What I loved about Paul Allen, By Bill Gates

Their 25 year anniversary book was a fantastic read. All about their quest with Micro Soft.

 

Thanks for your reply; but it sounds like the conference was more about recruiting faith community to Gates' charitable outreach than his "religious obligations". Atheists can and do work with believers around common goals (speak from experience, some of my best friends are believers).

 

The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief.[148]

In the same interview, Gates said:

I agree with people like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths. Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm – not all – that religion used to fill. But the mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and there's no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view [laughs]. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know.[148]

-those are bill gates qoutes.

His wife is definitely catholic, and very open about it.

If you research him, he was raised a christian, and kind of claims catholism but who knows. He doesnt seem to talk about it a lot.

He and his wife have said in many interviews that with their foundation they love to work hand in hand with faith based groups but that they dont directly fund any of them, they focus their resources on other things, they dont feel like their mission is to spread any particular faith but to work towards aiding people in need with other things.

 

I don't want to sidetrack into theological debate but I absolutely disagree that religion is needed for morality: my ecexperien has been closer to the opposite.

 

I wasn't quoting that to get into a discussion about it, there was just question as to what Bill Gates believed. Chances are there won't be any minds changed about that stuff on an s2 forum.

 

Many sectors of organized religion have cultish characteristics. This is one of them.

 

I have friends on both side of the tracks. I believe in god but I am not part of any group. I try to live my life by the golden rule and a poem by Rudyard Kipling called "If". I believe the world would be a better place if we all tried that.

 

Morals have nothing to do with religion.

The thing with morality is it's the difference between right and wrong. What's right to one person may be wrong, or not as right to another.

 

Disagree. Start by trying to treat other people, animals, planet with respect. Sometimes we all fall short because humans do. Acknowledge, try to do better.

No need for gods. Realize you have one chance at life. You won't be perfect. But you probably won't laugh at sexual assaults, say poor people deserve it, make excuses for murdering a dissident journalist, and you won't be a Lakers fan.

 

I dont believe this discussion belongs here. This was about Bill Gates thoughts on PA which brought up what BG believed trying to get into morality and religion is a discussion for the off topic section.

 

So sport fishing equals bad morals? Not recycling or working at a pollution inducing factory equals bad morals?

 

Every thread gets derailed.

 

It's nice to know that now Gates acknowledges how crucial Allen was to his success; maybe he should have also included an apology for some of the stuff he tried to pull in the past: "Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has accused his former business partner Bill Gates of plotting to dilute Allen's stake in the world's largest software company before he left in 1983, and tried to buy his share of the company on the cheap."
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/h...at-me-microsoft-cofounder-20110331-1cgu3.html

 

That's the evil history the company is famous for, which is what makes it so strange how good both Allen and Gates turned out to be. Water under the bridge, I guess?

 

PA shreds his strat (more or less) : https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...101c74d6f09a3de89015baab36344b66&action=click

 

Allen probably went all Eduardo Savarin on Gates before he left. But who knows?