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Books Microsoft

Bill Gates Thanks Parents in New Memoir, Acknowledges 'Lucky Timing' and Possible Autism (msn.com) 54

In Friday's excerpt from Bill Gates' upcoming memoir, the Microsoft co-founder acknowledges that "It's impossible to overstate the unearned privilege I enjoyed. To be born in the rich U.S. is a big part of a winning birth-lottery ticket... Add to that my lucky timing..." The biggest part of my good fortune was being born to Bill and Mary Gates — parents who struggled with their complicated son but ultimately seemed to intuitively understand how to guide him. If I were growing up today, I probably would be diagnosed on the autism spectrum. During my childhood, the fact that some people's brains process information differently from others wasn't widely understood. (The term "neurodivergent" wouldn't be coined until the 1990s.) My parents had no guideposts or textbooks to help them grasp why their son became so obsessed with certain projects, missed social cues and could be rude and inappropriate without seeming to notice his effect on others.

What I do know is that my parents afforded me the precise blend of support and pressure I needed... Instead of allowing me to turn inward, they pushed me out into the world — to the baseball team, the Cub Scouts and other families' dinner tables. And they gave me constant exposure to adults, immersing me in the language and ideas of their friends and colleagues, which fed my curiosity about the world beyond school. Even with their influence, my social side would be slow to develop, as would my awareness of the impact I can have on other people. But that has come with age, with experience, with children, and I'm better for it. I wish it had come sooner, even if I wouldn't trade the brain I was given for anything...

I will never have my father's calm bearing, but he instilled in me a fundamental sense of confidence and capability. My mother's influence was more complex. Internalized by me, her expectations bloomed into an even stronger ambition to succeed, to stand out and to do something important. It was as if I needed to clear my mom's bar by such a wide margin that there would be nothing left to say on the matter. But, of course, there was always something more to be said. It was my mother who regularly reminded me that I was merely a steward of any wealth I gained. With wealth came the responsibility to give it away, she would tell me.

I regret that my mom didn't live long enough to see how fully I've tried to meet that expectation: she passed away in 1994, at age 64, from breast cancer. It would be my father in the years after my mom died who would help get our foundation started and serve as a co-chair for years, bringing the same compassion and decency that had served so well in his law career.

Proceeds from book sales will be donated to the nonprofit United Way Worldwide, in recognition of Mary's longtime work as a volunteer and board member with the organization.

Bill Gates Thanks Parents in New Memoir, Acknowledges 'Lucky Timing' and Possible Autism

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  • I guess that means he'll be making Nazi salutes on stage now. Because a bunch of Very Smart people in the internet insist to me that that's something which autism can cause.

    • Bill has a different strain of autism than elon.
      • Hmm...one thing to observe....people with autism and attention deficit, etc....were NOT drugged like they are today.

        While I know meds help some people, I think we as a society are WAY too quick to jump to drugging our kids.

        I'm guessing if I grew up today, I'd be drugged....but back in my day it was just termed "ahh...he's just being a boy".....

        • by r0nc0 ( 566295 )
          I understand what your intent is but I have to push back because everyone is different and every family has their own considerations. Making simple blanket statements like yours is fashionable but do more harm than good. I often wonder how much different my life would have been had I been diagnosed and medicated and just better directed - maybe I had "bad" parents but honestly I think they all do the best they can with what they have. I found out much later my struggles in life were rooted in an ADHD and pe
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Him speaking at a right wing German political rally is also a coincidence. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25... [cnn.com]

    • That drives me nuts. Insulting to all the people with autism and similar issues.

      Although at least he finally admitted it was as much about luck and having a leg up as it was about timing and skill.

      Something all of us forget, at some point or another, is how many times we weren't really the smartest people in the room... No, we're just the one's dumb lucky enough to be in the right room at the right time.
      • Something all of us forget, at some point or another, is how many times we weren't really the smartest people in the room... No, we're just the one's dumb lucky enough to be in the right room at the right time.

        "Not that there's anything wrong with that...."

        ;)

      • by havana9 ( 101033 )
        I think that Bill Gates it's sufficiently rich to go to a psych and run the tests for finding if one has autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder or other neurodivergences.
        A lot of computer geeks in the 70s were neurodivergent using todayâ(TM)s psychiatric standards. At the time there weren't tests and even definitions on DSM, so they were categorized as intelligent but lazy, and having odd behaviours. What I think is wrong is self diagnosis, not the fact one admits having ADHD or autism.
        About being lucky,
    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      Why do the censor sock puppets have so many mod points? Even though the humor was rather dark.

  • between an expression, an assignment, and an equation ?

    From the article:

    "Before the hike I was working on the part of the program that would tell the computer the order in which it should perform operations when someone inputs an equation, such as 3 (2 + 5) x 8 3"

    • between an expression, an assignment, and an equation ?

      From the article:

      "Before the hike I was working on the part of the program that would tell the computer the order in which it should perform operations when someone inputs an equation, such as 3 (2 + 5) x 8 3"

      I would say, in light of what he has accomplished, it doesn't matter if he didn't.

    • by caseih ( 160668 )

      He knows his audience and doesn't want to sound pretentious to them.

      His story reminds me that I wrote a fairly complicated mathematical parser and evaluator when I was a teenager. It handled probably 10 levels of precedence, with some levels right-to-left evaluation and others left to right. I essentially used the order of operations as described in my scientific calculator's manual (remember when even calculators had bound manuals?). I found out a few years later in uni that this was called a recursive-

      • Y'know, when you're right, you're right. An equation without an equals sign ? Eff it. It's whatever I say it is. And so is an operating system. And so it goes.

  • by YetAnotherDrew ( 664604 ) on Monday January 27, 2025 @08:06AM (#65121519)
    Dup. Slashdot can't get enough Bill.
    • by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      In related news, in EditorDavid's new memoir he thanks Parents, Acknowledges 'Not Giving a Fsck' and Possible Short Term Memory Loss.
  • by fleeped ( 1945926 ) on Monday January 27, 2025 @08:47AM (#65121577)
    Since being neurodivergent seems to be the new hip thing and being crusty white male seems to be very much not, I think he tries to shift the narrative to create a better perception of himself at this day and age. Same about being "steward of wealth" and all that nonsense; it's not hip to be rich from rich parents, so narrative must be adjusted.
    • Since being neurodivergent seems to be the new hip thing and being crusty white male seems to be very much not, I think he tries to shift the narrative to create a better perception of himself at this day and age. Same about being "steward of wealth" and all that nonsense; it's not hip to be rich from rich parents, so narrative must be adjusted.

      It would be shocking if he wasn't a bit on the spectrum. He's an engineer who pioneered a field that wasn't particularly popular or useful when he started. Computers used to be the domain of those with high-functioning autism. It's shocking if you were a dedicated computer programmer in the 80s who wasn't autistic. Programming in the 80s was a LOT harder and the pay wasn't very good. You could easily earn more money in medicine, law, business management, accounting or probably even selling houses or ca

      • So on behalf of the autistic community, fuck off!!!!

        Woah, hold on. I made an observation with no intent on shitting on people on the spectrum. I'm probably somewhere in there too. My comment was about him advertising it *now*. It's not something which he would have said in the 90s, but given the current "climate" it sounds good as it puts you in the "special" category.

        Few with ASD really celebrate it as a special status

        I will respectfully disagree, based on my exposure to social media popular with YA and university cohorts year-after-year. My observation is that it's used as "I'm special", which all teens and

        • I will respectfully disagree, based on my exposure to social media popular with YA and university cohorts year-after-year. My observation is that it's used as "I'm special", which all teens and YA want to be, and (thankfully) it doesn't carry a negative association these days.

          Idiot 19yos are a tale as old as time. Back in my day (mid 1990s), I met quite a few self-righteous nonbinary vegan insufferable wankers who were annoying AF. None of them ended up graduating and there was no social media back then, so they just annoyed the shit out of anyone who had to sit next to them for a conversation. At 19, they're starting to get their bearings as a real adult, their impressionable young minds are absorbing cool new ideas from professors, and they have a ton of overconfidence beca

  • Was on the board of directors of IBM. Also that he had access to a computer at a time when many actual universities didn't. Oh and the multi million dollar trust fund was a nice bonus too.

    One of my favorite gags is somebody said Jeff bezos started Amazon out of his garage so what's your excuse and somebody replied "I don't have a garage"
    • by job0 ( 134689 ) on Monday January 27, 2025 @10:25AM (#65121897)
      She was on the board of United Way with John Opel, the CEO of IBM
      • But not probably for the reason you think. One of the things you need to understand about how board of directors work is that classic line from George Carlin, it's a big club and you ain't in it.

        So the way a board of directors works is you sit on it and then you've got your buddies and you invite them to sit on it and they invite you to sit in on the board of directors that they sit in on. It's a giant Nepo baby clusterfuck.

        So while you're technically correct you're only really technically correct.
        • Kildall's unwillingness to enter a deal with IBM could very well have been a momentous decision, and Gates' connections probably helped him a lot on his path. But I don't think implying Gates only got in with IBM due to nepotism can honestly be argued. Micro-Soft was an massively important player in the personal computing world that IBM wanted to enter. Their BASIC was on most even remotely relevant systems, they absolutely dominated that sector. Disregarding everything else about Micro-Soft apart from thei
  • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Monday January 27, 2025 @09:02AM (#65121609) Journal

    I think what we have here is humility false or otherwise on the part of Bill. It might well be false to because he knows the prevailing academic opinion is a against great-man theory right now. You can't be accept in the trendy parts of society right now running around Vanderbilt or JP Morgan; instead you have to say "you didn't build that" or something.

    The thing about Bill is even if you don't like him, the fact was he is highly intelligent, he really was at least at one time for the era an accomplished software developer, and later proved to be a marketing genius as well as a cutthroat driven business man.

    Sure luck and timing had a lot to do with it but there were a substantial number of other people who were in those same places at the same time and they did not birth Microsoft or anything of the similar scale. Bill was not the only young person who got play with some DEC kit, we all know about the Altair because it was already a popular kit in computer clubs before Bill and Alan sold a BASIC interpreter for it. Those current owners were assembly programmers and hobbyists who might very well themselves have written a BASIC - they didn't, Bill and Allen did.

    Same thing by the time we get to the PC; Bill was a closer, the Digital Research people weren't.

    Luck is the opportunity. Skill/talent are the ability and clarity of vision are the things that allow conversion of opportunity into greatness. Bill had that combination. Other people standing in the same place at the same time would not have resulted in Microsoft; we know that because it did not happen for them. The opportunity would did and would have continued to trigger for lots of people but Bill's ability to convert is what made the difference, it is what made him the Great Man.

    • Nobody likes a poor thief.
    • I think what we have here is humility false or otherwise on the part of Bill. It might well be false to because he knows the prevailing academic opinion is a against great-man theory right now. You can't be accept in the trendy parts of society right now running around Vanderbilt or JP Morgan; instead you have to say "you didn't build that" or something.

      The thing about Bill is even if you don't like him, the fact was he is highly intelligent, he really was at least at one time for the era an accomplished software developer, and later proved to be a marketing genius as well as a cutthroat driven business man.

      Very astute. In what is the ultimate irony, those who prefer the weak man theory all use the products and civilization that great men brought us to do their best to tear great men and their achievements down.

    • >> he knows the prevailing academic opinion is a against great-man theory right now. You can't be accept[ed] in the trendy parts of society right now

      The entire row of techbro oligarchs at Trump's inauguration beg to differ. Gate's wasn't there but he went to Magalardo earlier to kiss the ring.

      • by caseih ( 160668 )

        He also said he was surprised and impressed by Trump at that meeting. Really lowered my estimation of him.

  • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Monday January 27, 2025 @09:15AM (#65121645)
    The endless quest of the checkbox people has made a discovery - there are no normal people on earth.
    • The endless quest of the checkbox people has made a discovery - there are no normal people on earth.

      Perhaps you're the one on the spectrum if you believe something so stupid? Complaining that software engineers get labeled as autistic is like complaining how many people in the NBA consider themselves "black." The industry has long attracted people on the spectrum and until recently, no one ever got diagnosed for autism if they could talk...the just got heavily bullied by their community and beaten by their parents until they acted more normal.

      The computer industry is a place where those on the spectr

      • The endless quest of the checkbox people has made a discovery - there are no normal people on earth.

        Perhaps you're the one on the spectrum if you believe something so stupid?

        Says the person who managed to misread what I wrote, then gets triggered AF.

        https://autisticandunapologeti... [autistican...ogetic.com]

        https://medium.com/probably-he... [medium.com]

        Whoosh - No, not everyone is autistic. And what the actual fsck is neurodivergance? I'm highly driven, and don't mind working. Not everyone is - does that make me neurodivergant?

        Having worked with engineers and scientists my whole career up to retirement, many I've worked with fit the widely expanded concept of autism. Whereas once, the term was reserved f

        • The endless quest of the checkbox people has made a discovery - there are no normal people on earth.

          Perhaps you're the one on the spectrum if you believe something so stupid?

          Says the person who managed to misread what I wrote, then gets triggered AF.

          https://autisticandunapologeti... [autistican...ogetic.com]

          https://medium.com/probably-he... [medium.com]

          Whoosh - No, not everyone is autistic. And what the actual fsck is neurodivergance? I'm highly driven, and don't mind working. Not everyone is - does that make me neurodivergant?

          Having worked with engineers and scientists my whole career up to retirement, many I've worked with fit the widely expanded concept of autism. Whereas once, the term was reserved for severely affected people, now it branches out to people who may be socially awkward, maybe physically awkward.

          But they are very intelligent, excellent workers, and marry and have children and friends, and live their lives nicely, thankyouverymuch. But labeled as Aspies by those who love labeling everything. Me? I just call them differently abled and talented, and am friends with many. That's if I bother to put them in a checkbox at allall, which I don't unless in one of these conversations.

          So relax a little, have an adult beverage or herb of your choice.

          For clarity's sake, yes, I do have ASD and a family history of it and a so who is not high functioning...so...yeah...not a hypothetical for me. People with high functioning ASD are often successful in their careers and find fulfilling relationships.

          Your debate is around labels. Labels are useful. In my view, they're not desperate grabs for pity, but a tool to help them thrive. The only time a label is bad if it is applied incorrectly. We should encourage labeling...and more important, labeling with

          • Your debate is around labels. Labels are useful. In my view, they're not desperate grabs for pity, but a tool to help them thrive.

            While some labeling is good, my entire point was about the need that some people have to create a different lable, which eventually makes an individual label for everyone, making the labeling useless. because there aren much in the way of groups any more.

            Now that may make me stupid, as you claim. But I've seen a lot of labeling over the years applied to me, When I was a child, I was labeled as a person who was destined to poverty, as lazy, as a truant - I had a cousin who was a badass, so I was going t

  • Does it come with the chapter about chumming it up with Epstein on his island? Many people are saying he made a child airtight with the help of D----- T---- (it was a boy). Many people.

  • This reminded me of some articles that came out years ago describing his 'rocking' behavior, which is not uncommon for people on the spectrum.

    "Microsoft's Bill Gates has a habit of rocking back and forth in a chair whenever he's in deep mental concentration. The more agitated or excited he gets, the harder he rocks. The pace is determined by his interest. This happened so often during meetings that Microsoft employees started imitating Gates."

    A profile piece published in Fortune magazine in 1990 described t

  • I am glad that Gates at least mentioned the luck of the "lottery of birth."

    Look, I do not belittle those who have benefited from being born in the right place and time and have been able to perpetuate growth while delivering great innovations and results. I can appreciate and admire them very much.

    What bothers me about the "fake meritocratic" discourse of most of the ultra-rich is how much they love to tout how they got to where they are absolutely on their own merits, with no outside help, as a way of just

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