Why Bill Gates is a vital Beacon for value and healing power of Science
written by john c ashworth
One of the first things you discover upon entering graduate school is the focus and importance of scientific study. Yes. This begins with your undergraduate work, but once you get to graduate school, this level of intensity and intimate relationship with the science in your field, and the importance and value of science as a whole, begins to take on a whole new meaning.
The problem in today's tightly contested and twisted politically altered pursuit of solutions to the covid-19 pandemic, is that according to the US Census, only 13.1 percent of us possess a graduate degree. Yes, these numbers are on the rise and that's good, but it's not nearly good enough when you suddenly find yourself wading into a political climate and crisis that is wrought with the perils of ignorance.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, an organization devoted to science and to stopping the spread of diseases like malaria, polio, and HIV in underdeveloped countries, provides a beacon of hope for our ability to prevent ignorance from undermining our evolution. His work has been focused in large part on bringing vaccinations, cures, and viable supply chains to poor countries often ignored by Big Pharma specifically because they are so much harder to mine for profit.
"If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war," Gates said in his TED talk in 2015 which warned of the real possibilities of the pandemic we are living through today.
The Next Outbreak? We're not ready
Bill Gates is an expert on the subject and that expertise is grounded solidly in science. Anthony Fauci and others rely on him and his expertise heavily right now. Unfortunately, when Gates warned of the potential of what we are living through today back in 2015, no one would listen; and he now laments his inability to be more persuasive. No one wanted to listen and instead we continued to spend a lot more time and money on protecting ourselves from the next nuclear war, rather than protecting ourselves from this vicious thief we now know as covid-19.
What I find even more disturbing than these facts is the story I read this morning in the post and that I've also referenced above that reported on reactions to Gates' comments on twitter regarding Trump's decision to halt funding for the World Health Organization.
Of course, when only 13 out of 100 people have taken the opportunity for the pursuit of higher-level education, there is reason for these unfortunate realities. I simply felt compelled today to point them out.
Following Gates' twitter post, the uneducated and uninformed conspiracy mobs on social media got to work spreading rumors that Bill himself had started the pandemic and that he is mining the crisis for profit and leveraging it for global surveillance and population control. Keep in mind, Bill is the second richest man in the entire world.
Naturally, the State Department has reported that these conspiracy theories are also being amplified by the Russian government as it continues to spread its own form of disease by means of misinformation through state proxy websites. All of which spreads by only one means. A sick ignorance and lack of ability to think critically about the world around you. A phenomenon caused by a lack of education, formal or otherwise. Gates has become an expert in this field by his voracious appetite for reading and study and his strong beliefs in the power of science.
Where have your opinions coming from?
-John
For your convenience, here is a list of all articles referenced for this post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/02/bill-gates-coronavirus-science/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/04/21/no-bill-gates-did-not-engineer-covid-19-pandemic-other-lessons-fake-news/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/05/state-department-face-fresh-questions-senate-about-coronavirus-misinformation-online/
