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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

#161

Post by maxerickson »

derefr wrote: post #158
jacoblyles wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the 1500s we invented Humanism. Now, finally, in this post-modern world we have invented Anti-Humanism. This allows truly clever humans to signal how truly clever they are. Because it takes a truly clever human to recognize the value of Anti-Humanism. Simple folk still think humans are a good thing.

Simple folk also cause stock market bubbles. The point of "anti-humanism", as you term it, is not that there should be fewer humans forever --it's that there should be fewer simultaneously . Just like publicly-traded companies, people want to have more direct descendants --greater returns--today, even if it means their "company" (all descendants looking forward) will be worse off after another year/generation. Anti-h…

Dwarf wheat handles fertilizer better (shorter, thicker stems can hold up a larger seed...):

http://books.google.com/books?id=22JBi4RC-HwC&lpg=PA55&#...

Any crop wheat has already been bamboozled into massively over-investing in each seed.

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

#162

Post by djt »

pg wrote: post #154
jneen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negativity is because of the legacy of colonialism. "Rich White Guy Solves all the World's Problems" ends up being really condescending, especially when other rich white guys are causing or exacerbating many of the problems.

Precisely what do you mean it "ends up being really condescending?" Let me tell you what I think you mean. I think you're attributing something happening inside your own head to the person you're reacting to. You're angry. The reason you're angry is that you have a bunch of arbitrary prejudices that have been set off by something you read. But you don't want to attribute your reaction to your own prejudices. So the o…

Its a tough problem to shake for a lot of people by the sounds of it.

He's donating $40 billion and more importantly his time, yet people are reacting so negatively.

What I find even harder to understand is that he is using the Scientific Method to do the greatest good for the time/dollars and people in a community that are all about measuring value are calling him prejudiced and making excuses to allow themselves to hate him for their own reasons.

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

#164

Post by javajosh »

adaml_623 wrote: post #155
javajosh wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't get the negativity in this thread. Bill Gates is bringing a lot of assumptions with him that tacitly validate the incumbent political, social, and economic regimes. I think a lot of us would prefer that Gates do something revolutionary with his money rather than something evolutionary. First and foremost, the BMGF needs to consider overall-quality of life, not just specific, narrow measurements. It is only…

Are you disagreeing with all the studies that have observed that decreases in child mortality lead to a decrease in the birth rate. So stopping polio not only saves those potential victims but actually encourages less children to be born. This is something I thought was commonly accepted but maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think I said anything close to that, actually. It may be that the BMGF is doing exactly the right thing to improve overall quality of life; but I would like them to be explicit that quality of life is more important than quantity. Saving a baby just so that it can starve to death later in life is not a good outcome.

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

#165

Post by dmhdlr »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #136
illuminate wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Complicity is only with those willfully ignorant, I imagine. Colonialism ~is~ a malevolent mass. "Rich white persons" tend to be the force behind colonialism, but theoretically it could be anyone.

So I'm assuming you're of native ancestry in your particular region.

What rule is there against condemning your own ancestors?

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

#166

Post by jacoblyles »

derefr wrote: post #158
jacoblyles wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the 1500s we invented Humanism. Now, finally, in this post-modern world we have invented Anti-Humanism. This allows truly clever humans to signal how truly clever they are. Because it takes a truly clever human to recognize the value of Anti-Humanism. Simple folk still think humans are a good thing.

Simple folk also cause stock market bubbles. The point of "anti-humanism", as you term it, is not that there should be fewer humans forever --it's that there should be fewer simultaneously . Just like publicly-traded companies, people want to have more direct descendants --greater returns--today, even if it means their "company" (all descendants looking forward) will be worse off after another year/generation. Anti-h…

The 1960s called. They want their failed Malthusian predictions back.

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

#167

Post by dmhdlr »

pg wrote: post #154
jneen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negativity is because of the legacy of colonialism. "Rich White Guy Solves all the World's Problems" ends up being really condescending, especially when other rich white guys are causing or exacerbating many of the problems.

Precisely what do you mean it "ends up being really condescending?" Let me tell you what I think you mean. I think you're attributing something happening inside your own head to the person you're reacting to. You're angry. The reason you're angry is that you have a bunch of arbitrary prejudices that have been set off by something you read. But you don't want to attribute your reaction to your own prejudices. So the o…

Not sure why you need a cognitive explanation for what, outside rightist establishments, is hardly a controversial sentiment.

Western countries telling the rest of the world what to do is not only condescending; it repackages old imperial propagandas of improvement, development, dependency, etc., and serves to further entrench Western power abroad.

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

#168

Post by jackowayed »

gesman wrote: post #139
gesman wrote: post #78

Dear Bill Gates. Here's yardstick to measure residual value of your efforts: If you'd stop doing whatever you're doing, will the world continue benefit from your past efforts for ages to come? Compare "buying food for the hungry" and "teaching the man to fish" - which effort carry more residual value? You developed DOS, and then Windows. Even when you stopped - the world continued rolling with your software and build…

Dear Bill Gates. Stop buying stuff for people. Be that vaccines or portable toilets or donations to some vague "research" causes. Invest in helping people to discover the powers within. Do not invest in making people think they need to depend on some external rich power to pull themselves out of their misery. That is misservice. This is lie. That warm, fuzzy feeling you get after spending billion on buying stuff for…

He's trying to eradicate polio. That would be incredible lasting good.

Research does serious lasting good as well. Research funding built the Internet, for example.

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

#169

Post by spigoteater »

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.

I don't want Bill Gates to do the world what he did to computing and commerce.

Plus, beware of the publicly-stated do-gooder. They're dangerous people.

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

#170

Post by michaelbuddy »

onlyup wrote: post #135
wildranter wrote: post #119

Hey Bill Gates! Fix what Aron Swartz was fighting for.

Which was?

Well for one, he was wanting to make sure that corporations weren't able to convince government for any self-interested group to control the internet and in general, the freedom of knowledge and fighting corruption. In regards to the JSTOR stuff, he was against their locking up of open source, public domain scientific information behind a paywall. He wanted information to be available and people to communicate freely. Which helps societies knowledge grow.
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