The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.

There will be two types of businesses in the next 5 years, those that are on the Internet, and those that are out of business

If somebody is working on a new medicine, computer science helps us model those things. We have a whole group here in Seattle called the Institute for Disease Modelling that is a mix of computer science and math-type people, and the progress we're making in polio or plans for malaria or really driven by their deep insights.

When a country has the skill and self-confidence to take action against its biggest problems, it makes outsiders eager to be a part of it.

Now, we put out a lot of carbon dioxide every year, over 26 billion tons. For each American, it's about 20 tons. For people in poor countries, it's less than one ton. It's an average of about five tons for everyone on the planet. And, somehow, we have to make changes that will bring that down to zero.

In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.

There are ecosystems like coral reefs [at risk] through ocean acidification. Those are valuable things that we should protect.