Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from September 30, 2024 Favoriting

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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. In our shift to a digital future, we need alternatives to Big Tech. Homepage: techtonic.fm

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Favoriting September 30, 2024: Tim Schwab, author, "The Bill Gates Problem"

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Today: Tim Schwab, author, “The Bill Gates Problem”

In his book “The Bill Gates Problem,” Tim Schwab takes a critical look at Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Big Tech billionaire wields tremendous worldwide influence in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, public policy, and more.

The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire by Tim Schwab, published by Metropolitan Books

Watch Bill Gates Get Very Uncomfortable When Asked About Jeffrey Epstein (Gizmodo, Sep 22, 2021): “PBS Newshour host Judy Woodruff actually spent a full 10 minutes discussing other issues with Gates before asking the fourth wealthiest person in the world about his relationship to Epstein.”

Why I refused to participate in the Netflix docu-series on Bill Gates by Tim Schwab (Sep 19, 2024): “Who funded the streamer’s newest whitewash of our so-called ‘good billionaire?’”

Escaping the New Gilded Age by Darren Acemoglu (Project Syndicate, Sep 27, 2024): “if the tech sector had not become so central to the economy, and if it was not driven by such strong winner-take-all dynamics (which is partly a matter of choice about how we organize certain markets), today’s tech tycoons would not have become so rich. The fact that Gates and Musk have been taxed less does not make them any wiser, but it certainly has made them wealthier, and thus more influential under the prevailing ‘wealth-is-status’ equilibrium.”

Melinda French Gates to Resign From Gates Foundation (NYT, May 13, 2024)

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Artist Track Images Approx. start time
  Tim Schwab, author, "The Bill Gates Problem"
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting
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  Mark's intro  
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  Interview with Tim Schwab  
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0:02:28 (MP3 | Pop-up)
  Mark's comments  
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0:45:55 (MP3 | Pop-up)
John Dog  Twitter Must Die   Favoriting
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0:54:53 (MP3 | Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar Swag For Life Member 5:48pm
ultradamno:

Mark! Techtonosofties!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 5:59pm
Handy Haversack:

Mark! Sophisticated Techyon Boom Booms!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:00pm
cosmic matrix:

hiya hiya
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
chresti:

Hi Mark and techtonians!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Good evening Mark Hurst and all!!!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Mark! Totally psyched for tonight's show. And yes, I say this every week. 'Cos it's true.
  6:03pm
David (in London):

Evening Mark and all assembled Technoids.
  6:04pm
gabriel:

hey mark and crew, all techtonic or all nothing!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Spikey BXL:

Good evening Mark, all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
coelacanth∅:

Greetings Mark
  6:05pm
ben & Reba:

Hi Mark, thanks from Butler, PA.
  6:05pm
gabriel:

behind the bastards podcast also did a great deep dive on gates
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Bill Gates stole my lunch money!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark & all!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Mark Hurst:

Hi ultra, Handy, cosmic, chresti, WtSG, Wendy, DiL, gabriel, coel, ben&Reba, KfHP, and Bas! Glad you're with us tonight.
  6:08pm
morphe':

Attuned ...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Webhamster Henry:

It's OK to not like Bill Gates.
  6:10pm
yippie:

Bill gates fits right in for the citizens United era
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
chris in the redwoods:

wow! i needed to hear this (and read this book). hi, Mark and everyone.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
tim:

Hi Mark, Tim and everyone! I'm very glad to be here fore his interview.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Let's break down the concept that Gates (or any billionaire) actually "earned" that money. What does this even mean? Why does anyone have this much money? What harms does it cause to other people, the social structure, the political structure, etc, when someone has this much money?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
cosmic matrix:

hi mark! yes i’ve been curious about this fellow for a long time, thanks for ths.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
chris in the redwoods:

my wife has him coming through on a book tour. will arm myself with questions for him. hehehe
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
chris in the redwoods:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:11
*him=Gates
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
tim:

In the late 90s my friend wrote Bill Gates a letter asking him for a million dollars. Bill nor his people never got back to my friend.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Meanwhile, I am now seeing if my library has this book, and if it doesn't, I'm requesting it right now. (I also say this often on Techtonic's comments-page.)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:12
Ah ha! My library does have it. I have placed it on hold. Hooray!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:11
Hello Mark and techies.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:14
Cool! You're going to like this book.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:11
Preach!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

↳ Webhamster Henry @6:09
I don't remember all the details, but Bill Gates had some ideas about education that he wanted to impose, and he's got bupkis for experience in education.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ tim @6:12
See the violence inherent in the system!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
gauche knee:

Mark & all! Stoked for today's show as not trusting Bill Gates seems to be a growing sentiment on the "left" & "right" if my convos with friends & fam in Texas/India/NY Tri-State is any indication
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Hubris does not equal intelligence or efficacy. But, under c(r)apitalism, hubris buys rich jerkoffs the ability to create policy for the rest of us. But I think Tim Schwab just said that, just more politely. haha
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Never trust Gates
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
tim:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:16
When is enough enough?!?!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
spodiodi:

hi, Mark and all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

YES! I'm glad Tim just said "colonialism," because I was just about to write that.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
coelacanth∅:

a bigger problem than the big pharmaceutical companies is the "pharmacy benefit managers"... express scripts; uhg (optum...owned by cigna, an insurance company), "caremark" (cvs)...
these are parasitic organisations at the very heart of prescriptions being unaffordable.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
tim:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:12
I shall follow your lead.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

It's also known as "noblesse oblige."
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
chris in the redwoods:

making not very good software based on/stolen from others, one might add.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:20pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ tim @6:19
Yay! I will always advocate for libraries. They are an enduring public good. One of the last of them.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:20pm
cosmic matrix:

at least he co-authored the code for the TRS-80 model 100. you have to give him that, at least.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
tom tom the pipers son:

i see a small village in a third world country getting all "wicker man" on gates' ass
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
spodiodi:

excuse me
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:19
Oy, don't get me started. I stopped using Microsoft regularly back in 2010, when I switched to Mac OS. At my new library job, I have to use Microsoft again, and HOLY COW, has it deteriorated into a counter-intuitive, overly-complicated system that keeps trying to strong-arm me into using the cloud and AI. I fucking hate it.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
gauche knee:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:12
following you & Tim on this ! I always forget to request to my LOCAL library which tends not to carry tittles like these. Thnx!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
chris in the redwoods:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:23
i'm stuck with em for work, too. gah! booooooo.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ gauche knee @6:23
Yay! You're welcome. Thank you for supporting your local library, and helping them improve their collection to better reflect their patrons' interests and needs. Keep 'em coming!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
tim:

Bono's philanthropy is a lot less annoying after listening to this interview.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:24
Boooooo!
Solidarity, my friend.
This week I'm going to see if I can download Apache Open Office at work so at least my word-processing software is something I can use without cursing.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ tim @6:25
Yet that just doesn't help with the Bono Loathing Quotient. The BLQ is strong.
  6:31pm
Listener Robert:

What did anyone have against, instead of waiving patent rights, having them licensed for a royalty? That way everybody wins. The patent holder collects royalties from the sales profits companies around the world make, and people can buy their needed drugs. Did Gates object to that arrangement? Do you?
  6:31pm
Mitch:

Look - the S&P 500 is up by more than a factor of 5 since Gates left Microsoft. The foundation can make money just sitting there. I don't think if's far to use that as indicator of anything.
  6:32pm
C:

Melinda…
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ C @6:32
is listener Melinda THE Melinda Gates???
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
tim:

I suggest the Gates Foundation fund a vaccine the keeps ego, self-importance, and narcissism in check.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Deano de los Muertos:

Just tuning in, thanks for that welcome, Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Franco Twinkie:

MAN - Victorious over nature. Ron Cobb was a brilliant social critic masquerading as a cartoonist. He was featured in The Los Angeles Free Press when I was a teenager.

A dragon slayer who's all but forgotten.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
chris in the redwoods:

↳ tim @6:34
already exists. its called psychedelics.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Deano de los Muertos @6:34
Welcome welcome, Deano
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
tim:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:35
No wonder Gates isn't throwing money at it then!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:35
Spoken like someone who's never had someone try to talk them into paying an ayahuasca "guide"!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
chris in the redwoods:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:36
true. i'm not into cultural appropriation.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
chresti:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:23
It's a pain in the ass and I curse at it all the time!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
cosmic matrix:

seeing bill gates on a farm would be a strange sight indeed
Avatar 6:38pm
herb.nyc:

Hey. Bill and farmland. Watch, he’s gonna buy our gardens and backyards


(Aside- I’ll be collecting food scraps at NYC’s union sq gmkt on wed, Oct 2, 2-5pm. Feel free to visit, w or w/o scraps. Say “google, get me a discount” and I will succumb to the power of google and comply. Which means $1 discount, or $2 on a multi purchase.

Come between 8am-2 and chat w Stefanie, a bassist and music teacher. She’s way cool)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
ultradamno:

Epstein had quite a collection of these kind of guys
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
tom tom the pipers son:

this is turning into a jimmy saville story times 10
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:41pm
tom tom the pipers son:

"bill will fix it"
Avatar 6:41pm
dk50b:

So I learned of Gates' outsized agriculture influence from the phenomenal Vice series While the Rest of Us Die. It implied the foundation wants to impose the deeply failed philosophy of monocropping.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:44pm
tim:

↳ tom tom the pipers son @6:41
Again, how in THEEE FUCK do dickheads like Gates not know to be a fuckin predator? I know the answer but what a world class a-hole with such a fragile little ego that he needs to sexually exploit people to make himself feel validated. Fuckin shithead.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

They probably thought they were meeting with Juan Epstein. Common mistake.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ Ken From Hyde Park @6:45
it happens to me all the time
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
tim:

↳ Ken From Hyde Park @6:45
True! Who would not want to be one degree of separation away from Arnold Horschach.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:47pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ chris in the redwoods @6:37
WORD
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ tim @6:46
WORD
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ tim @6:44
allegations to be clear, and there's a problematic association. was not implying the alleged abuse was taking place as an exact mirror of saville, but a factor in the machinations of gates
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
Handy Haversack:

And shame on us for still thinking money = talent/goodness/ability/celebrity. Divine right of kings seems to be doing just fine.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
coelacanth∅:

thank you ronald mcdonald reagan for dismantling all the regulations formerly set up to safeguard us from the desperate situation we're in now.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Bas NL:

A couple of millions to WFMU will set you free.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:52pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ coelacanth∅ @6:51
hey coelacanth ...sent you a message
  6:52pm
Choggie:

Bill Gates creeps me TFO. His vaccine and land-grabbing is a one man obsession... it's like some dystopian solo cabal. Cretin. He needs to buy Seattle and fix that delusional bunch of monkeys.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:53pm
cosmic matrix:

LOL
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
ultradamno:

New....nothing else I have...dinner regret
  6:54pm
Choggie:

Plus Epstein: he hooked up with a high end pimp to get his geek ass some jailbait...PERIOD!
  6:54pm
Glistener MW:

“Well, he’s dead.” XD
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ Glistener MW @6:54
yes
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
Handy Haversack:

Thanks, Mark, Tim!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
The Butterman:

Uhhhhh uhhhh hummuna hummuna
I regret having the DINNER. Did I mention it was a DINNER! Not a sex party. A Dinner!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
ultradamno:

I thought he had a kink for coal miners, honest
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

No need to equivocate. The US has an oligarch problem.
  6:56pm
Glistener MW:

Tim Robbins seemed to be having fun playing a Gateslike figure with scenery-chewing gusto in the film “Antitrust”
  6:56pm
Danny in Poughkeepsie:

Thanks Mark for another episode of WTF
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
chresti:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
tom tom the pipers son:

there's something culturally systemic abouit the cration of a bill gates ... he' s not self made
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Thanks, Mark. Harvard dropouts, donate to WFMU!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
cosmic matrix:

well hey. thanks mark and tim.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark! Thanks Tim!
  6:57pm
C:

musicians and dang sports pro-s
  6:57pm
Choggie:

That weirdo was hatched!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
chris in the redwoods:

thanks, Mark and Tim! important stuff as always.
  6:58pm
Listener Robert:

In re Epstein, I don't see why when somebody does both good and bad things, the good things have to be repudiated -- unless the good things REQUIRED the bad things.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Mike Sin:

The main problem is that so many folks view the oligarchy as positive because they are in some deluded dream that it's something to strive for.
Avatar 6:58pm
Fredericks:

internationaltimes.it...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Deano de los Muertos:

Truly is the greatest radio station in the world, thank you Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
coelacanth∅:

Thanks Mark
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

Here we go. I've got a pile of unread books, and now one more that I gotta buy.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
bleubombersune:

Mark interesting interview with Tim Schwab. Always wondered if major scientific journals were influenced by outside pressure to not publish scientific research that would be contrary to their interest. Thanks Mark All stay safe and be well
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Thank you Mark Hurst!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:02pm
tom tom the pipers son:

thanks mark
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