In the write-up of his talk earlier this month at the New Orleans Book Fest, Bill Gates comes across as a well-meaning person, but one who might benefit from more reflection on the limits of his expertise.
At the Fest, he mentioned his unsuccessful efforts improving education. When those began in 2018, I was teaching high school and remember my colleagues’ skepticism when the Gates Foundation decided to invest millions evaluating teachers, not supporting them — a failure an educational professional could have predicted.
Now he’s praising how AI technology will become better than human architects and lawyers, although he’s neither. Many people aspire to be, however; Tulane University, where he spoke, has both a school of architecture and school of law.
Gates obviously finds work fulfilling. It would be good if he recognized that other people do too, even if they’re not tech moguls. Indeed, there are a lot of people who are happy to have all sorts of jobs he might find insufficiently interesting or innovative.
The article also mentions that earlier, former Attorney General Eric Holder confined himself to a “narrower” topic, meaning that, unlike Gates, he stayed within his expertise. On the other hand, when Gates talks about what the future of the world or of work should be, we are not obliged to accept his vision.
Tech is one lens on the world, but a narrow one, focusing on the production and sale of innovations while leaving out their impact, the possibility they might not be to our benefit, and the fact that people and corporations can — and often should — make different choices.
CHRISTINA ALBERS
New Orleans
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