Listen up
by Volker Weber
Bill Gates speaking in Harvard.
[via Tom]
Comments
Wow.
Bill Gates is a Communist?
No he is not.
He talks about '... reducing inequality ..." since he knows that it can not be abolished as the current system needs it, is fueled by it, depends on it.
He talks about giving a voice to those who are currently speech-less and power-less, and as such alludes to traditions embodied by fine organizations like Greenpeace, Amnesty-International, Médecins Sans Frontières.
This is a noble cause and I applaud him for taking it up.
However his approach must also be seen in the context of the rather rabid American faith in the forces of the free market and the equally strong American stance against regulations.
So it is no surprise that he calls for the individual to fix the issues in the system, which is another great American tradition.
The free market is an illusion. Society has always set rules.
Do we need new rules?
New international treaties?
Where do we start?
Where do we stop?
Does it start in Heiligendamm?
And if so inside or outside the conference area?
This video can also be seen on the site for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Love or hate Bill, but he is doing good work here. Yesterday I received an e-mail from IBM Alphaworks that included a link to the new IBM Thinkplace social networking tool. Much of the discussion is about using technology to help developing areas, particularly Africa. It's all interesting stuff, and I'm excited to see people putting effort into making the world a better place.
Ahhh, ethics.
"The market didn't reward the lives of these children to be saved."
So is it okay to use the market and ruin other people's lives to save these children?
@Philip: Who says we have to ruin other people's lives to save these children? That isn't what Bill said at all. He's talking about creative ways to change the systems so that market forces and governments have incentive to save those children.
If you mean that Bill's company has ruined lives by (ab)using the market, and he will now use his money to save lives, I have to wonder why you're equating causing people to lose some money with allowing people to die. So to answer your question, is it ok to "ruin" (financially) a life in order to save many more lives? Yes, of course it is. Ethically, there's no debate at all. Life beats money every time.
Rob, there only were no debate if someone on this planet had found ultimate justice. Obviously nobody has so far. The question still persists what end justifies what kind of means.
I for my part believe that Bill is doing the right thing with his vaccine program. To add to its importance I shall say that one of the reasons he funds it is because the UN themselves doesn't have the resources to; it's been on their To Do list for quite a while without anyone really caring. Yet I would feel better if the money came from a source other than a company like Microsoft.
