Bill Gates unleashes mosquitoes...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| NoCaDrummer Feb 06, 2009 6:51 PM EDT |
It wouldn't be the first time that Gates was complicit in releasing bugs into the world. We're all still living with many (e.g. the "year 1900" bug in Excel) and will for the rest of our lives. These bugs (mosquitoes) are easy to contain and eradicate by comparison. |
| TxtEdMacs Feb 07, 2009 8:03 AM EDT |
NCD, True, however, very inappropriate in this context. This is one example where Gates (and I credit his wife more than him) got it right and well ahead of so many others that should have been equally informed. Anti-malaria programs where wrong headedly ineffective and pharmacological means were approaching nearly complete uselessness with no immediate replacement on the horizon. Sure attack Gates for his misdeeds, but this was not one of them. Indeed, read the first comment under the actual editorial that points this out. This was not a Balmer moment at a MS Develpers' Conference. Cheap shots like this are best forgotten and are no net gain for anyone other than someone being paid by useless 100 word output. [All too serious.] |
| jdixon Feb 07, 2009 9:30 AM EDT |
> This is one example where Gates (and I credit his wife more than him) got it right... Not really. It was cheap and idiotic stunt. > ...conference in Long Beach, Calif. California has plenty of mosquitoes of their own. He could have taken them to a swamp somewhere for a far more effective demonstration. > Gates quickly informed the crowd, however, that his mosquitoes were malaria-free. a) Malaria isn't the only disease mosquitoes carry. b) If anyone at the conference had any blood borne disease, the mosquitoes could have transmitted it to anyone else at the conference. > But, he warned, "only by paying attention and making people care can we make as much progress as we need to" on humanitarian issues. Only someone like Gates would so casually assume other people don't care, or that he could "make" them do so. |
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