Bill Gates's New Version of the Einstein Letter

dcblogs writes "In 1939, Albert Einstein sent 'F.D. Roosevelt, President of the United States,' a letter with a warning about Germany's interest in a new type of energy with potential for use as a powerful bomb. The letter also outlined the competitive threat posed by Germany and steps for improving US research efforts. Last week, Bill Gates, along with GE's CEO and others, met with President Obama to deliver their own message: that of the top 30 companies in the world working on alternative energy, only four are in the US. Similar to Einstein's point and recommendations, Gates and his allies are asking the US to view the alternative energy push as a competitive threat posed by other nations, particularly China, which may be doing a better job in bringing its engineering talent and money to bear on this problem."

Comments

Re:Can You Spot the Difference?

[russotto]

At the time, Einstein was just a lobbyist too. He only became a "sage omen of caution" in retrospect.

No, Einstein was the sage even at the time, which is why Szilard got him to sign the letter.

Re:Can You Spot the Difference?

[sourcerror]

Actually you're totally wrong.

Einstein acted alone and was not heavily invested in nuclear energy. Gates and his friends are heavily invested in alternative energy sources.

"The Einstein–Szilárd letter was a letter sent to United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, that was signed by Albert Einstein but largely written by Leó Szilárd in consultation with fellow Hungarian physicists Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner."

Szilárd had a patent on nuclear chain reaction.
Szilárd and Fermi had patent on nuclear-power plant design.

Re:Can You Spot the Difference?

[TheRaven64]

I read somewhere that more lives were saved before when they used copies of patented drugs than now with his 'donations'.

You read something garbled then. The donations do save lives, this is not in dispute. The problem is the cost that they come with. The B&MGF buys the patented drugs, but the drug companies only provide them on the condition that the receiving countries sign treaties with the USA introducing US-style patent laws. This means that the country can then not buy (or locally produce) cheaper, generic, patent-infringing, versions of the drugs. As a (wholly unintentional, of course) side effect, the new treaties also make it possible for companies like, for example, large software firms, to enforce their copyrights and software patents in the countries that have received this aid.