--- title: "Bill Gates Sounds Moderately Horrified by How Civilization Is Going" description: "Bill Gates is frustrated with the state of the world. But most of all, he's frustrated with the role that distraction plays in our failure to meet goals." date: "2022-09-16" modified: "2022-09-16" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bill-gates-moderately-horrified" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "Bill Gates" - "climate change" - "the digest" - "ukraine" --- # Bill Gates Sounds Moderately Horrified by How Civilization Is Going ![Bill Gates is frustrated with the state of the world. But most of all, he's frustrated with the role that distraction plays in our failure to meet goals.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Bill of Fail If you see Bill Gates, maybe don't ask him about the state of the world. He's [really going through it](). And honestly, we get it. Back in 2015, the UN made a list of 17 sustainability goals — to "end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change by 2030," as [*The New York Times* explains](). No small dice. Upon that UN announcement, Gates and ex-wife Melinda decided to focus The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's efforts on these sustainability benchmarks. Sadly, though, halfway to that 2030 finish line, we're apparently nowhere close to where we need to be. "We're in a worse place than I expected," Gates told the *NYT*. "The effects of the pandemic and now the effects of the war in Ukraine are very dramatic, and there are huge setbacks on all these measures. And these measures are super important — even if we missed the goal, we're still talking about millions of lives." ## Action or Distraction In his conversation with the *NYT*, the billionaire philanthropist touched on a number of important topics. His most striking comment, though? Sure, Gates, like many of us, is concerned with the state of all of these hopeful — though necessary — benchmarks. But what really has him fuming is the role that *distraction* seems to be playing in the failure to meet them. "The scariest thing of all is not that we're behind. We just have to accept that. It's the ongoing distraction of the war in Ukraine from helping poor countries and making progress on both climate adaptation and mitigation," Gates added. "That's a huge thing — whether it's defense costs, electricity costs, refugee costs, fertilizer costs." "With the war on top of the pandemic, and now with interest rates going up, with high levels of debt everywhere, but including in Africa," he continued, "the next five years are going to be challenging just to maintain the world's attention." He has a point. Humanity has a lot of work to do if we want to save the planet and each other, though the actionable steps needed to meet these 2030 goals are all too easily lost between devastating headlines. But if we're going to get any closer to progress, we can't lose focus — especially when [those least responsible]() for our impending doom will be the first to bear its weight. **More on Bill Gates:** [*Bill Gates Says Sorry the World Isn't Going so Great*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()