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

441–450 of 495 posts

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#441

Post by b112 »

reillyse wrote: post #109
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…

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…

I'm not sure he even said that.

When I look at the medium article, I see this:

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].

Note the []? Was this added in by Medium? Gates as an edit after a read-and-OK-to-release? Did Gates have editorial input?

Regardless, I believe [] means 'edited afterwards for clarity'. But by whom?

I Googled, and found this:

https://wccftech.com/bill-gates-hate-encryption/

Yet in this case, there was no hatred of encryption, but picked quotes where he suggested that in one case, if you have the means, the government should be aided .. eg, a murderer.

There was another article on hackernews, where many lamented how much the media just spins, takes quotes out of context, basically does whatever it wants to. I wonder, how much of this are we seeing here?

(Note, Gates could very much be for back-doored encryption, but my point is, I don't think it's a clear position due to this medium article.. where that stances was in [] and added by someone after...)

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#442

Post by avindroth »

artellectual wrote: post #424
flocial wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID will eventually pass even with unnecessary fatalities in its wake. E2e encryption and loss of rights will stay around much longer.

That in and of itself is a testament to how problematic our man-made legal system is. Compare a nature made system to a man made system. Nature changes over time. Our laws and regulations however do not get updated to reflect the times. That is the reason why human progress is slow. It's because humans don't change. That is the root cause of all evil. Humans like the comfort of not having to change.

> Nature changes over time. Our laws and regulations however do not get updated to reflect the times. That is the reason why human progress is slow. It's because humans don't change. That is the root cause of all evil. Humans like the comfort of not having to change.

You have put together arguments that make sense individually, but do not make sense when you weave them together. Nature changes over time, but over a long period of time (e.g. evolution is slow). Our laws and regulations do not get updated to reflect the times, yes, but the times that are changing is because of humans, not nature. A manmade part of society is having a tough time catching up with another manmade part of society. Human progress is NOT slow, at least when you are comparing it with nature. Humans do not change on an individual level, but they change a great deal en masse culturally, psychologically, etc. We are actually almost built for adaptation and change intergenerationally.

There is a subtle point here about institutions refusing change, but you cannot make a valid comparison of speed between human institutions and nature.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#443

Post by zurfer »

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…

What motivates wired.com to put so much of such a controversial statements in brackets? What did he actually say?

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#444

Post by avindroth »

khawkins wrote: post #374
roenxi wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone has a range of opinions and some of them will be factually/morally/logically/practically objectionable. The fact that Gates has an opinion that you, I or indeed everyone disagrees with is not interesting. What about "It’s insane how confused the trials here in the US have been."? That opinion is very important and has implications for how everyone here should act. The last 6 months have been expensively purc…

It does speak to why he's treated with so much distrust, as is discussed by other threads. Unlike the average person, Gates is someone who can actually make things happen with his incredible wealth. It suggests a form of paternalistic authoritarian attitude towards social issues that undeniably colors his attitude towards this pandemic. You can also read in his tone that he feels personally slighted by not being give…

History of democracy in South Korea is short, and privacy is not recognized as an important virtue. Sacrificing your rights for the nation (or historically the kingdom) is an important duty, and failure to abide by such ‘selflessness’ is deemed as malicious and egocentric. It will take many more decades for South Korea to shed its cultural shadow of being subject to a ruler.

A case and point: Seoul is riddled with security cameras on every street. This makes Seoul an incredibly safe city, but also with decreased sense of privacy. Cameras are everywhere, and this is not recognized much as a potential problem in South Korea.

With Covid, there is a pending legislation to sign in your name and social security number whenever you visit designated crowded areas. I am worried for the increased loss of freedom and privacy in South Korea, but the culture worries less about that, and more about mutual subsistence.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#445

Post by raziel2p »

neskiredk wrote: post #429

He's pretty much the single most scary philanthropist and possibly influence on our future, judging from these past 6 months. Based on his talks of: Worldwide chip tracking of disease. Destroying encryption worldwide.

What exactly do you mean by chip tracking?

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#446

Post by raziel2p »

paxys wrote: post #126
Solstinox wrote: post #2

A quick, cheap, non-invasive test that is less accurate (in the direction of more false positives) would be far more effective than a more accurate but slow, expensive, and intrusive test.

But somehow every other developed country in the world has tests that are quick, cheap and accurate.

Source? Governments are quick to brag but the reality in many places is that capacity is overwhelmed and it still takes several days to get results. That might be better than weeks in the US, but it's not black and white.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#447

Post by raziel2p »

raphlinus wrote: post #74

To me, the most striking thing about the interview is his idea for just fixing the Covid testing delays. I think he puts his finger right on the problem: we're incentivizing essentially worthless tests by paying full price. Change the reimbursement structure and capitalism will do its job. I'd like to understand more deeply why this is not happening.

Considering Trump has said things like "slow down the testing" but at the same time bragging about how the US does more tests than anywhere else in the world, it's hard to say. Maybe allowing tests with weeks of delay means they can test more, or at least inflate the numbers? Again, incentives are in the wrong place.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#448

Post by raziel2p »

brandontreb wrote: post #64

I can't understand the 'microchip in vaccines' issue. You mean to tell me that my iPhone can't last a full day on a battery charge, however we have microscopic tech capable of tracking location data and relaying it somewhere and doesn't need charging once injected into the body? I'll take my microchip in space grey please.

What microchips in vaccines are you even talking about?

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#449

Post by blocked_again »

WalterBright wrote: post #132
blocked_again wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gates mother introduced Microsoft to IBM for the contract by speaking with the then Chairman of IBM, who she was an acquaintance of. How many of your parents can do something like that? Sure, Bill is a very smart person. But it's kind of impossible to say for sure whether he could have been as sucessful, if he was born in a different family. Parents play a major role in shaping the mind of children. For what we know…

IBM went to Gary Kildall at Digital Research first. Microsoft was already a very successful microcomputer software company at the time.

Yeah. But there is a good chance that it would not be remotely anywhere as sucessful as it is today has it not got the IBM contract.

Re: Interview with Bill Gates on Covid, social media

#450

Post by blocked_again »

wdb wrote: post #159
blocked_again wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gates mother introduced Microsoft to IBM for the contract by speaking with the then Chairman of IBM, who she was an acquaintance of. How many of your parents can do something like that? Sure, Bill is a very smart person. But it's kind of impossible to say for sure whether he could have been as sucessful, if he was born in a different family. Parents play a major role in shaping the mind of children. For what we know…

Parents connection doesn't mean you will get the business out of personal experience it can even lead to the opposite to avoid being blamed for nepotism.

Are you saying that children with well connected parents and not well connected parents ends up getting similar opportunities in life?
Post reply on HN