Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, unlike Mark Zuckerberg, does not place too much importance on ensuring that the entire planet has access to the internet. “As a priority? It’s a joke” he says in an interview with UK newspaper the Financial Times. The billionaire reveals that he would rather invest time and money in fighting disease around the world.
In many ways this should come as little surprise; Gates is well known for his philanthropic work. But these days he seems keener than ever to move away from the technology that made him the man he is today, and focus instead on doing things that make a real difference.
“Technology’s amazing, it doesn’t get down to the people most in need in anything near the timeframe we should want it to.”
He recognizes the uneven distribution of wealth that exists around the globe: “Go to the Bangalore Infosys centers, but just for the hell of it go three miles aside and go look at the guy living with no toilet, no running water. The world is not flat and PCS are not, in the hierarchy of human needs, on the first five rungs.”
Gates is leading the way in showing just what a successful businessman can do for others. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation generates billions of dollars a year for worthy causes. He has helped to wipe out polio in India, and the fight continues in countries such as Nigeria and Afghanistan.
There’s still a long way to go, but it’s interesting to think that the man who brought Windows to millions of computers is now actively involved in saving lives.
