Bill Gates Washes the Dishes Every Night + More Shocking Facts About the Microsoft Founder

AMA is an acronym for "Ask Me Anything", and has caught attention from numerous celebrities who open themselves up and let the Reddit community ask them questions. Granted, not all questions are answered, but questions are answered by the celebrities themselves.

Bill Gates, founder of of Microsoft, and the second richest person in the world, is the latest high-profile celebrity this year to answer the questions of the world. I've gathered some of his best and most intriguing responses that will really shed a light on one of the greatest minds ever.

What is different about Bill Gates age 20 years and today, except for the time?

20 years ago I would stay in the office for days at a time and not think twice about it - so I had energy and naivete on my side. Now hopefully I am a bit more mellow but with a little extra wisdom.

Hey Bill, have you made any plans to artificially prolong your life? Honest.

No I don't. Other people think about that but I wouldn't want to extend my last few years unless that is happening for most people.

What's one of your goals for the next year... and how can we help?

Wow. That is a nice thing to ask. I wish the debate about education would focus on helping teachers improve and what we know about that. Right now it is caught up in state versus federal and testing versus no-testing. In general politics needs to focus on the problems rather than attacking the other side. Asian countries are helping their teachers improve and the impact is huge.

Any luck with the condom design competition?

This is a sensitive topic. The idea was that men don't like the current design so perhaps something they would be more open to would allow for less HIV transmission. We still haven't gotten the results. One grantee is using carbon nanotubes to reduce the thickness.

How do you deal with the anti-vaccination sentiment that seems to be growing in our society? Have you ever found yourself justifying your efforts to reduce polio?

In all countries vaccine rumors seem to always get ahead of vaccine facts. This is unfortunate since it has meant measles and pertussis deaths in communities where enough kids don't get vaccinated.

If you were a current computer science student what area would you start studying heavily? If you feel like expanding on that, why do you think this area deserves the attention and how do you see it changing the technology game in the next 10 years?

The ultimate is computers that learn. So called deep learning which started at Microsoft and is now being used by many researchers looks like a real advance that may finally learn. It has already made a big difference in video and audio recognition - more progress in the last 3 years than ever before.

Hey Bill, if you didn't go into computers and later found Microsoft, what do you think you would be doing?

I considered law and math. My Dad was a lawyer. I think though I would have ended up in physics if I didn't end up in computer science.

What is the worst case that you know of where your philanthropy backfired?

A lot of our failures have been backing science that didn't work out. One thing that is tough is when you think the government will take over something you start but they don't - we had that with a school lunch program. It might have been better if we hadn't done it.

Any advice on how entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow should go about balancing business and philanthropy... or do they have to succeed first in order to give later? - Actor David Hewlett

Just creating an innovative company is a huge contribution to the world. During my 20's and 30's that was all I focused on. Ideally people can start to mix in some philanthropy like Mark Zuckerberg has early in his career. I have enjoyed talking to some of the Valley entrepreneurs about this and I am impressed and how early they are thinking about giving back - much earlier than I did.

What is your most expensive guilty pleasure purchase?

Owning a plane is a guilty pleasure. Warren Buffett called his the Indefensible. I do get to a lot of places for Foundation work I wouldn't be able to go to without it.

Steve Jobs had Ashton Kutcher. Who do you want to portray you in a biopic? Samuel L. Jackson?

Melinda would probably watch that version.

What do you think will be the most revolutionary technology in the coming 5 years? Vista 2.0...?

I think this was supposed to be sarcastic...

What is the biggest obstacle the developed world needs to overcome, in order to help the developing world?

The greatest tragedy is kids who die or never get enough food to develop physically or mentally to achieve their potential. We need vaccines and nutrition to solve this. We are making progress but not fast enough.

You can follow Bill Gates on his blog at thegatesnotes.com.

[via: Reddit]