The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Bill Gates on Improving the Human Condition via Goalkeepers

Episode Date: January 2, 2020

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates talks about his efforts to tackle daunting global problems through his philanthropic Goalkeepers event and discusses the value of foreign aid. Originally aired July 11, 2019. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News.

Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Please welcome, Bill Gates. Welcome back to the show. Great to be here. First things first, when the interview ends, don't get up and leave immediately because people think like we're fighting and we're not. I don't want to overstay my welcome. Yeah, you just like, I know that you have places to be, but everyone was like, Trevor, did Bill Gates, did you offend him? I was like, thrown? That's what Bill Gates does, when he's th is th is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi's thi's thi's thi's thi, like, like, like, like, like, thi, like, like, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi.. thi. thi. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi.. Well, thi.. Well, thi.. Well, thi. Well, thi.. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. Well, thi. thi. thi. too. too. too. too. tooooooo. toooo. too. too. too. too. too. too. That's what Bill Gates does. When he's done, he's done. He gets up and he leaves.

Everyone else is like, hello, cry, and Bill Gates is like, I'm out, I'm done. That's how you become a billionaire. Welcome back to the show. Congratulations on another successful year of the Go goalkeepers event? What are you trying to inspire on people? Well, all the countries in the United Nations

made a set of commitments to improve the state of life, to get rid of disease, to fix climate change, and those goals, sustainable development goals, we need every year to sit down and look at are we making progress. We need to celebrate the heroes who are inventing new tools or doing work in the field. And we need to see if people are falling behind, how do we double down on that? And this is the one week of the year because the UN's coming together, that we focus attention on these super important long-term issues. What I enjoy as well is I was lucky to be part of the event last year and what I enjoyed was it's not an event that's focused solely on the leaders of the countries,

but it's on the people in the countries who are leading themselves. So you have an event where I think this year was over 400 people, predominantly below the age of 40, and more than 50% of them are young women who are doing amazing things in their countries. What are some of the projects that they're undertaking that really impress you? On the ground, the idea of getting new seeds to farmers, educating them so they can deal with climate change and have more productivity. There's women farmers are educating other women farmers. Women are creating women's groups where they come together, educate each other

about avoiding childhood marriage, talk about is the government, is the teacher showing up, right? Are the vaccines there, and that kind of accountability really grows up from the community level, particularly with women as they ban together. And so that's the kind of movement that we want to scale up, you know, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in the the the the th, in the th, in fact, th, the, their, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, thea, thea, thea, thea, thea.ea.ea, thea.ea.ea, their, their, their, their And so that's the kind of movement that we want to scale up. And in fact, we'd love to see it all over Africa. It's something that's growing in Africa.

And one thing that has struck me is you're one of the most optimistic people I've met. And part of me goes because you're a billionaire. I mean, I would look up to me like, yeah, I'm optimistic because of that. But you've been on the ground for a long time, and you've seen massive changes, predominantly in Africa and in Asia as well. You've always said to me, the world is getting better progressively. It doesn't mean we can stop, but the world is getting better.

But then I ask you, Bill Gates, why does it feel like the sky or a natural disaster. If we go three years with no plane wrecks, you know, when do you put that headline there? Extreme poverty's gone from 36% to 9%. And so every day for 25 years you could have run a headline, 137,000 moved out of extreme poverty today. That would be real news. And yet, it would feel kind of weird.

And so improvement is this gradual thing. We've cut childhood deaths in half over the last 25 years. We've raised agricultural productivity. And there's a lot of amazing heroes behind that. And so, really understanding this framework that we focus so much on what's not done, that we can miss the lessons of what really works extremely well. That's an interesting paradox, because it feels like that's the space that not just the general population is in, but also the president of the United States. Because Donald Trump has not been afraid to say, he's not a fan of giving money to other

countries, he's not a fan of foreign aid, he doesn't understand why America pays for any other country. I read an article in the Washington Post about how they asked you to come to the White House to explain to the President why foreign aid is important. And, like, I would like, if you were explaining it to to to to to to to to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain it to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to explain to a to explain to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to a to know, like if you were explaining it to a toddler, how would you explain, not that the president has, I'm just saying if you were, how would you explain foreign aid to somebody, why would you say the United States should help any other country and give them money? Well, it's less than 1% of our budget. When you ask people, they think it's 5 or 10%, but it's fairly small. Although we have such big budget, it's $30 billion a year.

That $30 billion is keeping over 14 million people alive with HIV medicines. And if we keep them alive, eventually we'll have a vaccine and then we'll stop people from getting infected. But for now, we need to keep those drugs going out there. It's something America should be very proud of. It started under President Bush, but it's been very bipartisan, called PEPFAR. And so most people don't get to see these things in action, see how many kids are surviving from malaria

because those bed nets got out there. Melinda and I get to travel to Africa, we get to look at this data, and you know, thank God that American taxpayers are so generous. This is what can get countries out of poverty. Allow those countries to be self-sufficient and stable. That means we won't have to send soldiers there. We won't have epidemic starting there. And the world economy will grow and will all participate in the middle income or better life that everyone on the planet should have.

When you look at philanthropy, you have to look at it through a very specific lens, because a lot of people have a misconception, and that is those who have the money can just give it to those who do not, then the problems of the world are solved. But the truth is, Philanthry we cannot fix these problems. So what are you looking to do? Because even if you gave all of your money to a charity, the truth is it is a drop in the bucket compared to take risks, like inventing a new vaccine. You know, we can pick scientists and get behind that so we can add to whatever the government's doing there.

We can understand these community organizations, give them some money and show they get results and hope that the government will get behind those new approaches. The idea of improving seeds, actually the Rockefeller Foundation funded the Green Revolution that saved hundreds of millions in Asia because the crops were so much more productive. Now we need to do that again to fight against climate change and the smallholder farmers who will suffer from that. So we can make risky bets, and if you come up with improvements,

then you've really got to go to the governments. Because as you say, of the world economy, philanthropy is 0.1%. Not gigantic, but enough to back scientists, enough to back pilot studies, enough to try and change the culture of some of these delivery systems so that they really work well. You know, over time we'll get digital tracking and so you can say when you went to the primary health care system

were the vaccines there, did the teacher do a good job? So we want we need the governments over time to take on new ideas including these accountability systems. It's always exciting speaking to you. I know that th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. We's thi. thi. thi. thi. Over thi. Over toge. toge. We'll toge. Wea. We'll toge. Wea. Over toge. Over toge. Over toge. Over toge. Over thi. It's always exciting speaking to you. I know that the goalkeepers event is moving forward. I know this year you celebrated a hundred years of Nelson Mandela and how he inspired goalkeepers. Looking at his legacy, looking at the people you've spoken to, what are you hoping that as humanity we can achieve in the coming years? Well, we had Grosch and Michelle Mandelowel's wife come in. She was so eloquent about how how how how that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th and th and thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the thi the thi their thi thi their thi their their thi the goal is the goal is the goal is the goal is the goal is the goals. Wea the goals. I the goals. Wea the goal the goal the goal is the goal the goal the goals. the goals. the goals. Wea the goals. Wea, the goal. Wea, the goal. Wea, the goal. Wea, the goal. Wea, the goal. Wea, the goal. Wea, the the the the th. I thi. I's, thi. I's thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. thea. thoooooo. thea. thea. thea. thea. the thea. the the the the the who is Nelson Mandela's wife, coming. She was so eloquent about how he believed in principles and he stuck with them even when it looked bleak.

So some things look bleak right now, some of the trends don't look all that good that humans aren't as willing to help each other and take these kind of long-term views and solve these tough problems. But, you know, he th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the views and solve these tough problems. But, you know, he was such an example. And, you know, that's incredibly inspiring. I think the young people in the room were all tearing up as she talked about him and how we should all take that spirit of sticking with what we believe in and carry it forward. Thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you.

Great thing you all, John. For more information about the Bull and Menendez Foundation, and the Goal Keepers, support. Goal Gates, everybody. The Daily Show with Trevnoa, ears edition. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Dotcom. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more.

This has been a Comedy Central podcast. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible.

I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look.