Mogul and co-founder of giant Microsoft, Bill Gates, often opines about existential threats facing the planet and humanity, such as climate change and possible future pandemics. Despite this, the billionaire still says he is “very optimistic” about the future of humanity on Earth. According to the businessman, even despite the most serious problems that current and future generations will face, anyone born in the coming decades will live better than people born in any other era of history, according to moneyreview.gr. “I still think it would be much better to be born in 20, 40, 60 years than at any time in the past,” Bill Gates said in an interview with Lowe’s Research Institute in Australia. However, he acknowledged that the world is full of reasons for discouragement, talking about the inadequate global response to the coronavirus pandemic, government failures to combat climate change and political polarization in the United States.

Indeed, a Gallup poll in October found that only 42% of Americans believe today’s youth have a “higher standard of living” than their parents. This number is 18 percentage points lower than in 2019 and corresponds to the lowest level of optimism recorded in about 30 years. But pessimists don’t see the full picture, Bill Gates said. “It’s easy to be more negative about some of these trends, but I don’t think that’s fair,” he explained. He mentioned in particular progress in public health, noting that global under-five mortality rates have halved over the past two decades. “The number of innovations aimed at improving the overall human condition will be even more impressive. We are going to cure obesity, we are going to cure cancer, we are going to eradicate polio,” the mogul said, according to CNBC.

Finally, he mentioned the potential for cheap and efficient clean energy, as well as technological advances that enable education and healthcare professionals to innovate around the world.