Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III is a software developer, business leader, investor, and philanthropist,While Gates has undeniably done great non-profit work in many fields, some have argued that his philanthropy benefits him monetarily or contradicts his investments in big companies, leading many to refer to him as a "philanthrocapitalist". His donations have sincerely helped save many lives, but sometimes also filled his own pocket. There is heated debate on these topics; however, this RationalWiki page only lists and debunks some of the more conspiratorial views targeted at Gates. You are free to talk about it in the talk page. best known for being the co-founder of Microsoft, ranked by Forbes as the wealthiest man in the world from 1995 to 2010 and 2013 to 2017, and for his philanthropy in sanitation, water availability, polio, and farming. Besides all this, he has often been a target of various population control conspiracy theories.
==Vaccinations==
===His polio vaccine paralysed 496,000 children in India!===
This claim seems to have originated from prominent anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy, Jr., who cites a 2018 study stating that "a total of 640,000 children developed NPAFP in the years 2000–2017, suggesting that there were an additional 491,000 paralyzed children above our expected numbers for children with NPAFP".Correlation between Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Rates with Pulse Polio Frequency in India by Rachana Dhiman et al. (2018) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15(8):1755. doi:10.3390/ijerph15081755. The study claimed to be proof of paralysed children in India by Bill Gates' polio vaccine.Where the extra 4,000 came from is unknown. NPAFP stands for 'Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis'.
This does not directly support the claim, and if Kennedy had cared to go down in the paper a little further, the study debunks his own claim, stating:
See: “Correlation does not imply causation”.
The study was slammed by critics for having “questionable” inferences, and “should be considered spurious unless proved otherwise by further study and analysis using more rigorous methods”.Comment on Dhiman, R. et al. Correlation of Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Rate with Pulse Polio Frequency in India. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1755 Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;16(1):13. Published 2018 Dec 21. doi:10.3390/ijerph16010013 PubMed Some of the “important variables” left ignored in the study that “might have affected the validity of the correlations” are:
The authors responded to these criticisms, but noted a few key caveats, including that "it is possible that new neurotropic enteroviruses colonizing the gut may induce paralysis." They also explicitly stated that:Reply to Comment on Dhiman, R. et al. Correlation of Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Rate with Pulse Polio Frequency in India by Dhiman R, Prakash SC, Sreenivas V, Puliyel J. in Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1755. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;16(1):63. Published 2018 Dec 27. doi:10.3390/ijerph16010063
Unfortunately, the majority of Kennedy’s sheep are unable to understand such terminology or have the ability to research any of the claims made by him.
The claim that Gates and polio vaccines are responsible for the rise in AFP, along with related claims, has been debunked by numerous fact checkers.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wasn’t kicked out of India (30th Jun 2020) Full Fact.Did Bill Gates-backed Polio Vaccine Paralyse Children In India? (22 May 2020 7:53 AM) AFP via BOOM.Gates Foundation targeted with misleading claims about India polio vaccine campaign (22 July 2020 21:06) AFPFact Check: Were 496,000 Children In India Paralyzed Between 2000 & 2017 From "Bill Gates Polio Vaccine"? by Aditi Chattopadhyay (24 May 2020 / Updated: 26 May 2020 7:22 PM) The Logical Indian.Fact Check: 496,000 Children In India Were NOT Paralyzed From 'Bill Gates Polio Vaccine' From 2000-2017 by Wayne Drash (Apr 23, 2020) Lead Stories.Fact Check: Conspiracy theory says Bill Gates-backed polio vaccine disabled 47,000 kids by Chayan Kundu (August 4, 2020. Updated: August 4, 2020 14:08 IST) India TodayAnti-vaxxers spread conspiracy about Bill Gates and India’s polio vaccination by Daniel Funke (April 23, 2020) PolitiFact. While it is true that the observed incidence of NPAFP cases increased in the late 2000s and has stayed relatively high, this doesn’t mean the polio vaccine was necessarily the cause. The funding of charities boosted polio vaccinations as well as better diagnosis and reach of healthcare. The BBC reported that monitoring of cases has greatly improved, as well as that polio is not the sole cause of AFP. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has also reported that acute flaccid paralysis has causes far beyond polio, from Guillain-Barré syndrome to transverse myelitis to snake bite:The Global Polio Eradication Initiative Other countries, including the UK, have also observed increased reports of unexplained AFP.Information on the reporting, investigation and management of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).
Although the polio vaccine can itself result in cases of vaccine-associated paralytic polio, the rate is low according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).Vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) and vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) (February 2015) World Health Organization. Approximately 1 in 2.7 million doses of the oral polio vaccine is associated with paralytic polio. Using this figure, as well as WHO's report that 10 billion doses were administered from 2005 to 2015, the expected number of children paralyzed worldwide over that decade is 3,700 — still a tragic number, but far from 496,000. In order for this to be a reasonable number, 1.3 trillion doses would need to have been administered in the limited 7 year time. Earth's population is currently about 8 billion people.
The World Health Organization has said oral polio vaccine (OPV) is an extremely safe and effective tool for immunising children against the disease. 
Since the eradication of polio in India, there have been some scares of tainted vaccines. But data from the WHO show that, between 2000 and 2017, there were 17 cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus.
===His MenAfriVac paralysed 50 children in Africa!===
This claim originates from Candace Owens, who tweeted: “Bill Gates & @WHO have used African & Indian tribal children to experiment w/ non-FDA approved drug vaccines”[https://archive.is/KW0nl Bill Gates & @WHO have used African & Indian tribal children to experiment w/ non-FDA approved drug vaccines.
Both countries raised red flags about the unethical nature of these trials and were ignored. Here is an academic review that everyone should read.] by Candace Owens (10:20 AM - 15 Apr 2020) Twitter (archived from 15 Apr 2020 23:47:43 UTC). referring to Bill Gates and the WHO as “vaccine criminals”.
A peer-reviewed study from PMC stated:
To repeat: According to the 2015 evaluation, the incident was a case of "mass psychogenic illness", meaning that the causes were mental or emotional rather than physical. The evaluation found that "all cases were examined by physicians, who did not find cases of paralysis, and all of the affected individuals recovered without incident". The symptoms were triggered in part by “the occurrence of crises among other patients”, and even an unvaccinated child complained of similar illness. Chad’s Ministry of Public Health said the “mass psychogenic phenomenon” was also known as “collective hysteria” or “collective obsessive behaviour”.
The Chad government said of the issue that “all the different medical examinations performed on the patients were normal”.Chad says no link between sick kids and meningitis shot (22 Jan, 2013) AFP via MedicalXpress Not only did physicians find no cases of paralysis, but all the children recovered. A Lancet study on meningitis vaccinations in Chad also referred to the Gouro incident: "Coverage in the last phase of the vaccination campaign fell after reports of adverse events after vaccination, concerns that were subsequently shown to be unfounded".
This was fact checked by Africa Check,No, 50 children not paralysed by ‘Gates-backed’ meningitis vaccine (01:42 | 26th May 2020) AfricaCheck and The Dispatch Fact CheckDid Bill Gates Test Unapproved Vaccines on Children in Africa? by Alec Dent (Apr 22 2020) The Dispatch Fact Check and was reported on by QuilleteCandace Owens Is Dangerously Misinformed about Vaccine by Matt Johnson (April 20, 2020) Quillete and Fogarty International Center.MenAfriVac vaccine slashes meningitis cases in Africa by Karin Zeitvogel (Ma /June 2016 | Volume 15, Issue 3) from Fogarty
===His tetanus vaccine caused infertility in women!===
This claim has been debunked by Africa Checkhttps://africacheck.org/2016/05/25/analysis-why-does-an-old-false-claim-about-tetanus-vaccine-safety-refuse-to-die/ and Snopes,Is Tetanus Vaccine Spiked with Sterilization Chemicals? by David Mikkelson (10 Nov, 2014. Updated:18 April 2018) Snopes and reported on by Retraction Watch,https://retractionwatch.com/2018/01/30/second-time-researchers-retract-republish-vaccine-paper/ BBC,https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29594091 WHO and the Washington Post.
===His PATH vaccine killed seven girls in India!===
:See the main articles on this topic at Wikipedia: and 
The Gates Foundation helped to fund the Program for Appropriate Technology and Health (PATH) HPV vaccination program, and while the program was suspended following the deaths of seven vaccinated girls, none of these deaths was ultimately found to be related to the vaccine.Roy, Shreyashi. India Suing Bill Gates? No, Viral Facebook Post Makes False Claims. The Quint. April 27, 2020. Causes of death included suicide by organophosphorus consumption, drowning, malaria, and a snake bite.Reuters Staff. False claim: Bill Gates faces trial in India for testing vaccines on children. Reuters. May 19, 2020.
====The Indian government is arresting him for this!====
The Gates Foundation has not been sued by the Indian government over the PATH vaccination program.
===The Italian government is arresting him!===
This claim originated with a May 14, 2020 Italian parliamentary sessionReuters Staff. Fact check: Italian government has not called for Bill Gates arrest. Reuters. May 26, 2020. from parliament member Sara Cunial who gave a speech in which she called for the arrest of Gates.Evon, Dan. Is Italy Calling for Bill Gates’ Arrest? Snopes. May 18, 2020.Czopek, Madison. The Italian government doesn’t want to arrest Bill Gates. PolitiFact. May 22, 2020. She also made references to debunked conspiracy theories, that Gates is using vaccines to sterilize women, that he is using vaccines to implant microchips, and that 5G is responsible for spreading disease including also a fabricated quote from Gates. Other members of parliament objected during the speech,Chattopadhyay, Aditi. Fact Check: No, Italy Is Not Calling For Bill Gates' Arrest. The Logical Indian. May 26, 2020. and the call for an arrest was never endorsed by the Italian government. No actions have been made against Gates.Tlis, Fatima. Boosted by Russia, A Viral Video Falsely Claims Italy Wants Bill Gates Arrested. Polygraph. May 19, 2020.
==COVID-19==
===Bill Gates predicted this in Event 201!===
Event 201 was an exercise simulating the outbreak of a novel coronavirus, held over 3.5 hours on October 18, 2019.About. Center for Health Security.The Event 201 scenario. Center for Health Security. It was hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the Gates Foundation and World Economic Forum, and was the third pandemic simulation hosted by the center since 2001.Brown, Matthew. Fact check: A Bill Gates-backed pandemic simulation in October did not predict COVID-19. USA Today. March 26, 2020. While the word "coronavirus" may at first glance elicit alarm, the novel virus considered in the simulation was modeled on SARS, and did not closely resemble the COVID-19 virus. Coronaviruses are not a monolithic group, and the group includes the viruses responsible for SARS, MERS, and the common cold,Event 201 didn’t predict the Covid-19 pandemic. Full Fact. April 27, 2020. in addition to that responsible for COVID-19. Given that coronaviruses have been responsible for multiple outbreaks of severe disease in recent decades, it is not surprising that the Center for Health Security would choose a scenario involving one. This argument is similar to claiming that a school principal was behind the burning of a school since she did a fire drill 6 months before it.
===Bill Gates has put microchips in coronavirus vaccine!===
It was claimed on Facebook that patent number 060606 was for a microchip to be inserted into people's bodies.Patent application 060606 does not mention inserting microchips into the body by Rachael Krishna (28 May 2020) Full Fact. There was in fact a Microsoft patent application number W0/2020/060606, but it did not mention implanting humans with microchips.1. WO2020060606 - Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data Patentscope.Explained: "Quantum Dots" - Storing medical information below the skin’s surface (Apr 18, 2020) Metabunk.
===Bill Gates patented the coronavirus!===
The Gates Foundation does not have a patent for the COVID-19 virus.Mahadevan, Alex. The Gates Foundation does not have a patent for the coronavirus. Poynter. April 24, 2020.A patent for the coronavirus spreading in Wuhan was not applied for in 2015. Full Fact. January 27, 2020.
===Bill Gates doesn’t wear a mask===
==Life==
===Bill Gates isn’t a doctor!===
Bill Gates has become an outspoken figure in the realm of disease epidemics, agriculture,AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and sanitation.WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation However, Bill Gates does not have a conventional medical degree, nor does he claim to be a medical expert; he initially pursued a pre-law major in college, but dropped out after two years. Nevertheless, Gates is clever, well read, and used to directing large groups of people, the latter of which is important for his healthcare work. He claims no ability to treat single patients, but he can arrange the delivery of medicines (recommended by doctors) to literally millions of people. Donald Trump also lacks a scientific degree, but Bill Gates does the opposite of what Trump does: he listens to experts and helps propagate the information they supply, instead of attempting to look smarter than they are and suggesting some very dangerous ideas. A degree is not required to fund research, donate to charity, or invest in innovation. Due to his accolades, Bill has been awarded several honorary degrees, both medical and legal.
===Bill Gates refused to vaccinate his kids!===
Bill Gates did not refuse to vaccinate his kids.Dupuy, Beatrice. Bill Gates did not refuse to vaccinate his children. AP. May 6, 2020.Reuters Staff. False claim: Bill Gates refused to vaccinate his children. Reuters. April 29, 2020.Ianelli, Vincent. Did Bill Gates Vaccinate His Own Kids? Vaxopedia. April 23, 2019.Hoax claim that ‘Bill Gates refused to vaccinate his own children’. Africa Check. April 11, 2019.
===Bill Gates travelled to Jeffrey Epstein’s island 17 times!===
Bill Gates met Epstein multiple times, including after he had already been convicted for sex crimes,Flitter, Emily and James B. Stewart. Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past. The New York Times. October 12, 2019. but flight logs indicate that he never travelled to Epstein's island.False claim: Bill Gates traveled to Epstein’s island multiple times. Reuters. Bill's ex-wife, Melinda, was not happy that he ever dealt with Epstein in any case, and cited it in a 2022 CBS This Morning interview as one among "many" factors contributing to their eventual divorce.Emily Kirkpatrick (March 3, 2022). "Melinda Gates Says Bill Gates's Work with “Abhorrent” Jeffrey Epstein Led to Divorce". Vanity Fair.
===Bill Gates stole MS-DOS code from QDOS!===
This is blatantly false,Why it is said that Bill gates stole MS-DOS from Gary Kildall and GUI from Xerox PARC?, QuoraWhere would Bill Gates be if his mom was not on the board of directors at IBM and Gates was not able to purchase a ripped-off version of Gary Kindall's operating system?, Quora and an obvious ad hominem.
 lawyer at the time, Gerry Davis, said that the company's forensic researchers found that infringed on DRI's intellectual property. But DRI never pursued legal action against Microsoft or . Kildall died in 1994, but the rumor that Microsoft copied his creation persisted.
Bill Gates (at Microsoft) sold an operating system to IBM and reaped then-unimaginable rewards, producing speculation as to whether the code was stolen from (QDOS).
Kildall maintained that , and subsequently , had been directly copied from CP/M and thus infringed on his copyright. Davis claimed that forensic experts had proven that MS-DOS had been copied from CP/M, but that in 1981 there was no way to go to court over copyright infringement and get a judgment. The latter claim, at least, was found to be untrue. Just one year earlier, Congress had passed the Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980, which made copyright protection of software explicit. That DRI did not take the battle to court at the time suggests that the accusation was baseless. Microsoft has stated that its hands were clean.
 examined the code in question using a set of tools he developed for detecting copyright violations in software, and in 2012 he published his findings in the pages of .Did Bill Gates steal the heart of MSDOS? He didn't find any evidence that MS-DOS copied code from CP/M (QDOS).Code Correlation Comparison of the DOS and CP/M Operating Systems Zeidman, Bob. (2014). Journal of Software Engineering and Applications. 7. 10.4236/jsea.2014.76048.
How Zeidman did it and the real history behind it is extensively documented on the pages of IEEE Spectrum and the Journal of Software Engineering and Applications.
There is a $100,000 Prize if you are able to prove that MS-DOS was copied from QDOS.$100,000 Prize If You Can Find This Secret Command in DOS: Expert says system calls, but not source code, were copied from CP/M to MS-DOS. But there's $100,000 if you can prove he's wrong by Tekla S. Perry (06 Aug 2016 19:00 GMT)
===Bill Gates Rules For Teens===
An often circulated apocryphal story purports a list of 11 or more "rules" that Gates supposedly stated during a commencement speech at a high school graduation. Among it contains notions of "Life is not fair. Get used to it.", "The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does", "Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t.", and the prize "Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them." This is often popular among conservatives who frequently complain about young people, political correctness, participation trophies and the like.
The problem is that Gates never said any of it. The actual source of the list is the 1996 book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, Or Add. by conservative author Charles J. Sykes. While the list was originally circulated from his book, someone along the line decided to attach Gates name to it figuring that the list would be more profound if it were to come from someone as incredibly successful as Gates, as opposed to some cranky writer that few people have heard of.Some Rules Kids Won’t Learn in SchoolSnopes
===Bill Gates made a deal with the devil!===
A chain email in the 90s to the 2000s branded Gates as the Antichrist or at least having sold his soul to the devil, with the phrase "BILL GATES III" in ASCII spuriously calculated to equate to 666;httpjoke - Internet E-Mail Computer Humor while the ASCII code for "BILL GATES" does add up, it all falls through with the "III" part, as the code for the uppercase I is 73.ASCII Code - The extended ASCII tableHidden code in Microsoft Windows says Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ-Fiction! The emails also went on to claim that the Easter egg hidden in Microsoft Excel 95 was developed with sinister intent for Gates to control the world, and its creepy aesthetic fuelled speculation over Gates' supposed satanic connections.Gaming Urban Legends That Will Keep You Up At Night However, the Excel minigame was merely written as a fun little bonus by the developers in their spare time as a hidden credits screen with the names and portraits of those who worked on Excel 95, also serving as a homage to the first-person shooter , a game which does contain overtly satanic themes. Ironically enough, Gates himself appeared in a promotional video for Doom 95 which was shown to attendees at a 1995 Microsoft convention, where he discussed about Windows 95 and DirectX's advantages over developing video games in MS-DOS, the Windows 95 port of Doom being the flagship title.Bill Gates Doom
While the email was an obvious shitpost (not unlike the similarly-structured 666 hoax involving the much-reviled children's character ), the antichrist speculation regarding Bill Gates even went to the point where some news outlets such as in the Philippines aired sensationalised articles such as in the paranormal schlockumentary Verum Est, which ran a segment discussing Microsoft's supposed satanic connections (besides similar antichrist rumours against the late Pope John Paul II).Velasquez, Tony. Kampon ng Kadiliman Verum Est! Totoo Ba ito?. ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 28 July 2022
Most viewers unsurprisingly drank ABS-CBN's Kool-Aid and took to the anti-Gates crap as gospel, apparently unable to pick up a litany of factual errors and outright lies the show peddled. Gates was far from the "inventor of computer software"–not by a long shot, though to be fair his prominence in the computer industry made him a poster child and is therefore easily misattributed by the uninformed; he did programming work since his teens for one, but one of the few pieces of commercial software credited to him was , a rudimentary driving game written in as a demo that came with the original IBM PC, on top of him co-developing . The "Hall of Tortured Souls" title refers to the Excel minigame, and is not part of the antichrist calculation. And even without any reverse engineering involved, it is clear that Excel or any other Microsoft software would NOT contain any code that somehow taps into computer systems and takes control of them unless modified or explicitly found to do so, e.g. the controversial data collection scheme in Windows 10 and later (which can be neutered if not completely disabled anyway), and the more recent AI-powered Copilot feature in Windows 11. ABS-CBN later ran ads for Microsoft some years after they aired said fake news reports which arguably served more to boost their ratings through sheer gossip than anything factual.
==See also==
*James Corbett, who promotes Bill Gates conspiracy theories
*Steve Jobs
*Richard Stallman
==Notes==
==References==
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