© Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently took the stage with Patrick Collison who is CEO of Stripe for a conversation between two titans of tech at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. While on stage, Bill Gates was asked about which existential threats he is/was scared of and he led with the threat of nuclear war which has been omnipresent for his entire life but Gates added 4 more items to his Mt. Rushmore of Existential Threats.
The discussion came about 39 minutes into their talk on stage. 36-year-old Collison began by asking Bill Gates about the fear of nuclear war in the 60s and 70s, really highlighting the age disparity between these two Silicon Valley billionaires, but Gates had a well thought out response.
Here is the video with Gates’ full quotes below:
In response to the question about existential threats, Bill Gates said “there’s about 4 of 5 things that are very scary and the only one that I really understood and worried about a lot when I was young was nuclear war.” He went on to say “you know, today I think we’d add Climate Change, Bio-terrorism / Pandemic, and Keeping Control of AI in some form.”
While those are the 4 pillars of existential threats that deeply worry Bill Gates he later added a 5th to the list, Social Polarization, and the very real threat that poses to younger generations.
Adding more context, Gates spoke about why he is still scared of nuclear war at nearly 70 years old. Gates said “in terms of nuclear war, it is very scary to me that people are complacent because we have done so well. Since World War II we haven’t blown up any nuclear weapons and killed people.”
He went on to explain how the costs of maintaining a nuclear arsenal and revamping it, and the perils of having various leaders in charge of that arsenal, are all still very real. Gates made sure to say that ‘nuclear war’ should absolutely not be taken off the list.
Shortly after this, the conversation switches to autism and autistic tech founders. Bill Gates takes a quick dig at Peter Thiel which the laughing crowd seemed to really enjoy. So keep watching the video above for that moment if that’s something you might be interested in.
Bill Gates has a new book out, Source Code, which is discussed throughout the talk. Check it out from your local library if you’re interested!