But why listen to him either? You could have talked to any disease expert over the last few decades and they would have told you that a pandemic will be coming and that we aren't prepared.

Unlike a field expert, dude has influence, reach and an organization (with experts) in the trenches, and now decades of experience in all of the above. He’s not a couch-commenter. It’s like asking why we ought to listen anyone from Y itself here since they have zero experience with temp/vacation housing, storage, payments... all true, but they have experience with people and what and where and when to listen to. Gates is like that, multiplied by decades of experience.

One reason is incentives. He is an expert who is spending money. Most experts are asking for money. Thus, he is incentivized to find the most effective solutions.

Bill Gates was not in anyway, no matter how much he might have liked to be, a prophet about the increasing likelyhood of a global pandemic.

This possibility has been discussed and researched for decades by experts and policy makers around the world.

I never said he was the only one who warned the world about the next pandemic. Nor do I believe he sees himself as some kind of prophet on this either.