Shadowing Practice: Bill Gates Joked with Steve Jobs About Taking the Wrong LSD, Talks AI and Optimism for the Future - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Bill, welcome back.
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Bill, welcome back.
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I always like having you on the show.
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I actually just thought of this seconds before it.
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I apologize.
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Here, I'll just put this.
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No one...
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You didn't see anything.
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You didn't see anything.
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Welcome back to the show.
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I always love having you here.
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Source Code is out today.
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Congratulations on this.
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It's fantastic.
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You worked hard on this.
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It was kind of fun to look back.
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Yeah, I don't do that much.
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Yeah, why did you want to do this,
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like, looking all the way back just to your upbringing?
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You know, I'll turn 70 this year.
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Microsoft turns 50.
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My foundation will be 25.
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So, you know, it's time I look back a tiny bit and thought through,
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you know, the incredible luck I had with parents and timing
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and so many things that set me up for an amazing life.
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Yeah, you do talk about your mom a lot in this book and what a big influence your mom...
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I know everyone's mom is.
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I love my mom, too.
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Yeah.
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What examples do you have of anything you remember,
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your mom being very influential in you?
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Well, when other families had come over,
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you know, we'd talk about what their kids were up to,
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and then after they left,
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my mom would say, oh,
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they must feel terrible their kid didn't go to college,
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or, you know, they're not doing very well,
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and I'd be like, oh,
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okay, I get what you want me to do.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, that was a side way of saying,
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you better go to college, yeah.
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And then you went and dropped out.
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I did.
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Good for you.
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Good for you.
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I went on leave.
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Keep her on her toes.
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Yeah, you did.
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You actually wrote a nice letter.
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You went on leave.
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You go, I'm starting a company with my buddy.
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I might be back if it doesn't work.
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Yeah, you did say that.
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It's kind of cool.
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They have the letter in here.
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I also thought it was very interesting,
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too, a lot of the Boy Scout stuff.
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Yeah, I got to do a lot of hiking in the Seattle area.
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I wasn't very good at it,
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but I loved the camaraderie.
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Yeah, me too.
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I never...
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I wasn't a Boy Scout.
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My parents didn't let me try it for it.
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Yeah, or something.
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I didn't get to.
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But I got all those magazines and learned how to tie knots and stuff.
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I tried camping out once in my backyard.
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And I know, that was my big adventure outside.
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And my mom came out mid-night,
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like, middle of the night and said, Jimmy, come back inside.
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This is scary.
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It's scary.
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Also, I want to say the proceeds from this book is going to United Way worldwide.
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Uh...
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United Way because of your.. because of your mom?
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Yeah, my parents were both very involved.
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Uh, and the whole volunteering thing,
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giving back to the community, they.. they set an example that, uh, I'm...
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I'm trying to live up to.
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Yeah, you really are, yeah.
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You're.. you're doing a good job.
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Uh, 50th anniversary of Microsoft.
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You look back at this,
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you go, man, oh, man.
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I mean, you are Bill Gates.
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You became...
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Like, before you, who would you even think...
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Who'd you look up to?
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Or who was...
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Oh, there were scientists like Richard Feynman, who were amazing.
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There was no computer industry except for these big, expensive machines.
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IT WAS IBM, IT WAS THIS COMPANY,
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AND PEOPLE THOUGHT COMPUTERS WERE KIND OF AGAINST THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE ONLY FOR BIG COMPANIES.
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AND THEN WHEN THE PERSONAL COMPUTER CAME,
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IT WAS MORE LIKE, OKAY, POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
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AND WE GOT TO BE PART OF THAT,
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YOU KNOW, BECAUSE BY AGE 18,
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I HAD DONE A LOT OF SOFTWARE,
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AND WE SAW THE MIRACLE OF THE CHIP,
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AND THAT IT WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
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YOU SAID THAT EVERYONE IS GOING TO HAVE A PERSONAL COMPUTER,
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AND PEOPLE LAUGHED AT YOU,
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AND THEY GO, YEAH, RIGHT.
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We'll see.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Now, everyone's got one in their pocket now, I guess, right?
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Yeah, no, we used to say,
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on every desk in every home,
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and now, you know, we've gone even far beyond that.
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Yeah.
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Does it fuel you to work harder when people doubt you and say,
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no, you can't do this?
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I think so.
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You know, I think kind of proving to my mom that I could exceed her expectation.
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And then just the dream of,
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okay, wouldn't it be cool?
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I wanted to have a personal computer.
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And my friend Paul Allen and I in the early years,
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you know, figured out, hey,
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we see this and other people don't.
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We don't know why, but let's go show them.
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Yeah.
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He sounds like fun, by the way, Paul Allen.
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He was a Hendrix fan.
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He played the guitar.
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Yeah, experimented with LSD.
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And he made me do the same thing.
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Yeah. Did that...
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That, hold on, now.
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I don't want to have no flashbacks.
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I don't want to have no flashbacks.
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But what was that like?
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Do you remember the experience?
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It was a little crazy.
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The funny thing was later,
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when Steve Jobs was kind of denigrating me,
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he said, oh, Bill Gates has no design taste.
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He should have taken acid.
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And I was like, wait a minute.
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I took the acid.
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It was just that I got the batch that's about code, not about design. So.
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You got the weird batch.
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He got a very different batch than I did.
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Yeah.
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But you, we wouldn't recommend anyone go out there.
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No, I actually don't, no. No.
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Because it's like you think you've solved the problems of the world and then you don't really?
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Or what it was?
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It turns out it's all kind of fake.
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Yeah.
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And I like it when my mind works well,
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and I was kind of worried afterwards that I'd mess up my mind.
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Oh, interesting.
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And erase all my knowledge.
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So even though I was a big risk taker,
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then I thought, no, no more of that.
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I'm gonna just work super hard.
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In my 20s, I didn't take weekends or vacation.
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It was kind of over the top,
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But it was super fun.
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And you just live in your office?
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Yep.
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I knew everybody's license plate numbers.
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So I knew when they came, when they went home.
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And what did mom say when she found out you were doing this?
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She goes, she's interesting.
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By then she had relaxed a little bit.
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Yeah.
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You know, she always said,
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okay, you need me for this or that.
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And so we had some intensity in our relationship.
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Both she and my dad,
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in their own way, were fantastic.
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My dad more by setting a model of calmness
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and showing you really can be on top of the world than my mom by kind of pushing me,
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even though I push back.
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Oh, that's good.
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I think you did okay, yeah.
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Everyone's talking about AI and that's the big topic.
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EVERYONE SAY HOW IT'S GOING TO TAKE OVER AND ALL THIS STUFF AND IT'S BAD OR IT'S GOOD OR WE DON'T KNOW.
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WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS FOR IN LAYMAN'S TERMS FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME?
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YEAH, SO THE ERA WE'VE COME TO IS SORT OF THE VISION THAT COMPUTING WAS EXPENSIVE AND IT BASICALLY BECAME FREE.
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THE ERA THAT WE'RE JUST STARTING IS THAT INTELLIGENCE IS RARE.
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YOU KNOW, A GREAT DOCTOR, A GREAT TEACHER.
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And with AI, over the next decade,
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that will become free, commonplace.
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Great medical advice, great tutoring.
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And it's kind of profound because it solves all these specific problems.
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Like we don't have enough doctors or mental health professionals.
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But it brings with it kind of so much change.
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What will jobs be like?
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Should we just work like two or three days a week?
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So I love the way it'll drive innovation forward,
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but I think, you know,
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it's a little bit unknown.
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Will we be able to shape it?
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And so legitimately, people are like,
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wow, this is a bit scary.
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It's completely new territory.
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I mean, will we still need humans?
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Not for most things.
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You know, we'll decide.
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I mean, hosting a talk show, definitely.
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You're gonna need, really?
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Well, we'll decide.
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I MEAN, HOSTING A TALK SHOW, DEFINITELY.
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REALLY?
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WELL, WE'LL DECIDE, YOU KNOW, LIKE BASEBALL.
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WE WON'T WANT TO WATCH COMPUTERS PLAY BASEBALL.
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THAT'S CREAT.
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YEAH.
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AND, YOU KNOW, SO THERE WILL BE SOME THINGS THAT WE RESERVE FOR OURSELVES.
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BUT IN TERMS OF MAKING THINGS AND MOVING THINGS AND GROWING FOOD,
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OVER TIME, THOSE WILL BE BASICALLY SOLVED PROBLEMS those will be basically solved problems.
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Yeah.
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Which we need to solve problems.
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Because you've got some grandkids.
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I do.
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I have a two-year-old and a three-month-old.
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That's pretty awesome.
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That's cute, huh?
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Boy, girl?
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Two girls.
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Two girls?
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Oh, that's the best.
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Both here in New York.
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Really?
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Yeah.
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Do you like being a grandpa?
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It's fun.
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I think the best part is yet to come.
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Because I like to read books to them,
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eventually take them on trips.
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But even the two-year-olds are kind of a blast.
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Oh, that's fantastic.
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Now, I want to ask you,
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too, because there's a nice thing about being optimistic about the future.
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What keeps you optimistic, and what could you tell everyone to stay optimistic about the future?
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Well, I think the ability to improve health.
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Even Alzheimer's, which has been tough.
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all the diseases that are still in the developing countries like malaria,
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HIV, polio, we're very close.
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I spend a lot of time on that.
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You really do.
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With luck, in the next three or four years,
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that'll become the second disease that's completely gone.
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And even in areas like climate,
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you know, I think we can innovate we need to make really,
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really cheap green products.
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And asking people to pay extra,
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they should pay extra for clean products.
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But if you take the whole globe,
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they probably won't do it.
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And so the way to kind of get there is to innovate so the clean one is cheaper than the dirty one.
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And there's a lot of great stuff coming along.
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So I'm a little more optimistic about that then people don't get to see that innovation pipeline.
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Yeah.
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All right.
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I love it.
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More with Bill Gates when we come back, everybody.
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I want to ask some more questions.
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Come on back.
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Context & Background
In this engaging dialogue, Bill Gates reflects on his life experiences and influential figures, particularly emphasizing the role his mother played in his upbringing. The video captures a moment of lightheartedness as Gates discusses his achievements and the lessons learned from his past. As he nears his milestone 70th birthday and celebrates Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, Gates shares insights into his journey and the importance of education. This discussion serves as a testament to how personal histories can shape one's perspectives and successes, making it a valuable content for learners aiming to understand conversational nuances in English.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "Welcome back to the show." - A friendly greeting often used in televised discussions.
- "I always love having you here." - An expression of appreciation, useful in social encounters.
- "You know, it's time I look back a tiny bit." - A phrase indicating reflection, useful for sharing personal stories.
- "What examples do you have?" - A question that invites the speaker to elaborate, enhancing conversational flow.
- "I went on leave." - A formal way to indicate a break or temporary pause in responsibilities.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
The shadowing technique involves listening to native speakers and mimicking their pronunciation, tone, and pace. Here’s how you can effectively use this approach to enhance your English speaking practice with this video:
- Watch the video once: Focus on understanding the overall context and the conversational dynamics between the speakers.
- Listen to short segments: Break down the video into manageable parts. Start with one or two sentences at a time.
- Repeat aloud: After listening, practice repeating the phrases. Pay close attention to emotion and intonation, as seen when Gates jokes or reflects.
- Record yourself: Use your phone or any recording device to capture your voice as you shadow the speakers. Listening to your recordings can help identify areas for improvement.
- Practice regularly: Incorporate this shadowing session into your daily routine. Consistent practice will help you gain fluency and confidence in your IELTS speaking practice.
By learning English with YouTube videos and employing this structured approach, you can effectively improve your speaking abilities and build a more nuanced understanding of linguistic and cultural contexts. Start practicing today and watch your confidence soar!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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