The English book is called Billionaire, Nerd, Saviour, King, Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape our World, which translates to Billionaire, Nerd, Saviour, King, Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape our World.

The book's author, Anupreeta Das, is a former finance editor-in-chief of The New York Times, a veteran media personality, and before that she ran the technology and business section of The Wall Street Journal. This gives her a close look at Silicon Valley and its moguls, which I'm sure has given her lots of great insights!

We all know that Microsoft is about to turn 50! It's the most senior of the seven American high-tech companies with the highest market capitalisation. These seven companies are known as the "Magic Seven Sisters". The other six are Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Microsoft's co-founder, the amazing Bill Gates, is also the first U.S. high-tech entrepreneurial success of the billionaire, opening the last half-century of high-tech entrepreneurship.

Gates' life has been a series of twists and turns. He dropped out of Harvard to start his own business and establish Microsoft. He became the youngest billionaire in the United States after Microsoft's IPO. He was labelled a monopolist in the 1990s because of the case between Microsoft and Netscape, and then he quickly faded from view. People outside the industry labelled him a monopolist, which was unfair. He left Microsoft after the turn of the century and reinvented himself as a philanthropist. After the new century, he stepped back from Microsoft and made a wonderful comeback as a philanthropist. The Gates Foundation is now world-famous for promoting healthcare and other public services in less developed countries. In 2005, Bill Gates joined forces with Warren Buffett and made the admirable pledge to donate 99% of his wealth. This was met with widespread admiration. However, around the same time, some less flattering details about Gates' personal life emerged. It was revealed that he had been in a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who has a reputation for being a sex offender. It was a tough time for Bill Gates. His relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a man with a reputation for questionable behaviour, was revealed, his public image was damaged, and his wife left him. This was a big news story, following the divorce case of another wealthy man in the United States, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon. But that didn't stop Bill Gates from being a successful businessman. During the New Crown epidemic, he released two books in particular that I found really inspiring. One was about how to deal with warming, and the other was about how to deal with the next epidemic. They were both so insightful! And Gates' book list is still the talk of the town!

You might be wondering why we're looking at this biography of Gates when we already know him so well. The title of this book gives us a clue as to why. As we chatted about earlier, the title translates to "Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King, Bill Gates and His Efforts to Shape Our World," where the key words are nerd, savior, king, and shaping the world.

Nerds are the traditional stereotype of the type of entrepreneurs represented by Gates. They're extremely smart, love to program, and are willing to tinker with all sorts of new things. They're also socially inept, bless them! But is Gates really a nerd? I don't think so! I'd love to know what kind of person he really is! And how did they portray him? This is one of the most accessible and enjoyable parts of the book.

The second set of keywords are billionaire, saviour and king. Billionaire is an expression of being rich, saviour is the lovely impression Gates leaves after his philanthropic work, and king is another image we get through this alternative biography: arbitrary and bossy. In other words, this biography helps us to see beyond the surface and really understand Gates as a very complex person.

And the third keyword is "shaping the world." The world we live in today is shaped by an Internet giant like Microsoft. It's there in so many ways, whether it's the operating system for PCs or the office software we all know and love. And it's there in the cloud service platform needed for enterprise and personal digital services. Oh, and let's not forget OpenAI, which has been very hot in the last two years! Gates is also a great example of someone who has shaped the world for the better through his big philanthropy and his important contribution to solving various diseases in Africa. But when we look at it through the eyes of innovation and entrepreneurship, the author of this biography wants to explore the fascinating phenomenon of geeky billionaires being consistently sought after in the U.S. We'll also take a trip down memory lane, reflecting on the entrepreneurial culture in the U.S. over the past 50 years. And we'll do it all with the aim of understanding what the current view of wealth is.

Let's dive into Part 1, which is all about Gates' time at the helm of Microsoft. It's a fascinating journey!

Part 1 covers the 25 years Gates spent at the helm of Microsoft. It's a story of highs and lows, twists and turns.

But, through it all, Gates remained a constant, a driving force in the tech industry. It's easy to forget that Microsoft has only had three CEOs in its nearly half-century history. And Gates is the one who has been in charge the longest! Let's go back through Gates' quarter-century at the helm of Microsoft! This will give us a deep understanding of the culture of what is now the most influential high-tech giant in the United States and the world.

One of the most infamous parts of Gates' history at the helm of Microsoft is the rivalry he led between Microsoft and Netscape in the late 1990s. It was a time when the internet was just starting to take off. Netscape had launched a browser that was really popular and had become a big hit with people online. Microsoft was a little slow to react at first, but they soon launched their own browser, Internet Explorer. They also chose to give it away for free with their Windows operating system. The U.S. Department of Justice thought that Microsoft was using their market power to suppress emerging competitors. Eventually, Microsoft settled with the U.S.

 Department of Justice in 2002. This case was the first antitrust case in the high-tech field, and it's still serving as the basis for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) antitrust investigations of Google and Meta more than two decades later!

It's always good to see Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice getting along! It helps us to understand how high-tech companies develop.

It's really important that we understand the background of this antitrust case. Microsoft was really on the rise in the 1990s. It was basically synonymous with the software industry, and startups were saying on their promotional pages that they couldn't get financing unless they were up against Microsoft.

Secondly, in the eyes of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Gates and Microsoft are the "barbarians" of the north, and the relationship between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Microsoft is that of the little boy and the giant Goliath. If you know the Bible story, you'll understand the underlying message. Flexible startups are the good guys, while the huge Microsoft is the bad guy who will be defeated. In those days, folks saw Microsoft under Gates as a bit too wild and acted like a big kid.

Thirdly, because Microsoft was based up north in Seattle, Gates didn't have much contact with Silicon Valley. He still thought of Microsoft as a small company, unaware that he'd become the elephant in the room! Gates always had a sense of urgency, believing that technological change could deal a death blow to any company. He was so passionate about this that he couldn't afford to slack off! He was a big fan of Andy Grove's book, Only the Paranoid Survive. In it, Andy argues that high-tech companies aren't as secure as we think. He says that if a company isn't careful, change can turn it into something that no longer works. But if you manage change well, it can also help you as a leader to make big changes to your company.

In other words, when Netscape came along and Microsoft decided to try to keep up with it by offering it as a bundle, Gates felt that Microsoft was already facing some challenges, with lots of changes happening in technology. He thought that it might be tough for Microsoft to stay afloat without using some pretty creative tactics. It's easy to see why outsiders think that Microsoft is abusing its dominant market position and stifling innovation. After all, Silicon Valley and the U.S. Department of Justice have a lot to gain from this perspective.

Gates was also able to see how technology was changing away from Silicon Valley. He didn't get to see the first surge of the internet, but he was quick to react when he did. But Gates was quick to respond, which just goes to show how forward-thinking he was! Just a year later, in 1995, he wrote a lovely memo to all Microsoft employees, in which he shared his vision of how the digital revolution started by the Internet would unfold and encouraged them to embrace the Internet.

In his later years at the helm of Microsoft, Gates remained as geeky as ever! He always had a sense of urgency, believing that technological change would deal a fatal blow to any company. He knew he couldn't afford to slack off! Similarly, he's been thinking about this antitrust issue from a technical perspective. He's not aware that what he and Microsoft are facing is, in fact, a trial of public opinion and political suppression. He was always a little confused about why the U.S. government made things so difficult for Microsoft. The more the media painted him as the bad guy, the more Gates felt like a victim himself.

It's really interesting to see how all the other U.S. platform-based companies have learned a very important lesson from this antitrust case. For the U.S. government's investigation, it's best to play nice. Learn to play Tai Chi! And never get caught in the government's trap and waste corporate resources. It would also be a great idea to increase the number of people working on lobbying in Washington. It's so worthwhile spending a little money on lobbying! After all, every large enterprise now has several hundred government relations personnel in Washington. Meta learned a valuable lesson from its mistakes and was smart enough to bring Nick Glegg, a former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, on board to head global government relations.

The fallout from the antitrust case was the first hiccup Gates had experienced, with the media portraying him as the golden boy of high tech as a bit of a bad guy. Gates felt like he was standing on a very narrow mountain peak, with no way down. So he made the tough decision to step back from the day-to-day running of Microsoft in 2000, at the peak of his 45 years.

After this tough time, Gates started to see how important politics was and how crucial it was to have a good public image. He started to invest a lot of time and money into building his own image. As the richest man in the United States, Gates was in a great position to call on enormous resources to build an image for himself. His team designed an image for him that centred around three key words: family, philanthropy, and innovation. It's not just Bill Gates who has had his image crafted. Even his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, has had her image carefully designed.

I'm not saying that Gates engaged in philanthropy to create an image of hypocrisy, but it's worth noting that the rich and powerful story we see in the media is often through the image of "make-up artists" and layers of packaging. What I find so fascinating about this alternative biography of Gates is that it aims to peel back the layers and reveal the true, nuanced portrait of a high-tech billionaire with a rich and complex story.

I'll quickly run through the main points. Gates was at the helm of Microsoft for the first 25 years of its existence. But in the late 1990s, Microsoft was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for competing with Netscape. This investigation had a big impact on Gates' beliefs. He was a bit of a geek, and he always believed that no company had much of a strong moat. He thought that any high-tech advancement could topple a company to the ground. But the political situation and what the media said painted Microsoft as a giant that suppressed startups and portrayed Gates as a villain in the same way as the rubber barons of a hundred years ago. While Microsoft's case has taught subsequent Silicon Valley high-tech platform companies to learn from their mistakes and play nice with the government, Gates himself has chosen to retreat sharply into philanthropy. He's also spent a great deal of money carefully packaging his image and repairing his persona.

Part II: the redemption of charity, impatient optimist

Let's dive into the second part of the story, where we'll explore Gates' heartfelt dedication to philanthropy.

Gates is a big believer in charity, and he's been inspired by none other than Warren Buffett! I'd love to tell you about how the wonderful friendship between Buffett and Gates was formed.

It's so lovely that Gates and Buffett became friends, especially since they're 25 years apart in age!

I'd love to know how they met! Let's go back to 1995. Gates's mother invited Buffett to a small gathering at their family vacation home in Seattle. Buffett was the editor-in-chief of the Washington Post at the time and also invested in the paper. Bill Gates was born into a lovely upper-middle-class family in Seattle. His father was one of the city's most prominent attorneys, and his mother was a "dame," which means she was in and out of high society and had a wide range of contacts. Gates' parents did so much for him! They gave him a great upbringing and helped him a lot with his business ideas.

Gates didn't get to know Warren Buffett at first, but his mum thought it would be a good idea to introduce them. It's true! At a time when Microsoft was being hailed as the representative of the new economy, it was really tough for the investor, who was just starting out in stocks in the countryside of the United States, to get the attention of the billionaire's golden boy. So he came to the meeting by helicopter, was only prepared to stay for an hour or two to cope with a little, and then leave.

As a result, Gates and Buffett hit it off and ended up chatting for 13 hours! If it hadn't been for family members who wanted to separate them, the two of them could have talked for days. Gates was really impressed by all the different questions Buffett asked. It was so lovely to see that Buffett was so interested in the fast-growing software industry. They also discovered that they had three things in common: a love of reading, a passion for thinking deeply, and a mutual interest in bridge. Since then, the two have often played bridge online. Gates travels a lot, so he often stops in Omaha on his private jet. Buffett personally drives to pick him up and they have a nice chat together. From the outside, it seemed like Buffett saw Gates as his spiritual successor. Gates was happy to do whatever he could to make Buffett happy and get his seal of approval.

Let's go back to why Gates decided to do charity work after he retired. The first thing to mention is packaging. Gates made the transition from wealthy technologist to inspirational global leader in a variety of packages, from a know-it-all, tyrannical boss of a high-tech giant to a philanthropist who was both passionate and thoughtful.

What's more, Gates was inspired by the passion for philanthropy shown by the rubber moguls of the Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. One year, Gates' son graduated from the University of San Diego, and both couples attended the graduation ceremony. Gates was seen reading a book with his head down for the entire three hours of the ceremony! He didn't put the book aside until his own son came on stage, which turned out to be a biography of J.D. Rockefeller. Of course, he admired Carnegie the most, especially for the wonderful book he left behind, The Gospel of Wealth. Carnegie really emphasised that in a society that celebrates individualism and fierce competition, it's so important to acknowledge when things aren't fair. Otherwise, we'll just end up equalising poverty. But for those who have the ability to get rich, it's such a wonderful opportunity to distribute wealth and give back to the community. It's a chance to reflect their value and make a real difference. This is why the most successful entrepreneurs spend most of their family money on charity before they die. After all, wealth is meaningless if it is not transformed into something.

Since he stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2000, Bill Gates has spent the last few years building the Gates Foundation into the world's largest philanthropic organisation! It's now got enough manpower and infrastructure to do good. And it's so lovely to see how much time the Gateses have spent on philanthropy since then! Warren Buffett even said, "You can give a lot of money, but it can be tough to spend the time."

Gates and Buffett have been friends for a long time, and their friendship set the stage for a partnership between the two in the philanthropic arena. In 2005, Buffett announced that he would be donating 99% of his wealth, and that the Gates Foundation would be a major partner in Buffett's giving. This is totally in line with Buffett's principles of doing things. He knows very well that everyone has their own "circle of competence." It's not easy to go beyond your own circle of competence, especially when you're talking about billions of dollars a year for a variety of charitable causes! I'd highly recommend finding a professional to help you with this.
And the wonderful Gates and Buffett have indeed donated vast amounts of their own wealth. Buffett gave a total of $39 billion to the Gates Foundation from 2006 through 2023, and the Gateses gave a total of $39 billion from 1994 through 2022, including $22 billion in start-up funds for the foundation. It's so inspiring to see that the generosity of spirit shown by these two amazing individuals has inspired many other billionaires to follow their lead!

Since 2009, the Gateses have embraced a new external image – the impatient optimist! They're eager to see the results of their donations, and they're optimistic that their commitment can make a big difference in the areas they care about, like health, disease, education, global warming, and gender equality. In other words, impatient optimists are really passionate about making the world a better place. They believe in themselves and their goals, and they're not afraid of setbacks. They just keep going, because they really want to create a better world.

Mr. and Mrs. Gates are as good as their word. They keep on donating their wealth to show they really mean it. Gates himself has said that as he donates more of his fortune, it'll shrink a little more. In fact, it'll eventually leave him off the list of the world's richest people!

That means that in the next 25 years, Bill Gates will run out of money. But that's OK! He'll just need to put $6 billion a year into charity. So the Gates Foundation won't have the same impact as the Rockefeller Foundation, which has had a lasting effect even after the entrepreneur passed away. Gates wants to influence the foundation's decisions during his lifetime, not make it a kind of long-lasting institution after him.

 Another big reason the Gates Foundation will probably last another 25 years is that it is no longer certain that Buffett's children will continue to donate to the Gates Foundation after Buffett. That's because Buffett's attitude towards the Gates Foundation is a little more complex than you might think. We'll get to the reasons behind it later on.

It's all sunny and pretty, and the global media is helping to portray Gates as a thoughtful and change-driving public intellectual on global health, disease, education and climate change. Gates' deep understanding of technology and science, and his inherent ability to predict the future, also meant that he was perfectly suited to the role of erudite prophet and seer.

That is, until sometime after the start of the New Crown, when his persona unfortunately collapsed once again.

The media revelation of his relationship with disgraced sex offender Epstein was the immediate trigger for this collapse. Coupled with rumours of his youthful debauchery and cheating within his marriage, it shattered the image of the family man he and his wife had so carefully constructed.

The relationship with Epstein also shows how unkind people can be behind the scenes in charity work. Epstein is a great networker, and Gates is hoping to use him to make friends with more tycoons. He also wants to make money as a financial broker. For tycoons, donating money is not an easy thing. They want to give hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars a year to donate out of the system. That's where a team, an organisation like the Gates Foundation, can really help.

 Epstein thought it was still all about money brokers. The tycoons decided to donate part of their family wealth to the Gates Foundation, which would manage it for them. The minimum donation was 100 million U.S. dollars, and the tycoons could decide where to invest it. It was all tax-free! The money won't be used right away. It'll be kept safe for a while and then handed over to JP Morgan. They're a big company that knows all about managing wealth. They'll add value and collect a management fee, and Epstein will get a cut of that. It's a pretty straightforward deal.

It's so sad - people found out about Bill Gates' dealings with Epstein and questioned his lack of basic judgment about a person. Didn't he know that Epstein was convicted in 2008 for abetting the prostitution of underage girls? Some folks even thought there might be other deals he was working on with Epstein.

Oh dear, this is the second time that poor Warren Gates has had a bit of a wobble. The image of a kind and generous philanthropist, the image of a devoted husband, and the image of Warren Buffett's dear friend that he has built over the past 20 years, although not completely destroyed, has been affected by some unfortunate events. Of course, as the cracks deepen, we see a more authentic Gates, rather than the packaged version we've come to know.

Part III: Uncovering a corner of the billionaire's life and sharing a real-life glimpse into the Gates' world.

We've heard that Gates and Buffett are good friends, but there's another reason why they're so close that we haven't heard yet. It's because they're both billionaires and used to be the richest of the rich! But the two men's lifestyles are also very different. Gates is a typical billionaire, with all the perks that entails! He has a private jet, a yacht, multiple mansions, and a keen interest in art. The Gates Foundation and the Gates family office have a budget of $300 million a year, which is incredible! It supports more than 2,000 people directly, and over 200 people whose main job is to take care of the Gates family.

Buffett doesn't have a private jet, but he does have a 4% stake in an old Gulfstream! His family travels on shared private jets with NetJets (which is also one of Buffett's companies). He's lived in his old Omaha mansion all his life, and his so-called yacht is only a small, hundreds of thousands of dollars boat!

I guess you could say that Gates is a bit more extravagant and Buffett is more frugal. But when it came to marriage, Gates actually envied Buffett in his heart of hearts. He would absolutely love to have his marriage arranged like Buffett and his first wife, Susan. Susan left Buffett early to pursue her own singing career and various hobbies, and also agreed to let Buffett find another partner. The two didn't divorce until Susan passed away. Gates was looking for a similar freedom, or at least he thought he was. So it never crossed his mind that French Gates would end his 26-year marriage and choose to leave.

Oh, there are so many rumors about Bill Gates having extramarital affairs! For example, he once cheated on his wife with a Russian bridge player in her twenties. And he also had an affair with a Gates Foundation intern. In fact, a Gates Foundation executive even reprimanded the intern's referrer for introducing such a beautiful 22-year-old girl to Bill!

Before he got married, Gates was even more of a party animal, often feeling the effects of the night before. It's a bit of a surprise to picture a nerd as a rambunctious party boy! Oh, but you can't help it if he's rich and willful! When he was young, Gates loved racing cars and chasing women. There were plenty of suitors in the company, even girls wearing "Marry Me Bill" T-shirts to work! A friend commented, " If there's no moderation, Gates is like a boy who breaks into a candy store – he just can't help himself!

Oh, Gates is still a goofball when it comes to chasing girls, bless him! And he still doesn't make money deals. He often gets a little muddled between celebrity intimacy and flirting. He's so sweet! He thinks he's just flirting with himself when people talk to him a little more, which sometimes embarrasses a lot of people. For example, an investment bank is a Microsoft listing sponsor, which is a long-term business with Microsoft. But, would you believe it, Bill Gates, who is a Microsoft founder, held a cocktail party at the investment bank and surprisingly flirted with the manager's wife!
Of course, even Gates has his difficulties. His life is actually very tightly arranged by his wife, with a full daily schedule and meetings that are only five or ten minutes long.

 Those close to him were let go if they didn't have French Gates' trust. It's so sad - a longtime aide was fired out of the blue for arranging for Gates to go to places French Gates didn't know about. And the security team around Gates was once replaced in a big way without any indication of what was going on. That's why Gates loved travelling to Omaha to meet Buffett – it was a wonderful way to escape the arranged life and have some well-deserved free time.

After the news about Gates' relationship with Epstein came out, it was obvious that French Gates wasn't too happy about it. But of course, the image of being a philanthropic couple still has to be maintained. It's so interesting to see how the rich and powerful go to great lengths to create and maintain an image!

The public saw the Gateses as an equal couple, but it's likely that Gates was the brighter star. French Gates kept a low profile on her private life, which meant she was often overshadowed by her radiance. Later in life, the two would have different roles to play, with the former becoming a well-known thought leader in the high-tech industry, someone who is great at analysing numbers, and the latter becoming the emotional storyteller.

On the eve of her divorce, French Gates began to have to portray herself prominently, which was a real challenge for her.

First, she didn't move, and was still showing affection until the minute before the divorce was announced. On New Year's Day 2021, as the Gateses entered their 26th wedding anniversary, French Gates was still sharing on social media how in love she was with her husband. It's so sad that they had to go through this. But privately, the two had long since begun marital counselling, and announced their divorce in May.

In the time between January and the divorce announcement in May, French Gates' PR team had been working hard to reintroduce her to mainstream and commercial audiences. They did a great job of reinforcing her as the public face of the Gates Foundation's work on Planned Parenthood and gender equality. In her final months, she was a familiar face on our TV screens, chatting away in interviews with magazines and newspapers. She was also laying the foundations for her emergence as an independent feminist philanthropist.

As we mentioned earlier, Buffett and Gates have recently drifted apart. The divorce is one reason why Buffett has gradually distanced himself from Gates. We can all empathise with Buffett's desire to avoid conflict. After the divorce, he didn't want to take sides between the couple.

Oh, and there's another reason, too. Buffett also had his own thoughts about the Gates Foundation. For instance, Buffett isn't a fan of big, bloated bureaucracies. His Berkshire Hathaway Holding Company is in charge of trillions of dollars in assets and has a staff of only a few dozen people. On the other hand, the Gates Foundation has already grown to be several thousand strong and has built its own lovely campus in Seattle. It's such a shame, but originally three new office buildings were planned, and a third was not built. I've heard that it was because of Buffett's objections, which seems a bit unfair to me. Buffett was a little concerned about the foundation's increasing costs.

On top of that, Buffett also heard from other people at the foundation who felt that Gates was being a bit bossy. These folks thought that Gates was being a bit rude and condescending, which made Buffett feel sad. But he also specifically reminded Gates of something his best friend once told him: "Pay attention to how your best friend is, and you'll know how to be good to them!"

Gates' behaviour at the Gates Foundation is a little bit arbitrary, egotistical and impatient, and he presents himself as the smartest man in the room, bless him! It's a shame that nobody at the Gates Foundation dares to disagree with him. Gates can come across as a bit of an autocratic princeling. Gates is always the impatient questioner, or the one who just can't keep his thoughts to himself! On top of that, he's got a lot of confidence in his own intelligence and he loves a good debate, especially with those experts who joined the Gates Foundation because they're outstanding in their respective fields.

Warren Buffett was really worried that the Gates Foundation might become a bit complacent. He thought this could reduce the Foundation's appetite for risk and even affect the effectiveness of its philanthropy. In 2023, the Gates Foundation told the public for the first time that there was a chance that Buffett might stop donating to the Foundation after his death. This was because the agreement was that he would continue to donate while he was alive. At the same time, Buffett was very clear that he would continue to donate to the Gates Foundation during his lifetime. After his death, his wealth will be entirely the responsibility of his three children, who have kindly agreed to disperse the wealth within ten years. Once he's gone, Buffett's wealth will stop flowing to the Gates Foundation. Instead, his first wife Susan set up a foundation in his name, as did the Foundation, which is named after Buffett. His wife Susan's foundation, and the family's three children's respective foundations.

And now for a quick summary!

This alternative Gates biography gives us a more down-to-earth insight into the man behind the name. It lets us see the story behind his divorce from his wife, his long friendship with Warren Buffett, and the wonderful philanthropy that has resulted from that friendship. The Gateses and Buffett have donated an absolutely incredible total of $78 billion! This has helped us to understand why the Gateses and Warren Buffett have drifted apart.

I'd like to circle back to the main idea of the book and suggest three things we could all think about.

Firstly, it's so interesting to think about how our ideas about the rich and powerful are shaped by a whole group of experts. They design, shape and package our ideas about people like Bill Gates, for example, as a philanthropist with thoughts and actions. If we can just wash away the packaging and see people as they really are, we can understand that nobody's perfect. Entrepreneurs aren't blindly loyal to anyone, after all.

Secondly, it should show us that money can do a lot of damage. Bill Gates is really doing charity work, but he also has a very exclusive style when it comes to the Gates Foundation. He's able to do charity work because he's in a great position financially. He does charity a lot of the time with great results because he's definitely well-read and smart – and a lovely guy too! But we can't really expect the rich to be charitable, because being rich means they can pretty much do whatever they want, and their philanthropic efforts will only be effective in the areas they deem important.

And what about Gates' ambition to change the world? I think the answer is pretty clear. On the one hand, he deserves a lot of credit for setting an example of philanthropic giving by the wealthy. On the other hand, he's a very smart man with a lot of flaws. He's always viewed the world as a set of challenges that can be solved, so we can't expect too much of him to make a difference. Success gives billionaires like Gates a kind of absolute self-confidence that makes them believe not only that what they are good at will make them rich, but also that they are smarter than anyone else in other ways. And that's okay! It's just the most dangerous idea of all.