Bill Gates, who was named the richest person in 2017 Forbes list with a net worth of US$86 billion, said he is often asked for career advice by young graduates.
Artificial intelligence, energy and biosciences are “promising fields where you can make a huge impact,” he said on that is what he would advice today’s graduating college students. “It’s what I would do if starting out today,” Gates said in a series of tweets on Monday that ranged from what to study to the importance of giving back to society. Gates who dropped out from Harvard in 1975 never completed his four years at the university. He wrote that he wished he had known when leaving college that intelligence takes many different forms and isn’t as important as he thought earlier. His greatest regret was that “when I left school, I knew little about the world’s worst inequities,” the multi-billionaire said. “Took me decades to learn.” Gates, who runs the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife said that he didn’t see true inequality until his late 30s, when he and wife took their first trip to Africa. “We were shocked by what we saw. When we came back, we began learning more. It blew our minds that millions of children there were dying from diseases that no one in rich countries even worried about,” he said in the Mic post. “You know more than I did when I was your age. You can start fighting inequity, whether down the street or around the world, sooner. “Meanwhile, surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self. As @MelindaGates does for me.” Further, Gates said he measures his own happiness by “whether people close to me are happy and love me, & by the difference I make for others.” He also suggested a book titled “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” written by cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, which he said was “the most inspiring book I’ve ever read.” He concluded by asking graduates to consider the progress humanity has already made, saying that he believes the world is getting better. As Pinker argues in his book, Gates says that it “sounds crazy, but it’s true. This is the most peaceful time in human history.” “That matters because if you think the world is getting better, you want to spread the progress to more people and places,” he tweeted. “It doesn’t mean you ignore the serious problems we face. It just means you believe they can be solved. “This is the core of my worldview. It sustains me in tough times and is the reason I love my work. I think it can do same for you.”
