I don't think Bill Gates has much of a clue about what the world needs, he's very hypocritical. He lives a very consumptive 1% lifestyle (nothing wrong with that in my eyes - he earned it) but yet he turns around and preaches that everyone needs to change. Start with the man in the mirror bub.
Elon Musk is a bit better than him since he doesn't preach - but I would agree with Gates that he's a little gung ho on space travel. I honestly don't think it is humanity's place to leave earth, we are fish in water. Whatever comes after us (speaking in terms of evolution) will be the alpha in terms of space travel.
I'd give Gates a bit more credit (and that's from someone highly, highly critical of his business practices and even much of his erstwhile philanthropic activities). His public persona is relatively glib, but there are signs of deeper awareness generally expressed only privately.
We are the only form of life we know of that can get into space using ingenuity. The alpha could be our descendants or created by tying our ingenuity in with the genetic background of other creatures.
We are the best chance known of getting life off of one small planet - I think it is our place to expand life through the universe.
> I think it is our place to expand life through the universe.
Not sure if it's our "place" but for damn sure it's a good goal, getting life off the Earth and becoming sustainable in space massively reduces the risk of humans going extinct.
The solar system is rich in resources we are going to need at some point.
Elon Musk is a bit better than him since he doesn't preach - but I would agree with Gates that he's a little gung ho on space travel. I honestly don't think it is humanity's place to leave earth, we are fish in water. Whatever comes after us (speaking in terms of evolution) will be the alpha in terms of space travel.