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Bill Gates’ nuclear company explores molten salt reactors, thorium

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Re: Bill Gates’ nuclear company explores molten salt reactors, thorium

#71
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He may be a nice enough guy, but how can you possibly justify what he does with IV? I doubt he's an evil person, but what he does with patents is very plainly evil.

In his own words: "The patent system exists to give economic incentive to create inventions -- not products. After all, profit is the incentive to create and sell products. In order to have a level playing field, inventors must have a full set of rights, regardless of whether they are big or little, or whether they make products or just invent. Those rights are what give them the incentive to work long and hard on ne…

I'm surprised you don't see right through those self-deluded quotes from him. I'm sure he's smart (as are you), which just makes it so much easier to deceive yourself through contortions of logic.

The simple fact is that IV is a patent troll. They are the very definition of what that term means and that makes them a force for evil in the world. They are a parasite on the technology world. They exploit a broken system for profit.

Just like anyone doing evil they can lie to themselves about it and tell you the story they tell themselves about their motivations. Just ask any Wall Street jagoff if he thinks he's doing bad things and he'll explain that he's actually helping the world, by "providing liquidity" and "ensuring a fair market value" -- in reality he spends most of his day looking for exploits in our financial system to make himself rich.

Re: Bill Gates’ nuclear company explores molten salt reactors, thorium

#72
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry! Good point. What I meant to say was that if they are a patent troll, they are not the trolliest of the trolls. They are merely the most public.

The allegation that Planet Money is making is that while IV may not be the trolliest of the trolls, part of its business model involves arming exactly those trolls while concealing the relationship. I want to find a way to rationalize what IV does (for different, dumber reasons; I just happen to like their book _Modernist Cuisine_), but the evidence we have from reporters looks very bad.

Agree that, especially, the recent uncovered Origin lawsuit stuff looks pretty bad. It is probably worth considering the activities of customers, allies, partners, and taking responsibility.

(e.g. for that matter, we are allied with Saudi Arabia, and rely on them for our oil. The world is full of nasty compromises...)

But the stuff that they are actually developing, the inventors they're supporting, the work they're doing in nuclear shouldn't be painted with the same brush. This is supposed to be hacker news, and the top comment about a new nuclear startup isn't about technology at all; it's about how someone doesn't like one of the principals.

Re: Bill Gates’ nuclear company explores molten salt reactors, thorium

#73
post #56
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike Nathan Myhrvold as a whole, and that's what I think that guy meant too: with the information we have, we can only hate Myhrvold. And I, for one, do not excuse Bill Gates for all the bad he's done to the world of software, among others, just because of his charity. But that's my personal opinion.

For all the bad he's done to the world of software? I appreciate that Microsoft illegally bundled a browser with their OS, driving their biggest competitor from the market, and subsequently stalling browser innovation for ~5 years, but to think that Gates was a net negative for the world of software is a bit heavy-handed. Gates' originally mission was a personal computer in every home and on every desk. I don't mean…

Microsoft just won their place in the market, in part by using ruthless business tactics (and lots of luck). Everybody wanted everyone to get a computer, it was the default vision of the future. It would have happened without Gates, maybe with better software, maybe not.
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