
Excellent Commencement Speech by Bill Gates - DaniFong
http://blog.jhong.org/2007/06/good-speech-by-bill-gates.html
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astine
I disagree when he says that the chief evil is inequality. Poverty, yes, is a
bad thing, but to say that inequality is the chief evil is to imply that it is
wrong to be wealthy. I don't think that's what he means, (he would be an
obvious hypocrite if it was,) but it's what he's saying and it has
implications about social justice that I think are very dangerous.

The problem with the third world is not so much that wealth is unequally
distributed, but that it (the third world) is not currently in a position to
produce wealth the way it could. This is a problem that needs to be rectified,
(and sooner or later will be,) but it is not so much a matter of social
justice as of genuine philanthropy.

That said, he's right, there is a lot more that we could do to help out the
rest of the world that we don't do and we should take this into account. The
problem IS that the problem is so complicated; simply giving or redistributing
wealth won't cut it and might even hurt matters at times. I think that we'll
figure it out sooner or later.

~~~
sdurkin
Inequality is a major component of why the third world isn't producing wealth
the way it could.

Every person who is born into extreme poverty looses the opportunity for
health, stability, and education that is necessary to build his or her
abilities to the point where he or she can contribute to building wealth.

Think of it as analogous to human resources in a private company. It would be
incredibly foolish to exclude a large part of your potential hiring pool.

What if the next Bill Gates is born in Nigeria? The potential production that
the world would loose is staggering.

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astine
What you are describing is poverty begetting poverty, not inequality begetting
poverty.

If everyone in the world had the same income as the average Nigerian, the
world would be perfectly equal, but the Nigerians wouldn't be any better off.
The problem isn't that the third world doesn't have as much as the first
world, but that they simply don't have enough.

You're absolutely correct, we need to help people who are less fortunate than
ourselves, but inequality isn't the source of the problem. Our being rich,
doesn't make them poor (usually.)

~~~
sdurkin
Ah, yes, this is true. I was using inequality as synonymous with poverty,
while there is an important distinction.

However, in a lot of cases, especially in the third world, abuse of labor and
government allows a select few to build and maintain wealth. In those cases,
the rich are only rich at the expense of the poor.

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comatose_kid
"But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries - but in how
those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity."

I may not be a fan of MS products, but I have a lot of admiration for the
person Bill Gates has become.

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mynameishere
_and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest
impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?_

Everything I know tells me that this, or similar, is the place:

<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=FEMKX>

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dissenter
Whenever I read about Bill Gates's philanthropy I always feel slightly
depressed.

I get the distinct feeling that he is using his money in a way that maximizes
social approval, rather than in a way that maximizes benefit. I haven't spent
very much time looking into ways to save the world, but I suspect, like in
many other fields, the most effective way to do it is not the way that
provokes the greatest emotional response.

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altay
Whatever his motivations are, the numbers don't lie. The Gates Foundation has
the largest endowment in the world, by far, and they've got a pretty
aggressive plan to spend it all. Here are some projects they've funded, a
number of which seem pretty damn unsexy:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundati...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundation)

And if you want to talk about maximizing social approval rather than benefit,
check out the red iPod program. =P

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keating
You can reduce inequality by bringing one group up, or the other group down.

Star Wars chose option B to bring balance to the force. Goodbye Jedi.

