Jerry Coyne ponders this question here. For my part, I am not persuaded by Coyne’s utilitarian defense of Gates (i.e. the fact that Gates has “donated” a lot of his wealth to charity) for two reasons. First, Coyne does not discuss the monopolistic source of Gates’s riches, and secondly, even if Gates were deserving of his incredible wealth, all he has done is “donate” those monies to himself via his own charity (the Gates Foundation). What’s so generous about such a self-serving tax write-off?