I thought it was a film about the glorious life of Bill Gates. I was going to kneel down to watch it, but it turned out to be full of emotion. Compared with the story of the struggle of the world's richest man, this documentary puts more emphasis on it. After he left Microsoft, he engaged in public welfare undertakings that did not actually achieve such great results, and his mental journey, especially in the relationship between his mother and wife, was sincere and heart-warming.
For the post-70s and 80s, especially those who work in the field of technology, Bill Gates is more or less regarded as an idol, a Harvard dropout, a technical genius, and the richest man in the world. In my ignorant boyhood, I once took him as my life goal, so Basic became the first programming language I mastered. However, the big hammer of society came down one by one, and it was no accident that I told me: Impossible, of course, not just me, almost all code farmers have to realize sooner or later that they cannot become Bill Gates. Not everyone is so gifted at computers, and still able to catch up with the golden age of computing, and also have a wonderful family (access to IBM and Buffett are directly related to her mother), so Bill Gates It's just a boy's dream.
In this film, I accidentally see a person who is not so unattainable. He is just a mischievous child. He quarreled with his mother, was splashed with water by his father, and was caught by the traffic police while driving for speeding when his mother died. He is pure and optimistic. He wants to use technology to change the world, but he has repeatedly hit a wall. Talk about a few things that touched me deeply.
The limitations of technology
It turns out that Bill Gates, like most technicians around us, wants to use technology and innovation to solve all problems. The reality is that many hit the wall, and Microsoft succeeded because it was the most suitable era for computer technology innovation - there was no easy-to-use personal computer operating system. It is also technological innovation, but it is much more difficult to use in traditional fields. You can see several projects he did later:
Innovative toilet: Because the cost is too high (50,000 US dollars, still quoted by China), it is impossible to apply to poor countries in Africa.
Safe nuclear power: It took a lot of time to convince people that nuclear power can be done safely, and also to catch up with the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. It was difficult to find a pilot in China, but soon after the contract was signed, the trade war started.
Polio: In Nigeria, it has clearly achieved remarkable results. The local political situation is turbulent, and terrorist attacks are carried out every day, and it fails.
In fact, to make a major event that affects the world, there are too many problems to be solved. Political and cultural problems are too difficult, and they are all too difficult for an optimistic technical genius to handle. Technological genius is best at the cutting edge, where the old rules have much less of an impact.
The dignity of technology
Although technology is not omnipotent, the United States still respects technology enough and believes in it. There are two details that can be seen:
1. In order to find technical cooperation, Bill Gates wrote letters to many universities in the United States, but he did not expect to receive a cold reception - most universities did not reply to him at all. The reason why I feel so deeply is because of a news from our school to the effect that a distinguished alumnus visited by helicopter and vacated the school’s basketball court at 0:00. The school feels quite proud. What I felt at the time was shame. It wasn't that the playground couldn't park helicopters, but the school's flattering attitude towards business made me feel ashamed.
2. In 1971, in order to optimize the efficiency of class scheduling, Hubin Middle School thought of asking Bill Gates, who was still a middle school student, to write a class scheduling software. Imagine how many scientific and technological talents can be cultivated in such a middle school. Thinking about the solutions to the efficiency problem faced by our schools and even enterprises, we are embarrassed again.
3. Bill Gates outside the halo
In this film, his mother, wife and friends have a high proportion of scenes. Bill Gates outside the halo is actually an enthusiastic, lively, and emotional person. Talking about Kent, a friend who died early in his youth, and talking about his mother who had been dead for many years, his eyes were red when he saw him. Finally, I was asked, if you knew you were going to die today, what would you most like to do? Thank you, Melinda, he said.
Interestingly, The Great Bill Gates, his favorite novel is The Great Gatsby. There is a passage on the dome of his luxurious study:
His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.
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