Bill Gates satirized Bezos and Musk: Are you going into space? I'd better defend the earth.

When the two richest people in the world, Amazon founder Bezos and Tesla CEO Musk, were fighting for the space cause, their old friend and old rival, Bill Gates, once the richest man, poured cold water on them.

On the morning of September 26th, Beijing time, according to American media reports, Bill Gates participated in "James? The Late Show of Corden is a special program of Climate Night. In the program, Jeff? Bezos and Elon? Musk's "space fever" expressed disdain.

When Corden asked Gates what he thought of the current billionaire's enthusiasm for space travel, Gates solemnly said that he was committed to studying diseases such as malaria and AIDS and how to get rid of them. And I may talk about diseases at cocktail parties, although it will make people feel bored.

Source: Program video screenshot

As for Bezos and Musk's obsession with space, Gates said in a slightly ironic tone: "Space? We have a lot of things to do on earth. "

Corden jokingly replied, "This is the most classic hurtful thing I have ever heard" and thanked Gates for "being the only billionaire who didn't try to escape from the earth in a spaceship."

Source: Program video screenshot

Just a week before Gates made the above remarks, Musk's space exploration technology company had just completed the first purely commercial manned space mission. And Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Richard? Branson also went into space in his own spaceship in July this year.

Although these billionaires only stayed in the sky for a while, space travel is extremely expensive. In this regard, UN Secretary-General Antonio? Guterres shouted that billionaires spend billions of dollars on space travel, while millions of people on earth are starving.

In the list of global billionaires published by Forbes 20021,Bezos ranks first with assets of177 billion US dollars (about RMB 1. 14 trillion yuan), and Musk ranks first with 15 10 billion US dollars (about)

Gates: concentrate on investing in the cause of the earth

Since leaving Microsoft in 2000, Gates has managed his property and career in another way.

He claimed that his main job was to run the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with his ex-wife Melinda. With assets of nearly $50 billion (about RMB 323.3 billion), the Foundation is one of the largest charitable organizations in the world and plays an important role in the global public health field.

Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda (Source: gettyimages)

The Gates Foundation focuses on three areas: eliminating hunger, promoting education and health care. Funds flow to many relief projects around the world, and the World Health Organization is one of the beneficiaries. Well-known projects include the "toilet revolution" initiated by Gates and the investment in fighting malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the Gates Foundation also invested in seven vaccine research projects.

Although divorced this year, Gates still runs the foundation with his ex-wife Melinda.

In order to cope with the climate problem, as early as 2008, Gates co-founded Tara Energy Company with his partners, devoted to the development of nuclear power technology. He once said: "If I have a wish for the next 50 years, I will definitely choose energy. We want to invent technology to halve energy prices and achieve zero emissions. What technology is this? It is nuclear energy. "

According to incomplete statistics, Gates has invested in nearly 50 clean technology companies, including three technical fields he is optimistic about: energy storage, nuclear cycle technology and high-altitude wind energy, all of which are at the forefront of the current world energy field.

At the same time, Gates is optimistic about the artificial meat market and has invested in two companies that produce artificial meat products-Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. It is worth mentioning that Victoria Harbour in Li Ka-shing also invested in this company.

He owns many properties in the United States and even around the world: including his manor "Xanadu 2.0" built in Medina, Washington, which cost 63 million US dollars (about 407 million yuan); A holiday ranch with an area of 182 10 square meter bought in Florida for 27 million US dollars (about 654.38+75 million RMB); Paasia Narranch, which covers an area of 922,683 square meters in California, was bought for $65.438+0.8 million (about RMB 654.38+0.654 3.806 billion).

In 2020, Gates also bought a seaside villa in Delmar, California. The house is worth 43 million dollars (about 280 million yuan), with 6 bedrooms, a jacuzzi for 10 people and a swimming pool.

Not only that, Gates also invested in various luxury hotels around the world through his personal investment company Cascade. On September 8th, Four Seasons Hotel Group announced that Waterfall Investment Company, the family investment office of Bill Gates, would pay 2.265438 billion US dollars (about RMB/kloc-0.43 billion yuan) to acquire 23.75% equity of Four Seasons Hotel held by Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal. After the acquisition, Bill Gates will become the absolute controlling shareholder of Four Seasons Hotel.

Bill Gates has been quietly buying farmland all over the United States. Now he owns 268,984 acres (about 1 0,089 square kilometers) of farmland and is the largest private farmland owner in the United States. At present, we don't know the specific purpose of Gates buying so many farmland. The official caliber of his company is that these lands should be used to develop new agriculture and extend relevant experience to poor areas in Africa.

From all aspects of Gates' investment, the former richest man in the world is really committed to the cause of the earth.

Bezos and Musk: Going to space is for the earth.

In the face of criticism and connotation of space travel, Bezos and Musk also responded. The two men said on different occasions that their development of the space industry is also conducive to solving various environmental and climate problems on the earth.

Source: Blue originated in official website.

Bezos defended himself against the popular boycott, and his space trip strengthened his commitment to climate change and the environment. "We live on this beautiful planet. You can't imagine how thin the atmosphere looks from space. We live on it. It looks so big and feels that the atmosphere is huge, but we ignore it and treat it badly, but when you reach the top, you will see how thin and fragile it is. " He said.

Bezos even believes that the pollution industry on earth can be transferred to outer space. In an exclusive interview with MSNBC TV, Bezos said: "We must move all heavy industries and polluting industries into space to maintain the beautiful gem planet of the earth." He said that this huge commitment will definitely take decades to complete, but it must be started. All great undertakings start with a small step.

Musk has always wanted to conquer Mars to solve the existing problems of the earth.

Musk believes that exploring space is crucial to the future destiny. He once said: "If there is an existential crisis on the earth, we can't save it, which means that mankind will go extinct." In his view, human beings need to leave the earth, so as to ensure that human beings can survive in the event of a disaster, and Mars is also the most promising second home for human beings.

Source: NYT

As early as 20 15, he revealed the overall planning of Mars for the first time in the program "Late Show" hosted by stephen colbert, saying that Mars is a "planet whose atmosphere can be transformed". If the atmosphere of Mars is heated, it will form a climate and environment similar to Earth, which is gradually suitable for life.

However, Musk also admitted that colonizing Mars is a costly space program. With the current capabilities of space exploration technology companies, it can only be carried out in space.