Here’s what Bill Gates is most concerned about heading into 2022: it’s not the pandemic

For the most part, Bill Gates is optimistic about 2022. He said this a few days ago on his blog, where he made a general review of what 2021 had been and his outlook for the upcoming year. But the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft still has some concerns for the next course.

Gates is betting that in 2022 the possible end of the Covid pandemic will come and also that the metaverse will begin to be used at work. As we can see, a very different set of predictions.

However, he also believed that one particular problem could slow or derail much of that progress: people’s mistrust of governments. “It is one of the problems that worries me the most for 2022”, wrote.

The crisis of confidence in governments, their greatest concern

Public institutions, Gates noted, have to be major players in struggles such as fighting climate change or preventing the next pandemic. “But they can’t do much if people reject their guidance on principle,” he added.

“If your people don’t trust you, they won’t support new important initiatives.”Gates wrote. “And when a major crisis emerges, they are less likely to follow the guidelines necessary to weather the storm.”

This distrust has been especially evident since the pandemic occurred: Disinformation around Covid has spread around the world, hampering vaccination rates and ultimately delaying the end of the pandemic.

In his blog post, Gates also notes that politically incentivized headlines and social media have played a role in the “growing divide,” and that governments may need to regulate social media to effectively dispel misinformation.

Time can be of the essence. Gates expressed concern that, if not quickly intervened, Americans – and in other countries – could be more likely to elect politicians who publicly express and encourage mistrust. The snowball effect could then make the audience “even more disappointed.”

It’s a difficult problem to solve, and even Gates said he’s not sure how to proceed.

“This is where I would normally present my ideas on how to fix the problem. I really don’t have the answers,” he wrote.