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The future our grandchildren deserve

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Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#101

Post by lordfrito »

kulahan wrote: post #61
RunSet wrote: post #60

Our grandchildren deserve a future without the vendor lock-in and anticompetitive behavior that gave Bill Gates the fortune he is currently using to attempt to whitewash his legacy.

I hate how nobody can have a change of heart and do an INSANE AMOUNT OF GOOD without some goofball constantly needing to feel cool by pointing out they weren't always doing good stuff. Who gives a shit about anticompetitive behavior in comparison to saving human lives from a preventable disease? Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It's so miserable to talk about positive actions these days, because it's verb…

Nietzche said that altruism is the most mendacious form of egoism. Now that he's won the game, there's no doubt Gates is paying to rehabilitate his image.

There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that Gates was a ruthless and all around terrible human being back in the days he was running Microsoft. For example, there's the story of how Gates tried to screw his partner Paul Allen (who working hard to deliver DOS 2.0 while also fighting cancer) out of his stake in the company. [1]

In Paul's own words:

One evening in late December 1982, I heard Bill and Steve speaking heatedly in Bill’s office and paused outside to listen in. It was easy to get the gist of the conversation. They were bemoaning my recent lack of production and discussing how they might dilute my Microsoft equity by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders. It was clear that they’d been thinking about this for some time.

Unable to stand it any longer, I burst in on them and shouted, “This is unbelievable! It shows your true character, once and for all.” I was speaking to both of them, but staring straight at Bill. Caught red-handed, they were struck dumb. Before they could respond, I turned on my heel and left.

Don't take my word on it, read up for yourself. I can't find any stories from the early days of Microsoft that paint Gates in a positive light. His only skill was being insanely opportunistic.

If if this the way Gates treats his friends, I don't want to hear about all of the good he's doing in the world. I don't believe the end justifies the means. There are plenty of people in the world worth looking up to, Gates isn't one of those people.

[1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371608/Bill-Gates-...

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#102

Post by swader999 »

darkwater wrote: post #95
swader999 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, well there are those flight logs that tell a pretty disgraceful story.

Sorry, never heard of this. What do you mean?

The Epstein plane that was used to shuttle underage kids to his island and elites that were served by them has Bill Gates name listed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#103

Post by nitwit005 »

Xelynega wrote: post #74
kulahan wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate how nobody can have a change of heart and do an INSANE AMOUNT OF GOOD without some goofball constantly needing to feel cool by pointing out they weren't always doing good stuff. Who gives a shit about anticompetitive behavior in comparison to saving human lives from a preventable disease? Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It's so miserable to talk about positive actions these days, because it's verb…

We're commenting on an article from the gates that essentially gives a plan for how to produce more Microsoft workers. What does a "high paying career" have to do with "the future our grandchildren deserve" unless the goal is to produce the future Bill Gates wants. The future our grandchildren deserve is one where they're not stratified by their income such that "high paying careers"(read: tech careers, which just so…

He doesn't run Microsoft anymore, and he's been selling off the stock he owns in the company. Imagining it's all to support Microsoft somehow is delusional at this point.

Are the efforts to combat Malaria also somehow part of a corporate agenda?

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#104

Post by pannSun »

kulahan wrote: post #61
RunSet wrote: post #60

Our grandchildren deserve a future without the vendor lock-in and anticompetitive behavior that gave Bill Gates the fortune he is currently using to attempt to whitewash his legacy.

I hate how nobody can have a change of heart and do an INSANE AMOUNT OF GOOD without some goofball constantly needing to feel cool by pointing out they weren't always doing good stuff. Who gives a shit about anticompetitive behavior in comparison to saving human lives from a preventable disease? Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It's so miserable to talk about positive actions these days, because it's verb…

Bill Gates isn't doing good - the money he stole [1] from us is doing good. And he didn't have a change of heart - he hasn't opposed any of the IP maximalist, pro-corporate lobbying that helped MS grow so wealthy. Do you see him calling to end software patents?

I can forgive the stolen money, even credit him for how he's using his loot [2], but he hasn't lifted a finger to undo the damage he did to software freedom - our freedom. Objectively, that makes him hostile to any non-corporate entity.

[1] Acquired by underhanded means through the mentioned anti-competitive and lock-in practices.

[2] The parts used to fight malaria and such, at least. Not so much the $319 million he sent to his pet media outlets, to give but one example of what is counted as "philanthropy": https://www.theblaze.com/news/bill-gates-bankroll-media-outl...

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#105

Post by nitwit005 »

stephc_int13 wrote: post #51
aschearer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am not entirely convinced that all of this is really what is advertised. What does that even mean? Be explicit. Right now I'm left to assume you think he's implanting 5G chips in children... More to the point, barring huge changes in this country, what else can we expect of the ultra rich? What Gates is doing is nearly best case scenario...

I have absolutely no theory about what they are doing. I have no idea. The question is this: why should we give this foundation more credits than what SBF was trying to achieve? How do we know this is not bogus? What about secondary effects? What about the potential induced corruption around those super-rich foundations?

What if you're a time traveling dinosaur?

What's the point of asking a bunch of hypotheticals without presenting either evidence or an argument of some sort?

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#106

Post by [deleted] »

kulahan wrote: post #61
RunSet wrote: post #60

Our grandchildren deserve a future without the vendor lock-in and anticompetitive behavior that gave Bill Gates the fortune he is currently using to attempt to whitewash his legacy.

I hate how nobody can have a change of heart and do an INSANE AMOUNT OF GOOD without some goofball constantly needing to feel cool by pointing out they weren't always doing good stuff. Who gives a shit about anticompetitive behavior in comparison to saving human lives from a preventable disease? Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It's so miserable to talk about positive actions these days, because it's verb…

[deleted]

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#107

Post by awillen »

pannSun wrote: post #104
kulahan wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate how nobody can have a change of heart and do an INSANE AMOUNT OF GOOD without some goofball constantly needing to feel cool by pointing out they weren't always doing good stuff. Who gives a shit about anticompetitive behavior in comparison to saving human lives from a preventable disease? Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It's so miserable to talk about positive actions these days, because it's verb…

Bill Gates isn't doing good - the money he stole [1] from us is doing good. And he didn't have a change of heart - he hasn't opposed any of the IP maximalist, pro-corporate lobbying that helped MS grow so wealthy. Do you see him calling to end software patents? I can forgive the stolen money, even credit him for how he's using his loot [2], but he hasn't lifted a finger to undo the damage he did to software freedom -…

> Objectively, that makes him hostile to any non-corporate entity.

You can't just put the word "objectively" at the beginning of something and make it objective. He's not hostile to those kids in Africa who don't care about software freedom but are not dead because they didn't get malaria.

I get that we're on HN, but this idea that the good of software is somehow the most important good is just lunacy. I genuinely cannot fathom how anyone can see stopping software patents as more important (or even remotely close to the same level of importance) than stopping malaria.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#108

Post by lordfrito »

swader999 wrote: post #102
darkwater wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, never heard of this. What do you mean?

The Epstein plane that was used to shuttle underage kids to his island and elites that were served by them has Bill Gates name listed. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...

I'm not a Gates fan or apologist, but apparently the links between Gates and Epstein are weak at best. It seems he flew with Epstein once, in the context of business/philanthropy. [1]

I get the impression Epstein met a ton of who's-whos, which makes it easy to generate a ton of click-baity "guilt by association" type articles. I.E. "Hey did you know that controversial public figure> met/dined/visited/flew> with Epstein?". Guaranteed views, little substance.

Again, not a Gates fan.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-bill-gates-epst...

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#109

Post by pyuser583 »

yunwal wrote: post #96
pyuser583 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why isn’t endless growth attainable? It’s like saying “we can’t keep writing poems forever.” Sure we can. Realistically, many poems will be forgotten. During my lifetime, we’ve probably forgotten/lost more poems than were written in all of history before my birth. But we can keep making them, just as we can keeping building parents and software and flux capacitors and warp drives. Why is there an inevitable limit, I…

There are zero-sum portions of the economy (land, non-renewable resources), and expanding-sum portions. However, the laws of supply and demand dictate that as the marginal cost of producing a good approach zero, the cost goes down. This is why poetry is pretty much worthless in terms of money, despite providing value to many. The issue here is that "growth" is ambiguous, and right now is mostly defined as "GDP" or so…

What are the “zero-sum” goods?

Land isn’t zero-sum. If an acre of land loses value, that doesn’t mean other acres must cumulatively raise by the same amount. Likewise, rises in value don’t need to be offset by losses elsewhere.

Sorry if that’s nitpicky, but you’re placing a lot of importance on the “zero-sum” portions of the economy.

The international currency market is zero-sum. If the dollar loses value, it must lose value against another currency, and that currency must rise.

Do you think currency will eventually restrain growth, despite being (mostly) created by fiat?

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#110

Post by pannSun »

awillen wrote: post #107
pannSun wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bill Gates isn't doing good - the money he stole [1] from us is doing good. And he didn't have a change of heart - he hasn't opposed any of the IP maximalist, pro-corporate lobbying that helped MS grow so wealthy. Do you see him calling to end software patents? I can forgive the stolen money, even credit him for how he's using his loot [2], but he hasn't lifted a finger to undo the damage he did to software freedom -…

> Objectively, that makes him hostile to any non-corporate entity. You can't just put the word "objectively" at the beginning of something and make it objective. He's not hostile to those kids in Africa who don't care about software freedom but are not dead because they didn't get malaria. I get that we're on HN, but this idea that the good of software is somehow the most important good is just lunacy. I genuinely ca…

> the good of software

But it's not just the good of software, because software is eating the world. Software is in your phone, in the tractor that grows your food, in the gene sequencing machine (and gene sequencing software) used to fight disease, in self-driving cars, and in non-self-driving ones too. And you can bet there will be software in automatic weed killing robots.

It's how you access your bank, the news, even government services. It's how you find a date, a taxi, how you order food. It. Is. Everywhere.

On net, if you were at risk of malaria, he is not hostile. But to the average global citizen, and especially their descendants in the future, he is hostile. Because the line between software freedom, and just freedom, is vanishing, and fast.

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