Bill Gates and other wealthy individuals who spend vast sums on research often back some types of solution over others, according to the “Bill Gates problem.”
Tim Schwab, an investigative journalist, explores this concern, focusing on Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and set up the William H. Gates Foundation (now the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) in 1994.
The foundation spends billions of dollars each year (US$7 billion in 2022) on global projects aimed at a range of challenges, from improving health outcomes to reducing poverty — with pledges totalling almost $80 billion since its inception.
Similarly restricted views exist in other areas, too. In the energy sector, for instance, Gates flouts comparative performance trends to back exorbitantly expensive nuclear power instead of much more affordable, reliable, and rapidly improving renewable sources and energy storage.
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Bill Gates and other wealthy individuals who spend vast sums on research often back some types of solution over others. Credit: Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu/Getty
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