Billionaire Bill Gates is one of the giants of technology that thankfully rarely makes it into the news for something crazy.

I’m looking at you, Mark and Elon. You know what you did. More on that later.

Back to Gates, who has delivered a terrifying warning to the world about the potential consequences of unbridled population growth in Africa, which is in part due to the lack of access to readily available reproductive health care, especially in poorer countries.

According to Gates, if left unchecked the rapidly growing population could undo decades of progress and initiate instability across the globe, reports the Telegraph.

Mr Gates, who is the second richest man on earth with an estimated wealth of $90bn, described the projected birth rates in the poorest parts of the continent as “mind-blowing” and pressed the need for action.

Praising the prime minister, Theresa May, for her recent pledge to increase British trade and investment in Africa he said the continent was at a turning point.

Either it would reap a population dividend by creating jobs and wealth for its booming population as China and India have done, or insecurity, instability and mass migration could result.

He also outlined some serious health security concerns that the world is apparently not prepared for. These include antibiotic resistance, cuts in government spending to improve health in the world’s poorest countries, and the unknown pathogen likely to start the next big pandemic.

The World Health Organization is referring to it as ‘Disease X’.

Gates has derived his information from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers Data Report, which tracks the greatest challenges faced across the world in terms of health and poverty. The graph above, based on data collected by the UN, shows the estimated growth in population worldwide.

While parts of the world are seeing a decrease in population, Africa is set to boom over the next few decades.

He also pointed out that “tech is out of its honeymoon period”. In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, he is calling on governments to develop a better understanding of how to regulate tech giants.

“Yes, these companies are trying to be benign and the individuals involved are not malign, but at the end of the day it is up to governments to understand what things should be regulated,” he said.

Mr Gates defended the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose company has been hit by a number of scandals over the spread of disinformation, disruption of elections and misuse of private data.

“Even he [Zuckerberg] didn’t predict everything that would go on in terms of it being used a platform for political influence,” he said.

Gates mentored the young Mark, so he has to have his back. Still, he makes some sound points about regulations.

Following this warning, it would be nice if tech giants like Elon Musk could spend a little less time falsely accusing people of paedophilia, and more time on finding solutions for what looks to be a potential global crisis.

As if we needed another reason to never sleep again.

[source:telegraph]