Future Tech

Of course U2 is one of Bill Gates' favorite bands

Tan KW
Publish date: Tue, 17 Jan 2023, 06:58 AM
Tan KW
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Future Tech

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist and top pick of conspiracy theorists looking for the center of their bullshit storms, spent time interacting with the great unwashed of Reddit in an Ask Me Anything thread last week.

The rather unforgiving people that call Reddit their internet home grilled the billionaire on a range of subjects from AI and COVID to climate change and Scotland. Based on the amount of comments whipped up by his responses, we can assume many found them unsatisfactory.

On artificial intelligence

Seeing as this one is a bit of hot potato with regular folk being granted access to powerful tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, let's start here as a lot of people wanted to know Gates' views on generative AI particularly.

Asked how he thinks the technology will affect the world, he said:

He didn't hold back on any opportunity to talk up the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation throughout the thread.

He told other users that he deems AI to be the "revolutionary" tech of the moment, pooh-poohing Web3 and the metaverse, and that he looks forward to "helping to shape the AI advances in a positive way."

Asked about the rise of ChatGPT and OpenAI, into which Microsoft recently plowed $1 billion and is considering investing much more, he said:

He must be impressed. Some of the responses feel like they were generated by ChatGPT.

On healthcare and vaccines

Gates was asked about the healthcare leanings of his foundation's work, and he revealed the inspiration behind it:

In a tougher line of questioning, however, one user asked how Gates feels about "Moderna and other companies now increasing the base cost of COVID-19 vaccines by 4x." Another pointed out that the Gates Foundation had reportedly pushed Oxford University not to "open source" its vaccine formula as planned and instead sell it for profit.

Gates said:

Any requests to correct the record were met with stony silence. Remarkably, no one asked about the 5G chips he allegedly placed inside every single COVID vaccine...

On climate

One silver-tongued Redditor had a very simple question to ask Gates. "Climate: We fucked or super-turbo fucked?" His response:

Reading between the lines, another user concluded: "So super-turbo fucked."

Gates was also asked his opinion on veganism and plant-based diets as a means of minimizing climate change. Gates said he views lab-grown meat as the future:

He added:

On a vaguely related note, he was also asked: "Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?"

His response:

Redditors pointed out that "1/4,000 of the farmland in the US" is... quite a lot. As one put it: "About 223,825 acres, or almost 350 sq. mi. Almost as big as Ft. Worth, TX."

On Halo Infinite

The latest entry to the Microsoft-owned Halo franchise was released last year to some acclaim, but missing features and a disappointing multiplayer scene led some gamers to go right to the top to ask for help. "Hi Bill, can you pull some strings and get the right people in charge of Halo Infinite? Would be much appreciated. Kind Regards." Gates did not respond.

On Scotland

Away from heavier issues like Halo, one patriot asked Gates for his favorite band and favorite thing about Scotland. He said:

Did he just say that music is only Scottish if it has bagpipes? No Primal Scream? Mogwai? Belle and Sebastian? Orange Juice? CHVRCHES? Heck, even Wet Wet Wet? U2 being his favorite sure explains a lot, though. For more amazing insights from Mr Microsoft, here's the thread. ®

 

https://www.theregister.com//2023/01/16/bill_gates_reddit_ama/

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