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Inside: Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2026/03/09/aut…

#Pluralistic

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A king on a sumptuous, much elaborated throne; in one hand he holds a sceptre of office, in the other, the leashes for two fierce stone dogs that guard the throne. The king's head has been replaced with a character who was used as the basis for MAD Magazine's Alfred E Neumann. The new head sports a conical dunce cap. Behind the king is a large group of 1960s business men, seated and standing, in conservative suits. The background is the view from the 80th floor of World Trade Center 3. The floor has been carpeted in sumptuous tabriz from the Ottoman court. Image: Aude (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:80th_floor_of_3_World_Trade_Center_-_OHNY.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Pluralistic: Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us (09 Mar 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net
#Pluralistic
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Kate Nyhan
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Kate Nyhan
• •

> Gates simply opposes open science and compulsory licenses on scientific patents, even when that kills millions of people (as it did in South Africa).

He opposes open science for vaccine patents. He enforces open science for the rest of us, to the extent to no longer allowing Gates Foundation grant funds to be used to cover open access article processing charges, instead preferring Gates-funded authors to post preprints on their in-house preprint server
openaccess.gatesfoundation.org…


The Gates Foundation's Open Access Policy - Gates Open Access Policy

Ensuring unrestricted access and reuse of all research funded by the Gates Foundation through its Open Access Policy (OAP).
Gates Open Access Policy
in reply to Kate Nyhan

Bastian Greshake Tzovaras
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Bastian Greshake Tzovaras
• •
@nyhan my take on that is that he conveniently enforces open science when it's in the interest of capital, and fights it tooth and claw when it doesn't.
@Kate Nyhan
in reply to Cory Doctorow

GhostOnTheHalfShell
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GhostOnTheHalfShell
• •

The rich are just as subject to folly as any of us. Their wealth allows them to inflict it on everyone.

It’s a harm amplifier

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)

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