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We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

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Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#71

Post by blackoil »

qj4714 wrote: post #46

This is a commendable goal, but I feel like it is all too tempting to focus narrowly on one disease and ignore a more holistic approach towards addressing the underlying problems. I have travelled to many countries in Africa and the big difference between countries that are sucessful in addressing malaria and others that are not are having better health systems and trained health workers. Giving out bed nets and spra…

Problems of a poor country are in vicious circle. Poverty, poor health, poor education, poor governance, ignorance all feed on each other. Of these investing in health and education give most long term benefits, of which health is most easily accepted (a dying person is more prone to accept support of strangers). Also investment in malaria, have a halo effect including awareness of hygiene, basic training for health workers.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#72

Post by tptacek »

Cowicide wrote: post #41
nolok wrote: post #32

You have to respect the man's dedication. He wanted his OS on every desktop computer and he may have played loose with the rules but he got his wish. Now he wants this terrible disease to be destroyed, and there are a lot of obstacles in his way (and after all, destroying a well entrenched virus is a feat that humanity reached only once before), but still in my heart I feel like I wouldn't bet on the virus on that on…

>he may have played loose with the rules ... he is one of the few who can tackle it head on, which ultimately will benefit everyone. He --may-- have? Let's not whitewash history. He not only very much played loose with the rules, he outright broke the rules and trampled upon laws that caused far-reaching net damage to society in the process. Like yourself and most others, I'm certainly pleased that Gates has decided…

"A small portion of his plunder"? The most charitable interpretation of this phrase is that you're playing a little loose with that possessive pronoun.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#73

Post by Cowicide »

Cowicide wrote: post #64
tim333 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>doesn't simply erase his overall negative impacts upon society that runs easily into the trillions Any source on that? I rather enjoyed using his products.

>>doesn't simply erase his overall negative impacts upon society that runs easily into the trillions >Any source on that? Here's some: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/07/... http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundati... ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_litigation --- (Some homework: Calculate an estimate…

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 backing up their downvotes with some of their own sources of evidence, etc. that disputes my own instead of simply downvoting a post they don't agree with.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#74

Post by StavrosK »

Is there any way to eradicate mosquitoes completely? Are they useful for anything? They're just a huge nuisance and carriers of disease, why haven't we managed to get rid of them by now?

We're apparently pretty great at making species go extinct, just not the ones we want.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#75

Post by Cowicide »

tptacek wrote: post #72
Cowicide wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>he may have played loose with the rules ... he is one of the few who can tackle it head on, which ultimately will benefit everyone. He --may-- have? Let's not whitewash history. He not only very much played loose with the rules, he outright broke the rules and trampled upon laws that caused far-reaching net damage to society in the process. Like yourself and most others, I'm certainly pleased that Gates has decided…

"A small portion of his plunder"? The most charitable interpretation of this phrase is that you're playing a little loose with that possessive pronoun.

I've provided sources of evidence to back this up here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8551072

If you have sources of evidence that can sufficiently contradict my own and show that Gates has been an overall net gain instead of an overall net drain for society, I'd sincerely like to review it.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#76

Post by chm »

StavrosK wrote: post #74

Is there any way to eradicate mosquitoes completely? Are they useful for anything? They're just a huge nuisance and carriers of disease, why haven't we managed to get rid of them by now? We're apparently pretty great at making species go extinct, just not the ones we want.

    And so, while humans inadvertently drive beneficial
    species, from tuna to corals, to the edge of
    extinction, their best efforts can't seriously threaten
    an insect with few redeeming features. "They don't
    occupy an unassailable niche in the environment," says
    entomologist Joe Conlon, of the American Mosquito
    Control Association in Jacksonville, Florida. "If we
    eradicated them tomorrow, the ecosystems where they are
    active will hiccup and then get on with life. Something
    better or worse would take over."[1]
[1]: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#77

Post by Cowicide »

freehunter wrote: post #59
Cowicide wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>he may have played loose with the rules ... he is one of the few who can tackle it head on, which ultimately will benefit everyone. He --may-- have? Let's not whitewash history. He not only very much played loose with the rules, he outright broke the rules and trampled upon laws that caused far-reaching net damage to society in the process. Like yourself and most others, I'm certainly pleased that Gates has decided…

"He may have played loose with the rules" does not mean "I don't know if he played loose with the rules". It means "Yes, he played loose with the rules, but on the other hand..."

Thanks. I misunderstood the intent and already apologized in another post to that poster. After reading other posters here in the thread that basically mentioned sainthood, etc. for Gates, I let it color my interpretation of that post, I shouldn't have done that and I was mistaken. Anyway, apologies to all for that misunderstanding.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#78

Post by thaumaturgy »

Cowicide wrote: post #73
Cowicide wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>doesn't simply erase his overall negative impacts upon society that runs easily into the trillions >Any source on that? Here's some: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/07/... http://newint.org/features/2012/04/01/bill-gates-charitable-... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundati... ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_litigation --- (Some homework: Calculate an estimate…

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 points, backs up those points with references, and then puts it all together into a cogent conclusion.

You've made two really big claims that are difficult to believe: that Gates has been a net drain on society, and that he has cost the world "trillions" -- a significant portion of the US GDP. That is a lot of money. I quick-skimmed a few of your links and I don't see anything like that in them, mostly just complaints that the Gates Foundation isn't working the way the authors want it to.

Assume that we're all busy here and aren't inclined to sift through a breadcrumb trail of a couple dozen articles around the web to puzzle out how you've come to your conclusion.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#79

Post by chm »

melling wrote: post #67
nolok wrote: post #32

You have to respect the man's dedication. He wanted his OS on every desktop computer and he may have played loose with the rules but he got his wish. Now he wants this terrible disease to be destroyed, and there are a lot of obstacles in his way (and after all, destroying a well entrenched virus is a feat that humanity reached only once before), but still in my heart I feel like I wouldn't bet on the virus on that on…

Why not advance medicine in general, moving civilization quicker up the technology curve? Won't more people benefit in the long run? Medicine doesn't advance at an exponential rate, but progress can be made more quickly.

I think what he wants to do is bring the afflicted regions up to par with what one expects from life in the western world, in terms of health. That's very important.
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