Communications of the ACM
Bill Gates on the Future of Education, Programming, and Just About Everything Else
Computing is the solution to broad science problems such as climate modeling and energy innovation, Bill Gates said at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit.
Credit: Computing Research Policy Blog
At Microsoft's recent Faculty Summit, Bill Gates expressed his views on a range of topics, including education, patents, computer science, and machine learning.
Although Gates believes U.S. education is flawed, with the United States having the highest dropout rate for higher education of any wealthy nation, he says massive open online courses (MOOCs) can remedy the situation. Gates says online courses enable students to acquire job skills and enable physical institutions to customize education. He acknowledges that MOOCs are still in the early stages and significant work remains to be done, but notes that MOOCs might be able to help teachers ensure that students get the cognitive and social benefits of attending school in person.
In terms of intellectual property, Gates says that software in developed countries pays salaries and enables companies to invest in innovation that brings global improvements. "Anybody who thinks getting rid of [patent law] would be better . . . I can tell you, that's crazy," he says.
Gates also notes that tremendous computing power and storage are creating a "golden age of computer science" that is transforming society. For example, advanced robots are already in use in farming applications, and within 20 or 30 years, robots might be able to perform surgery in remote areas.
From GigaOm.com
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