r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 23h ago

Biotechnology Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/burkina-faso-says-no-to-bill-gates-plan-of-creating-modified-species-of-mosquitoes/xyk7xm8
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u/Whatsapokemon 21h ago

It's literally a free lunch. The Gates foundation has been doing charity programs for decades.

Gates is the rare breed of people who actually wants to leave a positive mark on the world.

It's also not "aid from the US", it's a private charity.

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u/Loeffellux 20h ago

I'm taking an alternative approach to this issue. My problem is not that Gates is a secret villain but simply that good intentions don't automatically make for the optimal outcome.

I can't recall the specifics but the AstraZeneca corona vaccine was actually invented by Oxford University who pledged to donate the rights. They were then convinced by the Gates foundation to sell the rights to AstraZeneca instead.

I'm not saying there weren't real and understandable reasons for this like ensuring an orderly and safe rollout by a company that's well established in the industry and so on. But at the very least, this decision has had negative consequences for people living in poorer countries that often had to buy the vaccines for higher prices than richer countries. In the end, a lot of them had to wait for China's vaccine.

I'm also not saying that I can be sure that more people would've survived had the rights been granted for free like Oxford originally planned but at the very least it seems likely.

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u/Nauin 19h ago

Please educate yourself on Bill Gates before making statements like that. He's not as bad as most of the other billionaires but he is still plenty problematic and these charity donations more often than not completely destroy the economies and job markets of the places they're donated to.

Behind the Bastards has a multi-part series on Gates that goes into a lot of his history and what he has done to influence the world. Some good, a lot bad.

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u/Moifaso 17h ago

but he is still plenty problematic and these charity donations more often than not completely destroy the economies and job markets of the places they're donated to.

Citations needed. Most of the stuff he donates either involves local labor or are things that locals aren't equipped to do - like genetically modifying mosquitos.

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u/Nauin 14h ago

There's a ton of citation out there, but really use the source I recommended in my original comment; The two part Ballad of Bill Gates by Robert Evans.

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u/Derbloingles 24m ago

He gave a citation

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u/Lonyo 13h ago

Fighting malaria isn't a charitable donation

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u/Fireproofspider 14h ago

Charity programs aren't a free lunch when talking about long term economic and developmental outcomes.

I'm not familiar with this particular program but one of the issues in my industry (pharma) is the lack of actual protection capabilities. This was especially hard during COVID and now with USAID pulling out.

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u/brunckle 4h ago

"He who gifts gives with strings attached."

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u/VonBeegs 1h ago

Did the whole COVID vaccine IP thing not open your eyes to Bill Gates being just another asshole billionaire whose "charity" is just a method of regulatory capture?

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u/AbhishMuk 20h ago

Just a question, were you familiar with Bill Gates back in the 70s till maybe the 90s?

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u/B_Roland 20h ago

People change

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u/AbhishMuk 20h ago

Sure, they do. But you don’t make a billion dollars from being a nice guy, and I am genuinely not sure how you can go from one of the most shrewd, ruthless, and cutthroat people to a “nice guy”. (PIf you or someone else in this thread knows how such a radical transformation is possible, I’ll be happy to have my view changed.

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u/Etzell 19h ago

I mean, making your life's work the eradication of malaria and spending billions of dollars to do it is probably a good step, yeah?

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u/B_Roland 19h ago

He was a young(ish) guy obsessed with his own company that he poured his life into that had to deliver numbers to keep his own prestige and more importantly, keep shareholders happy.

Now, decades later, he's a retired guy who has no incentive to think about profits and shareholders, has a different outlook on life since stepping out of his corparate environment and what's left of his ego is now invested in building a philanthropist legacy.

Something along those lines probably covers the gist of it. Those are 2 very different people with very different motives, yet they are the same guy.

Now I'm no expert on Bill Gates and don't feel any need to defend him or whatever, so please don't try to debate me on that cause I don't care. But people can genuinely change a lot. Even if plenty don't.

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u/ImAnAlternative 20h ago

The same Bill Gates who's friends with Epstein? That's your rare breed idol?

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u/Fluffcake 20h ago edited 20h ago

Free is never free.

There is a reason why half the US is cheering for kicking out people who are crushing them in the job market by working twice as hard for half the pay, charities have the same effect in many areas, because nobody can compete with free on price.

Charity should be limited to disaster relief, otherwise it is just economic terrorism.

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u/Popular_Brief335 20h ago

lol half the us? You mean like 1-2% maybe cheering the rest don’t give a fuck. 

If the USA and its citizens stopped giving out aid many nations would crumble. 

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u/Impossible-Topic9558 20h ago

"Free is never free"

r/iamverysmart

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u/Fluffcake 20h ago

If charity worked, there wouldn't be any developing countries anymore.

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u/Whatsapokemon 10h ago

Charity should be limited to disaster relief, otherwise it is just economic terrorism.

How about development charities who build infrastructure?

How about charities that distribute vaccines or who run education programs?

How about charities that promote sexual health?

How about charities that attempt to solve huge-scale environmental problems like dealing with mosquitoes?