Sina Tech News reported on the morning of September 26, Beijing time. According to reports, Bill Gates (Bill Gates) expressed dissatisfaction with Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) and Elon Musk (Elon Musk)'s exploration plans in outer space during an interview.
Gates said, “I don't know. I'm obsessed with solving diseases such as malaria and HIV right now. I often talk about these diseases at cocktail parties. Maybe my topics are getting tired of people. When asked what he thought of some billionaires' interest in space travel, Gates said, “Space? We still have a lot of things to do on Earth.”
In the interview, the host thanked Gates, saying he was “the only billionaire who didn't try to escape Earth in a spaceship.”
A week ago, Musk's SpaceX just completed the Inspiration4 launch mission, the world's first all-civilian crew launch mission. In July of this year, Bezos and Richard Branson (Richard Branson) also launched their private spacecraft into space. Although these billionaires only stayed in space for a few moments, these trips cost billions of dollars.
Both Bezos and Musk have boldly stated that they plan to use outer space to offset climate change issues on Earth. Musk plans to colonize Mars, while Bezos wants to transfer the heavy carbon industry to other planets.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary General António Guterres (António Guterres) called on billionaires to pay more attention to Earth. He said that the rich spend billions of dollars on space travel and that “millions more people on Earth are hungry.”
Whether it was Musk or Bezos, they were harshly criticized when they launched the rockets because people wanted these two to pay more taxes. US Senator Elizabeth Warren (Elizabeth Warren) reported on ProPublicaAmazonsThe founder criticized Bezos' space flight after not paying any income taxes for at least two years between 2006 and 2018.
Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin, and Branson'sVirgin GalacticThere were no immediate responses to requests for comment. However, after finishing the flight, Bezos admitted that he had indeed been criticized. He said at the time that the criticism directed at him was “broadly correct.” He added, “We have to do it at the same time. There are still a lot of problems on Earth now, and we need to work to solve them. At the same time, we also need to focus on tomorrow. As a species and a civilization, we have to do that.”
Although Musk himself hasn't been to space yet, he has also been criticized for focusing some of his energy on space projects.
Musk said in a documentary about the Inspiration4 mission: “I think we should use the vast majority of our resources to solve problems on Earth. For example, over 99% of our economy should be dedicated to solving the planet's problems. But I think maybe 1%, or less, of something could be used to extend life beyond Earth.”
Over the years, Gates has had a keen interest in the field of public health. The Gates Foundation has provided hundreds of millions of dollars for work focused on fighting malaria, HIV, and COVID-19 vaccines.