Bill Gates Unleashes Swarm of Mosquitoes

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at an elite Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference to make a point about the deadly sting of malaria. 'Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,' Gates said while opening a jar on stage at a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars. 'I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.'" Say what you will about the guy, that is showmanship. Well done.

Comments

Only poor people?

[mi]

There is no reason only poor people should be infected.

Yes, there is — the richer people can afford both the knowledge of the danger, and the means of defense.

Other things being equal, poor people will always have it worse, than the rich. Bill Gates' trick — and the accompanying rhetoric — certainly made news already and will continue to do so &mdash as he intended. But it is just a buzz-generating trick — not unlike the naked PETA protesters.

His main message — that having vast numbers of people suffer and die from preventable and treatable diseases (like malaria) sucks — is quite correct and on-target. But if he wants my money (or other, non-monetary, assistance) to help with it, he better dispense with the near-Socialist proclamations...

Re:The new Gates

[herksc]

When you say "maximise profit", let's be clear that the "profit" is for the Foundation to then eventually give away later at 5% per year. Being a "non-profit" foundation, means that no-one can take that money (including Bill) and get personally rich from it. It's the job of the Bill Gates Investment division to make money that the Bill Gates Foundation eventually gives away. That's it. Sounds more useful than just giving away a finite sum to me.

If you want to say that he "maintains control of his wealth", understand that means that he can control which cause gets the money, not go buy a Ferrari.

Yes, the Foundation probably even gives money to lame causes, and has conflict of interest with the evil investments of the investment division. But ethically handling that amount of money is really difficult, even in philanthropy. Just look at the job elected governments are doing.

And I seriously doubt Gates is worried about his tax liability. You only have to pay taxes on a single sum of earned money once.

I'm not saying Bill is a good man, or that it's even excusable, just that I don't think his motivations were entirely selfish.

Re:Memento Mori

[Mr. Firewall]

Yup. Same thing with freon. After the patent expired, it became an evil environmental hazard here. Good thing Dow had a convenient replacement refrigerant!

Talk about a misinformed opinion. Let's deal with the actual facts, shall we? Please.

1. The Freon® family of refrigerants were banned some 40-50 years after their patents expired.
2. There were no replacement refrigerants available at the time the ban was enacted. DuPont and others had to scramble to meet the deadline.
3. There are lots of chemicals (e.g., propane) that would make ideal refrigerants were it not for the little problem of them being either highly toxic or highly explosive. The problem was not in finding a substitute gas; the problem was in finding a lubricating oil for the compressors that would work with the replacement refrigerant.

The insinuation that DuPont was somehow behind the ban is just plain trolling.