Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 495 posts

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#141

Post by AQuantized »

djsumdog wrote: post #138

Why the hell does everyone now see Gates as some kind of superhero?! He was, and still is, a notorious, power hungry, anti-competitive slime ball. He has all the money in the world, so the only thing left is power. His foundation seeks to create "viable markets" for vaccines and the original name for his foundation was "The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population Control." I don't trust anything that piece of…

What's wrong with 'population control' through easy access to birth control and lowering infant mortality? Do you think he was planning on mass killings before he realized he should be more subtle?

He's not a superhero, but it's definitely better to devote your capital to helping others rather than simply accruing more.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#142

Post by threatripper »

cm2187 wrote: post #129
ani-ani wrote: post #93

He is easily one of the least bullshit-y sources when it comes to handling of COVID. But then there's this right in the middle of the interview: " And when you have [posts] encrypted, there is no way to know what it is. I personally believe government should not allow those types of lies or fraud or child pornography [to be hidden with encryption like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger] ". Quite literally, encrypted comm…

Even on Covid. He warned in Feb that covid could result in 10 millions deaths in Africa, when we knew already from the Chinese numbers that the demographics of covid deaths was massively skewed toward 70yo+, and Africa has a very young population. I classify him in the FUD spreading category.

For Africa it's just "one more disease" that probably won't even show up much in mortality numbers because there's just so many other slow disasters at the same time.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#143

Post by WalterBright »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #70
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?

"So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?" There is definitely a billionaire cult going on these days. I don't know when it started but I see more and more headlines "billionaire does X", "billionaire says Y". Somehow being a billionaire gives you credibility on everything you do or say.

It's probably better than the celebrity actor endorsements, or whatever "influencers" say.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#144

Post by cubano »

fartcannon wrote: post #111
partyboat1586 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's thinking from a pragmatic, utilitarian mindset. He has no principles surrounding privacy. If it has to be sacrificed to get the job done that's fine in his mind as long as it's a net positive.

Then he should lead by example.

That never happens...the powerful never expect to live in the conditions they advocate.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#145

Post by djsumdog »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #67
ralph84 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The charitable take is he's still a socially awkward nerd. The uncharitable take is he's still as ruthless as he was during the embrace, extend, extinguish days and since the pandemic has been great business for him why shouldn't he be happy.

What are you taking about? The man devotes his time and considerable resources to public health and solving the tough to solve issues instead of spending his time owning sports teams and racing yachts. Yet...you still look for the negatives in his motives? “Great Business?” The man is literally giving away his money, all this pandemic is doing is taking more of his precious time up than normal.

You really thing he's all altruism now? Remember how he got there. It wasn't on the backs of good things. He crushed all of his competition. I don't understand how people see him as some kind of hero now.

He wants more power. The Gates funded oral polio vaccine in India was a fucking disaster!

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#146

Post by prox »

creato wrote: post #83
codebolt wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, he's become a highly controversial figure for a large fraction of the population, particularly within the societies that his foundation works. In my opinion, they'd do good to pick a figure whose name is less tarnished if they want the message to be more broadly accepted.

No matter who you put forth saying what Gates has been saying, they will quickly be tarnished by the same baseless bullshit. Effectively 0% of people knew who Facui or Birx were before the pandemic. Now they're the target of the same kind of controversy.

It’s the same mechanism over and over. If I say something on a blog or newspaper like : “user Creato makes apps that make people dumber”

It is you who have to go on the defensive, especially if it gets spread far and wide, regardless if it is true or not. But the lie is out there and your truth has to catch up.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#147

Post by jeromegv »

cm2187 wrote: post #129
ani-ani wrote: post #93

He is easily one of the least bullshit-y sources when it comes to handling of COVID. But then there's this right in the middle of the interview: " And when you have [posts] encrypted, there is no way to know what it is. I personally believe government should not allow those types of lies or fraud or child pornography [to be hidden with encryption like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger] ". Quite literally, encrypted comm…

Even on Covid. He warned in Feb that covid could result in 10 millions deaths in Africa, when we knew already from the Chinese numbers that the demographics of covid deaths was massively skewed toward 70yo+, and Africa has a very young population. I classify him in the FUD spreading category.

Here's an article here for someone who cares about the context (which you carefully avoided): https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-warns-coronavirus...

It wasn't about the demographic, but about the fact that their healthcare system would get overloaded, which impacts a lot of treatments for everybody else.

Also the problem with predictions of epidemic is that if you actually do a better job than expected at confinement / protection measures, then predictions are meaningless. You "could have" a lot of bad things happen, but once you do things right, they disappear. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have done those things, it just means that people have been warned properly. He said, if they get hit severely, impact would be much bigger than in the west. He didn't say the 10 million was a done deal.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#148

Post by threatripper »

popnroll wrote: post #139

I think Gates is right. What is the problem with the government controlling communication? There are clear advantages, like handling illegal things. What are the disadvantages, the nude photo of your ex-girlfriend being analyzed by a machine?

If you assume the government to be lawful and of high morals, of course. On the other hand, if your country is run by literal Nazis, the idea doesn't sound so good anymore. I hope your ancestry is pure of whatever lineage the rulers of the next fascist empire will be.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#149

Post by cubano »

WalterBright wrote: post #143
spaetzleesser wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"So why not talk to the really smart people he hired?" There is definitely a billionaire cult going on these days. I don't know when it started but I see more and more headlines "billionaire does X", "billionaire says Y". Somehow being a billionaire gives you credibility on everything you do or say.

It's probably better than the celebrity actor endorsements, or whatever "influencers" say.

more like on par with them.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#150

Post by reillyse »

Orou wrote: post #133
reillyse wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think he is saying that encrypted communication should be illegal. He's saying that spreading lies through encrypted channels should be stopped. It would not be hard for WhatsApp to prevent people from spreading bogus videos, because they have access to the unencrypted information before and after sending. So either preventing people from sharing misinformation or preventing people from reading the misinforma…

You'd think given the amount of time he's spent working on Coronavirus that he might see the distinction between treating the symptoms and treating the cause, so to speak. I've yet to see anyone provide any kind of evidence that suggests censorship changes people's minds about conspiracies - if anything it seems to be doing exactly the opposite.

I'm not sure there is evidence for or against. The argument I would make is not about censorship but preventing people from spreading lies. Even in the US where people hold free speech as some amazingly virtuous thing there are still curbs on speech, and what I'm saying is these limitations can be enforced in WhatsApp. Maybe you think that is censorship maybe you don't.

Also on that point, the freedom of speech in the US is strongly correlated with conspiracy theories, if only because 1) you can freely spread malicious lies and 2) it can be in a lot of people's interests to do so. I think it's always been in people's interest to spread lies, but I think recently in the very partisan climate in the US the media (and I'm including social media there) have happened upon the discovery that spreading this misinformation is actually very very good for business. It generates outrage in the opposite camp and keeps one side of the divide entertained.

Post reply on HN