Bill Gates Recommends Four Books That 'Make Sense of the World' (gatesnotes.com) 82
This month Bill Gates recommended four books about making sense of the world, including The Coming Wave, by Mustafa Suleyman. Gates calls it "the book I recommend more than any other on AI — to heads of state, business leaders, and anyone else who asks — because it offers something rare: a clear-eyed view of both the extraordinary opportunities and genuine risks ahead."
After helping build DeepMind from a small startup into one of the most important AI companies of the past decade, [Suleyman] went on to found Inflection AI and now leads Microsoft's AI division. But what makes this book special isn't just Mustafa's firsthand experience — it's his deep understanding of scientific history and how technological revolutions unfold. He's a serious intellectual who can draw meaningful parallels across centuries of scientific advancement. Most of the coverage of The Coming Wave has focused on what it has to say about artificial intelligence — which makes sense, given that it's one of the most important books on AI ever written. And there is probably no one as qualified as Mustafa to write it...
But what sets his book apart from others is Mustafa's insight that AI is only one part of an unprecedented convergence of scientific breakthroughs. Gene editing, DNA synthesis, and other advances in biotechnology are racing forward in parallel. As the title suggests, these changes are building like a wave far out at sea — invisible to many but gathering force. Each would be game-changing on its own; together, they're poised to reshape every aspect of society... [P]rogress is already accelerating as costs plummet and computing power grows. Then there are the incentives for profit and power that are driving development. Countries compete with countries, companies compete with companies, and individuals compete for glory and leadership. These forces make technological advancement essentially unstoppable — and they also make it harder to control...
How do we limit the dangers of these technologies while harnessing their benefits? This is the question at the heart of The Coming Wave, because containment is foundational to everything else. Without it, the risks of AI and biotechnology become even more acute. By solving for it first, we create the stability and trust needed to tackle everything else... [Suleyman] lays out an agenda that's appropriately ambitious for the scale of the challenge — ranging from technical solutions (like building an emergency off switch for AI systems) to sweeping institutional changes, including new global treaties, modernized regulatory frameworks, and historic cooperation among governments, companies, and scientists...
In an accompanying Christmas-themed video, Gates adds that "Of all the books on AI, that's the one I recommend the most."
Gates also recommends The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, saying it "made me reflect on how much of my younger years — which were often spent running around outside without parental supervision, sometimes getting into trouble — helped shape who I am today. Haidt explains how the shift from play-based childhoods to phone-based childhoods is transforming how kids develop and process emotions." (In the video Gates describes it as "kind of a scary book, but very convincing. [Haidt] writes about the rise of mental illness, and anxiety in children. He, unlike some books, actually has some prescriptions, like kids not using phones until much later, parenting style differences. I think it's a super-important book.")
Gates goes into the book's thesis in a longer blog post: that "we're actually facing two distinct crises: digital under-parenting (giving kids unlimited and unsupervised access to devices and social media) and real-world over-parenting (protecting kids from every possible harm in the real world). The result is young people who are suffering from addiction-like behaviors — and suffering, period — while struggling to handle challenges and setbacks that are part of everyday life." [Haidt] makes a strong case for better age verification on social media platforms and delaying smartphone access until kids are older. Literally and figuratively, he argues, we also need to rebuild the infrastructure of childhood itself — from creating more engaging playgrounds that encourage reasonable risk-taking, to establishing phone-free zones in schools, to helping young people rediscover the joy of in-person interaction.
Gates also recommends Engineering in Plain Sight, by Grady Hillhouse, a book which he says "encourages curiosity." ("Hillhouse takes all of the mysterious structures we see every day, from cable boxes to transformers to cell phone towers, and explains what they are and how they work. It's the kind of read that will reward your curiosity and answer questions you didn't even know you had.")
And finally, Gates recommends an autobiography by 81-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning historian/biographer/former sports journalist Doris Kearns Goodwin, who assesses the impact of President Lyndon Johnson's policies in a surprising "personal history of the 1960s."
But what sets his book apart from others is Mustafa's insight that AI is only one part of an unprecedented convergence of scientific breakthroughs. Gene editing, DNA synthesis, and other advances in biotechnology are racing forward in parallel. As the title suggests, these changes are building like a wave far out at sea — invisible to many but gathering force. Each would be game-changing on its own; together, they're poised to reshape every aspect of society... [P]rogress is already accelerating as costs plummet and computing power grows. Then there are the incentives for profit and power that are driving development. Countries compete with countries, companies compete with companies, and individuals compete for glory and leadership. These forces make technological advancement essentially unstoppable — and they also make it harder to control...
How do we limit the dangers of these technologies while harnessing their benefits? This is the question at the heart of The Coming Wave, because containment is foundational to everything else. Without it, the risks of AI and biotechnology become even more acute. By solving for it first, we create the stability and trust needed to tackle everything else... [Suleyman] lays out an agenda that's appropriately ambitious for the scale of the challenge — ranging from technical solutions (like building an emergency off switch for AI systems) to sweeping institutional changes, including new global treaties, modernized regulatory frameworks, and historic cooperation among governments, companies, and scientists...
In an accompanying Christmas-themed video, Gates adds that "Of all the books on AI, that's the one I recommend the most."
Gates also recommends The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, saying it "made me reflect on how much of my younger years — which were often spent running around outside without parental supervision, sometimes getting into trouble — helped shape who I am today. Haidt explains how the shift from play-based childhoods to phone-based childhoods is transforming how kids develop and process emotions." (In the video Gates describes it as "kind of a scary book, but very convincing. [Haidt] writes about the rise of mental illness, and anxiety in children. He, unlike some books, actually has some prescriptions, like kids not using phones until much later, parenting style differences. I think it's a super-important book.")
Gates goes into the book's thesis in a longer blog post: that "we're actually facing two distinct crises: digital under-parenting (giving kids unlimited and unsupervised access to devices and social media) and real-world over-parenting (protecting kids from every possible harm in the real world). The result is young people who are suffering from addiction-like behaviors — and suffering, period — while struggling to handle challenges and setbacks that are part of everyday life." [Haidt] makes a strong case for better age verification on social media platforms and delaying smartphone access until kids are older. Literally and figuratively, he argues, we also need to rebuild the infrastructure of childhood itself — from creating more engaging playgrounds that encourage reasonable risk-taking, to establishing phone-free zones in schools, to helping young people rediscover the joy of in-person interaction.
Gates also recommends Engineering in Plain Sight, by Grady Hillhouse, a book which he says "encourages curiosity." ("Hillhouse takes all of the mysterious structures we see every day, from cable boxes to transformers to cell phone towers, and explains what they are and how they work. It's the kind of read that will reward your curiosity and answer questions you didn't even know you had.")
And finally, Gates recommends an autobiography by 81-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning historian/biographer/former sports journalist Doris Kearns Goodwin, who assesses the impact of President Lyndon Johnson's policies in a surprising "personal history of the 1960s."
Re: Why in the HECK (Score:1)
Almost all of which affected other billion dollar corporations. He wasn't skewering everyday consumers, and while MS pulled some really dirty shenanigans in the browser wars and in contract securing, you'd be hard pressed to find every day consumers who actually meaningfully suffered as a result. Not defending him, just pointing out that MS is not in the same league as Amazon or United HealthCare.
Re: Why in the HECK (Score:3)
"Almost all of which affected other billion dollar corporations."
Microsoft is considered to have set back computing by about a decade, in large part due to its war on Linux (which includes funding the completely unwarranted SCO lawsuits.) That has significant real world effects.
"The Coming Wave" is timely and relevant (Score:3)
Yours was the first visible comment in AC's vacuous FP branch. Why did you propagate the vacuous Subject? And why would I look at the trash before your visible comment to figure out what you are mumbling about? (That's a rhetorical question. The ONLY persuasive answer would be something like "But AC convinced me he's a personal friend of Bill Gates and he's really a whistleblower who is revealing that Gates was bribed to recommend these books." And AC convinced you that Gates can be bribed? ROFLMAO.)
I do fi
Re: Why in the HECK (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
The reason they recommend the book is so people can learn from the past. How to recognize when one side says the other side must be gotten rid of (such as is happening in Palestine by Israel), how words can be twisted to get a point across, and logical fallacies.
They are not saying it's a good book. They are saying people should understand how we got to the next step after the book.
Re: (Score:3)
Does not make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
If you really want to make sense of the world, read about human psychology.
Besides that, I ignore people like Gates.
Re:Does not make sense (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
If you really want to make sense of the world, read about human psychology.
Besides that, I ignore people like Gates.
The list makes no sense regardless. One of the worlds wealthiest humans, holds the latest sales gimmick as the centerpiece of a handful of books that make “sense” of our (for-profit) world? Sounds just a bit too convenient there, Bill.
Tell me what his list was 5 years ago. Then tell me why it’s so unfashionable by comparison.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Does not make sense (Score:3)
Maybe he distrusts Gates because his head is not completely up his ass.
Anyone who has been paying attention to his actual actions as opposed to what he says, and the disparity between the two, distrusts Gates.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm looking forward to his own books (Score:5, Funny)
Please, no more calls for censorship (Score:2)
No more calls for censorship to "save the children". Their small, fragile minds must only contain the information that you want to put into them, or they might grow up to have thoughts. This is a truly ugly concept. Not thoughts! Noooooo!
Re: (Score:2)
We need parents to parent and schools to teach academics. Toss the rest.
You mean history? It's important.
Jay M. Feinman? (Score:2, Informative)
“Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It,” by Jay M. Feinman.
If not, he can take his 640kBooks and defrag them.
the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:2)
thanks to the unsustainable greed of Bill Gates and the upper class, the rest of us are in the lower class now
it cannot be capitalism when 85% of all our capital is being hoarded by an irresponsible upper class, that only leaves 15% of all capital for the rest of us to manage with, it's not enough
and these selfish people aren't letting up either
Re:the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:4, Informative)
it cannot be capitalism when 85% of all our capital is being hoarded
That is exactly what it is.
Capitalism means "capital controls the means of production" and nothing else.
Re: (Score:2)
Not that I disagree with you in principle, but you do realize that's a bit of a tautology, right?
"Captial" here is being defined by being the "ownership class". So if you define a group by owning the means of production, then say "hey look, they own the means of production" it's kinda... duh?
A more cohesive theory needs to understand why someone is a member of the group that owns everything, and why someone else isn't.
Re: the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:2)
""Captial" here is being defined by being the "ownership class"."
No, it's defined as money.
Re: (Score:2)
That is exactly what it is.
Capitalism means "capital controls the means of production" and nothing else.
it's a noun that means:
1. An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development occurs through the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.
2. An economic system based on predominantly private (individual or corporate) investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods and wealth; contrasted with socialism or especially communism, in which the state has the predominant role in
Re: (Score:2)
hahahahahahhahahahahaha
AHED is fun, they have good notes on etymology, but that is NOT what capitalism means.
You also don't know how dictionaries work. ANY of those things can be what people mean when they say capitalism. It doesn't have to be all of them.
But followup, some of those people are wrong. For example, when people think that capitalism means there is a free market, they are demonstrating that they are brain damaged, since there never has been a perfectly free market. There never can be, because a
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
it's not just fair pay either, it's fair prices, not corrupting our governments, public institutions and private markets, not to mention all the environmental degradation and human rights abuses
Re: (Score:2)
Re: the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:1)
How is it not capitalism? They have the capital, so we do what they want.
I wonder if peasants used to complain that clearly they arenâ(TM)t living under True Monarchism, because they are not the king.
Re: (Score:2)
it cannot be capitalism when 85% of all our capital is being hoarded by an irresponsible upper class
Loaded language aside ("hoard"), these types of statistics are universally true of all businesses and industries.
Even if you look at something as trivial as OnlyFans, as an example, according to OF itself the top 1% of creators account for 33% of the total platform's earnings. Source: https://social-rise.com/blog/onlyfans-statistics
I know that a lot of people like to call Google a "monopoly", and I don't care to nit-pick over definitions, but in the search engine market you see 90% of search traffic in the
Re: (Score:2)
it's hoarding, no one needs or deserves that much capital, capital is supposed to be tied to the producer, not the owner of the producer
this is economic slavery, obviously
Re: (Score:2)
Re: the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:1)
You think the lower class has 15%?
You're optimistic. According to a recent Harvard study, the lower 80% of the US population has 7% of the national wealth.
Re: (Score:2)
There are certain people, who, if they get access to capital, will tend to turn that into more wealth. Then there's the rest of us. When you give an average Joe Worker extra money, they never invest it in self improvement or increasing their efficiency, or their own education. They blow it on short term hedonistic pursuits. I know it sucks, but this is just reality. That's why capitalism works, to the extent that it does, because it accumulates wealth in the hands of people who create more wealth. Tha
Re: (Score:2)
more pseudo-capitalistic propaganda, the real truth is capital comes from us, when we produce and from nowhere else
Re: (Score:2)
Re: the real crisis is massive undercapitalization (Score:2)
"There are certain people, who, if they get access to capital, will tend to turn that into more wealth. Then there's the rest of us."
Yeah, we turn it into even more wealth than the wealthy. The difference is that we turn it into more wealth for OTHER PEOPLE IN GENERAL while the wealthy turn it into less than half as much wealth, and mostly for other WEALTHY people.
When the poor get money then it gets passed around and spent about five times before it ends up in a wealthy person's pocket.
When the wealthy do
I dunno about you... (Score:2)
We're doomed anyway (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: We're doomed anyway (Score:1)
"I would never let a child touch a phone or computer until they are at least in high school"
The only reason I became employable as other than a burger flipper given the unaffordability of education is that I was computing from an early age. You would destroy opportunity to satisfy your prejudices.
Re: (Score:2)
Leaders should read more than one book about AI (Score:2)
Every tech advance comes with a flaw baked in (Score:3)
The problem is that whenever there's a significant technological advance, it is immediately pounced on by wealthy, greedy opportunists whose number one priority is to get as much money out of it as possible. Social costs, environmental costs, danger to average people...none of it matters if there's money to be made.
Re: (Score:2)
"This is going to take along time to return to any sort of normalcy."
You mean it is going to take a long time before a toxic male dominance is re-established and men can go about abusing females at their whim.
All of your statements are skewed stupid:
"Raising children requires two parents, usually one male, and usually one female." No it doesn't. Families with two fathers and two mothers do just fine. What are you smoking?
"Today, the male input is largely subjugated, while the female is elevated." In what al
Re: (Score:2)
"This is going to take along time to return to any sort of normalcy."
You mean it is going to take a long time before a toxic male dominance is re-established and men can go about abusing females at their whim.
All you are doing is illustrating that in today's world, expression of an opinion that is not yours gets an attack, which for some reason you believe is an appropriate response.
You simply must point out to me where I said anything like that.
All of your statements are skewed stupid:
"Raising children requires two parents, usually one male, and usually one female." No it doesn't. Families with two fathers and two mothers do just fine.
Sorry there homie - did you notice that I wrote "Usually one male and on
Re: (Score:1)
How about the toxic women who change partners like they change outfits, all while dragging the kids and the alimony along for a free ride?
Re: (Score:2)
How about the toxic women who change partners like they change outfits, all while dragging the kids and the alimony along for a free ride?
There are bad people in the world, no matter them sporting a vagina or a penis. That we are shouted down if we dare to criticize those that possess a vagina is evidence of a systemic problem.
Re: For all the GatesHate (Score:2)
Traditional family structures work, and calling them toxic, patriarchal, or whatever won't change the fact that what feminism and fundamentalist liberalism had brought upon us an age of social disaster.
There's a reason that the claimed "solution to patriarchy" has coincided with an explosion in mental health disorders. Sure, there's other factors, and you could jump on the correlation logical fallacy bandwagon if you want. But hysterical denial by feminists won't change the biological reality that the human
Re: (Score:2)
Re: For all the GatesHate (Score:1)
You're laying the problems of consumerism at the feet of traditional family structures? That's some pretty weird ideology right there.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, mostly just pointing out that what is broadly considered a 'traditional family structure' is a one off fluke, and not particularly traditional nor effective.
You are going to have to provide some citations that traditional families with a man, wife, and children is not effective.
You think that is something the boomers invented? Show your work.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes but what most people think of as traditional is the 'single income nuclear family' that made boomers toxic consumerists and their parents alcoholics, I don't think you'd get a return to something legit traditional with a multigenerational household in the West again until you can get rid of the stigma that its something only Asians or poor people do.
That is pretty prejudiced don't you think? Peopel who believe that all boomers are that are as prejudiced as a person who thinks that all dark skinned people of African descent are inferior. I utterly reject that as much as I do people who are in the KKK.
If you are correct, "most people" are utterly stupid and use their prejudice as a bludgeon.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Traditional family structures work, and calling them toxic, patriarchal, or whatever won't change the fact that what feminism and fundamentalist liberalism had brought upon us an age of social disaster.
I agree 100 percent with most of what you said. There are some powerful biological forces at work here. It is fascinating that after retirement, my wife has taken total control of the household, no small change for a true "Boss Babe" who matched me in salary, and who by the way, was loved by the men who worked for her. Not so much by the women. (tall slender, and attractive) who were assholes. She says it is reversion to natural roles. She's the CEO of the domestic duties.
There's a reason that the claimed "solution to patriarchy" has coincided with an explosion in mental health disorders.
For certain. Those biological fac
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm an elder millennial so can't say I understand all of what young men face, I met everyone I dated at school or work without using apps and so on. But I have noticed my daughters seem to get along best with first generation immigrant boys so the disconnect of the American raised boys is going both ways.
Yes. There is a problem with how the boys are raised.
I'll probably piss off the guy who was busy deliberately altering what I wrote, but since I have a firm grasp on the third rail already, here we go.
A word of warning - these are generalizations. A whole lot of young males simply will not approach women today. Now older males don't either in many cases, but let's just talk about the young guys.
The statistics are telling us that in just a few years, around half of women of childbearing age will be
Re: (Score:2)
The Coddling of the American Mind is also good.
See also Bad Therapy.
Re: (Score:2)
The Coddling of the American Mind is also good.
See also Bad Therapy.
I find that the fine fragile person who went off the rails on my original post here is a perfect example of the way people try to shout people down. Making up things I supposedly said, insulting me. Trying to shout me down. Unfortunately for gtall, I don't play that game. Gtall ends up being ignored, a fitting reaction.
Although I occasionally enjoy what I call a Saturday Night curb stomping. A conceit of mine to hone my own insult skills as needed. Here's one for gtall https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Containment of the rest (Score:2)
Technology is "unstoppable" and "containment is foundational to everything else" sounds like a recipe for a dystopian nightmare to me.
Interesting no serious thought or consideration seems to ever be given to simply not going there in the first place invoking the age old if we don't someone else will argument. It is merely presumed impossible to stop "progress" but apparently not so impossible to prevent software from being executed, information from being spread or trustworthy AIs to be developed. Nobody
Re: Exposing themselves (Score:2)
"Been a slashdot user from the first weeks of its existance in the 90's and over the years especially the last decade I have seen it transform into a far left propaganda site"
This site is more right wing than it has ever been in the past. Stop trolling.
Surprised (Score:1)
I actually agree with two - Jon Haidt presents some compelling insights and Grady makes fun YouTube videos
"Spot sees AI and wags his widdo tail!" (Score:2)
The Road Ahead (Score:2)
Let's remember, this is the same person who barely mentioned the web [arstechnica.com] in his 1995 book, The Road Ahead...
Epstein Island (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, see, they only asked for four books - and The Isle of Earthly Delights is #5 on Gates' list...
Autism is not the place I go... (Score:2)