Letter

In response to Bill Gates knows the climate and poverty facts but misses the politics

Climate and the pursuit of capital

Peter Sainsbury, who generously credits Bill Gates with “unlimited access to information and experts” is right to conclude with a ‘fail’ for Gates “for your faith in the market and capitalism (even though you never use the word) as the routes to salvation”.

After basing a decade-long warning of climate disaster on that same access to information and experts, Gates now says “we should measure success by our impact on human welfare more than our impact on the global temperature.” As Peter says, why not do both?

No doubt the impact on human welfare through his global vaccination programs in low-income countries has been great, but even this is problematic; critics argue it has failed to develop sustainable local infrastructure and expertise.

Is it an inconvenient truth that Microsoft is restarting Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 nuclear reactor in order to power an AI centre with “clean energy”? AI’s “impact on human welfare” is not looking rosy. Meanwhile, tech billionaires are building luxurious bunkers in preparation for societal collapse.

— Fiona Colin from Melbourne