How Bill Gates Thinks

Author Steven Johnson talks to the engineer turned philanthropist about the future, technology, ice, capitalism, and optimism.

When interesting people hang out, interesting things tend to happen. So when we found out that Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From andThe Ghost Map was going to sit down and talk to Bill Gates, whom you’ve probably heard of, we thought we’d like to eavesdrop. So we did.

Gates and his eponymous foundation are launching the 10th year of their Grand Challenges initiative—a program that provides grants to projects looking to solve problems like malaria and malnutrition. Johnson’s most recent book, How We Got to Now, tackles the history and future of innovation, and is the basis of a six-part PBS series that launches on the 15th of this month. Over the course of their conversation, Johnson and Gates touched on everything from capitalism to ice. Here’s what they said.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-bill-gates-thinks/381287/?single_page=true

Related Posts

  • 65
    ( Source : http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2015/02/03/google-enters-the-collaborative-economy-in-a-big-way/ ) Here comes Google, with a series of five market moves injecting them as a central player for the collaborative economy. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information. But it doesn’t just start and stop there. They also want to organize the world’s logistics, commerce, local…
    Tags: trend, success
  • 59
    I'm as big a believer in the transformational power of cloud computing as anyone you'll meet. Smartphones, which are constantly seeking and retrieving data, don't make sense without the cloud, and any business that isn't racing to push its data and software into someone else's data center is, in my…
    Tags: things, sit, future, trend
  • 59
    Entrepreneurs work hard all year long to ensure their businesses become successful and stay successful, but everyone needs a break to relax and reflect. If you start feeling guilty about heading to the beach this summer don’t. Here is a list of summer reads that will keep you thinking and inspired --…
    Tags: year, success, book
  • 57
    In the future, Netflix will know exactly what you want to watch, even before you do. You won’t have to spend all that time browsing through endless lists of shows on your television. That’s according to Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer. It’s just one of many predictions for the…
    Tags: future, technology, trend
  • 52
    I’m looking forward to sharing posts from time to time about things I’ve learned in my career at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. (I also post frequently on my blog.) Last month, I went to Omaha for the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. It’s always a lot of fun, and…
    Tags: people, things, good, thought, foundation, success