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Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

wired.com

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Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#41

Post by GaryNumanVevo »

refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

For a couple of reasons; Gates is well known and will draw more visibility. He’s a well trained public speaker. He knows enough about the subject matter to communicate it effectively. Also, a short interview probably isn’t long enough for someone with deep subject knowledge to scratch the surface.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#42

Post by vikramkr »

dang wrote: post #27
detaro wrote: post #9

previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24082906

Thanks. That thread wasn't very good - perhaps because of the hacky title (which the thread duly complains about). Let's see if this run is better. Early results are...mixed.

The article unfortunately shares that same title, and wired doesn't seem to want to change it. Sometimes these sites change an article title after it has been up for a while, but no luck it seems. Theres definitely some really good stuff in the interview, hopefully having a different title here on HN makes it easier to have a conversation about that.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#43

Post by tolbish »

refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

Because we are all more likely to click on the link that says "Interview with Bill Gates" instead of the link that says "Interview with smart person you are not familiar with".

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#44

Post by dimator »

rglover wrote: post #39
refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

An excellent question that shouldn't be downvoted. Why is Bill Gates "the guy?" Don't read that in a conspiratorial sense, just in a rational "can someone explain this to me" sense.

His foundation has been in the health space since it's inception. He's very hands on, and consumes and synthesizes health knowledge, which he's been doing for a long time. He has a broad view of many of the factors that go into vaccines, treatments, societal impact, etc. I've never seen him stumped or give a political non-answer on any of the interviews he's been given. I consider him an authority on the topic.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#45

Post by lalos »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #17

He has a very weird habit of looking happy when people mention bad things happening, such as the collapse of the economy, second waves of COVID, etc.

He could smile because it's refreshening to hear questions or other people talk about critical things that are constantly being ignored by even the highest ranking politicians. He could also smile because he might find it funny that people bring those topics to him as if he were responsible for everything. We'll never know.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#46

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

I'm not a fan of Gates, but he's clearly a smart person. Think of him as a sort of CEO of the organization that coordinates lots of the work done by the "really smart people", a CEO smart enough to be able to give Levy a better summary than Levy would come up with himself if he spoke to 10 actual experts.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#47

Post by benatkin »

refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

It isn't just MSM folks that go to him.

He's proven to be reliable over decades. That's the main reason, I think. There was a small reason to talk to him about public health at first, but over time it's grown into a huge reason.

The question remains, is what is he reliable at? Why do I and so many others want to listen to him more over the years? I think it's because of the depth and breadth of issues he discusses. It's a sweet spot for me, between talking in too much depth and not enough depth.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#48

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

natrik wrote: post #4

From another article linked in the one above: "In late February, CDC director Robert Redfield testified before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee and was asked if healthy people should wear masks. “No,” Redfield responded. The day after that, US surgeon general Jerome Adams tweeted “Seriously people—STOP BUYING MASKS.” Fauci himself, in early March, told a Senate committee that the general public didn’t need to w…

Everyone now knows that the wearing of surgical masks by the general public is beneficial. That wasn't clear in late February and early March, and the scientific community was uncertain. That's why a paper finding that surgical masks are effective was important enough to be published in Nature Medicine as late as 3 April (and has been cited hundreds of times since).[1]

It might seem obvious that surgical masks help, but there are a few reasons that people thought they might not:

1. Surgical masks let lots of unfiltered air in.

2. People might feel a false sense of security with masks, which could make them harmful.

3. People might touch their faces more when wearing masks.

Research like the paper I mentioned above, as well as the realization that asymptomatic and presymptomatic people play a large role in spreading the virus convinced the scientific community that widespread wearing of surgical masks is helpful. But blaming institutions for not knowing the right answer early on seems very unfair to me.

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#49

Post by zornthewise »

rglover wrote: post #39
refurb wrote: post #36

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it odd that Gates is the go to source for public health issues. His biggest contribution is money, which pays for really smart people to tackle these issues. So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?

An excellent question that shouldn't be downvoted. Why is Bill Gates "the guy?" Don't read that in a conspiratorial sense, just in a rational "can someone explain this to me" sense.

He has spent a large amount of time coordinating and strategizing health care interventions in multiple countries over the last couple of decades. Seems like he would be in a very good position to explain this stuff to the public.
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