The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Bill Gates Wants to Reinvent the Toilet

Episode Date: March 25, 2022

Why has Bill Gates been carrying around a jar of poop? Ronny Chieng investigates the philanthropist’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, which funds scientists’ efforts to create toilets that don’t need a sewer system and can create clean water and energy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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egos and accounts of the extraordinary power of decency. Listen on the I-Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to Comedy Central. Bill Gates, he's rich, he's brilliant, and apparently he's out of his mind. This is a container of human feces. Why is one of the richest men in the world carrying a jaw of his own shit? I went to Seattle to find out what's wrong with Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, it's a huge honor to meet you. Just a quick question. What the fuck is wrong with you?

I mean, are you okay? Yeah, I'm great. Love what I'm doing. Okay, so why are you carrying around your own poop in a jar? Well, I did have a beaker of human feces when I was explaining why we need a reinvent a toilet. You don't need to reinvent a toilet. We shit in it, then we push a button, then the shit disappears. It's perfect. Well, toilets are something we take for granted, but billions of people don't have them. Even in these growing cities and poor countries, they can't afford to build sewers.

And that causes diseases. And so we have to come up with a very different way of taking care of that waste. And because so much of the world lacks a sanitary place to poo, Bill launched the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. It funds scientists to redesign to redesign to the toilets that don't need a sewer system. We put several hundred million into this to show that it can be done. Wait, sorry, hang on. You put several hundred million dollars into toilets. Giving it away, you bet. Oh my God. Is Bill Gates literally flushing his fortune down the to pooletet. to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the to the the the the to to the world. the world. the world. their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. Wea, their. Wea, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to. Wea, to. Wea, to.e. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea, their, their, the toilet? To find out, I flew all the way to University of South Florida, where Professor Daniel Ye and his team are using Gates funding to make some sort of magic poop box. So what we have here essentially is a miniature version of the waste water,

and we can put this anywhere in the world. In the bioreactor, we have microorganisms, they eat the poop and the clean water. Okay, why the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, why the, why the, why the, why the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thoa, thoa, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, toya, toya, toya, toya, tape, tape, t into clean water. Okay, why do the microbes eat the poop? The microbes eat the poop because that's what they do. You ask them if they want to do that? Well... Yeah, why don't you give them a muffin or something? Maybe they like a muffin.

Okay, I'll make a note of that, but when you show them the poop they love it. Despite his crazy talk there's just something about this guy. I don't know what it is but I trust him so I decided to give his machine a try. So normally we would have a block of toilets right and then the waste from the toilets would come here. I'll go into the machine and then using solar power we can tup-tu-try the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. thoooopypupypupypup. the the toe topupypoo top. top. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the topup.po topo toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy toy. toy toy toy. toy toy. toy. toy. toe. toe. from the toilet is would come here, I'll go into the machine and then using solar power, we can turn the poopie water into clean water. So you stand by this? Yeah. Or I'll prove it. Okay.

Okay. Did it work so well that we're actually working with NASA? the a thiiiiii. Well, it's worked so well that we're actually working with NASA. Astronauts have to poop, and we can turn that poop into clean water and nutrients and even energy. Wait, do you say energy? Yeah. The microbes in the bioreactor make methane. That's the same stuff that's a natural gas, you can burn it. Bill Gates, you sneaky bastard.

You just found a filthy little back door into the most profitable industry in the world. Energy. You didn't say anything about energy. Yeah, it's one way to make it cheap to process the sewage is to sell these outputs. You should open with that, the saving the world kids and disease. They open with, y'o, what making to toilets that the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their theiriletsetsetsetsetsetsetsetsetsets that next time. Don't open with the saving the world kids and disease. They open with, y'all, what making toilets that can convert shit into energy. We need to make these toilets as expensive as possible. Because based on my research, everyone poops. I mean, everybody. Well, unless we make them super cheap, they're not going to get out to the poorest

who need them the most. Look, I know, to to to to. to get out to the poorest who need them the most. Look, I know you've made your money. Some of us here are still trying to win this game. Well, if you have an idea, let us know. I've got nothing but ideas for this. OK. So this is an iPad. Great device. I love using it.

Hey, hey, yeah. So what's the worst seat on the plane was to the the the the the the the the the the the the th. to the toilet. But what if every seat was a toilet? Poop powered planes. To keep the plane in motion, we have to keep shit in. High pressure, I know, but it gives the airlines incentive to feed us. I'm not sure the numbers work. How about this? It's a toilet that you shit in, and it powers a cannon that shoots the shit out to my neighbor's house. Why are you laughing? That's not legal. Listen man, I'm up here just trying to come up with ideas here to save the world. Okay, what are you doing?

Um, that's what I'm doing. No, that's what I'm doing. I'm here giving you ideas. All you're doing is shiting on that. Well, I don't think those ideas are ready ready ready ready ready do have a lot of ideas that are in the field being tested in Durban. It's trying to cover the 30% of their residents that don't have great sewage processing. We are gonna completely change the future.

Everybody's gonna have a great toilet. Well, here's to everyone having a great toilet. Cheers. Not bad. Now guess where that came from? You just drank my shit. How's it taste? That's a very successful process there. It tasted like normal water. Good job.

Thank you, Bill. There's more where that came from. Watch the Daily Show, Week Nights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Do nice guys Really Finish Last. I'm Tim Harford, host of the Cautionary Tales podcast, and I'm exploring that very question. Join me for my new miniseries on the Art of Fairness.

From New York to Tahiti will examine villains undone by their villainy. Monstrous, self-devaring egos and accounts of the extraordinary power of decency. Listen on the IHart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.