比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates），全名威廉·亨利·盖茨三世，简称比尔或盖茨。1955年10月28日出生于美国华盛顿州西雅图，企业家、软件工程师、慈善家、微软公司创始人。比尔·盖茨13岁开始计算机编程设计，18岁考入哈佛大学，一年后从哈佛退学，1975年与好友保罗·艾伦一起创办了微软公司，比尔·盖茨担任微软公司董事长、CEO和首席软件设计师。比尔·盖茨1995-2007年连续13年成为《福布斯》全球富翁榜首富，连续20年成为《福布斯》美国富翁榜首富。

2000年，比尔·盖茨成立比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会，2008年比尔盖茨宣布将580亿美元个人财产捐给慈善基金会，2014年比尔·盖茨辞去董事长一职，并击退卡洛斯·斯利姆重回世界首富。2014年美国当地时间9月29日，《福布斯》发布美国富豪400强榜单显示，微软联合创始人比尔·盖茨以810亿美元的财富，连续第21年蝉联美国首富宝座。

比尔·盖茨在斯坦福大学2014年毕业典礼上的演讲以“乐观”为主线，强调了他对科技，以及对世界美好未来的乐观态度。盖茨讲述了自己的亲身经历和故事，告诉大学生应该站在他人的立场上，感同身受那些处境不及自己的人，要尽自己所能去帮助那些需要帮助的人，让全世界所有人都有一样的美好未来。

Wikipedia Intro

William Henry Bill Gates III （born October 28， 1955） is an American business magnate， philanthropist， investor， computer programmer， and inventor. Gates originally established his reputation as the co-founder of Microsoft， the worlds largest PC software company， with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft， Gates held the positions of chairman， CEO and chief software architect， and was also the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He has also authored and co-authored several books.

Today he is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the worlds wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2014-excluding a few brief periods post-2008. Between 2009 and 2014 his wealth more than doubled from $40 billion to more than $82 billion. Between 2013 and 2014 his wealth increased by $15 billion， or around $1.5 billion more than the entire GDP of Iceland in 2014. Gates is currently the richest man in the world.

If empathy channels our optimism， we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools. We will answer with our innovations and we will surprise the pessimists.

——Bill Gates

The pessimists are wrong， in my view. But they are not crazy. If innovation is purely market driven， and we dont focus on the big inequities， then we could have amazing advances and in inventions that leave the world even more divided. We wont improve cure public schools， we wont cure malaria， we wont end poverty. We wont develop the innovations poor farmers need to grow food in a changing climate.

Optimism， for me， is not a passive expectation that things are going to get better. For me， its a conviction and a belief that we can make things better. So no matter how much suffering we see， no matter how bad it is， we can help people if we dont lose hope help and if we dont look away.

If our optimism doesnt address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings， then our optimism needs more empathy. If empathy channels our optimism， we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools. We will answer with our innovations and we will surprise the pessimists.

Over the next generation， you， Stanford graduates， will lead a new wave of innovation. Which problems will you decide to solve？ If your world is wide， you can create the future we all want. If your world is narrow， you may create the future the pessimists fear.

I started learning in Soweto， that if we are going to make our optimism matter to everyone， and empower people everyone， we have to see the lives of those most in need. If we have optimism， without empathy， then it doesnt matter how much we master the secrets of science.

We are not really solving problems. We are just working on puzzles. I think most of you have a broader world view than I had at your age. You can do better at this than I did. If you put your hearts and minds to it， you can surprise the pessimists. We are eager to see it.

在我看来，悲观者是错误的。但是他们并不疯狂。如果创新仅凭市场驱动，我们都不关注不公正现象，那么我们的重大发明将令世界的两极分化更加严重。我们不会改善公立学校，我们不会治愈疟疾，更不会终止贫穷。我们不会研发出让贫困农民在气候变化中也能种出植物的发明。……