Bill Gates discusses machine that can turn feces into clean drinking water

[shermanator]

From what I gather it looks like the machine takes contaminated water and separates it into potable water and stuff that can be used as fertilizer. Interesting concept! There is also a video of Gates drinking water that was previously contaminated.

I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin. They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/omniprocessor/

[Ozy_Flame]

Impossible. Windows doesn't clean up your #### - it just causes it.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Impossible. Windows doesn't clean up your #### - it just causes it.

Hey-o?

[Ducay]

I believe this technique is called Reverse-Edmontonosis

[nik-]

This water tastes like #### man

It would be pretty amazing if they could provide clean drinking water out of some of those polluted rivers though. Gates gets/got a lot of #### while Jobs was always revered, but when it comes to their value as human beings, I don't really think it's close.

[cKy]

Originally Posted by nik-

This water tastes like #### man

It would be pretty amazing if they could provide clean drinking water out of some of those polluted rivers though. Gates gets/got a lot of #### while Jobs was always revered, but when it comes to their value as human beings, I don't really think it's close.

No doubt. The dude has donated a bazillion dollars to worthwhile causes

"Bill Gates has donated more than $26 billion dollars to philanthropic causes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That includes $10 billion for vaccine research over the next ten years."

I feel pretty good about myself when I buy a Santa Anonymous gift thats $50 for a needy kid. This dude has donated 26 BILLION!

[nik-]

I think he just gets what a lot of the other super rich don't. He has everything he wants. He can buy anything he doesn't with a fraction of his money. His children will also be ridiculously well off with a fraction of that money. Might as well try to do some good instead of feeding greed.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by nik-

This water tastes like #### man ...

The technology has been there for decades to clean every little bit of impurity from wastewater. You could actually turn your own diarrhea into distilled water . Potable water on spacecraft is fully recycled. But the treatment costs are very high. Modern wastewater treatment plants in large urban centres treat wastewater to the Government-approved chemical impurity levels before discharging it to the public open water bodies, while storing the residual sludge in lagoons (which is another problem on its own, of course).

Under-developed and undeveloped countries have very primitive ability to treat potable water in large quantities. Plus, some countries have very limited access to sources of potable water; hence, the value of the plant funded by Gates' Foundation.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by cKy

No doubt. The dude has donated a bazillion dollars to worthwhile causes

"Bill Gates has donated more than $26 billion dollars to philanthropic causes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That includes $10 billion for vaccine research over the next ten years."

I feel pretty good about myself when I buy a Santa Anonymous gift thats $50 for a needy kid. This dude has donated 26 BILLION!

The best part is that his wealth is continually growing which means he will probably donate double that or even more before he dies.

At this point I think there are two worthwhile options if you are a billionaire. Give all your money to Elon Musk like Larry Page said he would, or give it all to the Gates foundation. Both will equal great results.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

The technology has been there for decades to clean every little bit of impurity from wastewater. You could actually turn your own diarrhea into distilled water . Potable water on spacecraft is fully recycled. But the treatment costs are very high. Modern wastewater treatment plants in large urban centres treat wastewater to the Government-approved chemical impurity levels before discharging it to the public open water bodies, while storing the residual sludge in lagoons (which is another problem on its own, of course).

Under-developed and undeveloped countries have very primitive ability to treat potable water in large quantities. Plus, some countries have very limited access to sources of potable water; hence, the value of the plant funded by Gates' Foundation.

Yup. The city of New York has a pretty amazing water treatment plant that gets every single gallon they possibly can out of sewage for clean water. It just costs a lot of money.

What Gates has done is help develop a much cheaper way to do this.

[AcGold]

Interesting, maybe I'll have to change my stance on Gates. I thought he was a hardcore eugenicist population control guy.

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Was very anti Microsoft growing up, but hard to hate on Gates' moves for humanity.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jahrmes

Was very anti Microsoft growing up, but hard to hate on Gates' moves for humanity.

People tend to hate the industry giants but even after passing up on 1992 microsoft stocks I can't say a bad thing about Gates.

FYI, I invested in "Jack in the Box" (next Macdonalds I thought!) and even some friken USA tobacco stocks.

I think the 250 shares that I briefly considered for about 5 grand would have made me a millionaire a couple of times over.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by AcGold

Interesting, maybe I'll have to change my stance on Gates. I thought he was a hardcore eugenicist population control guy.

Why did you think that?

[GP_Matt]

Because he has donated money to develop male birth control.

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Why did you think that?

He repeatedly stated a need to control the worlds population and that the number of people should go down in public lectures and has called for his fellow billionaire friends to help.

But now this news of a water purifier that would help the poorest people in the world directly contradicts his previously stated goal.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by AcGold

He repeatedly stated a need to control the worlds population and that the number of people should go down in public lectures and has called for his fellow billionaire friends to help.

But now this news of a water purifier that would help the poorest people in the world directly contradicts his previously stated goal.

He was specifically taking about the need for helping women get access to birth control

[nik-]

Originally Posted by AcGold

He repeatedly stated a need to control the worlds population and that the number of people should go down in public lectures and has called for his fellow billionaire friends to help.

But now this news of a water purifier that would help the poorest people in the world directly contradicts his previously stated goal.

I can see how someone would think these conflict, but it's a pretty silly connection. Giving people access to clean drinking water isn't encouraging population booms, it's bettering life for those already here.

And "Eugenicist"?? Eugenics isn't about population control, it's about controlling the type of population to ensure there's more "superior" people and less "inferior". Your comment is pretty far off base.

[GP_Matt]

He is trying to control access to water and male birth control.
Don't you see, he is going to put the birth control in the water and control the population.

[Sylvanfan]

I always thought the goal was to turn **** into gold. What ever happened to capitalism...this is Elon Musk's fault.