The main problems in 2022 will be distrust of the authorities and misinformation

 

 Microsoft founder Bill Gates is generally looking to the future with hope when it comes to 2022. At the same time, the American billionaire has some concerns, writes CNBC.

Gates recently published a blog post entitled "Reasons for Optimism after a Tough Year." In it, he expressed several rosy predictions - from the potential end of the coronavirus pandemic to the heyday of the metaverse.

However, he said this progress could be hampered by a specific problem: people's distrust of governments. "This is one of the issues that worries me the most in 2022," Gates said.

 According to the founder of Microsoft, government agencies must become key players in the fight against global warming and prevent a new pandemic. At the same time, they will only be able to succeed if people trust them.

"If your people don't trust you, they won't support big new initiatives," Gates said. "So when a major crisis strikes, they are less likely to follow the guidelines needed to weather the storm."

 At the same time, such mistrust was particularly pronounced shortly after the pandemic: coronavirus misinformation was spreading in the United States and around the world, leading to fewer vaccines and delaying victory over the pandemic, the billionaire said.

Gates also noted that growing public distrust of the government is largely due to politically biased headlines and social media activities, suggesting that governments may need to more actively regulate online platforms to counter misinformation.

 According to the billionaire, it is extremely important to solve this problem as soon as possible. Gates fears that without prompt intervention, Americans are more likely to elect politicians who publicly promote mistrust.

At the same time, Gates realizes that this problem is extremely difficult to solve, and also admitted that he does not know how to continue in the future.

"I'm just sharing ideas here on how we can solve the problem. But I don't really have an answer, he said. "I plan to continue to look for and study other people's ideas, especially those that appear among young people. I hope that the generations who grew up on the Internet will come up with new ideas on how to solve a problem that is so deeply rooted in the Internet. "