Examining Bill Gates
On the new Techtonic I interviewed journalist and author Tim Schwab about his book The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, which is just out in paperback.
Bill Gates enjoys tremendous worldwide influence in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, public policy, and more. This is unelected, unaccountable power: one man who acts on par with sovereign states and multinational corporations.
Whether or not he has good intentions (let's assume he does) is beside the point. The problem is an undemocratic system that supports the Gates Foundation, in part, with taxpayer money - all without citizens having any say in how the foundation operates.
Then there are the questionable policies Gates has promoted - favoring multinational companies and their monopolistic practices, for example, at the expense of decentralized, local, or not-for-profit efforts. Just look at Gates's role in preventing the Covid vaccine from being distributed in the Global South (details in the New Republic as well as Tim's book).
There have been some limited successes from the foundation's efforts, to be sure, but the track record overall is a series of unilateral decisions affecting billions of people, all made by one individual holding unquestioned power.
My interview with Tim also covers Gates's inexplicable relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. When asked about it on PBS Newshour in 2021, Gates became visibly uncomfortable and gave awkward non-answers to the questions. (There's a video at Gizmodo.)
Here's my interview with Tim Schwab:
More Techtonic at techtonic.fm.
Our members-only Creative Good Forum has new posts that I’d recommend:
Resources for parents and teens: several articles and organizations for families trying to find a healthier way for teens to use and relate to digital tech
Discussion about "surveillance never sits still", my column from Sep 11 – Creative Good members listing yet more types of surveillance they're noticing in daily life
Updates on Zuck's new surveillance glasses, a topic I really should write more about.
Finally, a fun item I found on Mastodon: a clip from the movie Crossroads (1986), with Ralph Macchio just shredding the guitar.
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Until next time,
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Mark Hurst, founder, Creative Good
Email: mark@creativegood.com
Podcast/radio show: techtonic.fm
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