Interesting, thoughtful stories

[PsiPhiGrrrl]

@anon61221983

the idea that government can’t solve problems, and therefore we should depend on billionaires taking bold action in our best interest in very much a libertarian article of faith.

@anon61221983

we do need to take bold action on climate change, and that we do need governments taking charge of that, because it’s our collective expertise that is making that up. They are not just pulling on our collective financial resources, but also on our collective knowledge base, too.

Too true, and thanks to people believing in the “bold action” model in the past, now we have more real-world examples of the flaws and consequences of that approach:

Grifters

@BakerB raised an interesting question about the Gates Foundation, and it led to this: Gates Foundation outcomes are worse than I ever imagined: https://www.educationviews.org/bill-gates-and-his-failed-education-initiatives/ How did this go on for so long? Due to lack of oversight, now there are new problems that will require years of effort and more funds to fix. Of course, the folks who profited from all this aren’t concerned about any of that.

Another lesson about this came from failures with education projects. Expert input and oversight are crucial in projects like this, but that’s not really the strong suit of people used to acquiring wealth through disruption and enforcing secrecy to maintain ownership or protect their sources of profit.