Bill Gates:

I'm very optimistic about where the world will be 50 years from now. Uh, I hope I'm around to see it, but I think we can alre-already see the shape of things in some ways.

A human population which was growing at a very rapid rate is now growing at a slower rate because, as we become successful, families have chosen to have less children, and so we can see a peak population that makes it possible to think about living within the resource constraints that we have.

We can also see a decline in violence. It's amazing now because we hear about all the violent things around the world, but every century the world has had a lot less war, a lot less violent deaths, and we've come to value the work that's been done in other countries, making great products and really think together about humanity's common future.

The pace of innovation will need to surprise us in some ways. What form this great energy source will be that will avoid us, destroying the environment, that's an invention that's very, very important. How much care will we give towards making sure that the poorest several billion are not completely left out--you know, there's been a little bit of progress there, but the inequity level still should concern us quite a bit.

Bill Gates:

I'm very optimistic about where the world will be 50 years from now. Uh, I hope I'm around to see it, but I think we can alre-already see the shape of things in some ways.

A human population which was growing at a very rapid rate is now growing at a slower rate because, as we become successful, families have chosen to have less children, and so we can see a peak population that makes it possible to think about living within the resource constraints that we have.

We can also see a decline in violence. It's amazing now because we hear about all the violent things around the world, but every century the world has had a lot less war, a lot less violent deaths, and we've come to value the work that's been done in other countries, making great products and really think together about humanity's common future.

The pace of innovation will need to surprise us in some ways. What form this great energy source will be that will avoid us, destroying the environment, that's an invention that's very, very important. How much care will we give towards making sure that the poorest several billion are not completely left out--you know, there's been a little bit of progress there, but the inequity level still should concern us quite a bit.