Bill Gates Calling For Plant Diets

[ilja]

 

https://thebeet.com/bill-gates-says-rich-nations-should-shift-to-plant-based-meat-for-the-climate/

 

Here is an article stating Bill Gates advises the West to go plant based for climate.

[Preety_India]

Lot of things to thank Bill Gates for including my cute PC. 

 

[Rilles]

Has he ever called out mega-corporations to stop polluting or burning down rainforests? Im not attacking him, Im actually curious.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Rilles

[ilja]

@Preety_India  I use linux

[eman]

Uncle Bill's health guidelines: eat your veggies and take your vacines

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by eman

[Rilles]

4 hours ago, datamonster said:

Industrial nations' demand for meat and mega corporations polluting and burning down rainforests are closely linked.

True. I just hope he isnt "virtual signaling" for us lower peasants. 

[DocWatts]

Just now, Rilles said:

True. I just hope he isnt "virtual signaling" for us lower peasants. 

The guy is giving away almost all of his immense fortune to the poorest people on the planet.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's operating in Good Faith when he makes statements like this.

[Rilles]

8 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

The guy is giving away almost all of his immense fortune to the poorest people on the planet.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's operating in Good Faith when he makes statements like this.

??

[vladorion]

He seems pretty happy about the pandemic.

 

[Opo]

19 minutes ago, vladorion said:

He seems pretty happy about the pandemic.

 

To me it looks like he's laughing because he warned everyone about this possibility and we just dismissed him. 

It's like saying I told you so. 

[Danioover9000]

   Keep in mind Bill Gates has a form of autism that makes it suspect when he's giggling over the topic of the pandemic. I wouldn't put too much concern over his reaction. It could also be from years of most people denying his prediction of an outbreak occurring as well.

[integral]

Is he doing anything that will last after his death? From what ive seen so far all these good deeds are focused on surface level problems and not addressing the root of the systemic issue.

Theres a good chance everything will be undone with time. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by integral

[aurum]

Relevant:

I don't think Bill Gates is evil. But I certainly don't see him as some savior either. People are fooled into thinking that because he gave some money away he must automatically be a good guy. But of course it's not that simple.

[integral]

wowow AI farming in africa? Now thats going to solve some systemic issues... hes on the right track. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by integral

[DocWatts]

17 minutes ago, aurum said:

Relevant:

I don't think Bill Gates is evil. But I certainly don't see him as some savior either. People are fooled into thinking that because he gave some money away he must automatically be a good guy. But of course it's not that simple.

An average person donating fifty or a hundred bucks to an NGO is giving away 'some' money.

One of the richest people in the world giving away almost all of his fortune to solve developmental problems faced by some of the poorest people on the planet is qualitatively quite different.

If there's an ethical or spiritual cost to be paid for becoming successful under an exploitive economic system, I'm not sure what else he could reasonably be expected to do in order to balance the scales, so to speak.

[Opo]

16 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

An average person donating fifty or a hundred bucks to an NGO is giving away 'some' money.

One of the richest people in the world giving away almost all of his fortune to solve developmental problems faced by some of the poorest people on the planet is qualitatively quite different.

If there's an ethical or spiritual cost to be paid for becoming successful under an exploitive economic system, I'm not sure what else he could reasonably be expected to do in order to balance the scales, so to speak.

Let's hope he doesn't do the same thing as in the video below. 

Nice video @aurum it reminded me of this. 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Opo

[aurum]

3 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

One of the richest people in the world giving away almost all of his fortune

Giving away almost all his fortune?

He still is worth over a hundred billion dollars. That is more than the annual GDP of many countries. And it has mostly only increased over time.

Some how I expect he will continue to do quite well financially in the future.

9 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

to solve developmental problems faced by some of the poorest people on the planet is qualitatively quite different.

I'd argue that ignores that philanthropy has been used since the beginning as a tax haven for the rich. And a way to keep the pyramid structure of our society intact.

Many of those developmental problems would likely not exist if it weren't for years of exploitation already.

17 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

If there's an ethical or spiritual cost to be paid for becoming successful under an exploitive economic system, I'm not sure what else he could reasonably be expected to do in order to balance the scales, so to speak.

I agree. That's the tricky thing about systems.

What could Bill Gates reasonably do?

The answer is not much. Just as our system generates poverty, it also generates mega-wealthy like Gates. If not him, it's somebody else.

This is why I don't think he's evil or even consciously looking to do harm. I'm sure he has genuine concern about many global issues. He just doesn't know how to solve them.

And when he does try to solve them, it usually involves him using his fortune in a undemocratic, unilateral way to shape the lives of everyone.

That kind of power should only be had by a representative government. Or some sort of direct democracy.

Otherwise we might as well hang up democracy and say that we live in a oligarchy.

[DocWatts]

2 hours ago, aurum said:

What could Bill Gates reasonably do?

The answer is not much. Just as our system generates poverty, it also generates mega-wealthy like Gates. If not him, it's somebody else.

This is why I don't think he's evil or even consciously looking to do harm. I'm sure he has genuine concern about many global issues. He just doesn't know how to solve them.

And when he does try to solve them, it usually involves him using his fortune in a undemocratic, unilateral way to shape the lives of everyone.

That kind of power should only be had by a representative government. Or some sort of direct democracy.

Otherwise we might as well hang up democracy and say that we live in a oligarchy.

You'll hear no argument from me on this point, the fact that individuals can amass more wealth than entire countries is ethically indefensible.

Yes billionaires shouldn't exist, but as long as they do let's at least make it a Social Norm that these people should use thier wealth in Socially Responsible ways. I would also argue that generating Wealth for the purpose of funding philanthropic organizations is much more ethically defensible than how most fortunes are used, but i'll concede that the wisdom of allowing someone with hundreds of billions to continue to amass wealth (even if that wealth is used in socially responsible ways) is highly debatable.

I don't know if it's fair to blame Bill Gates for structural and ethical failings of an entire global socio-economic system. But the fact is that incredibly wealthy people are going to exist for the foreseeable future, and I would much rather more of them be like Bill Gates than the Koch Brothers or the Walton family.

The criticisms of philanthropic ventures funded by billionaires not being democratically accountable is a cognizant point, but at the same time let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. Yes philanthropy isn't a substitute for development towards a more just system, but at the same time NGOs have materially helped millions of some of the most disadvantaged people on the planet.

Obviously it would be better if this help were to be provided by representative governments, but well functioning Representative Democracy is developmental stage that takes time and resources to reach. The fact that a functioning welfare state is something a person's grandchildren may live to see is little help to a person suffering from easily preventable poverty related maladies right now.

I agree with many of the points you bring up, but I think it's easy to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Philanthropy has its share of problems, but so does Representative Democracy. That doesn't mean we should disregard the achievements of either one.

Edited February 27, 2021 by DocWatts

[vladorion]

13 hours ago, aurum said:

I don't think Bill Gates is evil. But I certainly don't see him as some savior either. People are fooled into thinking that because he gave some money away he must automatically be a good guy. But of course it's not that simple.

Agree. He actually admits that donating money to health organization has yielded a 20-to-1 return. It's just business investments that are called donations.

[vladorion]

13 hours ago, DocWatts said:

An average person donating fifty or a hundred bucks to an NGO is giving away 'some' money.

One of the richest people in the world giving away almost all of his fortune to solve developmental problems faced by some of the poorest people on the planet is qualitatively quite different.

If there's an ethical or spiritual cost to be paid for becoming successful under an exploitive economic system, I'm not sure what else he could reasonably be expected to do in order to balance the scales, so to speak.

He's not giving away anything. By "giving away" he's actually making way more money. Those donations are just investments that don't look like investments on the surface.