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Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

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Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#51

Post by technoslut »

dos1 wrote: post #31

I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining. Sure, they may not be the problems that you think are most important, and I'm sure the foundation is making missteps along the way and wasting some money. But his message in this article is a good one I think: > The process I have described—setting clear goals, choosing an approach, measuring result…

>I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining.

I respect Bill Gates and think his cause is noble but they are partly childish because of the idealism and the hopes to cure disease. ilaksh's post on this thread is part of the reason why though I wanted to reply to your post instead of doing so to his. It will be far more controversial though.

David Attenborough recently said that human beings are a plague on Earth.

I'll present you with three stories:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/23/3906520/planet-earth-narra...

Peter Beard, in an interview with Alec Baldwin on 'Here's the Thing', said that AIDS was a good thing in Africa because of overpopulation and it caused quite a stir.

I listened to an All Things Considered story where, not only was there a slaughter of elephants for their ivory tusks, but they would wait until more elephants would come back to mourn the slain and the poachers would kill them too. When asked, off the record, the poacher said he had to feed his family. The natural question I asked is "Why are you having kids you can't afford?" The question wasn't asked during the piece and it's something that isn't asked worldwide.

There are numerous examples of mankind ruining the environment. As the most intelligent life on this planet, we are to be the custodians and not expand like a virus.

Even if you took the approach of mankind over everything else we are now destroying the soil which we rely on and food shortages continue as the price for food continues to rise.

The answers don't come easy in this world. The best ones are the most difficult to make. I suspect Western countries will have to do the same in the coming years to limit population growth.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#52

Post by jbooth »

ilaksh wrote: post #23

Feedback and data related to your actual goals is key to achieving anything, and of course education and health should be targeted, but a bigger underlying problem is the structural inequality causing a constant lack of resources for many countries and communities. The fact that Mr. Gates ignores this leads me to believe that he thinks that the grossly unequal distribution of resources is the result of some process t…

I'm inclined to believe that targeting education and health is actually the best way to fix inequality problems. I mean, it's not like he's sinking the money into SAT prep classes for lawrence academy students, he's attacking malaria.

Handouts don't fix underlying problems. Education and better health might.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#53

Post by im3w1l »

zb wrote: post #43

He is not wrong, but there is also a certain danger in this approach that goes unremarked upon. It is often difficult to measure the outcome you actually desire, and a lot easier to measure some proxy for it. But attaching incentives to optimising some metric - making an intermediate goal the goal in itself - tends to make it an extremely unreliable proxy for the original worthy cause. We know that Gates is aware of…

What about optimizing for gratitude?

EDIT: Not as only factor, but as significant factor.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#54

Post by geargrinder »

reasonattlm wrote: post #26

So far as I'm aware, the Gates Foundation does nothing in regard to the world's biggest problem, which is aging. Aging kills the most people, causes the greatest amount of suffering, causes the greatest loss of wealth and capital, falls most heavily on the poor without access to palliative medical technologies, etc, etc. http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2002/12/death-is-an-outra... You'll see a number of mainstream…

Something as simple as providing clean water can make a huge difference to life expectancy and quality of life. Another big need is sewer systems and toilets. So often we get caught up in trying to solve the problems we perceive in the First world, instead of the simpler, less glamourous projects that can make the biggest difference and cost less.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#55

Post by jbooth »

specialist wrote: post #44
ilaksh wrote: post #23

Feedback and data related to your actual goals is key to achieving anything, and of course education and health should be targeted, but a bigger underlying problem is the structural inequality causing a constant lack of resources for many countries and communities. The fact that Mr. Gates ignores this leads me to believe that he thinks that the grossly unequal distribution of resources is the result of some process t…

I agree with what you say. What bothers me about the Gates Foundation is their education agenda. Their priorities reflect a naive reductionist worldview akin to Rudyard Kiplings' Just So Stories. MEASUREMENT I'm confounded by the emphasis on Taylorism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management ) and privatization, and by extension the emphasis on teacher performance. Make a list of all things wrong with pub…

Great post.

I feel like giving more power to school principals and trusting them to make non-standardized-test-based judgment calls is a solution but unions are terrified of it for whatever reason.

On the one hand, the teacher's unions are the only people who stand up for teachers, a job that would otherwise be whittled away in pay and benefits until only an idiot would take the job. On the other hand, union leadership's primary concern seems to be protecting bad teachers and retirement benefits.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#56

Post by SoftwareMaven »

technoslut wrote: post #51
dos1 wrote: post #31

I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining. Sure, they may not be the problems that you think are most important, and I'm sure the foundation is making missteps along the way and wasting some money. But his message in this article is a good one I think: > The process I have described—setting clear goals, choosing an approach, measuring result…

>I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining. I respect Bill Gates and think his cause is noble but they are partly childish because of the idealism and the hopes to cure disease. ilaksh's post on this thread is part of the reason why though I wanted to reply to your post instead of doing so to his. It will be far more controversial though. Da…

The answer to that problem is education, not killing off an underclass. Educated societies have far fewer children than non, to the point that some first world countries are losing population.

The thing is, it's impossible to gain an education when you are constantly starving or sick. Solve that problem and you move towards solving the next.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#57

Post by dos1 »

technoslut wrote: post #51
dos1 wrote: post #31

I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining. Sure, they may not be the problems that you think are most important, and I'm sure the foundation is making missteps along the way and wasting some money. But his message in this article is a good one I think: > The process I have described—setting clear goals, choosing an approach, measuring result…

>I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is trying to solve hard problems and people here are complaining. I respect Bill Gates and think his cause is noble but they are partly childish because of the idealism and the hopes to cure disease. ilaksh's post on this thread is part of the reason why though I wanted to reply to your post instead of doing so to his. It will be far more controversial though. Da…

I agree with you to an extent. It's why I would choose different problems to solve than what Mr. Gates feels are important. However, I don't think the Gates Foundation and its efforts are in any way a net negative.

Perhaps the poacher from your story would not need to kill more elephants to feed his children if the general condition of his country were better, and the economy supported other endeavors more readily (and prosperously) than poaching. In fact, if you believe the Rand think-tank, "first world" inhabitants produce less offspring, and much of the developed world is facing a looming underpopulation crisis.

I know many Western European countries have a birthrate that is lower than the replacement rate. This may be the case for America as well, but last I heard our population was still rising, with immigration also being a contributing factor.

In any event, you're right in that the answers don't come easy. I think the fact that Mr. Gates is willing to make the attempt, and is showing some signs of success (whether it's the right success metric is certainly up for debate) is to be commended. More people should aspire to philanthropy and there are certainly worse role models than him.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#58

Post by realcertify »

A couple of years ago my wife's 2 years old nephew was diagnosed with retinoblastoma (eye's cancer). I contacted the world's best hospitals and was told that the treatment will cost hundreds of thousands dollars.

So I tried to get some financial help from related funds and organizations and contacted all of them I could find on the internet.

Guess what happened: 90% of them just ignored me, and the rest told me that they are not helping sick kids, but only doing research work. One came up to cover up to $3.500(!) if I provide a bunch of documents I was sure I wouldn't be able to gather in a short term.

On web pages of such funds you normally can easily find a button to make a donation. But try to contact them if you need help - you will be surprised how difficult it is.

So we (relatives and friends) collected as much money as we could, the kid was receiving treatment in one of the local hospitals, in the end both of his eyes got removed. Maybe the same would have happened in those best hospitals too, but if there was even the slightest chance to keep his sight it certainly would worth any money.

Bottom line is - I don't believe in cancer funds any longer, and will never donate any dime. In fact I'm not even sure that they spend all money for "Research", they might be just another way to avoid taxes.

May be Bill Gates fund is different, I hope so...

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#59

Post by SoftwareMaven »

specialist wrote: post #44
ilaksh wrote: post #23

Feedback and data related to your actual goals is key to achieving anything, and of course education and health should be targeted, but a bigger underlying problem is the structural inequality causing a constant lack of resources for many countries and communities. The fact that Mr. Gates ignores this leads me to believe that he thinks that the grossly unequal distribution of resources is the result of some process t…

I agree with what you say. What bothers me about the Gates Foundation is their education agenda. Their priorities reflect a naive reductionist worldview akin to Rudyard Kiplings' Just So Stories. MEASUREMENT I'm confounded by the emphasis on Taylorism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management ) and privatization, and by extension the emphasis on teacher performance. Make a list of all things wrong with pub…

I don't necessarily disagree with much you wrote, but this piece about corporate charter schools,

Alas, free market means monopoly, not more parental choice.

seems like it came out of nowhere. Since charter schools entered my area, my kids have gone from two choices, the local high school and a gifted program for engineering students at a local college, to many choices, includes a performing arts school, a science and engineering school for the "non-gifted" and many others.

As a parent, I have concerns about how charter schools impact the local school budgets, but monopoly is the exact opposite of the word I'd use.

So I'm curious about what logic brought you to that statement. Your comment was well thought out, so I don't think you are just pulling statements out of nowhere.

Re: Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems

#60

Post by specialist »

krie wrote: post #5

The biggest problem is resource depletion and overpopulation. Overpopulation will be "fixed" through starvation and death. Resource depletion will leave the current young and future generations with far less extravagant lives. Adding to the overpopulation through vaccination programmes und su weiter is a misstep.

I upvoted you.

I'm sorry you're being dismissed as a Malthusian.

I also believe we humans are in deep trouble.

I volunteered at a treehugger organization for about a decade (the 90s). Trying save the birds and the salmon. These people were scientists working on policy. Like saving critical habitat such as wetlands.

Etc.

Pretty much everything I first learned in the 90s has come true. And the actual numbers are worse than the predicted worse case scenario (eg climate change).

I personally believe we're past the tipping point. Meaning climate change has entered into a positive feedback loop where even if we stopped burning fossil fuels, atmospheric CO2, methane etc will continue to increase. Because of the arboreal forests continue to burn and the tundra continues to thaw and the ocean (the biggest carbon sink) continues to acidify.

To stop this progression or even reverse it, decades from now, humans will have to aggressively retool our industry to remove CO2 from the atmospheric.

Weirdly, I'm strangely optimistic. I think it's possible. I'm not willing to give up hope.

I sometimes wonder if I'm just fooling myself. Things are so bad, I just go to my happy place. Like Sam Lowry in the movie Brazil.

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