You’d think at 67, Bill Gates would be ready to slow down and enjoy his wealth. After all, the Microsoft founder has more than 100 billion dollars on the account. However, that is out of the question for him, as he is in one Entry on his blog GatesNotes reveals.
In the nine-page article, he keeps talking about reducing global inequality. Already in the past he has through the Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy Billions of dollars donated for this purpose. The areas of climate change, global health and education in particular play a major role for him.
According to his own statement, the upcoming birth of his grandchild moved him to the entry. That’s why he wants to invest more in the »future that our grandchildren deserve«.
However, all that glitters is not gold and for many of the problems he addresses, the solution seems to be more money. However, we want to know what interesting new approaches he is pursuing and have summarized them for you.
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AIs are supposed to save lives in poorer countries
It is important to Gates to give every child the same opportunities worldwide. Above all, the chance to survive. That’s why he has high hopes for an AI-powered ultrasound machine developed by his Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Discoveries and Instruments team.
It is to be used in poorer countries to prevent the death of mothers and unborn children.
In rich countries there are a large number of experts who can take care of tests and their evaluation. According to Gates, the risks of childbirth are already reduced to a minimum. However, this is not the case in poorer regions.
The lack of money and, accordingly, specialist staff and equipment should be compensated for by the AI sound device. This will supposedly simply be connected to a cell phone or tablet. The generated images will be able to process the device itself and provide all information as a trained person could.
Studies already seem to show that AI can accurately identify problematic pregnancies and is better at detecting gestational ages than professionals.
Stop climate change through more efficient construction?
The climate and how we bring our emissions down to net zero is also a big issue for Gates.
“The journey to zero will be the hardest thing mankind has ever done. We have less than three decades to revolutionize the entire physical economy – how we make things, move around, generate electricity, grow food, and keep ourselves warm and cool.”
To this end, he wants to better insulate buildings worldwide. He himself writes that this may sound a bit strange, but houses are responsible for up to 14 percent of all greenhouse gases. According to Gates, these houses lose up to 40 percent of their energy due to poor insulation.
That’s why he invests in the company Luxury wall of Michigan that is developing “incredible next-generation windows.” They are said to consist of two “specially” coated panes of glass and have a vacuum between them, like a thermos flask.
Whether that will really help that much, we can’t predict for sure. The future will show. We’ll be curious to see if Gates has more up its sleeve than new windows in the coming years.
The fight against diseases – with “cars” in the bloodstream
Gates writes in the blog entry that a cure for HIV has so far been wishful thinking. Apparently that is no longer the case. Gates thinks there’s a good chance HIV will be history in 10 to 15 years.
He has reason to believe this through a research project that he is partially co-financing with the Gates Foundation. It is a gene therapy that will initially offer a much faster and cheaper cure for sickle cell disease and will later also be able to be transferred to HIV.
Gates speaks of an injection containing “the equivalent of a microscopic car.” This should go to a problematic mother cell and repair the mutated gene that causes the disease.
In addition to the car, he also speaks of a “passenger” who is specifically supposed to take care of the repair of the gene. Unfortunately, he does not go into this exciting comparison in more detail. But it is probably not a kind of micro-robot, as you might imagine.
What at first sounds like the plot of a film is probably just a paraphrase for a complex biological process. A researcher from the University of Washington is said to have already succeeded in such an approach with a monkey, and the Gates Foundation is already funding dozens of teams who are also working on this solution.
So the goal is to defeat previously (almost) incurable diseases with a single injection.
Bill Gates has certainly set high goals with his efforts for the future. Even if some methods are unexpected.
Now, for even more glimpses of the future, be sure to check out Linh’s article as he walks you through the best items from CES 2023 that are (hopefully) coming soon.
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