Daily Productive Sharing 1245 - Close the Gates Foundation in 2045

Dr Selfie -

One helpful tip per day:)

To mark its 25th anniversary, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced plans to wind down operations over the next 20 years. In an interview with The New York Times, Bill Gates reflected on the foundation’s legacy and its future:

  1. Founded in 2000 when Melinda French Gates was 35 and Bill Gates, then the world’s richest man, was 44, the foundation quickly became one of the most influential philanthropic institutions in the world. It has invested over $100 billion into underfunded areas like global public health, helping save tens of millions of lives.
  2. Gates pledged to continue contributing generously—over $200 billion in total—over the next two decades, with a primary focus on health and human development.
  3. A study in The Lancet estimated that U.S. cuts to PEPFAR, a global AIDS prevention program, could result in 500,000 additional child deaths by 2030. Nature warned that a complete withdrawal of U.S. global aid could lead to 25 million excess deaths over 15 years.
  4. Longtime supporter Warren Buffett recently announced he will no longer contribute to the Gates Foundation, opting instead to pass his wealth to a family-run charitable trust.
  5. “We invent new tools, make them cheap, and scale them,” Gates said.
  6. “We’re doing our best to push these changes forward, and I’ll be a vocal advocate. But the resistance is real.”
  7. “Looking 20 years ahead, I still believe we’ll reduce child mortality, even in tough times—because the Golden Rule hasn’t been repealed.”
  8. “It’s immoral not to tackle tuberculosis. It’s immoral not to fight AIDS. It’s immoral not to eliminate malaria.”
  9. “I’m saddened by rising defense budgets, because those funds could be used to improve lives—both domestically and for the world’s poorest. It’s a tragedy.”
  10. “If we aimed to be a perpetual foundation, we’d only spend $6 billion a year. Now we can spend $9 billion.”
  11. “I believe in the power of example. More wealthy people should give now—we’ve seen some encouraging signs. And I hope wealthy people 20 years from now will be even more committed to philanthropy.”
  12. “What a strange world—where incentive systems fail to direct resources toward things that truly matter for humanity. It’s both a tragedy and a missed opportunity.”
  13. “We pushed hard for people to be open to GMOs. Where we really succeeded was in the widespread acceptance of gene editing—an enormous win for the world.”
  14. “Africa’s agricultural productivity could easily be doubled. It currently stands at only one-third that of Europe or the U.S.”
  15. “I have to rely on the foundation’s ability to bring AI into healthcare, agriculture, and education in poor countries—jump-starting them by at least a decade compared to doing nothing.”
  16. Gates concluded: “So you might call me an optimist, but I think I’m just a realist. Based on the data, the next 20 years will be better. This wealth should be returned to society in the most impactful way possible.”

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最近，盖茨基金会宣布其将在未来 20 年内逐步关闭，这也标志着其成立 25 周年的纪念。《纽约时报》就此采访了盖茨：

  1. 该基金会成立于 2000 年，当时梅琳达·弗兰奇·盖茨只有 35 岁，比尔·盖茨则是 44 岁并身为全球首富。基金会迅速成长为全球最具影响力的慈善组织之一，彻底重塑了全球公共卫生格局，向原本资金匮乏的领域投入了超过 1000 亿美元，帮助挽救了数千万人的生命。
  2. 比尔·盖茨承诺未来 20 年继续提供慷慨援助，累计超过 2000 亿美元，主要聚焦健康与人类发展。
  3. 《柳叶刀》的一项研究估算，如果美国削减其全球艾滋病防治项目 PEPFAR 的资金，到 2030 年可能导致 50 万名儿童因艾滋相关原因死亡。《自然》期刊指出，如果美国完全停止对全球援助的资助，在未来 15 年内可能会造成约 2500 万人额外死亡。
  4. 长期支持者沃伦·巴菲特近期宣布，他将在去世后把大部分财富交由其子女管理的慈善信托处理，不再追加对盖茨基金会的捐赠。
  5. “我们发明了新工具，我们让它们变得廉价，并将它们推广出去。”
  6. “我们会尽力推动这些改变，我会成为一个倡导者。但当前的阻力确实不小。”
  7. “如果我们放眼未来 20 年，我仍相信我们会减少儿童死亡率，尽管形势严峻，因为‘黄金法则’并没有被废除。”
  8. “不解决结核病是不道德的。不解决艾滋病是不道德的。不消灭疟疾是不道德的。”
  9. “我对各国提升国防预算感到难过，因为这意味着这些钱将无法用于改善人类福祉——无论是在本国，还是帮助最贫困的人。这是一种悲剧。”
  10. “如果我们目标是成为‘永久基金会’，我们每年只能花 60 亿美元；但现在我们可以花 90 亿美元。”
  11. “我确实相信好的榜样能影响他人。我认为现在的富人应该更多投身慈善，我们已经有一些这样的例子。我也相信 20 年后的富人应该更加积极地参与慈善事业。”
  12. “这是个多么奇怪的世界啊，激励机制竟然不能把资源分配到这些真正攸关人类命运的事情上。这既是悲剧，也是机会的错失。”
  13. “我们曾努力呼吁人们对转基因技术持开放态度。我们真正取得成功的是——基因编辑技术已经被广泛接受，这对世界来说是极大的好事。”
  14. “我们完全有能力将非洲的农业产能翻倍。目前他们的农业效率仅为欧洲和美国的三分之一。”
  15. “我必须依赖基金会的能力，在贫困国家寻找合作伙伴，把人工智能引入他们的医疗、农业和教育体系——比不干预的情况至少提前十年。”
  16. 盖茨说：“所以你可以说我天生乐观，但我认为我只是现实主义者。我是基于事实得出这个判断：未来 20 年，情况将变得更好。这笔财富应该以最有可能带来积极影响的方式回馈社会。”

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