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

Why I’m Going to India

thegatesnotes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 116 posts

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#41

Post by marcosscriven »

alexqgb wrote: post #26
sharkweek wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a while to understand this thinking but deep down I end up agreeing -- this "billionaire with a heart of gold" is far too familiar to the old thought of "I hope the king is just." We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for rich people in the name of charity ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_... ). Living in Seattle, I have sev…

Replace "private citizen" with "human being" and see if this criticism still makes sense.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that super rich individuals are themselves a product of their surroundings, and the country that supported them - and that just maybe Bill Gates shouldn't have so many billions. Maybe a lot more of it should have gone to the US in the form of tax, and then the US as a whole could decide how best to help fellow humans around the world. I think you can probably discount this though as the rantings of a 'socialist European'! I never used to be so lefty in my twenties...

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#42

Post by vacri »

yitchelle wrote: post #31
MartinCron wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for billionaires in the name of charity You seem to imply that there's something wrong with funding art museums or ballet... The world needs beauty in it, and if people choose to support the arts in a way from which we all benefit, that's great.

"The world needs beauty in it, and if people choose to support the arts in a way from which we all benefit, that's great." Try to explain why the world needs beauty to the folks of the slums of Mumbai and how this beauty will benefit them. I would imagine that the only beauty that they could find is a hope that their children will get out of the slums and live a more fortunate life than there are now. I always find i…

Why not just short cut the event and just collect the donations?

Because events punctuate people's calendars and bring people who want the same thing together and gives them a chance to socialise and network.

I find it weird that you start out complaining that the poor don't have enough joy in their life, then turn around and complain that joy shouldn't be used as a mechanism to help them.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#43

Post by cinquemb »

dwc wrote: post #28

What's up with HN lately? It seems like being contrary to contrarian is the new thing these days. Bill Gates is someone I admired at first, because he built something huge from humble beginnings. Then I reviled him for the damage I saw him cause to the industry. Then I admired him again for the global effect he managed. He is a single person trying to do the best he knows how for humanity at large. If anyone thinks r…

I wonder if people would be as vocal if he decided to buy a private island…

Buy a private island, few care and those who might, will most likely fawn in amazement. Decide to take an interest in helping human beings you might not identify/associate with, welcome to the "The White-Savior Industrial Complex"[0].

[0]: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the...

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#44

Post by newnewnew »

pekk wrote: post #24
curiousDog wrote: post #11

Mr.Gates is obviously doing this with good intentions, I'm not sure how much this is going to actually help India though. Having lived in both places, I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. Throwing tons of aid at them isn't going to solve anything. This sort of culture has been accumulated over cen…

It is facile to blame all of the developing world's problems on "the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption, and generally not giving a shit about others." For starters, aren't there causes of ignorance, corruption, or not giving a shit about others?

> "For starters, aren't there causes of ignorance, corruption, or not giving a shit about others?"

Not really. It's the default state of human kind. Individual rights, scientific enlightenment, and all that were invented by Europeans in the 1500s. Before that, all of human history is pretty brutal and poor.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#45

Post by rjbond3rd »

skaevola wrote: post #13
marcosscriven wrote: post #2

While what he's doing is obviously good, I am uneasy with the whole idea that one man accumulates so much wealth in the first place, and then decides as an unelected individual what's best for a country. Having said that, I'm not sure i have a particularly good answer to this conundrum.

People voluntarily gave their wealth to him.

Do you mean people who bought MS software, or other billionaires like Warren Buffet who gave money to the Gates Foundation?

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#46

Post by harichinnan »

sharkweek wrote: post #12
marcosscriven wrote: post #2

While what he's doing is obviously good, I am uneasy with the whole idea that one man accumulates so much wealth in the first place, and then decides as an unelected individual what's best for a country. Having said that, I'm not sure i have a particularly good answer to this conundrum.

It took me a while to understand this thinking but deep down I end up agreeing -- this "billionaire with a heart of gold" is far too familiar to the old thought of "I hope the king is just." We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for rich people in the name of charity ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_... ). Living in Seattle, I have sev…

I think India needs the exact opposite of Bill Gates. We need more people who could industrialize India fast, employ masses of people and take us on par with China,Japan or Korea. India's political parties are left leaning and try to create Europe styled social safety nets. We need more libertarians and rich lobbyists and more copies of Ayn Rand to change the anti - laissez faire policies we have. It's still easy to start a Delaware C corp over internet from India than to register for a local corporation in most states.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#47

Post by vacri »

chris_mahan wrote: post #6

Uh, there's plenty of poor people in America. There are kids at my son's elementary school who don't have enough food. In Los Angeles. In California.

Are poor Americans inherently superior humans to poor Indians? Why does nationality matter?

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#48

Post by aresant »

India has some incredibly promising science in the pipeline that has the potential to change the world such as, for instance, a true male contraceptive:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_vasectomy/

I love that he highlights that he's going to "Discuss how Indian-made vaccines can save lives in other countries too. . ."

Very cool - I hope that his mission helps bear light on the fact that these emerging world economic powers have much to contribute to the world besides the often reported technology-piracy.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#49

Post by [deleted] »

dwc wrote: post #28

What's up with HN lately? It seems like being contrary to contrarian is the new thing these days. Bill Gates is someone I admired at first, because he built something huge from humble beginnings. Then I reviled him for the damage I saw him cause to the industry. Then I admired him again for the global effect he managed. He is a single person trying to do the best he knows how for humanity at large. If anyone thinks r…

[deleted]

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#50

Post by chris_mahan »

knocknock wrote: post #9
chris_mahan wrote: post #6

Uh, there's plenty of poor people in America. There are kids at my son's elementary school who don't have enough food. In Los Angeles. In California.

If there's a chance to help more lives elsewhere I think he should do it. Why should he limit himself to America? I don't really understand what you're trying to get at with this comment.

I just want to point out that there are very poor, desperately poor people in America, and that perhaps his statement "But we don’t have everyday experience with the problems of the poorest. We don’t see people living in extreme poverty next door or pass by them in a slum down the street. " might lead some to think otherwise.

Yes, there are worse places, and while I've never traveled to Mumbai, I do know people who live there, and there are plenty of people with money there, and it's not all slums.

There are rich everywhere, and there are poor everywhere. The reasons for poverty are diverse. It's not: America is rich and India is poor as he seems to show.

But what do I know...

Post reply on HN