it is incredible. >> you can watch this and other programs on line at booktv.org. >> microsoft co-founder paul allen talks about his more next on book tv. during the 70's is interviewed by jose antonio vargas, former "washington post" reporter and senior contribuing editor at "huffington post." this event was hosted by the computer history museum in mountain view, california and is a little over an hour. ..

conflict and less about death and context. and i'm saying this cause i mean, judging like the excerpt on "60 minutes," the excerpt from "vanity fair," some reviews, some blogs, it would be your book would be the social network out of the 1980s or something. it's a bill gates versus paul allen slamfest. some say you are the bitter billionaire and so i'm reading the stuff and i actually read the book and i'm like, wait a second. did they read the same exact book that i just read? exactly. i think the point that i'm trying to get at is, this idea that i think in the book you write critically about yourself and about what you've done and kind of the failures that you've had, the successes and the failures just as critically as you've written about the future of microsoft or the relationship

of bill gates. i think that was really interesting. and actually that's kind of where i wanted to start off is, you've been ubiquitous two months on this book tour and what has surprised you the most on what people have reacted to the book? what has been the biggest surprise? >> well, there's a number of things. i think in my life i've been fortunate to be involved with so many different things, obviously, my involvement with microsoft will always be the signature achievement. although i have higher ups with what they are doing now but we'll talk about that. >> yeah. >> but i've been involved in so many different things, you know, if anybody tries to pigeon hole me into one area. >> it's hard to do. >> i think they struggle -- they struggle to do that. >> and you've said this in the book and you also said in interviews that writing this

book was one of the hardest things you've ever done. why do you say that? >> well, i've been thinking about doing a book for years and then i got very, very ill. and during this period i decided now is the time to do the book because i wasn't sure to see the book would be published and i would get up every day and feeling therapy and physical therapy and i would work on the book and after, you know, the first drafts were finished, then my -- you know, my whole heritage as a programmer kind of came back to the fore and i would meticulously edit and'd it and you make it digestible for the lay public but yet give them a sense, give everybody a sense of what it was like. and i hope -- and i hope i did that but i went through every

word in the book eight times. i don't need to read it again. [laughter] >> in terms of -- was it hard, though? a lot of people, i think, have made the mistake in saying that you've been a recluse. i think you've just been plight i think that's the difference between the two words. has it been hard being so public about some of the stuff -- some of the stuff that you write in the book and, of course, i'm talking about some of the anecdotes concerning bill gates are just down right -- i mean, i'm waiting for the hollywood version of how this is all going to play out. is it tough to do that so publicly? how does that feel? >> when you write an autobiography like this and i think you're faced with a choice and as you experience it and tell the highs and lows and the important parts of your lives. and i chose to do that in a very unvarnished way. i thought that it really deserved and people deserved to

hear. and i feel like i've made some -- some -- i had some signature things and some things that didn't work out but technology, and other things that happens. not everything -- you're not going going to bat 1000 anything in technology. the recrewive thing -- >> you throw parts on like a big yacht. [laughter] >> no to me a recluse is just somebody who stays in their house. i've got tons of friends and, you know, i'm out shaking people's hands before sports events and traveling the world? i don't know. i joked that last week i was going to send out a tweet, bill bitter billionaire heads to las vegas to reenact the life of howard hughes.

l[laughter] >> but i don't like las vegas. >> you have to tweet that. >> maybe next week. >> i follow you now and i will have to look for that. what do you make for some of the people like former microsoft employees when the excerpt -- >> which one? >> i'm not going to name them but some of them are like surprised at excerpt from "vanity fair" saying why is he speaking out now? and why is he acting like, you know -- i mean, what's the point of that? like what's the point of airing out dirty laundry like that. >> that was the key time in my life when you're a founder of a company and you decide to leave and the way that it happened at that time it was stunned and i felt it was important to tell that because it was a signature moment in my life and give people an idea of that trajectory which went, you know,

from a hugely productive and innovative fun partnership to the lows there at the end and so i went on to do other things since then but that was -- that was an important chapter in my life. >> it definitely is -- it definitely reads like anybody who's read the book, it reads like a book in which somebody had nothing to lose. you just kind of rode it all out and i think that's a testament kind of to what you've done? >> and again, i wrote a lot of it, you know, in those moments where i was thinking, i've got to get this down. i've got to tell it like it was. and hopefully people will get something out of it when they read it. >> now, did you do anybody -- did you give steve ballmer and microsoft bill gates, did they get, hey, this is coming, just so you know? a heads up? >> oh, yeah. >> and what did they say? >> i have yet to talk to bill about the book. >> yeah, i read that.

>> but i expect i'll have a very intense discussion with bill. steve i talked to and he basically says, hey, you know, the book portrays, you know, the ball i know and, you know, the events that you recount there, you know, did happen. >> no one has challenged any facts in the book? >> no, no. no one has gone on record. >> now, when you meet with bill, can we tape it? [laughter] >> can we just tape it and see what happens? >> what channel is that the going to go on www.app -- i'm kidding. i'm kidding. >> this is good. this is good. [laughter] >> and not to get all bill gates about this but let me just ask you this question, can you take us back, you know, at that moment when -- you were in tenth grade. he was in the eighth grade and he was in the lake side school, north seattle. >> right, yes. >> what was it like -- why did you think you guys would click?

what was the thing that you thought, all right, this guy is interesting? >> well, there's some picture of bill and me slaving over a teletype and there's some examples downstairs here in the museum. >> yes, they're on. >> but they're not hot and they're not clanking away. and i just remember bill used to wear saddle shoes anyway and sweaters. he walks in very gangly young man and after a few weeks after this teletype terminal was at our high school, there were a few of us that were just elbowing our way to get time on the terminal and bill was one of them and i was one of them and there were a few -- there were a few others. and then at the end of the month they would post up kind of a horrifying list of how much

money you run up on the time-sharing service. [laughter] >> and bill and i were always up at the top and you think how am i going to explain $68 on time-sharing so that was always anxiety provoking. >> well, how about -- how about that day when you saw the article in popular mechanics? what was -- >> popular electronics. >> you saw it on harvard square. check out the revolutionaries exhibit in this museum. it's basically the first 2,000 years of computing. it's really interesting. that magazine is blown up downstairs. and what was that -- what was that feeling like when you saw that magazine and -- >> it was a feeling of vindication because i'd been telling bill for a long time, hey, we should be doing a basic interpreter basic language interpreter for a processor chip and we built a machine based on the 8008 microprocessor chip for

a failed company that processed data produced by traffic recorders and the survivor of these rubber hoses in the street it would punch out a 16-channel bcd coded tape. this audience, i feel like i can get technical, right? >> everybody understand? >> you have a problem with that with technical jargon. >> yeah >> so anyway, to build that machine i remember one day bill and i -- i think we schlepped down and we bought this 8008 because i was convinced that you could build -- you could basically build our own microcomputer and we find a guy to do the engineering and it was wrapped -- it was stuck in this piece of in floating plastic and wrapped in aluminum foil and it cost $350 and we thought this is a whole processor and whatever. it's an like inch long and that's how we got started and we

learned about microprocessors then. and then when i would say bill, you should do basic for the 8008. he said it's too slow and it has a 711 stop. and the 8080 but we don't know anyone to build anything boston to build a computer. and i went down to city news in harvard and and saw it and plunked down my 75 cents and ran back and showed the magazine to bill. >> the first articles in the computer, the era of every computer in every exhuhome was first sentence. when you spent two months really basically figuring it out. what did that feel like? what did you -- what were you envisioning this going? where was it going the way you were thinking about it?

>> well, around that time, i mean, you know, we didn't -- we didn't know -- we had no idea what it was like and i wrote in the book about flying to albuquerque and running that first version. we had no idea, you know, exactly how fast the rocket of, you know, home computers and personal computers was going to take off and how our software was going to become an amazing part of that change. so we thought, well, if we're really successful maybe one day we'll have 35 employees. [laughter] >> i think microsoft is over 90,000 now. >> yeah. >> so those -- you have to remember back then there really -- >> what was the competition? >> we were worried there was competition and i kept -- my role was kind of read every computer design, like news. i just read everything in trying

to see, you know -- what computer world that you see downstairs, 360s, and uni-vacs and my job was to look out and see what's coming and i didn't see anything about basics from anybody else. we thought we had a head start but we weren't sure. >> i'm curious and you probably found this microsoft was found the intel cofounder came up with morris law basically saying the number of tran cysters incorporated in a chip will approximately double every 24 months. did that matter to you then. was that something you were thinking about, everything getting to be cheaper and faster? >> you could see the trend. the first chip i was aware was the 4004 and the 8008 which, of course, we built that first machine on and that's actually in a museum in the natural history museum in albuquerque. so you were aware that the chips were getting so much better and

so much faster and cheaper. and now, of course, every component of like a portable device or a computer -- every part of it gets cheaper and faster and better every year. so it's been amazing -- i mean, we knew that trend was happening. you didn't know it was as morris law at that time but it was obviously happening in that way. >> and this is my last bill gates question, i'm not going to leslie stahl my way. but you guys have your question cards so please feel free to write questions and we're going to gather some later but actually i thought the most interesting passage when you wrote about bill gates in the book when you wrote i left microsoft a quarter century before bill did and we both had our signal triumphs but in certain respects neither of us has been quite as good alone as we were together. so i'm reading this and i'm

thinking, wait up is he trying to say what would have happened if you would have stayed at microsoft? what would have happened, you know, in the past 10 years that's been going on that microsoft has fallen by the wayside, not the wayside but clearly is facebook and twitter or google, do you ever think what would have happened if you would have stayed? >> you know, i've i thought about it. in technology, we just accomplished some amazing things. and bill was an amazingly -- to use microsoft language hardcore business person and the company did super well certainly in the years right after i left. it's had more challenges recently and we'll probably talk about that in a few minutes. but, yeah, you just -- you know, just think how, you know -- i mean, in retrospect how lucky was i to have a partner who was as capable as bill gates and, you know, we worked shoulder to shoulder to buy an initial code and, you know, i brought my ideas to the table. so, yeah, of course i'd like to

think if i had stayed there i could have affected the course but when i left i had really -- i wasn't planning on staying. i wanted to start a new chapter in my life and do other things. and i actually tried to retire at age 30 which lasted about 18 months. >> what did you do? >> you know, i kicked back on the riviera and traveled. i traveled. i wanted to see europe. i traveled a lot. and i tried to relax. the problem is if you're a creative person, technologists, that only lasts so long then you want to be involved in creating something again. >> what do you think about the throughout the history of the technology industry, when you look at companies that have been founded by like two people, there's always one who tends to kind of either become the outsized role within that. and all of the cofounders would see the other person weak.

what does it say when you see the nature of friendships and you have to people involved? what does it say about that? >> it can definitely depend on the personality and the dynamic between the two people. i also think that, you know, some people are more technological or -- you know, that's just their bend. i wasn't attracted to sales and marketing the same way i was attracted to following what the next microprocessor chip or the next product you should be doing and those kinds of questions and so over time as bill, you know, was in those roles, yeah, there became -- our roles became -- became different. i was solely focused on technical things and bill was focused on a whole slate of nontechnical things and some technical things. so, you know, as these roles evolved over time so is the case with microsoft. >> and i have to say by the way i think ever since the social

network came out, it's like everybody has been using a shorthand for silicon valley culture. have you seen the movie by the way? >> i have. i haven't seen it after the book because i didn't want it to influence -- i don't know, i just felt -- i just felt it might have some effect maybe perhaps -- it was really strange to see the echoes of some of the things that happened. like the shot of harvard square. >> at the very beginning. >> i was there in 1974 and then some of the other things that happened. so it was interesting. it was very well made >> it's funny in the book when you were talking about how you guys would sit down eat, you know, like pepperoni pizzas and sliders and thinking about what if we could start a company one day when i interviewed zuckerberg for the profile he actually had the same -- we would be sitting in a pizza place thinking about how we

could start the next this or the next that. i guess it doesn't really change in terms of, you know, that kind of culture? >> there's something in that pizza in boston. [laughter] >> i don't know what it is i don't know -- what's the equivalent of palto alto. >> sushi. [laughter] >> which brings me to this point, you thought about -- you basically retired by age 30, right? and i'm looking at that last 18 months and i'm looking at the valley or jack dorsey and mark zuckerberg that are leading their own companies. what advice would you give them as somebody who has gone through that process of starting, helping start something and like this is their life. this is what they're doing. would you like tell them to just take a break or like -- what would you tell them? >> the other thing that influenced my departure, of course, was my -- was my health.

and i didn't know -- you know, the doctors basically said they thought i was cured at the age of 30 but i didn't know that. but that was also -- >> a big wakeup call. >> a big wakeup call. but there's certain things -- i don't think they are mysterious and you have to be eternally vigilant about new platforms coming down the pike. and if you think about facebook and twitter, you know, both of those could have been created earlier. i mean -- there used to be a thing called myspace not that long ago. >> i was on it? >> you were? >> i was for about three weeks. [laughter] >> when a new platform comes along and evolves more rapidly, you can be obsolete quickly. you got to be incredibly vigilant. you have to hire the best people. and retain them which in silicon valley and the reason we didn't move microsoft in silicon

valley, the employees change jobs so much so we said, yeah, seattle, rain. [laughter] >> i want to go outside. and our families -- our families were there. so, sorry, so, you know, hiring and retaining great people and then there's the bright spot thing where you just don't see these platforms but they could potentially obsolete you coming and some things like, you know, even google and apple, they didn't really see the social network stuff coming. >> yeah. >> like it had taken root like it had. >> apple tried launch ping and where it's gone and maybe it's too late. microsoft celebrated its, what, 36th birthday earlier this month. 36th birthday. i'm curious, like where do you

think microsoft is now in relation to, say, google, facebook? apple? what you call by the way -- what is it, high tech hell hounds. can you define find that. why did you call them high tech hell hounds. >> those damn hell hounds. >> yeah, that's from a blue's song. hell hounds because the hell hounds on my trail i think is the name of the song. yeah, i mean, microsoft always had a lot of competition but the competition today is incredibly fierce from, you know, the companies we've already talked about. and so, you know, you're trying to fight kind of a multifront war and it's hard to innovate -- you get people to change their habits. the inertia, it's pretty strong so if you want to change someone to a different search engine it has to be as good or better, you

know, or a social network or a mobile phone platform so they're working in a number of those areas and i have friends over there -- i certainly encouraged them and try to give them an idea now and then but it's a big challenge, as it is for companies, you know, apple trained contain -- the change from coming to have a position and to be a major influencer in that area so that's just the lay of the land right now. >> is that saying microsoft is behind all those three companies? >> well, there's somebody's area, there's areas like pc and enterprise software. microsoft is superbly profitable and has some great people but competing in all those different areas, that's another thing. you got to pick -- sometimes you have to pick your spot. and microsoft have game platforms -- >> i like halo. >> kinect come on. >> what i think is interesting -- let it be said

that microsoft is definitely a still influentially credible company that's been so woven into our lives. i mean, i grew up, you know, like, you know, microsoft word, pc, right? i think we have forgotten that it's even there. it's so woven into our lives but you've written in the book about what you called -- what you called its breathtaking fall from grace. you wrote, i'm quoting yourself, it wasn't so long ago that microsoft stood by the slogan that bill and i followed at the start. we set the standards. but there's no one in redmond, speaking privately and candidly who would make that claim today. >> i think i was referring to new standards for -- >> for platforms. >> microsoft has an amazing position, you know, the leadership position on the pc but we're all carrying around, you know, mobile -- different kinds of mobile devices and now tablets have taken the field, too, and people say there's

going to be an incredible battle between different tablet suppliers, too. so these new platforms come down the pike, it's incumbent on you to really internalize that and not your attack, you know, to keep your amazing engine going in these new areas. and microsoft has been lagging in some of these areas. i'm very -- i'm very straightforward about that in the book. >> you basically said that, you know, if microsoft fails to catch up in mobile, it's in for a long slow slide. what is -- what do you think strategy wise can microsoft do with windows mobile to kind of get it up in the same -- for example, the market share is nowhere near blackberry or software for the blackberry or the iphone or even the android? what do you think microsoft can do? >> well, any time you're

challenged by -- you're coming from behind on a platform, again, you have to meet the capabilities and then have some things that are persuasive to get people to switch because people won't switch unless something is dramatically better. take -- you know, look at the example of google. there was a time, i don't know, there must have been five or other search engines and then they came up with something better. and so to really take back huge chunks of market share you got to meet and beat, and that's -- and that requires, you know, shorter development cycles, maybe. your best people, agility, and focus. a lot of focus. >> i mean, you've said steve ballmer has one of the toughest jobs in the world right now. if you could give him what advice, like what would it be? >> oh, i've given them advice. [laughter] >> such as? >> those are private

conversations. >> oh, but it's okay, we're friends. it's cool. >> i thought c-span was here. >> no, no. they're not here. it's just something else. oh, yeah, i'm curious, what was the advice? >> i don't know. just the kind of things we've been talking about, how can you -- you know, what areas to improve some of these products. you start talking about tablets -- >> yeah, where is microsoft on the tablet? where is that going? >> you need to talk with someone at microsoft? they're very focused on that but i don't want to speak for microsoft. >> yeah. >> product strategy. >> well -- i mean, i'm curious, from an investment perspective, i have to be, of course, doing some reading on you and a business reporter once wrote that you suffered from a sort of investors attention deficit disorder. [laughter] >> that there was -- there was one place that you invested in more than 100 internet media and communications companies and, you know, the missteps have been

costly. i'm curious, what has been in your mind, from an investment standpoint. don't worry, i'm going to ask about the biggest success and i'm not just going to talk about -- >> absolutely. >> what do you think has been the biggest failure? >> the most costly was communications. i thought cable was a new platform because they would have high-speed pipes into millions and millions of homes, which back then they didn't and now they do. but product cycle in cable is very slow compared to anything else just about. so to put new set-top boxes and take advantage of those capabilities took longer than i expected, but the actual deliver ary of data has been successful but the main problem with charter was just the amount of leverage which was too high. >> well, how about -- >> sorry, but in terms of the breadth of things -- >> yeah, i mean, you've -- what,

of course, that wasn't -- you made money -- >> i invested in aol. >> aol early. >> sold early. priceline, many other things and started espn what's now espn.com, sold that to disney. so many successes along the way. but, you know, if you invest during the internet bubble, you know, a bubble is a bubble so everyone is going to get, you know -- going to have some painful experiences during a bubble, too. so i tried to do many -- many different things and had some great successes and some signature failures. so -- and they're -- i think there's pretty much, the big one, the big bad ones and the big ones. >> and by the way, what would you consider the biggest successes investment wise, dreamworks? would you consider that part -- >> no. hollywood is -- i mean, the hollywood mentality -- microsoft, just to give you an

example, microsoft, if we made a mistake or missed a trend or whenever i was there we would flagellate ourselves, how did we miss that and how do we catch up and hollywood, you say -- this movie, it's not that great and it's horrible. no, we got another movie coming out. it's not -- you don't have the post-analysis that you do -- i think a healthy post-analysis like you have in technology, good technology companies. so i was a bit of a fish out of water. i tried to contribute a few others -- one of the few things i talked about in the book was -- you know, this is the level of effect i had. i said, hey, shrek, when he walks, the ground doesn't deform, there's no dust and your brain is telling you something wrong but, you know -- but you don't know what it is. okay, we're going to fix it and

it cost a million dollars. that's fine. [laughter] >> that's the kind of effect -- >> i'm sorry, what was that a million dollars you said? >> i think it was a million. ..

it is now one of those things. most investments that are really enjoy, i really enjoy the ones where, you know, you think as a technology person you can add value. that happens, and it is rewarding. rarely do you see, on-line services. aol. it's going to do great. i thought, it's doing great. microsoft says there going to crush aol. make some money. so again, just pure investing. pure, pure investing. i see it some cards are being paid to. >> feel free to ask this in questions. >> last year you filed and refile lawsuit basically against the entire internet. >> was it that brought? >> that bribe.

all successful periodical of facebook, google, aol, ebay. am i missing someone? copyright infringement and. yes. so why did you do that? >> i can't talk about the details of a lawsuit. an individual involved. i researched using interval research. people here from an earlier. >> it's not around anymore. >> not around anymore. it was a wonderful experience. in terms of starter companies that came out of it directly, very, very modest success. but some great and interesting things. so there is litigation you mentioned. again, the attention comes about. a well-known individual. everybody knows every other big, you know, hellhound.

>> this one basically was like the entire enchant. this that is what happened on twitter. >> i am. >> but from your perspective are as curious. basically saying, you know, to you think in many ways he had been to a head? >> too early. so if you're early. if there and say, wait a minute. no one else is doing this. i'm fine. there are some things inherent in whenever the technology might be or the management team or a bunch of reasons that you're earlier idea is not going to take root. your way to relief. he have to be cognizant of those factors. >> which companies would you invest on if you could?

[laughter] >> so i. >> no, they're not. is to know they are. or would you invest on? >> again, i don't want to comment on any known companies. i think you do your best due diligence to make sure that it is something really new indefensible. i have had a few ideas in the past couple of years. i was sick and what if you combined this with this. a lot of my best ideas are combination. what about that? my staff would say, well, there are 20 companies doing that. i say, jeez, okay. so it is very, very crowded. you have to be super aware of the competitive landscape and whether somebody else has more momentum. >> i should point out that when i was writing this the idea of

owning a football team, a seattle seahawks. a basketball team, portland's trailblazers. basically looking of the score. down five to dallas. something like that. you funded the first privately financed rocket to finance the space. your own music museum, the only guitars that jimi hendrix played at woodstock and you own a share of that captain kirk sauger, the star wars movie if. >> i modified awesome -- of his chair. not as impressive and person. >> and then there is this eight level 714v beyonce. in addition to that. i have been writing all this stuff down. is there anything you have an, the once to but have not

actually done? >> we have not talked about the brain yet. you start talking about science and scientific problems and challenges. the fact that spaceship 18 succeeded. nobody knew that was going to happen. so sometimes, you know, by being ambitious and trying to accomplish some of these things sometimes you fail and sometimes, you know, you never succeed to win a prize is the ambition to try. you have a great team of people. that is just it. there many challenges of there. especially excited about anything related to the brain, what the brain institute is doing. artificial intelligence, i have always had a nagging interested in that. we're starting to get traction. but i think your talking about

more things that are related to. >> your personal life. >> well, i was just in antarctica a couple of months adulthood that is fascinating. slowly crews up on a sleeping well as something. wonderful. then you go visit the scientists. here is the day you are and. here is what it was like 20 years ago. full of vice. no ice. it's almost gone. so global warming stuff. you can see. in terms of adventure, there is a chapter in the book called adventure. some of this thinking was inspired by a scene shot cousteau. i don't know. i have had wonderful experiences trying to export. i think the sun side of life. incumbent upon all of us and technology to think how we balance our lives between the

siren of i can fix that last start purses going home. whenever it might be there call. it is a big passion. >> i'm curious. there was a report that just came out about the landmark map of the human brain. why was it show? this was from the institute for brain size. why was that so groundbreaking? >> basically getting human brains, slauson them up, and looking at the gene expression. we put the data on line for scientists to use a research.

if no individual lab to do it to the level of, i think, of fairness and equality and multiple brain, it takes an industrial to approach. >> was used in the human genome project. so now we're doing humans, developing humans. we did work on opposite brains. it is just endlessly fascinating to me because the way the brain works, we're starting the city of lyons, starting to get a sketchy idea of it. there is some much work. it optimizes for what it does in particular. so basically pretty much a regular structure, the brain, every little bit of it is optimized to do his job. it is endlessly fascinating, compelling, and mind boggling. >> i think up, we get more

questions from the audience. we have a question here. apparently they guru of artificial intelligence who is sexually here tonight. the question is, in my view, the company you own is supporting in managing one of the best artificial intelligence projects in the world. can you tell the audience a little bit about it and what motivated you to set it up? >> well, on the one hand you're trying to finish up, to understand -- we all love to know how the brain works. how does it work? and then a narrow degenerative disease like alzheimer's, which my mother has, how can you make those treatments have been earlier? so i am fascinated by the work on the brain. then you have artificial intelligence work, you know, nine sheets of paper. okay. three don't know how the brain works, but we want to do something similar.

as a team in seattle trying to encode initially a biology and put all of that knowledge and software. it is a well trodden path, but it is super hard to do knowledge representation, as i'm sure he knows. could elaborate at berlin's then i can. super hard to do that because real-life reasoning and false pro ability and things that aren't -- are still research areas. so we are reading down that path. you can see and 20, 30 years down the road maybe we will have some faith really significant and something more. in the meantime we are concentrating on getting a balanced test inside a computer software and a way that you can ask questions and give a coherent answer from the software.

it is releasing groundbreaking worked. the team in seattle are managing it. we have worked on an sri and many other places to forward that work. >> would you say that right now projects a low, those are two projects that you are most excited about. >> i have a couple of little engine that things. but the blame and a eye, those two things alone you could spend many lifetimes trying to figure out ways to accelerate our progress. i am excited to be involved in those areas and i'm looking out for other areas and things. you know, any philanthropy. philosophy is a wonderful thing. the will to give back. if he has signature success it is incumbent upon you to give

back. >> and you placed. >> i always intended to give the majority of my assets to philanthropy. he has taken on some very, very tough problems with global health and education. those are huge problems. but i think if you're doing your own philanthropy, what appeals to me, working at make a difference in terms of the solution of the problem. i am focused on the brain right now. >> i'm going to ask some questions from the audience. >> nearly a billion dollars in investment and philosophy in that area. who is your mentor? is it important to have one? >> well, for your life you have a series of students, people that have a positive influence

and give you a chance to succeed. basically my father was a librarian. spent so much time in and around bucks. in the stacks of the university of washington library trying to jump-start everything that i could. so and then i got to high-school obviously. we were kind of self-taught except there were a bunch of ex mit staffer people at the computer center giving away free time. anyway, bill and i would literally died in dumpsters to get these listings of coffee stains. and i can smell that today.

i don't know what it's doing, but it's beautiful. so you kind of of zero some of that through osmosis. you know, as you go along the way. but so active. and then the future, excited about other things like shakespeare or whenever. is so important. i enjoy having a well-rounded life. i mean, i tried to invade a little bit in the book. >> i think you do. >> some many things that are unbelievably fascinating in the world. the merger are art or the ocean. i don't know. music. you could go on and on forever. any of those worlds you can get drawn into if you have somebody had shows you the way, is excited about it, or experiences

seattle and deliberately tried like to think this person is doing, to show young people, you know, try playing a guitar. if you can make a couple of notes, maybe you want to learn and you can do the same thing and hopefully do more things here to get people interested in programs. >> another question. what do you see as the next big thing and why? >> that is a hard one. eventually some of these systems, i recently saw lots in jeopardy. so much better. in terms of things happening in the cloud over never, i can't think of anything but ticket. >> at an early age it enables

you to recreate your life anyway you want. was that liberating all horrifying? to have everything you ever wanted to do. liberating more horrifying? >> so many more possibilities are options. but then you are a steward of those. if you have reversals or wherever, you just feel awful. so you have to be very, very careful. you know. i mean, the resources that i have, by far the lion's share would go to a flat to be. so there is that realization that you have to keep in mind. >> one really take the question. please describe interactions with ibm late 70's.

so basically microsoft, you guys said, were not going to where ties. >> a famous story. he forgot to bring in time. they had to buy ad time at the last second. but by the time in seattle, you know, it was just really, you know, i was on pins and needles. the basics we were going to do, i was so afraid that there would be but said, which there were. just a couple. a couple of bugs in there. i put hooks and so that i could replace any bad areas. those turned out to be invaluable. the basic thing about ibm is that they didn't, there is a

story in the book where we are arguing about the fact that they're always delayed. and i this section should be in two. zero. ibm wanted partitions. this list of directories. i cannot claim credit. they were part of unix back in the day. you know, ibm guys are like tomorrow, we are happy with petitions. and then, of course there were a bunch of back-and-forth. they were basically told you know, came to us and said, we want this pc. we want to buy yourself for. where we hit an operating system. anyway, the rest is history. so we were really, an hour late

20's, the young man in our early twenties. we knew this point to be big to mobile we had no idea how big the opportunity would turn out to be because everyone wants to make a copy. >> what do you expect from spaceship one? a true commercial space flight company? may be an early boeing and lockheed? >> but, richard branson has already taken the patents for technology. they will start flying people, flying passengers in the space. you're a straight up and come straight back down.

floating weightless in space. when i was watching these flights i was -- walk, something went wrong. i hear an error message. something goes wrong. he's staying. a really bad. the question is that in retrospect appear humorous. not this one. in no, there has to be a free seat. able to begin low-flying the evil space. but, just like one person. this setting case something goes wrong. >> oh, yap. yeah. i was so nervous and happy.

>> we speak a little bit about judge monday. intelligent design. the evolution document. you know, the court case that happened about textbooks. it is interesting and i recommend people see it. but basically there is a theory in intelligent design there aren't these intermediate forms. bacteria and something like that. there is no way that it could have been created other than by intelligent design. yet, biologists, you put biologists on the witness stand. wait a minute. there are five intermediate forms. then the argument devolved into well, what about between those.

well, we saw this one. the intermediate forms exist in some way. so in my opinion that's what it's about. >> a question asking for advice from programmers. what is the future of programming? >> i would say it is a bit bad because i used to just cannot new program. i would get a manual. it is still on line. read the manual. that is really cool, but the other stuff over there, that is worse than the other language i've ever seen. so, you know, so many new languages come down the pike. objects. since i was programming. the last time a program to was 1980 -- i don't know.

>> eighty? >> i want to say 87. i was saying. >> i was the only person in the company that knew how to write the code. they could call, the c++ retain. so i don't know. if i was in the program today it depicts the language if your employer lets you. and you know, ec companies like to will, still trying to innovate. so but in the end all of these tools, you can do anything you want. it is just a matter of how fast you can get there. he is so caught up in the tool

itself that, you know, you'd lose the game on sunday schedule. just kidding. but the programming is great. i have to say to my girlfriend and i will be talking to one of my project teams. you know, we have two years of legacy. three factories. used to say railroaded. it sounds a lot better. [laughter] >> what was that? >> that was the reef factory. i'm not sure. >> you know, and have four questions about what it was like to face your mentality. he actually thinks to doctors. you were diagnosed and recovered from cancer twice. >> same doctor.

>> and doctor. what was the difference. i mean, you said when you were first diagnosed the first time that it was a wake-up call. >> it turns out the alarm control of more than once. >> late 2009 you went there a second time. what went through your head? >> the first time, actually developed the treatment. in paris, i love bookstores. distemper bookstore today, and there was a book about dr. henry castle he developed this treatment for heart disease. so they tell you when you get this radiation, we are giving you the amount of radiation that the body can stand. and sometime there may be complete repercussions. but, you know, we have 30.

you have a life-threatening illness. is just a shock. you cannot believe it, and it takes awhile to realize that you have a chance to be okay, at least i had that chance. this last situation i just knew that i was really, really sick. it advanced. it was an advanced case. >> states for. >> stage for. they had the kind of standard. it was most things. they call you up and say, okay. you have some bad cells. that is the moment where your blood runs cold. then you need. he says well, actually, the garden variety. that is progressing. the good news it