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Bill Gates Wants To Reinvent the Toilet
redletterdave writes "Bill Gates, the man responsible for bringing software to the masses with Microsoft and Windows, has plans to reinvent and popularize another industry: Sanitation. Gates, whose philanthropic efforts have helped bring clean water and resources to developing countries via the foundation created by he and his wife Melinda, said at the 'Reinvent The Toilet Fair' in Seattle on Wednesday that he plans to build a toilet that's better suited to developing countries in an effort to cut down on disease and death in those regions. 'Inventing new toilets is one of the most important things we can do to reduce child deaths and disease and improve people's lives,' Gates said. 'It is also something that can help wealthier countries conserve fresh water for other important purposes besides flushing.'"
Science Insider has some information on the winning designs from this year.
But on a more serious note, good for him. I'm glad he's at least doing something productive with his time and money, and for a humanitarian cause.
"Bill Gates, the man responsible for bringing software to the masses with Microsoft and Windows..."
Fucking hell, this is Slashdot, not Readers Digest.
Well, in this case, taking into account the water and sanitary needs of developing countries, this makes perfect sense.
Not everybody has the luxury of municipal water which takes such things away to be handled by Someone Else.
Doing it in a way that is portable, cheap to operate, doesn't require a massive infrastructure, and doesn't spread disease ... well, for a lot of people in the world, that would be a huge improvement.
From TFA:
So, really, what wheel are you insinuating is being reinvented here?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Better to try and fail than to never try at all. They can always have another go.