17 replies to this topic

[bacopa]

I just read in this article http://www.news.com....from=public_rss that Bill Gates is planning on giving the vast majority of his earnings from Microsoft to charity,(presumably over the course of his life or when he dies.) He also thinks that other billionaires should give away the vast majority of their wealth. In another article I learned that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave away already $29 billion to various charities including scholarships for minority students, laptops to the poor, vaccinations for poor third world countries, and AIDS research. I'm extremely excited about this and it proves to me that just because one is ultra rich doens't make that person a miser or a selfish person. The next big job for us here at imminst is to get people, and indeed famous people, interested in the cause with the end goal being that we can get donations for SENS Foundation and other important H+ causes. I could use anyone's help here for my project contacting VIP or famous people with some clout. If you are interested please go here. http://www.imminst.o...reach-f361.html. I truly believe now that the vast majority of the population could really be turned on to radical life extension. We just have to get people more interested. In russia a whopping 78% of the population polled, (and I don't know how many were polled,) said they would like to live forever! So we just have to educate, educate, educate people on probably THE most important cause humanity has ever undertaken.

So please we are not getting any younger yet! To quote Humanity Plus. We have 8000 plus members here at imminst and we have many projects underway. If you think you could be of help please visit the project and teams forum.

Edited by dfowler, 22 June 2009 - 07:12 AM.

[JLL]

Does anyone know how Bill Gates feels about life extension? Maybe he'd be interested in giving a lot of money to the cause if it means he'll be around for a few more centuries.

[solbanger]

Does anyone know how Bill Gates feels about life extension? Maybe he'd be interested in giving a lot of money to the cause if it means he'll be around for a few more centuries.

Well Kurzweil had dinner with him twice.

http://money.cnn.com...rtune/index.htm

Honestly I don't think Gates believes in life extension in the sense of extending lifespans for the sake of doing it. I'm sure Kurzweil imparted upon Gates how extending lifespans could reduce suffering etc. etc., but I get the impression that Gates would rather send most of his money to causes that have an immediate humanitarian effect such as malaria research. Those are projects that Gates can see the pronounced benefit from in his expected lifespan. I think that Bill sees money and life in general as transitory and that life extension is just a novel idea the rich toy with. Think of it. Gates could donate a billion dollars to metabolism research and not see a single improved life as the funding gets caught up in countless technical dead ends, or he could send billions to Rhodisa to feed children and overnight see the effects of his goodwill in their faces. I'm sure that some money will be provided to SENS as Kurzweil does have his finger on the pulse of billionaires and some of the malaria research afterburn will affect things like DNA sequencing but Bill is at a point where he is thinking with his heart.

[AgeVivo]

I don't think Gates believes in life extension in the sense of extending lifespans for the sake of doing it

Here is what should be said imo:

It is not true today that most people in the world die from starvation or diseases like malaria.
Instead, two thirds of deaths in the world are age-related. This concerns all countries, not just rich ones: aging is the #1 killer.

In the last years, approaches have emerged to fight aging. As you may have heard, it starts now to be possible to reduce aging in animals. However, such approaches are not popular enough yet to receive the money they deserve, to really improve health of humans all over the world.

Edited by AgeVivo, 22 June 2009 - 01:30 PM.

[solbanger]

I don't think Gates believes in life extension in the sense of extending lifespans for the sake of doing it

Here is what should be said imo:

It is not true today that most people in the world die from starvation or diseases like malaria.
Instead, two thirds of deaths in the world are age-related. This concerns all countries, not just rich ones: aging is the #1 killer.

In the last years, approaches have emerged to fight aging. As you may have heard, it starts now to be possible to reduce aging in animals. However, such approaches are not popular enough yet to receive the money they deserve, to really improve health of humans all over the world.

I'll forward your statement to Bill Gates pronto. Let me see if I still have his email in my contacts list...

[advancedatheist]

Gates could donate a billion dollars to metabolism research and not see a single improved life as the funding gets caught up in countless technical dead ends, or he could send billions to Rhodisa to feed children and overnight see the effects of his goodwill in their faces.

Why do we still have countries in the world which can't solve such basic problems the way other countries have, but depend on random handouts from billionaires?

The handout schemes for childhood nutrition, malaria control, clean water and other public health measures also don't address the underlying weaknesses in these societies. A billionaire can pay to build a clean water system in a poor country as a one-time expense; but if the country doesn't have its act together enough to maintain it using its own human capital and paying for the maintenance out of its own GDP, then after a few years the water system will fall into disrepair.

[Athanasios]

Why do we still have countries in the world which can't solve such basic problems the way other countries have, but depend on random handouts from billionaires?

This question is coming closer to the way Bill Gates thinks. In many of his speeches, he does say why he is targeting what he is. He wants to target problems that are very solvable but no work is being, or likely to be done, on them because there is no economical incentive. He wants to fill in those cracks, which seems to me, a very rational way to approach philanthropy.

Medical research would most closely resemble his educational funding when thought in the above context. While there are systems in place to address these issues, they can be perceived as being broken in some way (as in increased public funding not necessarily increasing end utility), and/or the payoff is too far down the road for people to invest due to economic incentive.

Personally, I think more than just billionaires should seriously consider putting excess wealth towards funding these causes that fall through the economically incentive cracks. Over and over it has been shown that after a certain 'height' in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, money does not increase happiness or security. Yet, many still throw money at entertainment and increasing status, over philanthropy, despite negative utility.

Edited by cnorwood, 22 June 2009 - 06:53 PM.

[bacopa]

Maybe Bill Gates would not be one to contact for our little project. But than again it couldn't hurt right? Perhaps Kurzweil didn't emphasize enough how aging is the number one killer. And maybe he didn't mention the trillions one day that will be saved on medical expenses and health care.

[forever freedom]

I'd like to see the structure of his spendings. I hope the money is being well spent, although i have no say in the matter as its his money after all.

Imagine 50 billion spent in anti aging research... i hope it was my money.. well maybe some day.

[bacopa]

I'd like to see the structure of his spendings. I hope the money is being well spent, although i have no say in the matter as its his money after all.

Imagine 50 billion spent in anti aging research... i hope it was my money.. well maybe some day.

It does seem to be well spent. You should look at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I think it is called. There I believe it talks about his allocation of spending.

[Athanasios]

I'd like to see the structure of his spendings. I hope the money is being well spent...

Like dfowler said, check out the foundation. Also checkout his TED talk.

When Warren Buffet 'gave' them his money, he did so by only giving a percentage of his portfolio each year. He did this because he thinks his holdings will, over the long-term, increase more than the percentage given to the foundation. This would give the foundation a continuous stable stream of an amount of money that they can spend effectively. I imagine Gates would use a similar structure, as Buffet and himself are good buddies and talk a lot about this type of thing.

Edited by cnorwood, 23 June 2009 - 01:39 AM.

[jhowardall]

I don't think this is really anything new, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has been around for something like 15 years and he has made it very clear that his intent is to put the vast majority of his wealth to work in the foundation. And Warren Buffett recently decided to put in much of his fortune as well.

Bill Gates' main causes have seemed to be education and fighting diseases in the third world.

There are so many people living ultra short lives filled with misery and suffering, I really doubt very many charities are going to be interested in putting money towards projects aimed with well-to-do Westerners who want to live forever lol. But lots of medical research is funded charitably and that all contributes to helping us all get a better chance at beating the nasty diseases and ailments which tend to cut things short a lot of the time.

[niner]

Why do we still have countries in the world which can't solve such basic problems the way other countries have, but depend on random handouts from billionaires?

The handout schemes for childhood nutrition, malaria control, clean water and other public health measures also don't address the underlying weaknesses in these societies.

It might be the case that some countries can't solve basic problems precisely because of the problems that the Gates Foundation is addressing. There are a lot of reasons why societies may have fallen apart, like local climate change, epidemic disease, or war and other forms of human stupidity. Regardless of the reason for their current situation, putting them back on the right track means that diseases and parasites need to be dealt with; clean water, food, education, shelter, and health care will need to be in hand. If after all this, there are still structural problems with these societies, then something has to change or they will never succeed. If we are aware of such structural problems in advance, then they should be addressed as early as possible. It might be the case that some societies simply aren't worth saving. It may be better to subsume their members into more functional societies.

[Mind]

Bill Gates asked "anything left on your bucket list?"

Answer: Don't die.

He is doing an ok job of "not dying" so far, but his plans to actually make it happen are poor. Charity is nice, he should be applauded to some extent, but his charitable giving won't directly solve aging.

[Droplet]

Someone here with lots of knowledge and amazing persuasion skills needs to talk to Bill Gates I think. Perhaps they should pick up on and point out what Mind has just said.

[niner]

Bill Gates probably has seven layers of people between him and the outside world. No one can just talk to him. The best bet would probably be a brief but persuasive paper that was heavy on the real honest-to-god science and light on the Kurzweil. You'd need to find a way to insert it into his organization, then you'd have to convince each layer of evaluators before he would actually see it.

[Droplet]

The best bet would probably be a brief but persuasive paper that was heavy on the real honest-to-god science and light on the Kurzweil.

I'm sure that we have someone or a small group of people on this board able to write such a paper. Any volunteers?

[Lister]

Having spent some time doing private security for people like Bill I can say they don’t really have any people between them and the outside world beyond professional channels. When you physically approach them with an idea they may give you an audience like anyone else. The difference is that if they like your idea they’ll say something like “Sound Good! Please forward your information to xyz” at which point you’re in those professional channels.

If they have lots of time and you’ve caught them at a good moment they’ll listen to you; if not they’ll forward you to someone else; timing is everything. If you caught Bill at TED Talks for example he’d likely hear you out.

I BS’d about video games with Charles A. Jeannes the CEO of Goldcorp at one of their stock meetings a few years back. Too bad I didn’t talk to him about longevity!

Really what Bill needs is just a good long conversation about what’s possible with longevity long term. He just needs a seed planted. Sounds like a job for Cobb!