When I was younger, I used to hate him. Maybe he changed, maybe we both changed, but he seems like a decent human being now, a rare kind. If only others would follow his example...
Quote:
We want to give our wealth back to society in a way that has the most impact, and so we look for opportunities to invest for the largest returns. That means tackling the world’s biggest problems and funding the most likely solutions. That’s an even greater challenge than it sounds. I don’t have a magic formula for prioritizing the world’s problems. You could make a good case for poverty, disease, hunger, war, poor education, bad governance, political instability, weak trade, or mistreatment of women. Melinda and I have focused on poverty and disease globally, and on education in the US. We picked those issues by starting with an idea we learned from our parents: Everyone’s life has equal value. If you begin with that premise, you quickly see where the world acts as though some lives aren’t worth as much as others. That’s where you can make the greatest difference, where every dollar you spend is liable to have the greatest impact.
I have known since my early thirties that I was going to give my wealth back to society. The success of Microsoft provided me with an enormous fortune, and I felt responsible for using it in a thoughtful way.
These days, it seems that every West Coast billionaire has a vision for how technology can make the world a better place. A central part of this new consensus is that the internet is an inevitable force for social and economic improvement; that connectivity is a social good in itself. It was a view that recently led Mark Zuckerberg to outline a plan for getting the world’s unconnected 5 billion people online, an effort the Facebook boss called “one of the greatest challenges of our generation”. But asked whether giving the planet an internet connection is more important than finding a vaccination for malaria, the co-founder of Microsoft and world’s second-richest man does not hide his irritation: “As a priority? It’s a joke.”
Then, slipping back into the sarcasm that often breaks through when he is at his most engaged, he adds: “Take this malaria vaccine, [this] weird thing that I’m thinking of. Hmm, which is more important, connectivity or malaria vaccine? If you think connectivity is the key thing, that’s great. I don’t.”
(...)
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he set up with his wife in 1997 and where he has been working since leaving his full-time role at Microsoft five years ago, gives away nearly $4bn a year. Much of the money goes toward improving health and fighting poverty in developing countries by tackling malaria or paying for vaccination drives against infectious diseases. This is nearly half as much as the US government spent on global health initiatives in 2012.
(...)
To Diamandis’s argument that there is more good to be done in the world by building new industries than by giving away money, meanwhile, he has a brisk retort: “Industries are only valuable to the degree they meet human needs. There’s not some – at least in my psyche – this notion of, oh, we need new industries. We need children not to die, we need people to have an opportunity to get a good education.”
It takes more than money to rid the world of a scourge such as polio – though having buckets of cash certainly helps. Also needed are ambitious thinking, organisational knowhow and the ability to bring new ideas to bear on old problems.
(...)
Sometimes in the field of global development, however, it is enough simply to be Bill Gates: the fame and wealth work their own magic. “If … I need to go to the Indian parliament and say, ‘Let’s get serious about vaccines,’ then yes – since I’m giving my own money [on a] large scale and spending my life on it and I’m a technocrat – yes, that can be quite valuable.”
(...)
Everyone is always all over Steve Jobs with how he revolutionized the world and shit, while he has never given a flying fuck about the planet and neither did he share his wealth.
At the same time you have Bill Gates, someone who actually tried to market his stuff to consumers in a less demonic way and who has given large parts of his wealth to charity and he has been compared with satan.
All in all, people are retarded and short-sighted.
From interviews with people who worked with Gates, I get the impression that he was ruthless in business but remained modest and self critical as a person. He was well aware that his success was based partially on his skill and partially on luck.
Jobs on the other hand suffered from a god complex.
If I remember correctly, Apple had started to donate money to charity during the time that Steve Jobs was out of the company. When Jobs returned, he shut it down... because profits.
I've always respected and admired Bill Gates as a person, he's a philanthropist that genuinely seems to want to make the world a better place and has been working - tirelessly it seems - to that end.
Bill Gates may be a very good person and would like to think that he is really trying to help people out.
The problem with this american way of capitalism is though that the people are dependent on the good will of some capitalists while the system as a whole doesnt give a shit about them.
Gates may be a good guy (or is a good guy), nevertheless he profits or profited from a system that clearly gives an advantage to capital over humanity.
The american capitalism creates poverty.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
If he is really trying to, he should give sabin and me each 100.000, for him that's like pocket change, for us it's life changing, only than he's a good person
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
And since you cant change the people, you need to change the system. Thats why we have (or had) politics.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
edit: I agree with you. So there is no need for me to further derail the thread in to a "system" discussion.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
Last edited by couleur on Wed, 13th Nov 2013 13:40; edited 1 time in total
It may not be the cause, but its still wrong and promotes poverty. Lets say its not well adapted to the people. It is only well adapted to serve a few of them.
I agree entirely.
It's like it was created to facilitate tragedy. Which is just the thing I would expect from people in power.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
This i don't agree with.. Even tho i have virtually no money, i share my last euro if i have to with friends.
Hell, i had a "friend" before that i gave money (because otherwise he would get kicked out of his apartment) and choose not to eat for almost a week..
But that's maybe a special "feature" people get when their money is super low for years already..
I really don't put any real value in money..
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
True, but bill is donating more than money, he's investing his time.
He makes tons of money without having to do anything tho, so his time isn't exactly worth shit tbh..
His time is his most precious asset. He could be living like a rockstar (mental picture is a funny one...), he could fly to the moon and back, he could do whatever, instead he chose to work hard trying to improve the world, especially for the poor.
I had the chance to read his AMA (the Reddit thingy) some months ago, and he seemed immensely invested in his cause, even more than we think.
He gave me the impression that softwares and windows don't even interest him that much anymore (which would explain a lot of things xD), that's something that belongs to the past. The Foundation with its huge charity, pro-vaccination/education direct campaigns are by far his #1 priority and his favourite topic of discussion. <3 The wife Melinda is helping him, too
We live in a catastrophic world society where money matters more than anything else - so by giving away a LOT of it - you're POTENTIALLY helping people quite a bit. Especially if you're smart about it - which is exactly what seems to be his intention.
This IMO is one of the greatest things about capitalism when we have such individuals as Bill Gates. He is giving back and dictating were his money is spent. Not someone moron in government pissing it away.I love in Canada that we get a tax break when we donate to charities. It allows me, the hardworking sap to dictate what social programs i want my money to go to. And not the government.
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