An interview with Bill Gates • Hacker News Board

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#51

Post by epo » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:45 AM UTC

algorias wrote: post #28

Getting rid of Malaria is obviously a higher priority than internet access from the perspective of any one person living in the third world today. I have much respect for Bill Gates for the work he's doing in that area. However, there is a kind of shortsightedness in his attitude: The thing is, societies evolve because of technology and opportunities. So while it is preferable for each individual to have no internet…

He's not dismissing it. He is saying we have got our priorities wrong.

You are being intellectually dishonest by adopting an artificially contrarian position and trying to pretend he was saying we had to choose one or the other just, it seems, for the sake of having a contrarian position.

You are wrong, but despite having an idiotic opinion you're not an idiot, tempting as it is to think that. You are just someone who thinks that just because they can form a banal opinion that means the opinion has any worth. It doesn't.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#52

Post by selectnull » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:46 AM UTC

jsmeaton wrote: post #17

selectnull wrote: post #5

I generally like what Bill Gates is doing and think there should be more people like him in the world. But this statement is really below him; it has kind of 'me hates google' behind it and is wrong. He should know better than that.

Did you read the entire article? The link headline is link-bait. He was asked a leading question and answered it. Gates didn't go out of his way to make the statement.

You are right, I didn't read it. Mea culpa. I've read it now and I have mixed feelings still.

This is what I would like to hear from Mr Gates: "Guys, I'm taking what I believe is the most important thing in the world and that's curing those damned diseases. And I think that once we have cured all the people, they would need better education and internet is so far the best we have (though it could still be improved). So you Zuck and Larry and others work on that and we will all make the world a better place."

If he explicitly said something along those lines, my admiration for Mr Gates would skyrocket thru the roof. If he still thinks the internet is a joke (because only priority number 1 is important, right?) than I still stand by my original statement that he should know better.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#53

Post by nnq » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:49 AM UTC

Gates is right, but the reasoning is a bit more complicated:

Starting with "connectivity" is basically "putting the cart in front of the ox". There's this utopical view that once you give them internet access smart African children will start freelancing and provide for their families, but it doesn't work this way: once you give him internet access, the African child with an IQ of top 0.001% will just learn there are better places in the world to be and live and he will find a way to leave his country and pursue a better life for himself, leaving his family and all the other around him behind in the same state of poverty. By putting connectivity first you'll basically end up building a better brain-drain, which might be exactly what some of the new generation billionaires want, but this is not socially responsive philanthropy!

Smart people are empowered by connectivity, indeed, but they don't use this empowerment to pull the others around them up, not at the risk of pulling themselves down in the process. You need a social and economical infrastructure, with the basic healthcare and poverty problems solved, so the smart people empowered by connectivity can "pull up" the rest of the society without the risk of pulling themselves back down into misery!

I agree that "connectivity is a social good in itself", but I think that you don't need to do anything in particular to get people "connected". Once you solve the basic health and poverty problems of a community, they will get themselves connected in no time, without any direct outside effort - lots of small local companies will spring to provide cheap services and the big companies are already building cheaper and wider infrastructure as we speak.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#54

Post by mtgx » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:50 AM UTC

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #9

He's right. Poverty, disease and basic things like that are things about _survival_, the internet is not. But mainly, the title is provocative and misleading. The article clearly states, he was asked a leading question "asked whether giving the planet an internet connection is more important than finding a vaccination for malaria", and he answered. The title makes it seem like he went out of his way to make the compa…

No, it wasn't "just a leading question". Bill Gates has said something similar before, and quite recently, about Google's Loons:

> Bill Gates: Google's Project Loon Doesn't 'Uplift the Poor'

Which is a pretty stupid statement to make considering technology does in fact "uplift the poor", since it leads to better economic environment, jobs, and better living conditions.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422884,00.asp

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#55

Post by stesch » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:50 AM UTC

Knowledge isn't important? There are more problems than just malaria.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#56

Post by vidarh » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:52 AM UTC

Xylakant wrote: post #45

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #9

He's right. Poverty, disease and basic things like that are things about _survival_, the internet is not. But mainly, the title is provocative and misleading. The article clearly states, he was asked a leading question "asked whether giving the planet an internet connection is more important than finding a vaccination for malaria", and he answered. The title makes it seem like he went out of his way to make the compa…

> He's right. Poverty, disease and basic things like that are things about _survival_, the internet is not. I'd say he's at least partially wrong. Diseases are often cause by lack of knowledge and education, outburst can often be contained with good means of communication. I know people doing projects that use the internet (or cellphone text messages) to allow remote villages to better manage the available health res…

> Diseases are often cause by lack of knowledge and education

Case in point: Polio is endemic in only three countries today: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. While in Afghanistan it'd be possible for it to be down to the war, in Pakistan and Nigeria it is down to skepticism and misinformation from religious groups (often based in past experiences) that are often amongst the most important information bearers in their communities. When people don't have other sources than a government they don't trust and other biased groups giving them false information, it's no wonder many misinformation proliferate.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#57

Post by StefanPatelski » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:53 AM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #48

StefanPatelski wrote: post #46

Give a man a vaccine, and he lives for a day. Give a man the opportunity to educate himself, and he will be able to find vaccines to last a lifetime.

*Give a man the opportunity to educate himself, and he might die from malaria.

You are right, but I hope you do understand my point. This is about short term vs. long term. Bill Gates could have made the choice to not found Microsoft, and instead give the seed money to a charity that solves a disease. But then he wouldn't have been able to spend billions on malaria research.

Both the short term and the long term are important. So it is strange to make the comparison. Both these investments can co-exist.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#58

Post by pcvarmint » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:53 AM UTC

pcvarmint wrote: post #20

Bill should support Bradley's Kina Tonic, right at home in Seattle, and then move on to supporting internet access: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/161679272/bradleys-kina-...

Wow, downvoted for suggesting that Gates support a kickstarter project that will, if it's successful, become one of the best tonics in the world (I've tasted it).

Quinine is the best natural cure for malaria.

This project is succeeding with very little kickstarter funding.

I was not attacking Gates -- simply suggesting that a tiny dose of funding for this Seattle tonic startup could help a lot for malaria, and then the much more expensive internet infrastructure problems could be addressed.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#59

Post by neya » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:54 AM UTC

bolder88 wrote: post #19

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #9

He's right. Poverty, disease and basic things like that are things about _survival_, the internet is not. But mainly, the title is provocative and misleading. The article clearly states, he was asked a leading question "asked whether giving the planet an internet connection is more important than finding a vaccination for malaria", and he answered. The title makes it seem like he went out of his way to make the compa…

Those things are also about increasing our problems down the line IMHO The world population has doubled in the last 30 years. Doesn't that scare anyone else? Sure, you could save a few million poorly educated people from dying. Then what? They're all going to need food, energy, education, housing, etc etc. Saving people from dying is no good at all if they still have a shitty life and die from something else anyway.

>Saving people from dying is no good at all if they still have a shitty life and die from something else anyway.

Wow. That's ultra-elitist.

So, let's say you are diagnosed with a rare disease and the doctor gives you two weeks to live unless you get a medicine that costs $1000 which let's assume you can't afford. And you're going to die someday, anyway. Does that mean you have a shitty life and you deserve to die now?

So, amount of money = value of life? Is that your point??

So, I own 10x more money than you (assume) and hence compared to my standards, I think you live a shitty life and you deserve to die. How do you feel now?

Life is invaluable. Money has nothing to do with it.

Re: An interview with Bill Gates

#60

Post by mtgx » Sat, Nov 02, 2013, 9:54 AM UTC

jbrooksuk wrote: post #41

bolder88 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that simple though. There's quite a few people who are not at risk of ever getting malaria, but who don't have any decent internet access. So for them, curing malaria will make 0 difference to their life. Also, since when has Microsoft or Bill Gates ever been sold on the idea of the internet as a good thing?

Sure, they won't get Internet Access, but they'll definitely have a happier life not being ill. I know I'd rather be healthier than have internet.

So if the government knocks down on your door tomorrow and says:

"Look, you have two choices, we can help you not get cancer, and we'll supply you with daily pills for the rest of your life, but you will not be allowed to have Internet access ever again, or you can choose Internet access, and we won't give you the cancer-fighting pills anymore".

You're 30 years old. Go. Which do you choose?