Transcript of Bill Gates Joked with Steve Jobs About Taking the Wrong LSD, Talks AI and Optimism for the Future
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
0:01-Bill, welcome back.0:02I always like having you
on the show.0:03I actually just thought
of this seconds before.0:06I apologize.
I...0:08Here, I'll just put this...0:09[ Laughter ]0:11Yeah.
[ Rimshot ]0:13-No one --
You didn't see anything.0:15You didn't see anything.
Welcome back to the show.0:17I always love having you here.0:20"Source Code" is out today.0:21Congratulations on this.
It's fantastic.0:23You worked hard on this.0:25-It was kind of fun
to look back.0:26Yeah, I don't do that much.0:27-Yeah.
Why did you want to do this,0:29like, looking all the way back
just to your upbringing?0:32-Um, you know,
I'll turn 70 this year.0:35Microsoft turns 50.
My foundation will be 25.0:39So, you know,
it's time I look back a tiny bit0:42and thought through,
you know, the incredible luck0:45I had with parents and timing
and so many things0:49that set me up
for an amazing life.0:53-Yeah. You do talk about your
mom a lot in this book0:56and what a big influence
your mom.0:58I know everyone's mom is.
I love my mom, too.1:00Yeah. What examples
did you have of anything1:04you remember your mom being
very influential in you?1:06-Well, when
other families had come over,1:09you know, we'd talk about
what their kids were up to.1:11And then after they left,
my mom would say,1:13"Oh, they must feel terrible.
Their kid didn't go to college,"1:16or, you know,
"They're not doing very well."1:18And I'd be like, "Oh, okay.
I get what you want me to do."1:22-Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
[ Laughter ]1:23Yeah, that was a side way
of saying,1:25"You better go to college."
Yeah.1:26And then you went
and dropped out.1:27-I did.
-Yeah. Good for you.1:29Good for you.
-I went on leave, actually.1:31-Keep her on her toes.
Yeah, you did.1:33You actually wrote a nice letter
to her that you went on leave.1:35You go, "Oh, I'm starting a
company with my buddy."1:38-I might be back
if it doesn't work.1:39-Yeah, you did say that.1:41It's kind of cool.
They have the letter in here.1:42I also thought it was
very interesting, too,1:44a lot of the Boy Scout stuff.1:46-Yeah, I got to do a lot of
hiking in the Seattle area.1:49I wasn't very good at it,
but I loved the camaraderie.1:52-Yeah. Me too. I never -- I
didn't -- I wasn't a Boy Scout.1:55My parents didn't let
me try out for it.1:57Yeah, or something.
I didn't get to do it.1:58But I got all those magazines
and learned2:00how to tie knots and stuff.
[ Laughter ]2:02I tried camping out once
in my backyard,2:06and -- I know -- that was
my big adventure outside.2:10My mom came out midnight,
like middle of the night,2:13and said,
"Jimmy, come back inside.2:14This is scary.
It's scaring me."2:17Also, I want to say
the proceeds from this book2:19is going to
United Way Worldwide.2:22[ Cheers and applause ]2:24United Way because of your --
because of your mom?2:27-Yeah, my parents were both
very involved.2:29And the whole
volunteering thing, giving back2:32to the community,
they set an example2:34that I'm trying to live up to.2:38-Yeah. You really are.
Yeah.2:39[ Cheers and applause ]
You're doing a good job.2:4450th anniversary of Microsoft.2:47You look back at this,
you go, "Man, oh, man."2:48I mean, you are Bill Gates.2:50You became --
Like, before you,2:53who do you even think --2:55who'd you look up to,
or who was...?2:57-Oh, there were scientists
like Richard Feynman,3:01who were amazing.3:02There was no computer industry
except for these big,3:05expensive machines.
It was IBM was this company,3:08and people thought computers
were kind of against them3:11because they were, you know,
only for big companies.3:14And then, when the personal
computer came, it was more like,3:16"Okay, power to the people,"3:19and we got to be part of that,
you know,3:21because, by age 18,
I'd done a lot of software,3:25and we saw
the miracle of the chip3:28and that it would change
everything.3:30-You said
that everyone's going to have3:32a personal computer,
and people laughed at you,3:33and they go, "Yeah, right."3:35-"We'll see."
-Yeah, exactly. Yeah.3:37And now, yeah,
everyone's got one3:38in their pocket now, I guess.
Right?3:39-Yeah, no, we used to say, "On
every desk and in every home,"3:43and now, you know,
we've gone even far beyond that.3:45-Yeah. Does it --
does it fuel you to work harder3:49when people doubt you and say,
"No, you can't do this"?3:51-I think so.3:53You know, I think
kind of proving to my mom3:55that I could exceed
her expectation.3:59And then just the dream of,
"Okay, wouldn't it be cool?"4:02I wanted to have
a personal computer.4:05And my friend, Paul Allen,
and I,4:08in the early years,
you know, figured out,4:10"Hey, we see this,
and other people don't.4:12We don't know why, but let's --
let's go show them."4:16-Yeah, he sounds like fun,
by the way, Paul Allen.4:18-He was a Hendrix fan.
He played the guitar.4:22-Yeah.
Experimented with LSD.4:24-And he made -- Yeah, he made --
He made me do the same thing.4:28-Yeah.
-[ Chuckles ]4:30[ Cheers and applause ]
Did that -- Hold on, now.4:32I don't want to have --
no flashbacks!4:33I don't want -- no flashbacks.4:36But what was that like?
Do you remember the experience?4:39-Uh, it was a little crazy.4:41The funny thing was, later,4:44when Steve Jobs was
kind of denigrating me, he said,4:49"Oh, Bill Gates
has no design taste.4:51He should have taken acid."4:53And I was like, "Wait a minute.4:55I took the acid.
It was just, I got the batch4:59that's about code,
not about design."5:01[ Laughter ]
Uh, so...5:04-You got the -- the weird batch.5:08-He got a very different batch
than I did.5:11-But we wouldn't recommend
anyone go out there.5:14-No, I actually don't.
-No, because --5:18Because it's like you think
you've solved the problems5:20of the world,
and then you don't, really?5:22-It turns out
it's all kind of fake.5:25-Yeah.5:27-And I like it when my mind,
you know, works well.5:29And I was kind of worried
afterwards.5:30Did I mess up my mind,5:32you know,
and erase all my knowledge?5:36-Wow.5:38-So even though I was
a big risk-taker,5:39then I thought,
"No, no more of that.5:41I'm gonna just work super hard."5:44In my 20s, I was -- I didn't
take weekends or vacations.5:48It was kind of over the top,
but it was super fun.5:52-And you would just live
in your office?5:54-Yeah, I knew everybody's
license-plate number,5:58so I knew when they came,
when they went home.6:02-And what did mom say
when she found out6:03you were doing this?
She's, like...6:05-By then,
she had relaxed a little bit.6:08-Yeah.6:10-You know, she always said,
"Okay.6:11You need me for this or that."6:14And so we had some
intensity in our relationship.6:20Both she and my dad, in
their own way, were fantastic.6:26My dad more by setting
a model of calmness and showing,6:30you know, you really can be
on top of the world6:32and my mom by kind of pushing
me even though I pushed back.6:36-Wow. That's good.
I think you did okay.6:38Yeah.
[ Laughter ]6:40When, uh...
[ Applause ]6:45Everyone's talking about A.I.,
and that's --6:48that's the big topic,
everyone says6:50how's it going to take over
and all this stuff,6:51and it's bad or it's good
or we don't know.6:55What are the pros and cons for,6:56in layman's terms,
for someone like me?6:59-Yeah. So the era we've come to
is sort of the vision7:04that computing was expensive
and it basically became free.7:08The era that we're just starting
is that intelligence is rare.7:13You know,
a great doctor, a great teacher.7:16And with A.I.,
over the next decade,7:19that will become free,
Commonplace, you know?7:23Great medical advice,
great tutoring.7:26And it's kind of profound7:28because it solves all
these specific problems,7:30like we don't have
enough doctors or, you know,7:33mental-health professionals,7:35but it brings with it
kind of so much change.7:40You know,
what will jobs be like?7:41Should we, you know, just work
like 2 or 3 days a week?7:45So I love the way
it'll drive innovation forward,7:49but I think it's
a little bit unknown.7:52Will we be able to shape it?7:54And so, legitimately,
people are like, "Wow,7:58this is -- this is a bit scary."7:59It's completely new territory.8:01-I mean,
will we still need humans?8:04-Not for most things.
You know, we'll decide --8:07[ Laughter ]8:08-I mean, hosting a talk show,
definitely.8:11You're gonna need --
Really?8:13-Well, we'll decide.8:15You know, like baseball.8:16We won't want to watch
computers play baseball.8:18-That's correct. Yeah.8:19-And, you know,8:21so there'll be some things
that we reserve for ourselves,8:26but in terms of making things
and moving things8:29and growing food,8:31over time, those will be
basically solved problems.8:35-Yeah.
Which we need to -- we need to8:38solve problems because you got
some grandkids...8:40-I do I have, uh...
-...you got to take care of.8:43-...2-year-old
and a three-month-old that...8:46-That's pretty awesome.
[ Applause ]8:48That's cute, huh?
Boy, girl?8:50-Two girls.
-Two girls. Oh, it's the best.8:53Both here in New York.
-Really?8:54-Yeah.
-Do you like being a grandpa?8:56-It's fun.8:57I think the best part
is yet to come.8:59Because I like to read
books to them,9:01eventually take them on trips.9:03But even the 2-year-olds
are kind of a blast.9:06-Oh, that's fantastic.9:08Now, I want to ask you, too,9:10because there's a nice thing
about being optimistic9:12about the future.9:14What keeps you optimistic,9:16and what could you tell
everyone to stay optimistic9:18about the future?9:19-Well, I think the ability9:24to improve health,
you know, even Alzheimer's,9:28which has been tough,9:30all the diseases that are still
in the developing countries9:33like malaria, HIV.9:35Polio, we're very close.
I spent a lot of time on that.9:39-You really do.9:40-With luck,
in the next 3 or 4 years,9:42that'll become the second
disease that's completely gone.9:46[ Cheers and applause ]9:52And even in areas
like climate,9:55you know,
I think we can innovate.9:57We need to make really,
really cheap green products10:00and asking people to pay extra,10:03they should pay extra
for clean products,10:07but if you take the whole globe,
they probably won't do it.10:11And so the way to kind of get
there is to innovate10:16so the clean one is cheaper
than the dirty one.10:19And there's a lot
of great stuff coming along.10:22So I'm a little
more optimistic about that10:24than people who don't get to see
that innovation pipeline.10:28-Yeah. All right, I love it.
More with Bill Gates10:30when we come back, everybody.
I want to ask10:31some more questions.
Come on back.
1,862 words · 245 lines
