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Coronavirus: Scientists brand 5G claims 'complete rubbish':
Conspiracy theories claiming 5G technology helps transmit coronavirus have been condemned by the scientific community.
Videos have been shared on social media showing mobile phone masts on fire in Birmingham and Merseyside - along with the claims.
The UK's mobile networks have reported 20 cases of masts being targeted in suspected arson attacks over the Easter weekend, including damage to a mast providing mobile connectivity to Birmingham's Nightingale Hospital.
The posts have been shared on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram - including by verified accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.
TV regulator Ofcom is assessing comments made by presenter Eamonn Holmes in which he cast doubts on media outlets for their attempts to debunk the claims.
But scientists say the idea of a connection between Covid-19 and 5G is "complete rubbish" and biologically impossible.
The conspiracy theories have been branded "the worst kind of fake news" by NHS England Medical Director Stephen Powis.
[...] Many of those sharing the post are pushing a conspiracy theory falsely claiming that 5G - which is used in mobile phone networks and relies on signals carried by radio waves - is somehow responsible for coronavirus.
Tough sledding for the engineers, but concerns about 5G have been raised prior to the coronavirus.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by meustrus on Friday April 24 2020, @03:55PM (8 children)
I'm not sure what else you can call it when an enormously wealthy person decides to use their money to change society, expecting 0 financial returns.
Is Gates trying to do "good" for the world? I see no reason to believe otherwise. Is he actually doing good? Probably not.
Granted, you seem to have much stronger feelings about the guy's work than I do. But I can't imagine that the most good is going to come from somebody whose business strategy was always to manipulate more productive and successful enterprises into giving them free access to completely untapped markets.
But hey, that's the philanthropy model for you. Hope and pray that when people reach the top, they decide that it would be more satisfying to use their influence to help society than to keep suckling profits from it. Hope and pray that the people who reach the top are somehow capable of doing more good than harm when they turn their massive influence toward realizing their opinions on the kind of public policy that usually can't do more harm than starting bar fights.
Personally, I think the money would be better allocated by democratically elected representatives of the whole of society, and spent on career civil servants who are just as motivated to change society, but better constrained by popular opinion and good taste, not to mention the law. It's not a perfect system, but it's better than giving all the money to Bill Gates and putting our faith in his philanthropy.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday April 24 2020, @05:26PM (1 child)
tl;dr wealth redistribution.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday April 25 2020, @04:29PM
That's what America is about, from redistributing the wealth from the original native owners to redistributing the wealth from banana republics to redistributing the wealth from the poor to the rich.
Gates is a good example of wealth redistribution in action, from the code he found in a dumpster, through selling someone elses work to IBM to all the deals he did in bad faith, he managed to redistribute 10's of billions of wealth to himself.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Nuke on Friday April 24 2020, @06:42PM (2 children)
Or his money could be distributed back to where it came from - the MS customers, voluntary or forced, whom he ripped off by overcharging enabled by his illegal monopoly practices. I'd let him keep a reasonable amount, say $10 million. What Gates does hold is just insane for a single individual.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2020, @08:01PM
Nope, sorry, no can do. Exchange theory of value and private accumulation.
What are you, some kind of socialist?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2020, @11:00PM
10 million? Surely 640k....
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday April 24 2020, @11:21PM
It used to be called "buying one's way into heaven".
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 25 2020, @12:07AM
>I'm not sure what else you can call it when an enormously wealthy person decides to use their money to change society, expecting 0 financial returns.
Terribly suspicious.
Account abandoned.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2020, @03:49AM
Have you heard of (((George Soros)))?