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AMA: Bill Gates

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Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#121

Post by graycat »

Bill, thanks to you for Microsoft and to you and Melinda on health.

For Climate Change, your position is wildly destructive and based on just sewage instead of science. Net, CO2 has essentially nothing to do with the climate. The main driver of climate change for 1+ million years is just changes in the rates of sun spots. Period. Nice details from some real experts, e.g., Lindzen at MIT, are summarized in the quite good video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Mx0_8YEtg

"The Great Global Warming Swindle". Take an hour to watch that and save your efforts on Climate Change and stop your highly destructive efforts against CO2. Sorry 'bout that.

Just consider the video and its information.

But for more, on the science, there were some models and predictions of big increases in temperature. The big increases were supposed to have happened already. They never happened at all. Details of predictions versus real observed are summarized, with the dozens of individual predictions named (in small print!) in

http://www.energyadvocate.com/gc1.jpg

In science, we have to make good predictions. When we make bad predictions, we junk the candidate science. So, we have to junk the candidate science of the climate models in that graph. Net, we are left with no meaningful science that CO2 from humans or anything else is causing significant or even measurable climate change or ever will. Some of Lindzen's remarks in the video explain more. Net, in total, we have to junk any threat from CO2.

Fighting Climate Change is not worth even 10 cents -- that the alarmists want to throw $trillions at it is a grand disaster for civilization, in particular for the poor people you and Melinda are trying to help.

Look at the evidence and think again.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#122

Post by iambateman »

Hot take: Bill Gates is massively underrated today, compared to how he will be viewed by history.

When the reckoning of history books happens, I could see him in the running for “most positive social influence of anyone 1800-2100”.

His humanitarian work is second to none and we can expect 20+ more years of his direct influence on global policy. The world is a better place thanks to Mr and Mrs Gates.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#123

Post by Fnoord »

function_seven wrote: post #52
briandear wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a platitude when someone like Gates says they want more taxes because, the Treasury has a means for anyone to send a check for whatever amount they want. If he wants to write a $2b check to the treasury, he could do that today. What he is really saying is that other people should be required to pay more taxes — or alternatively, it’s just an empty platitude to endear himself with leftist anti-rich intellectuals…

This argument is not logical. There's a road near me with a posted speed limit of 50. I think that's too high, and dangerous for conditions and nearby residents. If I were to publicly advocate for a lower limit (say, 35), it sounds like you'd tell me that I'm free to drive slower if I want. Great, but that does very little to solve the problem. Everyone needs to slow down, not just one car.

It is called leading by example.

If you drive 35, and you're legally allowed to, all cars behind you will also drive 35 when they reach you. Unless they can and may pass you.

Like I said, leading by example. People copy other people's behavior.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#124

Post by MediumD »

iambateman wrote: post #122

Hot take: Bill Gates is massively underrated today, compared to how he will be viewed by history. When the reckoning of history books happens, I could see him in the running for “most positive social influence of anyone 1800-2100”. His humanitarian work is second to none and we can expect 20+ more years of his direct influence on global policy. The world is a better place thanks to Mr and Mrs Gates.

Completely agree with you, although I'm not sure how much of 'Hot take' that is.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#125

Post by oarabbus_ »

reaperducer wrote: post #51
creato wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I skimmed the AMA for a few minutes, and saw him say that: - He thought nuclear weapons, bioterrorism, and climate change were the biggest threats to humanity. - He thought paying $10B in capital gains taxes was not enough and he should have paid more. Maybe those are platitudes but it's real enough for me.

He thought paying $10B in capital gains taxes was not enough and he should have paid more. I'm always annoyed when rich people say things like this. I had one say almost this exact thing to me in an elevator once. There's nothing stopping him from paying more. He just writes a check to "Department of the Treasury" and sends it off to D.C. Problem solved. But then he doesn't get to passive-aggressively whine about all…

It's almost like he wants to fix the system itself rather than simply pay more out of pocket.

What an awful way to look at the world.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#126

Post by batmenace »

rchaud wrote: post #83
jonas21 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet... how many other billionaires do you see going out and saying that the capital gains tax rate is too low and climate change is the biggest threat to humanity.

Buffett has been beating the "higher taxes for rich people" drum at least since the 2008 recession, maybe longer. He won't actually open his wallet to push for these policies mind you. That would be a bridge too far.

It's not like you just send the government more money if you feel like they should tax more... People like Buffet and Gates donate so much in part because they believe that wealth should be redistributed better than the government currently does

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#127

Post by batmenace »

johnnyb9 wrote: post #114
beatgammit wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot? I know Warren Buffett has similar views, and I've seen other very wealthy liberals claim taxes and climate change were big concerns. When people get very wealthy, they seem to think less about their finances and more about their legacy and public perception, and honestly when you're that wealthy, you have so much that taxes don't really matter anymore. There are a lot of very wealthy philanthropists, and I thi…

I agree they probably stop caring about their tax bill because they are billionaires. I find it disingenuous however to then look down the income ladder to people earning more than $1 million and including them in your “we don’t pay enough taxes” bucket.

It's not the same, but even if you are not a billionaire, there comes a point where giving relatively more of your added income serves a greater good (i.e. funding for gov't) than the money just being in your bank account. Once you make more than you need to keep up your lifestyle (at whatever level that may be) the suggestion to give back more is not unjustified.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#128

Post by babypuncher »

meowface wrote: post #94

>I have not written code in a shipping product for a long time but I do write enough code to understand the new tools like Typescript or Github (shameless Microsoft plugs). Cool to see he still tries to stay up to date on new technologies.

You left out the part of that comment where he solved the tabs v spaces war.

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#129

Post by mamurphy »

graycat wrote: post #121

Bill, thanks to you for Microsoft and to you and Melinda on health. For Climate Change, your position is wildly destructive and based on just sewage instead of science. Net, CO2 has essentially nothing to do with the climate. The main driver of climate change for 1+ million years is just changes in the rates of sun spots. Period. Nice details from some real experts, e.g., Lindzen at MIT, are summarized in the quite g…

I looked up that film and found a Wikipedia article on it.

I hardly find credible a "documentary" wherein multiple scientists interviewed complained to regulators that they were misrepresented[0].

Of course, many other scientists complained about the film as well [1]. One stated that "First, let's deal with the main thesis: that the presence or absence of cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere is a better explanation for temperature variation than the concentration of CO2 and other gases. This is not a new assertion and it is patently wrong: there is no credible evidence that cosmic rays play a significant role...Let scepticism reign, but let's not play games with the evidence"

The the regulators found partially in favor of the scientists and further sanctioned the film [2] for not presenting an objective outlook on the politics surrounding global warming. The regulators only declined to take a position on the science of the piece as it was beyond their regulatory scope.

It seems as though that film is misinformation propaganda that doesn't belong on HN. Am I missing something?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swind...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swind...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swind...

Re: AMA: Bill Gates

#130

Post by lucb1e »

babypuncher wrote: post #128
meowface wrote: post #94

>I have not written code in a shipping product for a long time but I do write enough code to understand the new tools like Typescript or Github (shameless Microsoft plugs). Cool to see he still tries to stay up to date on new technologies.

You left out the part of that comment where he solved the tabs v spaces war.

You left that out, too :-). For anyone else wondering what his answer is:

> I actually do use tabs. It is easy to convert tabs to spaces and vice-versa so we shouldn't waste too much time on this issue.

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