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The future our grandchildren deserve

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Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#111

Post by swader999 »

lordfrito wrote: post #108
swader999 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Eps…

Melinda knew though.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#112

Post by baandang »

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 -…

What? Bill Gates is a fine person. I know this because the decades long multi mullion dollar influence campaign to make me think this has been working to perfection!

What about the children?

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#113

Post by yCombLinks »

Xelynega wrote: post #87
programmarchy wrote: post #11

Improvements upon math education, ultrasound technology, and construction technology all sound like very reasonable, practical goals. Perhaps the most radical goal is gene therapy, but also the most exciting and sci-fi.

Math education: Microsoft hires hundreds of math graduates yearly, an excess of those would be beneficial to Microsofts bottom line. Ultrasound technology: Microsoft has a "digital health" department that would benefit similarly from more graduates in the field. Construction technology: Microsoft has existing partnerships in construction technology, and would similarly benefit from an increased number of graduates in…

You're just bashing everything related to Gates/Microsoft in the whole thread, you look crazy.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#114

Post by Xelynega »

thefounder wrote: post #100
Xelynega wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also looks like conflating "success" with "high-paying career". Most people would probably consider a high paying career success, but the idea that we're not even questioning that assumption when talking about children's education shows how it gets propogated.

I wonder, why would you like your children to pursue a low paying career unless you are already relatively rich/financially "stable"? It's a great adventure to live on the edge when you are young but unfortunately we are not forever young. Add a wife, kids and a low paying job and the story gets dramatic. Not to mention any health issue.

This isn't an article titled "what your kids should pursue to live comfortably", it's called "the future our grandchildren deserve".

Having the ability to pursue a "low paying career" when you're not financially stable is the future our grandchildren deserve, not just a future where some of them get high paying careers.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#115

Post by yunwal »

pyuser583 wrote: post #109
yunwal wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lo…

> Land isn’t zero-sum

Yes it is. There’s only a finite amount of land in the world, and the fact that you own some means someone else can’t.

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

There’s no “game” in life where the end goal is having currency in the economy. In the end currency is a means to an end (even if we may forget that). Land is one part of that end, and there’s only a finite amount.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#116

Post by jhanschoo »

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 -…

Some utilitarians might argue that it is morally right to redistribute money and effort in software in rich countries and rich corp software licences, to developing low-hanging innovation, institutions, policy, and advocacy that improves lives where the dollar can be stretched best, Gates' legacy be damned.

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#117

Post by pyuser583 »

yunwal wrote: post #115
pyuser583 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lo…

> Land isn’t zero-sum Yes it is. There’s only a finite amount of land in the world, and the fact that you own some means someone else can’t. > Do you think currency will eventually restrain growth, despite being (mostly) created by fiat? There’s no “game” in life where the end goal is having currency in the economy. In the end currency is a means to an end (even if we may forget that). Land is one part of that end, a…

Land is a means to an end as well. It has lots of uses, but nobody is satisfied with just land.

And frankly I’d rather have lots of currency than lots of land.

Why doesn’t the zero-sum nature of currency markets prevent growth?

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#118

Post by lordfrito »

swader999 wrote: post #111
lordfrito wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Eps…

Melinda knew though.

This was 2011-2013, everyone knew. Epstein was already convicted and served time in 2008-2009.

Melinda met Epstein once in 2013 and said that she "wanted to see who this man was". [1] Of course her spider-sense was tingling in the presence of a known predator. The meeting cemented things in her mind, and as a woman/wife she didn't understand why Bill continued to meet with him.

Bill of course had no problem with Epstein. Gates regularly put aside any sense of morals/ethics for his own selfish financial interests. There was money to be raised here.

Melinda's main problem with Bill was mainly his character, multiple affairs, etc. Combined with other things (like his decision to do business with Epstein), she eventually came to the conclusion she couldn't trust Bill any longer. Not surprising, given what we know about Bill's ruthlessness and general inability to stand by his word.

I'm all for Bill bashing, but there doesn't appear to be a smoking gun here, just a lot of clickbaity speculation. I'm open to any evidence to the contrary, but all I can find is that Bill met Epstein several times, flew on Epstein's plane once, and he never visited Epstein's private island.

I worry that Gates misdeeds are being diluted with time and good PR, and he'll simply be remembered as the guy that did a ton of good (with some unsubstantiated allegations of misbehavior, which of course all dog all powerful people), and not for the person he actually was.

As they say, history is written by the winners.

[1] https://people.com/human-interest/melinda-french-gates-did-n...

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#119

Post by RickJWagner »

There's a lot of good news in that post. I'm glad Gates is using his money for good.

I think some of what he's doing is one-foot-on-the-gas-other-on-the-brake, though. For instance, as traditional family structure deteriorates, grades decline. It's sub-optimal to concentrate on math and reading until we shore up families (and that's hard to do.)

Re: The future our grandchildren deserve

#120

Post by yunwal »

pyuser583 wrote: post #117
yunwal wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Land isn’t zero-sum Yes it is. There’s only a finite amount of land in the world, and the fact that you own some means someone else can’t. > Do you think currency will eventually restrain growth, despite being (mostly) created by fiat? There’s no “game” in life where the end goal is having currency in the economy. In the end currency is a means to an end (even if we may forget that). Land is one part of that end, a…

Land is a means to an end as well. It has lots of uses, but nobody is satisfied with just land. And frankly I’d rather have lots of currency than lots of land. Why doesn’t the zero-sum nature of currency markets prevent growth?

I'm satisfied with just land. If someone gave me land for free, I might choose to keep it!. If someone gave me money, I'd almost certainly choose to spend it at some point because money only has value for what you can exchange it.
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