When It’s Alright to Steal from Bill Gates: A Reply to David

David is shocked by my claim that it is alright to steal from Bill Gates to save your child’s life:

If Bryan thinks it’s right to steal from Bill Gates to finance expensive cancer surgery with “a reasonably high chance of saving her life,” then that principle must apply to tens of millions of people who could have their lives saved even more cheaply by being able to get food.

Think of, say, 100 million of the poorest people in India. They could ward off starvation for a year or even two with an ...