Five years ago Bill Gates got up on the TED stage and basically predicted the current pandemic and America's shambolic response. Thanks to that talk, he's now regarded as one of the most prophetic voices out there on the threat of new diseases. That means when he offers his opinion on what life after Covid-19 will look like, we should all sit up and take notice.
Which is what the Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist just did on the first episode of his new podcast. Together with actor Rashida Jones, Gates talked to fellow infectious disease heavyweight Anthony Fauci about progress toward a vaccine, the measures we should all be taking now, and his vision of life after Covid. Here are Gates's top predictions.
1. Remote meetings will be normalized.
Before the pandemic you would probably worry a client might feel slighted if you opted to meet with them virtually rather than in person, but after Covid the calculus of when to go and when to Zoom will be very different, according to Gates.
"Just like World War II brought women into the workforce and a lot of that stayed, this idea of, 'Do I need to go there physically?' We're now allowed to ask that," he says. That will be true of work meetings, but also of other previously in-person interactions.
"The idea of learning or having a doctor's appointment or a sales call where it's just screen-based with something like Zoom or Microsoft Teams will change dramatically," Gates predicts.
2. Software will have improved dramatically.
Not only will the idea of meeting at a distance seem more natural, but Gates also predicts the tools to do so will soon be wildly better than what we're struggling with now. Read More