Dear Max,
Your mother and I dont yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully.
Youve already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in.
Live all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today. While headlines often focus on whats wrong. In many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving.Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People is connecting.Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today.
We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation.
We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who live in future generations than live today. Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here.
But right now, we dont always collectively direct our resources at the biggest opportunities and problems your generation will face.
Consider disease. Today we spend about 50 times more as a society treating people who are sick than we invest in research so you wont get sick in the first place.
Medicine has only been a real science for less than 100 years, and we ve already seen complete cures for some diseases and good progress for others. As technology accelerates, we have a real shot at preventing, curing or managing all or most of the rest in the next 100 years.
Today, most people die from five things heart disease, cancer, stroke, neurodegenerative and infectious disease, and we can make faster progress on these and other problems.
Once we recognize that your generation and your childrens generation may not have to suffer from disease, we collectively have a responsibility to tilt our investments a bit more towards the future to make this reality. Your mother and I want to do our part.
Curing disease will take time. Over short periods of five or ten years, it may not seem like we re making much of difference. But over the long term, seeds planted now will grow, and one day, you or your children will see what we can only imagine, a world without suffering from disease.
There are so many opportunities just like this. If society focuses more of its energy on these great challenges, we will leave your generation a much better world.
Our hopes for your generaiton focus on two ideas, advancing human potential and promoting equality.
Advancing human potential is about pushing the boundaries on how great a human life can be.
Can you learn and experience 100 times more than we do today
Can our generation cure disease so you live much longer and healthier lives
Can we connect the world so you have access to every idea, person and opportunity
Can we harness more clean energy so you can invent things we cant conceive of today while protecting the enviornment
Can we cultivate entrepreneurship so you can build any business and solve any challenge to grow peace and prosperity
Promoting equality is about making sure everyone has access to these opportunites, regardless of the nation, families or circumstances they are born into.
Our society must do this not only for justice or charity, but for the greatness of human progress.
Today we are robbed of the potential so many have to offer. The only way to achieve our full potential is to channel the talents, ideas and contributions of every person in the world.
Can our generation eliminate poverty and hunger
Can we provide everyone with basic healthcare
Can we build inclusive and welcoming communities
Can we nurture peaceful and understanding relationships between people of all nations
Can we truly empower everyone women, children, underrepresented minorities, immigrants and the unconnected
If our generation makes the right investments, the anser to each of these questions can be yes and hocefully within your lifetime.
This mission advancing human potential and promoting equality will require a new approach for all working towards these goals.
We must make long term investments over 25,50 or even 100 years. The greatest challenges require very long time horizons and cannot be solved by short term thinking.
We must engage directly with the people we save. We cant empower people if we dont understand the needs and desires of their communities. We must build technology to make change. Many institutions invest money in these challenges, but most progress comes from productivity gains through innovation.
We must participate in policy and advocacy to shape debates. Many institutions are unwilling to do this, but progress must be supported by movements to be sustainable.
We must back the strongest and most independent leaders in each field.partnering with experts is more effective for the mission than trying to lead efforts ourselves.
We must take risks today to learn lessons for tomorrow. Were early in our learning and many things we try wont work, but well listen and learn and keep improving.