Bill Gates is a pretty cool guy. While most wouldn’t think of using the word “cool” to describe him, things like his recent Fallon appearance and his commitment to philanthropy prove it to be true. Anyone who spends billions trying to make the world a better place is cool in its rawest form, glasses or not.
In a new interview, Gates was asked about the state of pop culture as a whole and its eagerness to learn. He brought up the Vince Gilligan penned Breaking Bad to make a very astute observation about how media influences culture and how what we collectively choose as our “favorite” reflects society as a whole.
He told Vox:
But look at IQ test capability over time. Or even take a TV show today and how complex it is — that’s responding to the marketplace. You take Breaking Bad versus, I don’t know, Leave it to Beaver, or Combat!, or The Wild, Wild West. You know, yeah, take Combat! because that was sort of pushing the edge of should kids be allowed to watch it.
He continued:
The interest and complexity really does say that, broadly, these tools have meant that market-driven people are turning out more complex things. Now, you can say, “Why hasn’t that mapped to more sophistication in politics or something like that?” That’s very complicated. But I don’t see a counter trend where there’s some group of people who are less curious or less informed because of the internet.
So not only does he basically say that Breaking Bad has made people smarter and able to comprehend more complex things, he also throws some quick love in there for the internet. Some people may look at Bill Gates and see, well, Bill Gates. Truth is, he is much larger than that. Now all we need is for him to show up at his next interview in a “Yeah, bitch! Magnets!” TV shirt and all will be well with the world.
