Comments on: Bill Gates Lets Loose Mosquitoes at TED

By: Amit Chowdhry

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:39:20 +0000

ZING!!!!

By: xil

xil — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:09:25 +0000

it’s not the first time Mr. Gates has let loose a lot of bugs!
Windows® say no more.

By: Seattle Scientists Developing Mosquito Laser Gun With Target Lock

Seattle Scientists Developing Mosquito Laser Gun With Target Lock — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:20:08 +0000

[...] this year’s TED conference, Bill Gates let loose mosquitoes that he carried in a jar. Gates did this to make a point that many of us are fortunate that we do not live in areas that [...]

By: WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction! « aurum celest

WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction! « aurum celest — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:27:22 +0000

[...] next time Mr. Gates sets loose a swarm of mosquitoes in a conference room… he should set them loose in front of investors in a room equipped with [...]

By: Sherry Reson

Sherry Reson — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:18:44 +0000

Seems a very smart – if tremendously annoying – way to generate a visceral response. How better to internalize the very real threat of mosquito borne viruses?

By: Sam Diener

Sam Diener — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:01:58 +0000

I certainly oppose Microsoft’s persistently nefarious corporate behavior, and am wary of Gates for that reason, but this act of street theater sounds like it might really get people’s attention about the need for funds to stop malaria in a way that just giving a standard Impress (oops! this is Gates we’re talking about – I mean Powerpoint) presentation would never accomplish. Bill Gates gets in touch with his inner Abbie Hoffman, whodathunkit?

Abbie Hoffman, who along with colleagues in 1967 showered dollar bills onto the New York Stock Exchange to expose the insanity of a system designed around a mad scramble after dollars, once said,
“I tried to reach people. It was not acting. It was not some media muppet show. That is a cynical interpretation of history. […] Guerrilla theater is probably the oldest form of political commentary. The ideas just keep getting recycled. Showering money on Wall Street brokers was the TV-age version of driving the money changers from the temple.”
http://www.strange-loops.com/blog/?p=51

By: Ariel

Ariel — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:18:40 +0000

If Bill Gates wants to reduce malaria, how does releasing mosquitoes help? He’s done some dumb things before, but this tops them all. Did he really thing that giving people mosquito bites would be more effective than a nice keynote presentation???