• Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    95
    ·
    3 days ago

    Why did you cut your philanthropic efforts to fight climate change and disease? Why have you and your buddies fought for minimizing

    The problem is that billionaires should not exist but come on. $80 billion already donated. $7 Billion more just for Africa. Hundreds of millions in malaria research.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/11/17/bill-gates-foundation-pledges-7-billion-to-support-africa-health-and-agriculture/

    Could he do more? Sure. But attacking someone who is doing a little because he isn’t doing more doesn’t seem fair.

    Years ago Elon said he was disappointed when he met Bill Gates because Gates only wanted to talk about philanthropy and climate.

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Microsoft’s complicity in Israel’s apartheid and genocide is well documented, exposing its strong ties to the Israeli military, its collaboration with Israeli government ministries, and its involvement in the Israeli prison system, which is notorious for systematic torture and abuse of Palestinians. Microsoft knowingly provides Israel with technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), that is deployed to facilitate grave human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity (including apartheid), as well as genocide. In light of the International Court of Justice’s legally-binding rulings to prevent Israel’s plausible genocide in Gaza, as well as its July 19 Advisory Opinion affirming Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid system, Microsoft has failed its corporate obligation to prevent genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Microsoft, as well as its boards of directors and executives, may face criminal liability for this complicity.

      Microsoft provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are crucial in empowering and accelerating Israel’s genocidal war on 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip. Microsoft’s extensive ties with Israel’s military are revealed in investigations by The Guardian with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, demonstrating how the Israeli military turned to Microsoft to meet the technological demands of genocide.

      The 7 billion to Africa isn’t as nice as it first seems either; it’s investments into venture capitalist solutions, much more restrictive that aid and the profits are not realized by the locals

      https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/12/02/perhaps-bill-gates-not-best-expert-hunger-africa

      https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/11/10/open-letter-bill-gates-food-farming-and-africa

          • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            2 days ago

            Saytalla seeking advice doesn’t mean Gates is making the business decisions.

            And claiming Microsoft cloud services are worse than RTX’s actual bombs that kill children is a stretch.

            • Keeponstalin@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 days ago

              And claiming Microsoft cloud services are worse than RTX’s actual bombs that kill children is a stretch.

              They all kill children and I boycott them all. You’re the only one running defense by minimizing Microsoft’s role here.

              For example, Amazon, Google and Microsoft have all launched major cloud computing centres in Israel, offering businesses infrastructure critical to data-driven products and services. Intel is the largest private employer in the country, having commenced operations in 1974.

              Along with hundreds of other multinationals, Microsoft hosts its own research and development (R&D) centre in Israel, and it launched a chip development centre in Haifa. Nvidia, the trillion-dollar chip behemoth powering the AI revolution, has also announced it is expanding its already large R&D operations in Israel. The list goes on

              Gates’ advice is reportedly treated as gospel, and he also played a crucial role in fostering Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership, and consequently, the success witnessed in the category.

              Claiming Gates isn’t heavily involved and influential in the business decisions is just straight up untrue, stop whitewashing his contributions to genocide.

              In summary, Bill Gates’s relationship with Israel is characterized by his admiration for the country’s technological innovation and his significant investments through Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While he has not publicly engaged in the political aspects of the Israel/Palestine conflict, his actions and statements suggest a supportive stance toward Israel’s role in global technology. This support is evident in his continued investments and public recognition of Israel’s achievements in digital security and biotechnology.

              • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 days ago

                They all kill children and I boycott them all.

                You know what actually supports Israel? Food imports. You should be boycotting American, Swiss, German and Dutch farm produce. Cut off their food and they can’t bomb.

                Along with hundreds of other multinationals, Microsoft hosts its own research and development (R&D) centre in Israel,

                Any company with an office in Israel? You boycott every large business? EVERY ONE? Apple, AMD, Intel, ARM? They are all in Israel. How are you even replying to this post without uses the CPU’s that you claim to boycott?

                and he also played a crucial role in fostering Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership

                AI isn’t killing children. Israeli leaders are killing children. OpenAI is super charged spell checker. Have you even used it? It fixes the grammar. It helps write software. But so did autocomplete before LLM’s.

                Claiming Gates isn’t heavily involved

                Are you an executive at Microsoft? Because if you aren’t YOU DON’T KNOW THAT.
                https://www.techspot.com/news/107724-sources-detail-growing-rift-between-sam-altman-satya.html

    • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      The problem is that billionaires should not exist but come on. $80 billion already donated. $7 Billion more just for Africa. Hundreds of millions in malaria research.

      Philanthropists hoarding wealth and resources and then getting to choose which of the poors to allow to have any is actually part of the problem, even if it makes you feel good.

      We saw that when Gates leveraged his contributions to force a vaccine that had been developed with public money for the benefit of humankind, to become patent locked and hard for the Third World to access or afford.