Bill Gates Joins The Know-Nothing Society

Years ago I knew a professor of medicine who posed as a wine expert. But the owner of a winery asked, “Tell me the truth, does he know any more about medicine than he does about wine?” To the doctors he posed as a wine expert. To the vintners he posed as a medical expert. Each group knew he was an ignoramus in THEIR field, but thought he knew about the other field.

Now we come to Bill Gates. The computer guys understand he knows little about computers, but imagine he is an expert on the environment. The environmentalists understand he knows little of their field, but imagine he really knows computers. Like my professor, if he keeps moving fast enough, few realize he is an ignoramus in both areas.

Gates asserts that 6 percent of global warming pollution comes from cattle, so we should stop eating meat. But about 20 percent of cattle are dairy, not beef. So even using Gates’ figures, only about 4.8 percent comes from beef cattle. Compared to the huge amounts of pollution from China, this is negligible. If we all switched from beef to kale tomorrow morning at 7 am, no one could notice the difference.

Bill Gates joins my old professor in the Know-Nothing Society. They should get along well. They have so much in common.