If you were worth a few billion dollars, don’t you think you’d find a better way to make your point than by releasing a host of flying, blood-sucking bugs on unsuspecting techies?

“Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” [Bill Gates] yelled to the crowd before unleashing the insects, which were not carrying the disease. “I brought some. Here, I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.”

The organisers of the TED conference said it was an “amazing moment” and provided the audience with “food for thought”. Chris Anderson, curator of the show, quipped that the moment should be headlined, “Gates releases more bugs into the world”.

Fortunately, the crowd seemed to take it in stride. Although if they attend next year’s edition of the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference, they should probably bring netting and bug spray, just in case.

As for Gates, you’ve gotta wonder if the combination of Microsoft-mad money and years of computer-centric inputting have rendered him a maladroit when it comes to interacting with real live people. The litigational hazards of such a stunt alone should have given him pause.