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Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is optimistic about 2022. In his opinion, this year humanity will overcome the pandemic and make a number of scientific breakthroughs. Trends introduce visionary forecasts
One of the richest people on the planet, co-founder and largest shareholder of the Microsoft IT corporation, well-known philanthropist Bill Gates admitted that 2021 was full of grandiose events with global consequences: extreme weather events, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the withdrawal of the American army from Afghanistan. However, he sees in the outgoing year a serious groundwork for quick changes for the better in the field of medicine, ecology and working conditions. Trends compiled Gates’ predictions for 2022.
End of the acute phase of the pandemic
Bill Gates believes that the “acute phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic will end in 2022, despite the discovery of the omicron strain. According to the visionary, 2021 did not bring as significant improvements in the fight against the pandemic as he had hoped. “I underestimated how difficult it would be to convince people to get vaccinated and continue to wear masks,” Gates admitted.
Speaking about the dangers of omicron, Gates observed that “the world is better prepared to deal with potentially dangerous variants of the virus than at any other stage of the pandemic.” The billionaire is confident that over time, vaccines and antiviral drugs will help reduce the spread of the omicron strain by 50%, and “random outbreaks” will continue to be observed.
Even before the emergence of the Omicron strain, in November 2021, Gates predicted that by the middle of next year, people would die from COVID less often than from seasonal flu. He also said that by that time the rate of coronavirus infection would fall below the level of seasonal flu, unless new dangerous strains appeared.
Gates expects vaccine supply issues to be resolved next year. He has previously approached the US and UK to help countries with low vaccination rates.
Infectious disease is a major focus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a non-profit organization the billionaire has invested in since its founding in 2000. Gates was also one of those who warned the world in 2017 of an impending pandemic.
Sun blocking
The Gates Foundation is trying to solve not only the problems of infections, but also fights global warming. He sponsors the SCoPEx (Controlled Stratospheric Disturbance Experiment) project, which was developed by Harvard University solar geoengineering scientists. The essence of the project is to use a balloon to launch a certain amount of calcium carbonate particles contained in sea water to a height of 20 km into the atmosphere above the northern region of Sweden and create a scattered cloud in the sky. The idea is that brighter white clouds reflect more sunlight from the planet back into space and reduce the greenhouse effect. This experiment will help scientists understand how particles interact with each other in the stratosphere, as well as with solar and infrared radiation. If the project is successful, this geoengineering technique could be used to soften the effect of the sun’s rays on the Earth’s surface and halt the process of global warming.
The authors of the project suggest that if you use thousands of balloons to send reflective particles into the atmosphere, you can partially block direct sunlight from reaching Earth. Even reflecting a few percent of solar radiation will help slow or even reverse global warming.
The SCoPEx experiment was scheduled to take place in June 2021 after receiving approval from the Swedish authorities and an independent review board from Harvard. But in February, Swedish environmental groups and the Council of the Indigenous Sami asked the local authorities to postpone the experiment, as they consider it risky and require preparation and discussion with a large number of experts. Gates expects a trial run could now take place in 2022.
Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s by blood test
Gates is extremely optimistic about many medical advances, including diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease through blood tests. Such a test was developed in 2020 by the American company C2N Diagnostics. It allows you to detect an excess of amyloid protein in the blood, which usually grows in patients with Alzheimer’s. Thus, the disease can be diagnosed years before the appearance of its characteristic signs, and then track its course. Currently, the disease is usually detected already in advanced stages. “An area that should be addressed in 2022 is the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Tremendous progress has been made in this direction recently, and there is a strong possibility that the first available blood test for Alzheimer’s disease will be approved next year,” he writes.
At the same time, Gates acknowledges that medicine is still far from making life easier for people already suffering from this disease, since there are no effective drugs yet, and there is no way to slow down the course of the disease.
Diagnostics at home
Gates predicts that in the near future there will be a device that will allow you to measure all vital signs without leaving your home. The philanthropist is confident that in the coming years, doctors will be able to collect indicators of their patients from their smartwatches. “The fact that your smartwatch will become a home health monitor is very likely. But to be honest, we are still waiting for a lot of new applications and sensors to appear,” he notes.
According to Gates, anyone in the future will be able to take a blood test at the nearest pharmacy, which will transmit the results to the attending physician. He also sees great opportunities in the development of telemedicine, which will allow patients not to change doctors if they move to another city.
“In addition to technology and privacy constraints, there are also regulatory hurdles that we need to overcome before digital healthcare becomes truly mainstream,” Gates admits. Currently in the United States, telemedicine-related legal requirements vary from state to state.
victory over polio
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the support of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has succeeded in eradicating onchocerciasis (river blindness) in Niger. The vaccination program against the disease is planned to be further rolled out across the continent.
The Microsoft co-founder says that in 2022 he will strive to defeat two more diseases – polio and tuberculosis: “This is a big, important thing for me. So if Afghanistan can remain stable, it looks like we will finally bring the number of polio cases down to zero. And we’ve been working on it for over 20 years.” Back in 2019, Gates warned that Taliban leaders in Afghanistan were “obstructing global efforts to eradicate polio.” In 2019, only 39 cases were reported worldwide, 16 of them in Pakistan and 23 in Afghanistan. These two countries are the last in the world where the disease is endemic.
Progress in the development of hydrogen transport
According to Gates, next year we can expect a major breakthrough in the field of clean energy in the framework of the Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Catalyst and Fellows projects. He predicts real progress in finding ways to produce environmentally friendly yet affordable hydrogen fuel. “This would be a huge step forward because hydrogen fuel would allow energy to be stored for a long time and could be used to control large aircraft and even industrial processes,” says Gates.
The meeting place is the metaverse
Gates is confident that the era of the metaverse is not far off: “I predict that over the next two or three years, most virtual meetings will move … to the metaverse, a three-dimensional space with digital avatars.”
Gates’ words are backed up by real steps taken by Facebook and Microsoft itself in this direction. His corporation plans to release a transitional version of the metaverse in 2022, in which the user will be able to use a webcam to create an avatar. In November, Microsoft already announced Mesh for Teams, a mixed reality collaboration and meeting solution. The technology is based on Microsoft Mesh and integrated with the Microsoft Teams platform. The user will be able to create their own digital avatar and use it during meetings in a virtual environment if they do not want to turn on the webcam. In addition to organizing virtual meetings with avatars, companies will also be able to create their own immersive spaces or metaverses.
new normal
Although Gates believes that the most difficult period of the pandemic will end in 2022, he is confident that we will get used to life in a new reality. “I think 2022 will be the year that many of us will finally enter a new normal post-pandemic. For me, this will mean going to the office a little more often as the number of COVID cases will hopefully decrease,” he says. The billionaire admits that his lifestyle has changed during the pandemic, and after it ends, he wants to maintain the habit of watching a lot of educational videos on YouTube and subscription services. “Now I know more about glassmaking, birdwatching and the history of American Samoa than I ever expected,” the visionary jokes.
For Gates himself, 2021 has been a challenging year. “It was the most unusual and difficult year of my life. There was a short period of relative normalcy in 2020 before COVID-19 turned everything upside down. In 2021, the pandemic has dominated our lives from the very first days. We have all had to adapt to the “new normal”, although each person has their own. For me, the result was a year spent mostly on the internet. It was a strange and confusing experience. My personal world has never seemed smaller than in the last twelve months,” he shared.
The philanthropist admitted that he was hit by a divorce from his wife Melinda. The Gates couple announced in May that they were separating after 27 years of marriage. “I cannot deny that this was a year of great personal sadness for me. Adapting to change is never easy, whatever it may be. I was impressed with how resilient my loved ones — especially children — were during this difficult time, ”said Gates.