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Interviewed by Brent Schlender. More photos below. Some fun quotes:

“Take nuclear: It takes longer than the length of a patent to get something done. Given all the regulatory steps, will it come out during your lifetime? When people invent something, they generally like to see it happen during their lifetime. Well, if you are not religious, which is one of my problems.”

When asked for a recommendation from the books he has at home:
“Latrines are fascinating. It’s one of the greatest under-investments, in getting engineers to work on it. The flush toilet is an unfeasible approach. The book is Water and Sanitation, and it’s quite lurid.”

“I read 2-3 hours per day. History of science I love.”

When asked about buying a supercomputer for simulation.
“The real reason science advances is the tools. The general impact of modeling is deeply underestimated. . We don’t have a good disease model. The government should copy the TV show 24. We are using the computer simulations for that funny, crazy group Terrapower. On paper it’s amazing. And for all this disease stuff. It’s better than iterating in the field when the mosquito and plasmodium evolve to be stronger if you experiment on them. We are going to put out this disease modeling program for free. The key is to get adults that don’t show symptoms. That is the key bottleneck. The model has taught us that.”

18 responses to “Bill Gates @ Techonomy”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    On giving, and the recent pledge Gates secured from 40 billionaires to give most of their wealth to charity (That’s a $600 billion flow to charities!):
    “I was surprised that only 15% of large estates go to philanthropy. You get wills and lawyers and the staff and their own agenda. And so it can be not that fun. We put together a pledge and try to show people how to do it.

    Remember VC is wrong over 90% of the time, and I don’t think philanthropy is better than that. The good thing about VC is that the big winner pays off way more and generates a net benefit. When it comes to inventing a new toilet, the young kid says ‘should I work at McKinsey or work on the toilet?’ So the low IQ kid works on the toilet.”

    Reply
  2. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    What are you optimistic and pessimistic about?
    “Kurzweil thinks Moore’s law applies to everything, and all humans get replaced by robots in 2042. That’s the optimistic view. [laughter] it’s good to laugh at that.

    We are fooled by this. There are things that don’t move forward. Nuclear energy by and large got shut down in the 70s.

    We need a blend of the optimism of IT and the realism that the history of the energy industry teaches us.

    If I look at the political process, the people who understand these complex issues are biased. How does democracy make the tough tradeoffs for climate change.? Looking at that, you can get depressed. Has the quality of the average politician gone up or down? Can we have a discussion about heath care? No. We can call each other names. And one politician gets money from this funny guy. And the opposition gets money from that funny guy. It’s fun.

    But look at 1800. My god, look at all this horse manure! My god., this thing is going down.

    When do you want Parkinsons? Now or 20 years from now? When do you want to be a poor person in Africa? Now or 20 years from now?

    So basically I come out with an optimistic view.”

    Reply
  3. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    =) cool quotes thanks.
    Something struck me when I saw him talking in Long Beach. The way he used his hand for transmitting information. Haven’ t seen much people doing it that naturally and pushing others to listen and engage with him. Next time, I will try to mimic his gestures…just for the fun of it, and see what’ s happen O=)

    Steve a question I have for a long time. Do you have a recorder with you all the time, to latter write down people ‘s speeches. Or do you write it down as it comes, or latter by memory, or by looking to blogger ‘s posts ?

    Reply
  4. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I take notes in the moment. If I see blogger/news quotes later on, i update the text if I see errors. So this text is more of a close paraphrase as I inevitable miss some words. Usually the zingers, and text in bold is more accurate.

    Reply
  5. Dr DAD (Daniel A D'Auria MD) Avatar
    Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

    Interesting commentary. Sometimes a bit to absorb "out of context". I envy your ability to attend to these lectures. So much of my life is spent trying to apply what little we seem to know medically at a practical "in the trenches" level. Nice to get a glimpse of broader picture.

    Reply
  6. TomiTapio Avatar
    TomiTapio

    Well all right.

    Reply
  7. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, and it takes so much stress away.

    PhotonQ – Here are some hand gesture exercises for ya…

    IMG_1753

    IMG_1767

    IMG_1771

    IMG_1775

    Bill Gates on Education

    It’s quite the workout!

    Reply
  8. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    ya..but so is shoveling horse manure.
    Luddites unite !!

    Reply
  9. solerena Avatar
    solerena

    Funny, did not know that Bill Gates can express himself in pantomime:)

    Reply
  10. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Steve, brilliant ! Thanks ; )

    Reply
  11. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    All the videos from the Techonomy conference are now online.

    First to watch Bio-based Society with Mr J…aattccatcccgccct… second Bill gates…
    And third… all of them !!!!

    Reply
  12. jgury Avatar
    jgury

    “The real reason science advances is the tools" OMG, is that how it works? These guys must just pontificate all the time without getting any serious challenge.
    For example, just look at the pure scientific method. What is that? Darwin is a good example. Just about pure observation power and method. His most significant tool was probably the technology of sailing ships. Evolution had no technical barriers to what Darwin elaborated and could just as well have been done by the Greeks or Romans. Gates is confused about science as identical to technology which it definitely is not. That has some interesting questions such as does science exist outside of the human mind. What other forms are possible to create technology, to understand the universe. We were having a discussion of Lucretius Carus, De rerum natura a big favorite of Thomas Jefferson believe it or not. The epicurean methods and beliefs are very interesting. They get many facts about the universe correct before anybody else for one thing. Even if it is just luck, some group had to be correct, it immediately suggests that science could operate more like an epicurean cult or priesthood. Open inquiry not needed or desirable in any way. In alien context, aliens with such powerful mental insights, which are almost always correct, they do not need a scientific method the way we operate. That means human science is not in any way universal and that also applies to any notions of the use of tools and technology.
    http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/jefflet.html
    One thing for sure, SJ is a scientific epicurean. To get to the par excellence levels is another matter. Those levels are differences between master chef and. his regulars, along with chef and the restaurant owner, gardeners and other purveyors.
    http://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393064476

    Reply
  13. jgury Avatar
    jgury

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/photonquantique] Nice Gates video. He makes a point about having no "metrics" for math teachers in the 1860s vs. today that is a bit odd. We have plenty of math books farther back than 1860 that show very well who good teachers of math were. That goes back as far as Euclid which I doubt Bill Gates spent much time reading. Same for any number of major Arabic texts of the time which are still good to the point of still giving new insights. There is a fantastic Harvard math presentation along those lines, ha, if I can find it….here it is: peterlu.org//content/decagonal-and-quasicrystalline-tilin…

    Reply
  14. _Jim1 Avatar
    _Jim1

    Regarding technology and a thread of continuity (with various fits and starts) through time is the James Burke authored "Connections" series; released to YouTube this last year I think …

    Reply
  15. jgury Avatar
    jgury

    "When do you want to be a poor person in Africa? Now or 20 years from now?" Now for sure, before it is reduced to a giant toxic waste dump and there are still interesting wild animals to be impoverished with. This idea that the condition of the very indigent is improving over time is similar to the fantasy thinking of Steven Pinker on violence and how things are even better for animals. Gee, professor Pinker I think animals would like it much better without having our civilization destroy them into extinction and torturing them in things like concentrated animal feeding lots. Also, I find it mighty white of Bill Gates and his pledge buddies to be able to toss out $600 billion in charity from 40 billionaires! Hello, doesn’t that ring a big bell about inequality and the insane wealth accumulation we have going on. What I really like is when they start pontificating about things like taxation, climate and the rosy future for everyone.
    I like the dubious counter-argument that goes along the lines of "it is best for everyone if wealth is in the hands of those who know how to create it." Which is easily countered by any number of solid studies about creativity, motivation and compensation. E.g. people are motivated to just about the same level with a $100 prize as a $1,000 prize.
    That said, Gates is one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He used to travel around in coach with a blanket over his head, (not a bad way to fly really) nobody would have recognised him anyway other than a few programming geeks every now and then. I forget what city I was in where he was on the hotel shuttle van and we talked about MS Basic, one of his passions in life at the time – he probably still knows more than anyone else out there about it. He used to answer questions personally on the MS boards down to the most tech geeky levels about MASM assembly blocks and everyone loved it.

    Reply
  16. jgury Avatar
    jgury

    Ahhh, the quotable, Bill Gates: "Everybody’s got their own priorities [space exploration]. In terms of improving the state of humanity, I don’t see the direct connection. I guess it’s fun, because you shoot rockets up in the air. But it’s not an area that I’ll be putting money into."
    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-08/bill-gates-on-hi...

    Reply
  17. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Oh that’s a great quote. The questioner could have many people in mind…. but his response makes me think that he was thinking of Paul Allen (they have been dissing each other quite a bit, starting with Paul’s book).

    And Paul, well, this quote just warms my heart:

    "In terms of sheer coolness, few things beat rocketry."
    – Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder

    Reply
  18. jgury Avatar
    jgury

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] It is like Bill Gates is the unfortunte kid that can’t come out and play making up excuses, ‘I guess it’s fun shooting rockets up in the air but I have to do dad’s taxes on Excel now…’ Or Ebeneezer Scrooge left at the boys boarding school for Christmas a solitary child, neglected by his friends, ‘plum pudding, christmas carols, boys shooting rockets, I guess it’s fun – humbug, they all need loans for my new tablets after selling them those rocket parts ‘

    Reply

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