1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

Please refer to Julian Jaynes 'On the Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind' for his interpretation of what actually spews forth from the right side of the brain and the tremendous efforts that the Left side has had to control this over time.

 

Social media has allowed it to spring forth unfettered once again-as your post so clearly demonstrates..

Yes and the world is flat and hot dogs fly

A post with various claims -- none of them sourced or substantiated -- has been removed.

 

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

There's nothing smart about Gates, he didn't even get through university.

I don't know, he became a billionaire.  He must be smarter than the average bear.

12 hours ago, Keat said:

A large % of people, including Trump, who say that they believe these things do not really believe them. They just know that their saying that they believe these things, and convincing others of them, furthers their agenda of seizing power. Did Hitler and Goebbels really believe what they  said about the Jews?

Verging on going off topic I know, but based on accounts of his early life I think Hitler did believe what he said. That doesn't make the creed or the actions it spawned any less evil. Goebbels, no, I think he saw it as a tool of his trade.

 

Trump and his acolytes certainly don't believe much of the nonsense behind these conspiracy theories, but again, a useful, indispensable tool.

5 hours ago, cdemundo said:

I don't know, he became a billionaire.  He must be smarter than the average bear.

As the news article I linked to earlier points out, he's an extremely gifted mathematician. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he did groundbreaking work.

6 hours ago, cdemundo said:

I don't know, he became a billionaire.  He must be smarter than the average bear.

Right. Einstein wasn't even a millionaire so Bill Gates must be smarter than Einstein?

 

Money is not proportional to IQ. What research papers did Bill Gates publish? 

2 hours ago, EricTh said:

Right. Einstein wasn't even a millionaire so Bill Gates must be smarter than Einstein?

 

Money is not proportional to IQ. What research papers did Bill Gates publish? 

Did you not read the post I made citing his important contribution to mathematical theory? Done when he was an undergraduate.

he should really leave his 'relevant' input in ant-virus, to the experts: 

 - Kapersky and AVG

15 minutes ago, tifino said:

he should really leave his 'relevant' input in ant-virus, to the experts: 

 - Kapersky and AVG

At least what he says aligns with what the experts recommend. Which can't be said of far too many right wing political figures. 

A series of off-topic posts that descended into bickering has been removed.

 

The topic of this thread is:

 

'Crazy and evil': Bill Gates surprised by pandemic conspiracies

16 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Yes monkeys showed the hiv virus, thats just another riddle on how it jumped onto humans.

Not  a riddle as jumped species through "the bushmeat" trade.

16 hours ago, EricTh said:

Right. Einstein wasn't even a millionaire so Bill Gates must be smarter than Einstein?

 

Money is not proportional to IQ. What research papers did Bill Gates publish? 

Who compared him to Einstein?  You are arguing with someone else.  I only said he was smarter than the average bear.  I stand by that.

Off-topic post removed.

 

On 1/30/2021 at 3:38 AM, cdemundo said:

Who compared him to Einstein?  You are arguing with someone else.  I only said he was smarter than the average bear.  I stand by that.

And so he is.

 

"Crazy and evil" as a description of the pandemic conspiracy theories seems pretty appropriate to me as well.

Post from an unapproved source reported and removed.

 

On 1/28/2021 at 6:08 PM, placnx said:

Gates is one billionaire who has used wealth responsibly. His foundation has helped create GAVI and CEPI, which is out there commissioning vaccines for pathogens that can cause epidemics.

 

However, if philanthropy were an adequate substitute for good public health policy, then the US Covid death toll wouldn't be about to reach half a million. 

9 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

However, if philanthropy were an adequate substitute for good public health policy, then the US Covid death toll wouldn't be about to reach half a million. 

There is a video from around 2015 where Gates was warning about pandemic. Even he doesn't have enough cash to redirect public health in the US away from know-nothings at the top.

for a guy who's acknowledged to be very smart, he seems very naïve not to realize just how many stupid people they are in the world ... 

10 minutes ago, placnx said:

There is a video from around 2015 where Gates was warning about pandemic. Even he doesn't have enough cash to redirect public health in the US away from know-nothings at the top.

Well, the Obama administration had a plan and a special group in place to deal with a pandemic. Then along came Trump...

17 minutes ago, placnx said:

There is a video from around 2015 where Gates was warning about pandemic. Even he doesn't have enough cash to redirect public health in the US away from know-nothings at the top.

 

A lot people including all the epidemiologists have been warning about a coming pandemic since SARS, but Gates is the only one of them with a net worth of $115 billion plus $50 billion in the Gates Foundation.  So, it looks like Gates was the only pandemic alarmist with the means to fund a global PR campaign to alert the public to the danger and prepare.  Why didn't he?

11 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

A lot people including all the epidemiologists have been warning about a coming pandemic since SARS, but Gates is the only one of them with a net worth of $115 billion plus $50 billion in the Gates Foundation.  So, it looks like Gates was the only pandemic alarmist with the means to fund a global PR campaign to alert the public to the danger and prepare.  Why didn't he?

Because the money of the Gates Foundation was funding a lot of other health and poverty efforts, and because it's the job of the individual governments to decide on health policy.

12 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

A lot people including all the epidemiologists have been warning about a coming pandemic since SARS, but Gates is the only one of them with a net worth of $115 billion plus $50 billion in the Gates Foundation.  So, it looks like Gates was the only pandemic alarmist with the means to fund a global PR campaign to alert the public to the danger and prepare.  Why didn't he?

Gates gave a TED Talk in 2015 titled "The Next Outbreak? We're Not Ready" which was ignored by almost everyone.  I am not sure how effective a global PR campaign would have been.

Even now we have people who say the COVID pandemic is a hoax or blown out of proportion.

"Why didn't he?", do you mean it is suspicious that he did not, or are you actually wondering why he didn't?

2 hours ago, cdemundo said:

Gates gave a TED Talk in 2015 titled "The Next Outbreak? We're Not Ready" which was ignored by almost everyone.  I am not sure how effective a global PR campaign would have been.

Even now we have people who say the COVID pandemic is a hoax or blown out of proportion.

"Why didn't he?", do you mean it is suspicious that he did not, or are you actually wondering why he didn't?

 

I mean that Gates is neither as smart nor as dedicated as people are eager to give him credit for.  If he had dropped ten or twenty billion on a targeted global PR campaign there wouldn't be two million dead by now and he would indeed have made an historically unique contribution to the world.

 

Greta Thunberg did it without $150 billion at her fingertips. 

3 hours ago, heybruce said:

Because the money of the Gates Foundation was funding a lot of other health and poverty efforts, and because it's the job of the individual governments to decide on health policy.

 

Or because Gates is a conventional plodding businessman who made his money from rent-seeking while stifling innovation and now that he has made himself a public health bureaucrat still thinks well inside the box.

 

He should have rung up Greta Thunberg asked her what to do.

2 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

I mean that Gates is neither as smart nor as dedicated as people are eager to give him credit for.  If he had dropped ten or twenty billion on a targeted global PR campaign there wouldn't be two million dead by now and he would indeed have made an historically unique contribution to the world.

 

Greta Thunberg did it without $150 billion at her fingertips. 

Are you trying to pin this pandemic on Bill Gates?  Don't you think governments that are supposed to look after their people and that had ample warning about the dangers of a pandemic share some responsibility?

 

Should Bill Gates also have spent $10 or $20 billion on PR campaigns raising awareness about global warming, clean water, food security, over fishing, killer asteroids, etc?  How much responsibility for the human race do you want him to assume?

2 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

Or because Gates is a conventional plodding businessman who made his money from rent-seeking while stifling innovation and now that he has made himself a public health bureaucrat still thinks well inside the box.

 

He should have rung up Greta Thunberg asked her what to do.

You really have it in for Bill Gates.  What "rent-seeking" do you think he is guilty of?  It's not like he had a government mandated monopoly on operating systems.  I also don't think Windows became the dominant personal computer operating system by his stifling innovation.

7 minutes ago, heybruce said:

Are you trying to pin this pandemic on Bill Gates?  Don't you think governments that are supposed to look after their people and that had ample warning about the dangers of a pandemic share some responsibility?

 

Should Bill Gates also have spent $10 or $20 billion on PR campaigns raising awareness about global warming, clean water, food security, over fishing, killer asteroids, etc?  How much responsibility for the human race do you want him to assume?

You really have it in for Bill Gates.  What "rent-seeking" do you think he is guilty of?  It's not like he had a government mandated monopoly on operating systems.  I also don't think Windows became the dominant personal computer operating system by his stifling innovation.

 

I am not pinning the pandemic on Bill Gates.  As I already explained I am criticizing the image that people have of him as super-smart and generously dedicated to the well-being of others.  

 

Bill Gates was made rich by the copyright laws and the aggressive efforts of trade negotiators of the US government to enforce those ever-increasing rights on his behalf.  

 

It's true that I really have it in for Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, and all the other billionaires who are not in any way entitled to their excessive wealth.  Their philanthropy is just a PR campaign to prevent them from being taxed out of their wealth as they should be.  Did you know that Pablo Escobar built stadiums, housing, and hospitals for the poor also?  Is it any different?

 

Of course, Gates maintained his vise-like grip on the balls of businesses and consumers by stifling competition.  Is Windows 10 much different from Windows 3?  Just ask his competitors.

18 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

 

I am not pinning the pandemic on Bill Gates.  As I already explained I am criticizing the image that people have of him as super-smart and generously dedicated to the well-being of others.  

 

Bill Gates was made rich by the copyright laws and the aggressive efforts of trade negotiators of the US government to enforce those ever-increasing rights on his behalf.  

 

It's true that I really have it in for Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, and all the other billionaires who are not in any way entitled to their excessive wealth.  Their philanthropy is just a PR campaign to prevent them from being taxed out of their wealth as they should be.  Did you know that Pablo Escobar built stadiums, housing, and hospitals for the poor also?  Is it any different?

 

Of course, Gates maintained his vise-like grip on the balls of businesses and consumers by stifling competition.  Is Windows 10 much different from Windows 3?  Just ask his competitors.

Bill Gates operated in accordance with the law.  Pablo Escobar didn't.  Bill Gates didn't have competitors murdered, he provided a product that the majority of consumers preferred.  You can still choose to use Linux if you don't like Windows. 

 

Bill Gates did not write the copyright laws, and it is the job of trade negotiators to protect intellectual property.  Most Americans wish

the trade negotiators would do their job better.

 

I don't know Bill Gates personally, and assume you don't either.  I won't speculate on his motives.  Why do you?

A series of off-topic posts on religion and climate change issues have been removed.

 

On 1/28/2021 at 8:02 PM, xtrnuno41 said:

Are you aware, a year ago we didnt have covid? The other viruses SARS MERS popping up in Asia, but luckily disappeared, or not?

The latest research has thrown up some startling findings regarding Covid and its origins, and although they haven't completed the research, the following has been established: –

 

The virus was in samples taken in Italy in November 2019; in the USA in December 2019; in Spain in March 2019 and it has also been found in wastewater samples in Brazil and Italy which were taken before any confirmed cases were confirmed in those countries!

 

We really don't know the origins of it, and perhaps like many things in nature, it is a natural occurrence which unfortunately has jumped species, as has happened in the past.

 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/who-continue-the-search-for-covid-19s-origins/T66FAPWSFKQDHAA2KONEEP4B7Q/   

36 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

Bill Gates was made rich by the copyright laws and the aggressive efforts of trade negotiators of the US government to enforce those ever-increasing rights on his behalf.  

Really debatable whether Bill Gates’s wealth is due to government policy on copyrights. Is there an alternative to give people an incentive to innovate and do creative work. I am envious of his wealth but grateful for his technology and philanthropic contribution.