An interview with Bill Gates to coincide with the publication of his memoir 'Source Code: My Beginnings' has been released
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Bill Gates, known as the founder of Microsoft, will release the first of his three-part memoir, ' Source Code: My Beginnings, ' on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. To coincide with the publication of the memoir, the daily newspaper The New York Times released an interview with Gates.
Bill Gates Isn't Like Those Other Tech Billionaires - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/technology/bill-gates-tech-billionaires-memoir.html
What makes Gates different from other tech billionaires?
David Streitfeld , a reporter for the New York Times, pointed out that while many of the big names in the technology industry who have been gaining attention in recent years have right-leaning political views, Gates, who has relatively left-leaning views, stands out. Gates said, 'I've always thought of Silicon Valley as being center-left. The fact that we now have a large center-right group is surprising to me.'
Gates is also fundamentally a techno-optimist, but acknowledges that the development of social media has had some unexpected negative effects, such as accelerating political division. He also has a negative view of virtual currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) , claiming that 'there's no use for virtual currencies. People with high IQs are just fooling themselves.'
Gates himself is an investor in AI and believes it is the most revolutionary advancement since the graphical user interface . However, he also believes that problems can arise depending on how it is used, saying, 'Now we have to worry about bad people using AI.'
Microsoft grew significantly in the 1990s by developing Windows, but Gates also had a negative image, and in 1998 the U.S. Department of Justice sued him for alleged antitrust violations. However, in recent years, Gates has donated billions of dollars to philanthropy, and the antipathy towards Gates has softened because he is a billionaire and does not flaunt his assets. Technology analyst Paul Saffo said, 'The consensus is that Bill Gates is a saint (compared to other powerful and powerful billionaires).'
Streitfeld also mentioned that Gates' reputation has been tarnished by several scandals, including his divorce from his ex-wife Melinda in 2021 and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who was indicted on prostitution solicitation. It has also been reported that before Gates left the Microsoft board, Microsoft executives advised him to 'stop sending inappropriate emails to female employees.'
Bill Gates was advised by Microsoft executives to stop sending inappropriate emails to female employees - GIGAZINE
Should billionaires be outlawed?
In the fourth episode of the 2024 Netflix documentary series ' What's Next? Thinking about the Future with Bill Gates ,' in which Gates appears, the topic of 'Do we need the wealthy in society?' was discussed. In the series, Gates asks Senator Bernie Sanders , known as a democratic socialist, 'Have you become too rich?' Streitfeld points out that such self-critical comments about wealth are unusual for a billionaire.
However, in the show, Gates responded to the question, 'Should billionaires be outlawed?' by saying, 'My answer to that, although it may be considered biased, is 'no.'' On the other hand, he supports progressive taxation that would collect more taxes from billionaires. Gates estimates that he has paid about $14 billion in taxes, excluding consumption taxes, but that with a better progressive tax system, the amount would be $40 billion.
While Gates strives to remain apolitical, he has made his first financial commitment to the 2024 US presidential election, reportedly giving $50 million to a key outside fundraising group supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but he has not said he plans to speak publicly about the matter.
After Streitfeld's interview with Gates, Gates reportedly had a three-hour dinner with President Trump, where they discussed health issues such as HIV and polio. 'I intend to be as involved in the administration as I was in the first Trump administration,' Gates said.
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◆ Influence from parents during childhood and rebellious period
When we hear about the childhoods of billionaires, we usually imagine some dramatic events or episodes of child prodigy-like behavior. However, Gates' childhood, which he spent in Seattle in the 1960s and 1970s, was essentially anything but dramatic. 'A lot of people talk about how tough their childhoods were and how those events contributed to their competitive nature. I didn't have that,' Gates said.
Meanwhile, Gates' mother was unusually active in society for an upper-class woman of her time, serving as the first woman to head the King County chapter of the nonprofit fundraising campaign United Way . 'She was too intense for me,' Gates recalls of her mother.
His mother was strict about dining manners and lifestyle, but Gates often rebelled against his mother's way of thinking, adopting a rebellious attitude and immersing himself in programming. When he was in sixth grade (equivalent to sixth grade in Japan), Gates would not leave his room for days except for meals and school, and there was a period when he did not follow any instructions from his parents. Gates also thinks that Mary may have intuitively understood what her son needed. 'I wanted to exceed my mother's expectations. She was always very good at raising the bar,' Gates said.
Gates said that as a teenager, he would likely have been diagnosed with autism if he had been examined in a modern hospital, and now he believes that his autistic tendencies gave Microsoft an advantage.
Issues Surrounding Modern Technology
The end of 'Source Code: My Beginnings' is when Microsoft was founded. The spreadsheets, databases, and word processing that Microsoft developed were primitive tools from a modern perspective, but they greatly improved user productivity. However, Gates and his colleagues at the time only thought that 'the future will be better,' and did not try to see the downside of things.
Gates has long maintained his position as a techno-optimist. In 2017, he read Israeli philosopher Yuval Noah Harari's book ' Homo Deus ' and wrote a critical review of the book's warning about the widening gap between the elite and the masses, saying , 'This future is not set in stone.'
However, after reading Harari's latest book , Nexus: A History of Information, which critically analyzes modern people's dependence on technology, Gates said, 'Harari is making fun of people like me who thought that more information was always a good thing. I'd basically say he was right and I was wrong,' acknowledging that technological developments have had negative effects.
However, Gates has not apologized to Harari and continues to believe in the power and goodness of technology. On top of that, Streitfeld said that the lessons his mother taught him, such as 'having good manners,' 'doing good things,' and 'not getting too carried away,' still remain in Gates' heart.
by COP26
The first of Gates' three-part memoir, 'Source Code: My Beginnings,' is scheduled to be published on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
Amazon | Source Code: My Beginnings | Gates, Bill | Memoirs
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