I'm seeing a lot of "What Mr. Gates is doing is great BUT [insert negatives]".
Timing is everything. IMO, this is the perfect timing to start a mission such as the one Mr. Gates is. Why? Well having just been to India last year, my cousins were complaining about how India is filled with geniuses, yet very few who want to take risks (whether it be to help fix the poverty, the political system, or just start cool companies). A couple months after I got back from India (I live in the States), I was talking to my cousins and they were telling me how some cities in the south are really starting to embrace a tech culture and were trying to resemble that of Silicon Valley. And it's grown magnitudes since then; in fact, in recent months, there have been a lot of posts on HN about India's tech expansion.
So Mr. Gates says it well: "To make real progress on the problems of the poorest, you need at least two ingredients: a deep understanding of the problems, and the technical ability to solve them." He probably is going there to better understand some of the problems that exist, but I bet he also understands there are a lot more people there that can help solve these problems. He's a pretty smart guy, I trust he'll actually do good on his visit and it will be constructive to India and its people.
He is a pretty smart guy. He set aside some "feel good" philanthropy and seems to go straight to the heart of things. He's done a lot of good, beyond the money he brings to the table.
Oh come on, Gates is the least damaging Robber Baron we have ever seen and is the one most likely to produce meaningful impact in the robber baron second philanthropic life.
It's one thing wishing that history had thrown up dedicated public servants who also ran vast software empires, but we play the hand we have been dealt. If we lose net neutrality, privacy, if the Internet is used against us, not for us, it's our fault. We can ensure the train runs on the lines we want.
Sorry not meaning to have a rant, just I think gates has stopped being part of the problem now - there will be another one along, probably worse, and we need to engage. Just frustrated. I respect your posts here normally.
You have a short term memory, I don't. This plagues me in all kinds of ways but it is also an asset in many others.
And Gates' most recent dip into my wallet is less than two weeks ago so in fact I don't need all that good a memory to remind me who he is and what he stands for.
Sorry, are you literally saying you have no short-term memory? Or simply saying I should remember Gates' a toons in the 90s etc? If the former I am sorry and wish you the best
How can you categorically claim that he's done a lot of damage? How have you factored in his being a huge part of why the PC became so popular that advances were driven forward dramatically over the last couple of decades and prices have been driven down?
It's like complaining about ads on the web. Without them, a lot of incredible things would have never seen the light of day. Hippies in communes rarely produce much that anyone else cares about, but they sure do a great job of recycling.
"To make real progress on the problems of the poorest, you need at least two ingredients: a deep understanding of the problems, and the technical ability to solve them."
Is technical ability really necessary? Some problems cannot be solved by technology. It may be political solution. It may be a social solution. I think BG is trying to say "technology" can solve everything.
I took technical ability in a more general sense when I read that. I doubt he's saying that all of India's poverty issues can be solved by just throwing computers at them.
Update - Just realized I just fed a troll. Moving on!
Whoa! Hold on there cowboy!
What have we told you about sweeping generalizations??!!
Not every person in India wakes up every morning to fix social issues. They wake up every morning to go to work, feed their families and you know..do what you and I do - when we turn the other way to the glaring poverty and injustice that is visible in our communities.
India, Pessimism, Chailatte... jolly good combination. Spineless, apathy, unfeeling....it is like filling the keyword quota for a job description.
As if Bill Gates is there to fix all of your ruses with India. How about letting him do what he is there to achieve, follow his progress, build upon it and do something even better by involving next generation. Or another option is, sit and critique without adding any value? There are lessons to be learnt in any venture, and this will be no different. Relying upon Bill Gates and a time span of even 10 years to solve all those problems you listed? We are not helping the man who made computers ubiquitous and helped eradicate polio in India. Besides, Bill Gates will be heard by the people in upper echelons and young generation and Aamir Khan will help tap the mass population. I wish them luck, I will be following this social initiative closely. More power to them.
Bill Gates WILL have an impact, even if it's only on a dozen people. So will the people who are inspired by him, and so do the people who have been working with the Indian people for years to make the country better.
The only people who can't fix things like this are people who throw up their hands and say that no one cares. Things can get better, despite the undermining tone of cynics like yourself saying they cannot.
Not sure what your problem is, India or Bill Gates? You seem to have a problem with both.
>>- apathy from upper/middle class towards lower classes
Why in God's name will a middle class guy, who probably is having a thousand different battles in his own life get up every day morning to work for some body poor? By now, 'the poor' need to realize its not somebody else job do their work. Chances are no one ever will, not just in India but anywhere in the world.
>>- willingness from normal citizens to live with human feces on the streets, eat in restaurants with huge garbage piles right in front
How is this any different than the western world during the Industrial revolution? So some place like the US during the great depression?
You seem to be assuming a passing state of a society as its permanent condition. There are plenty of urban/rural housing settlement/societies in India which are as neat and clean as any western city.
>>- spinelessness/cowardness from the voting public
Care to give a few examples??
>>so what if there are smart people in india?
Now that you acknowledge that there are smart people in India. I guess you better prepare for some darn hard competition coming from us.
>> they are spineless/uncompassionate/unfeeling/unprideful.
Seriously??? How is any different than people in any country in the world. Do you think voting matters or is significant even in a country like the US. How many times were the US citizens able to prevent their country from going to war? Or how many times have they been able to change their unemployment problem themselves?
You seem to have a seriously problem with India, no idea why that is so.
> Seriously??? How is any different than people in any country in the world. Do you think voting matters or is significant even in a country like the US. How many times were the US citizens able to prevent their country from going to war? Or how many times have they been able to change their unemployment problem themselves?
They managed to stop an ongoing war once (Vietnam). Other than that, how can you tell when a decision to go to war has been overturned because of civilian activity. It seems that at one point, the US was quite bent on attacking Iran, but that never happened.
>You seem to have a seriously problem with India, no idea why that is so.
This is just conjecture, but seeing as this is Hacker News, perhaps he had to work with Indian IT subcontractors at some point in his life. Without having a grander vision of the world that may easily lead to some practical racism.
Timing is everything. IMO, this is the perfect timing to start a mission such as the one Mr. Gates is. Why? Well having just been to India last year, my cousins were complaining about how India is filled with geniuses, yet very few who want to take risks (whether it be to help fix the poverty, the political system, or just start cool companies). A couple months after I got back from India (I live in the States), I was talking to my cousins and they were telling me how some cities in the south are really starting to embrace a tech culture and were trying to resemble that of Silicon Valley. And it's grown magnitudes since then; in fact, in recent months, there have been a lot of posts on HN about India's tech expansion.
So Mr. Gates says it well: "To make real progress on the problems of the poorest, you need at least two ingredients: a deep understanding of the problems, and the technical ability to solve them." He probably is going there to better understand some of the problems that exist, but I bet he also understands there are a lot more people there that can help solve these problems. He's a pretty smart guy, I trust he'll actually do good on his visit and it will be constructive to India and its people.