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We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

gatesnotes.com

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Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#101

Post by bglazer »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #13
cma wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on the other side, the fake vaccine drive used to locate Osama bin Laden (or at least the leaking of it) might turn out to dwarf the September 11th attacks--it may keep polio from being eradicated. Hopefully it just delays the eradication. Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post.

> Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post. This is only a guess, but Gates has been funding several different efforts to combat the mosquitoes themselves. One of them was something the HN crowd might appreciate: a "laser fence", an automated sentry that was remarkably able to detect mosquitoes in the air and cook them to death.

Assuming that you're referring to the "Photonic Fence" by Intellectual Ventures[1], you're actually going to get a pretty cold reception from many on HN. Intellectual Ventures and their founder, Nathan Myrhvold, are considered to be patent trolls by many HN'ers. [2][3]

[1] http://www.intellectualventures.com/inventions-patents /our-inventions/photonic-fence/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1134762 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7090524

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#102

Post by DanBC »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #13
cma wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on the other side, the fake vaccine drive used to locate Osama bin Laden (or at least the leaking of it) might turn out to dwarf the September 11th attacks--it may keep polio from being eradicated. Hopefully it just delays the eradication. Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post.

> Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post. This is only a guess, but Gates has been funding several different efforts to combat the mosquitoes themselves. One of them was something the HN crowd might appreciate: a "laser fence", an automated sentry that was remarkably able to detect mosquitoes in the air and cook them to death.

Not just detect mosquitos, but discriminate between the female of the particular species that spreads malaria and all other bugs.

Sadly, myhrvold.

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Photonic+fence#!/comment/forever/0...

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#103

Post by wmil »

My understanding was that it was impossible to eradicate Malaria in Africa because great apes could also be carriers, and treating every wild ape wasn't remotely practical.

Is that not the case?

Actually the only effective means of eradication I've ever been able to think up is an engineered virus... As it parasite it should be vulnerable to a viral weapon, and you could leave chickens with the virus in their bloodstream in Malaria infected areas.

But that could be my inner mad scientist trying to get out again.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#104

Post by Cowicide »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #78
Cowicide wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird. I was polite, didn't insult the poster I replied to above and provided sources of evidence and my suppositions based upon said evidence. Instead of simply downvoting me and nothing more, I would've expected other posters here to challenge my sources of evidence here at Hacker News. Frankly, I thought most of Hackers News was better than this. I hope I'm proven right about Hacker News over time and some start b…

You give HN too much credit. It was never a utopia, and is even less so now than 6 years ago. That said, your parent comment isn't really a model of a great comment, either. Probably the current best example for that would be tokenadult ( http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tokenadult ). He doesn't just dump a pile of links on us with a summary; he puts together very well-composed mini-essays that make individual…

There's a much more complete breakdown that's being worked on by a group of others and myself. In the meantime, I just throw some of these sources of evidence out there and quick summaries in various forums for those who are willing to initiate some of their own investigation/research.

So far, it's helped to bring a few more people onboard to help.

That said, I agree with your points that links to sources of evidence may be too challenging or time consuming for some and that's basically why the project was initiated.

>I quick-skimmed a few of your links

I think if you explore some more you'll come to see my points.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#105

Post by rmc »

cma wrote: post #21
rmc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it was a fake vaccination, they just got some extra blood. However it does prove that "it's all a CIA plot" is an actual possibility. Some charities (like MSF) are incredibly anti-political for exactly this reason. Some charities (like US AID) are not/

I should have been clear--it isn't that it was fake, it was that it caused many people in Pakistan to stop getting vaccinated.

Ah, it was a fake drive to give out vaccines, not that it was a drive of fake vaccines. If English allowed better adjective orders, we could say a vaccine fake drive.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#106

Post by dagw »

andreasvc wrote: post #40
__Joker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Gates believes that philanthropy can be part of solutions to alleviate social problems[1]. While most people don't agree to that, at least he is doing something one way or the other. [1] http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-Inequality-Matters-Capit...

I don't think most people have any opinion whatsoever about how social problems can be alleviated. What makes you think they would not not believe in philantropy's effectiveness? I have never heard such a claim.

I know many people, especially in Europe, who think that while philanthropy can do good and offer assistance, only a concerted government led effort can offer any sort of permanent alleviation to social problems.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#107

Post by ggchappell »

mchusma wrote: post #100
ggchappell wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not advance medicine in general .... I think big, specific challenges are often the best way to move useful knowledge forward. They can be enormously motivating, and they very often have positive side effects in seemingly unrelated areas. For example, consider the Manhattan Project and the U.S. efforts to get people to the Moon. Both of these were highly focused projects. But they resulted in advancements in co…

I agree with your points in general, but I think your point on AIDS is off. In the developed world, AIDS can be treated and managed effectively at this point to where it is essentially a long term chronic illness like diabetes. This is a huge departure from the terrifying death sentence it was in the 80s. Of course, these treatments are not accessible enough yet...

All true, but whether something is "somewhat disappointing" does depend on what expectations were. I think expectations were often pretty high in the past; however we still have no vaccine, etc.

But, yes, compared to what, in retrospect, we might call "reasonable expectations", amazing things have occurred. Around the time AIDS was first noticed, the treatment for all viral diseases was essentially do your best to keep 'em alive long enough for the immune system to fight it off. And we've certainly gone 'way beyond that with AIDS.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#108

Post by gohrt »

melling wrote: post #94
gohrt wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$4 nets!* http://www.againstmalaria.com/DollarsPerNet.aspx * (plus shipping and handling)

It looks like $3. melling@Hacker News just bought 10 nets. http://www.againstmalaria.com/MyNets.aspx?DonationID=111536

I didn't want to round down and appear to be over-hyping.

Well done.

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