms.
lol, must be really small darts. Id like to read that, where can I find it?
We've got a bunch of billionaires in this world. A bunch of them are into rockets, this one is into vaccines which is an improvement. I hope we get one as motivated to solve the systemic problems that create billionaires in the first place.
Yeah, I think for me after all the criticisms that are possible, he's not doing the rocket ship thing. And that gives me hope!
So I'm a microbiologist. In early Feb 2020, newly graduated from my doctorate I went to a conference in Australia. At the time, cases of COVID-19 were starting to increase in China, and the WHO was saying travel bans are mainly racist and unhelpful (oh, the joys of hindsight). Anyway, at this conference there was a session on COVID-19 and I heard from experts around Australia re their responses. One group who develops vaccines was ~3 months into a 5 year project designed to prepare for "disease X" including developing a vaccine for this unknown disease. The exercise was to help plan for as well as practice the process of rapid vaccine development. What ended up happening was COVID-19 became "disease X". The point is, multiple teams of immunologists, epidemiologists and microbiologists around the world have been researching infectious diseases and pandemics since well before the general public; we've already experienced multiple pandemics of coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1 in 2004 and MERS 2012) so it's absolutely baffling to me that the tabletop exercise got picked up on.
Having said that over the weekend in Wellington there was a tropical storm in Wellington called Cyclone Dovi and I saw multiple threads where protestors/conspiracy nuts thought that the name of the cyclone (C. Dovi) being an anagram for COVID meant that the Govt. must be causing the weather to give them all COVID-19.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about anti-vaxxers and their motivations, since before the pandemic when NZ had a couple of measles outbreaks and parents still didn't want to vaccinate their children. Honestly, NZ's vaccination rates being so high has really impressed me. And I've also found comfort in reading about historical pandemics (all the way back to Roman times) and the first outbreaks of smallpox where people discovered variolation (similar to immunisation, but involved grinding up a smallpox pustule and exposing it to healthy people to prevent them getting sick) - even then there were anti-vaxxers.
Thanks for posting this snippet of conversation, it's really interesting to have some insight into how Bill thinks about these things.
Oh god, of course a Cyclone called Dovi is going to be anagram-ised by nutters to explain why they would end up infected. Not anything simple like how close they are to each other eh.
Why are so many of these 'conspiracies' so easily figured out with a simple anagram? How are governments / shadow organisations so clever at developing ways to get rid of them, but soooo shit at code names!? /s
I think the tabletop thing got picked on somewhat randomly, but also the fact his foundation sponsored it made certain conspiracy brains pop off. But yes - as you say, constant talk on this, and constant scenarios/simulation.
I think at it's most basic, it's just a fundamental lack of understanding from a lot of these people about how the world works.
PS - I hope work in microbiology land is going good! We need you!
Daft question maybe, but hey are you wearing a hat, inside, on stage?
I can easily sort out Bill's moral dilemma: give $129 billion back to the world that he, his peers and their inventions are deeply involved with destroying. National Parks, Rewilding schemes, Sea Shepherd, WWF, Sierra Club, Greenpeace - the organisations working to undo all the harm that we have done. Restoring nature would be infinitely cheaper and more effective than his technological fixes and provide more jobs for ordinary people, who aren't super educated and privileged. I'm sure he could manage on the billion orDaft question maybe, but hey are you wearing a hat, inside, on stage?
I can easily sort out Bill's moral dilemma: give $129 billion back to the world that he, his peers and their inventions are deeply involved with destroying. National Parks, Rewilding schemes, Sea Shepherd, WWF, Sierra Club, Greenpeace - the organisations working to undo all the harm that we have done. Restoring nature would be infinitely cheaper and more effective than his technological fixes and provide more jobs for ordinary people, who aren't super educated and privileged. I'm sure he could manage on the billion or so he has left.
It's my lucky hat! And so I wear it sometimes when I feel the urge!
I am curious with someone like Bill - why / where he draws the line with how much he gives. Obviously he picks vaccine and health related endeavours to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into - but yeah, why draw the line at 10%, or 50%. I assume there is a business reason, and he doesn't strike me as someone who wants to keep money for the sake of it (although I may be wrong there!)
Annie Hill I guess you missed the part where Bill Gates left the corporate world so that he could focus on fixing social issues. Look up the Gates Foundation and take note of the massive impact it has made in some of the most impoverished places. Did you notice that 5 million fewer children die each year because of the work they are doing?
Sorry about the hat comment getting pasted in the middle 🥺
there's an edit comment option ; )
On one hand, I fully understand the fact that our world (and the US especially) has an issue with wealth hoarding that cannot be ignored. It’s deplorable in almost every case. However, it’s harder for me to feel that way towards Bill Gates; he’s one of the most (if not the most) important philanthropist of my lifetime, maybe even of all time. In many cases he is using his money for good, not personal flights to outer space.The conversation about wealth definitely becomes more nuanced conversation when you are also recognizing the massive amounts of public good being done — it’s complicated!
Before the episode, I didn’t have too many feelings about Bill Gates one way or the other. But actually hearing him talk about his experiences and his feelings was really enlightening. The skeptic in me says he’s had decades to prepare for hardball questions and public scrutiny, and has the money to hire the best PR people in the world — not surprising that he comes off as so humble and genuine. At the same time, you could say the same thing about Bezos, and that man is almost universally despised. So there’s something to be said for Gates’ approach!
Hearing him just talk and joke with you guys like any other guest really humanized him, and I was really impressed by his general outlook. I really appreciated his perspective when Dax asked about his feelings getting hurt — while we’re not all Bill Gates, I think there’s something very admirable about that kind of outlook. Overall, many of us have it pretty good in life, maybe more than we always appreciate or acknowledge.
Great episode, super impressed that you guys managed to pull Bill Gates, of all people!
I think someone like him, who has so many things riding on so many things, to turn up in a live element like that (with an audience in the room of about 4000?) is kinda nuts. Blew my mind. And yes - he's no idiot and I am sure has plenty of PR training as image is everything - but it's still a lot of wildcards in the air for him. So yes - very happy he came.
Well, yes, he's given away a lot of his money. But you really have to ask yourself why he hasn't given away a hell of a lot more. I give 10% of what I get every month to charity. I doubt that Bill does, but his 10% would be a LOT more useful than mine!
Annie, https://givingpledge.org/about
Totally agree!
Let's have a competition to take Bill Gates' comments out of context. Here's my entry:
'Bill Gates, when talking about five million children dying: "that’s gone very well" '
"There is a bad guy behind the curtain doing this ... we just found him out and got rid of him."
Oh no! He's done it again!
It wasn't you that said it, but as a scientist it does bug me when someone says "Shot of dopamine". This statement is often rooted in the idea that Dopamine = Pleasure, which is 30+ year old science & incorrect.
Rather than me rant (anymore) here about an offhand comment that a lot of people make, if you are interested in reading more about where dopamine science has gone in the last 30 years you can check this out if you are interested https://www.gamedeveloper.com/disciplines/dopamine-and-games-liking-learning-or-wanting-to-play-
Oh, that very interesting. I've been a bit skeptical that we are able to so casually infer the workings of our brain in the moment. I'm not a scientist.
Can you recommend an improved expression? "A shot of brain rewards?"
I would just say "makes them feel good". That is what matters. Appeals to "brain" stuff isn't really needed?
The underlying physiology and chemistry is a lot more complicated than a "shot" of any one thing. It is a intricate system inside of us.
There is a saying in neuroscience that I particularly like which goes something like "If the Human Brain Were So Simple That We Could Understand It, We Would Be So Simple That We Couldn’t" - which isn't saying it is worthless to work on understanding the brain, but rather be wary of simple explanations :)
Wow the visualisation of his wrath is mind blowing! It made me wonder, if he gave a million dollars to every person he meets, for the rest of his life, would that even get through it all…? Probably not!
I think the main issue with the rich giving money away to individuals is that most individuals don't know what to do with it! Cue all the tragic stories of Lotto winners lives crumbling under bad decisions, family and friend rifts and bad luck!
Wealth not wrath! Doh!
I love wrath. Created a really great image!
We should get a visualisation of his wrath too, just in case
I’m glad you clarified that. I’m sitting here thinking, “Wrath? He sounded pretty calm to me.”
Here's another visualisation that I quite like (this one is more about Jeff Bezos) https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
I WAS LOOKING FOR THAT! (thank you!)
It's actually horrifying.
As billionaires go, Bill and his foundation do substantially more good than most. Although the bar is so low others like Bezos and Musk seem to be having a limbo competition with the devil.
The Gates foundation pressured Oxford to reverse their decision of making AstraZeneca a patent-free vaccine. He doesn't trust the global south to make their own vaccines and instead believes the greatest good will come from a monopoly of vaccine creators which are divvied up by the pharma giants.
Gates has done good things but he is not a good person.
https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-vaccines
https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#gates-foundation
https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/28/somos-cuba/#omishambles
I don't claim to know nearly enough in this space, but it does seem deeply problematic when vaccines are privatised and not left "open source".
It makes sense to me he wants to talk about the conspiracy theories against him now considering the other recent news items about him are his history of sexual harassment, his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his divorce from Melinda.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html
I think anyone on here agrees vaccines are amazing, I don't think we need to harp on it. My question is, do you think the conspiracy theories against these billionaires are something they really care to dispel? I've seen tons of news coverage about the protestors of vaccines/mask mandates in NZ and very little about Thiel's proposed developments on Lake Wanaka. And I have certainly noticed an uptick in my partner's family in NZ or acquaintances posting Ayn Rand quotes/memes. If the average person goes down some insane rabbit hole, doesn't it keep people from reading or giving a shit about the Pandora Papers? (Side note: also a very incredible journalistic feat).
https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/
Also, I just want to give some more credit to the ex-wives, Melinda French Gates, and Bezo's ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott who I really think are doing incredible things with their wealth. Mackenzie's Medium is really good and I have to say, I do love that she married their son's science teacher.
You're great, David and everyone appreciates your research on these items. I do wish we had just gotten a bit more of you in the podcast. Also, I was trying to figure out if Mr. Clippy was the real name of the paperclip (I couldn't remember when I made a comment a few days ago referring to lil' dude) and realized I was googling Mr. Chippy....yikes.
https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/
Oh yeah, defo google "Clippy". Yikes! Me not talking much in the middle of the ep was more a function of the live podcast, and making sure we weren't all talking over each other. Having a guest on the format of the show which already had 3 hosts was a stretch!
I am very on board with you about the women in this equation and very worth raising.
Also as for Thiel - Matt Nippert has done some good digging in the past but mainly, these rich lunatics are so hard to track. So many layers in the paperwork, and just in ever physically getting anywhere near them. But the Thiel thing has fascinated me for years. Was developing a doc idea in that direction but did not find a way to crack it. Also: These men are fucking terrifying.
Interesting article and experience David.
Regardless of the science we are all benefiting from, l don't understand Gates and Pinker's association with Epstein and how to process it.
I was thinking about that too. I have no doubt a bunch of people hung with Epstein in order to get his money, and not all of those people were off trafficking. But it's a weird association and look, I'm glad I never met that horrible fucking man.
I appreciate your response, not surprised, l think there will always be more to that man than we would ever want to know.
Really interesting column, lots to digest there.
As a side note, Mr Clippy was reimagined in a Star Trek - Lower Decks episode. Disaster ensues.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/star-trek-lower-decks-badgey-evil-microsoft-clippy/amp/
I've been meaning to check out Lower Decks and this will probably be the thing that pushes me over.
I didn't realise you were in the US David. What a grea experience to meet and talk with Gates and get a sense of his genuine hopes for society. Another great webworm and thank you for referencing the protests here in New Zealand. It is very distressing.
Ha, yes I have been "stuck" here since April last year.
When you talk about Bill Gates' PR prep, another description of it is that coined (i think) by Anand Ghiridardas in his book "Winners Take All" : Reputation Laundering. I.e. make your obscene profits using whatever methods make the most, then clean your image by giving some of it away preferably on do-good projects.
Kim Hill talked to AG a couple of years ago: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018754514/anand-giridharadas-beware-of-billionaire-do-gooders
As others have mentioned, Gates may be on the nicer end, then we have Musk, Bezos, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Koch bros, Sackler family etc. etc.
This enormous concentration of wealth, obtained at the expense of public good, that is then deployed at an individuals whim is toxic to democracy at all levels.
I'll finish with a favourite quote from William Gibson "“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”
I also love the Bill Gates (and Steve Jobs et al) gave the world computers, and the internet, and all that stuff. It's awesome. But now, it appears to be biting him in his proverbials.
I mean, computers definitely helped us during the pandemic, so there's always that! But yes, he is certainly experiencing what happens when a mass of conspiracy theorists start communicating and picking a common enemy.
*nod* mass bullying, based on no reason at all but a narcissistic agenda - which is what they are actually accusing the so-called 'deep state' of doing!
Wow, having Mr Gates turn up for a chat!?? That is SO next level!!!! Frankly he terrifies me - the wealth he has is frightening in itself and what he could do with that wealth if he chose is to end world hunger and illness - some of which he is doing with vaccine supports. If he gave everyone on the planet $200K, he would still be filthy stinking rich. So that makes me somewhat hesitant to like, or even trust, someone in that category. But to turn him into the anti-Christ is just, well, too easy. Let's face it. And based in utter unreality. There are so many other things to be scared of re very rich people but the crud being spouted by the conspiracy theorists is clearly self serving. Its the whole "I wanna throw a giant tantrum and get loads of attention, let's try this!!" Totally does my head in.
The "why doesn't he give everyone a million dollars" vibe is something I think of too - but also distributing wealth and not having it lead to more chaos in people's lives in the trick! At least that's what I tell myself as he refuses (well, I haven't asked yet!) to give me a clean $10 mill!
You might have missed a few decimal points in your calculation. If he gave everyone (7.9 billion) on the planet $16.50, his worth ($130.7 billion) would be down to ~$400 million. Which is still an obscene amount of money.
And what exactly would everyone do with their one-off $16.50?
Anything they want, and yet it wouldn't make much difference to a lot of them would it.
But directed into research or healthcare for poorer people and it could make a huge difference.
So what you're saying is that if he kept his money in a big bundle and then allocated large portions towards research then this collective wealth would be more useful than allocating small portions of it to individuals? Is that not the purpose of the Gates Foundation?
It would be better if more money could transfer from billionaire's 'worth' into foundations such as his.
Why are you asking questions about this though? I was just correcting the earlier poster's math.
Chris, sorry (especially if it seems like I am being aggressive or contrary), I am asking you the question on the math to make a point another point.
It seems noble to break up huge wealth and give it to individuals. However, once the small amounts have been apportioned it is no longer as effective as combined wealth to effect change.
There is a huge imbalance in wealth distribution, but just "giving it away" is not the answer. Giving it away purposefully is the better option.
And sorry again, I should have just replied to Linda.
that doesn't work either - if he gave away 7.9 billion, he would still have $122.8 billion
7.9 billion people X $16.50 = $130.35 billion. Leaving him ~$400 million.
gotcha, that makes sense. My calculator doesn't add on that many dollars...lol