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Everything in Moderation
The concept of Everything in Moderation dates back to ancient Greece, tracing its roots to a temple’s inscription Meden Agan, meaning “nothing in excess.” I was reminded of this concept as I listened to a recent interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates conducted by the respected business reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Gates has been a very vocal, long-time, “all-in” supporter of climate change theories and, for the last 15 years, has used his celebrity status to promote his view that the world is in an existential climate crisis that poses an immediate threat to the well-being of all of mankind. He often followed this message with the urgent need for the world to spend billions of dollars to implement many climate change preventative measures. No element of Everything in Moderation whatsoever.
However, during this particular interview, Mr. Gates softened his earlier opinions on goals for mitigating climate change. He was not apologizing or even explaining his shifting opinion; he seemed to simply want to just “re-shuffle the deck.” At the same time he was moving away from the prioritization of climate change prevention, other issues such as child hunger, vaccines, water, etc. were now existential crises that posed an immediate threat to the well-being of all mankind. He tried to relate these new concerns to climate change, but it was too much of a stretch and departure from his previously staunch measurement goals to be credible.
Never mind the billions of dollars he previously urged be spent on the climate crisis. It was time to spend billions of dollars dealing with other challenges facing much of the world’s population—overpopulation, starvation, droughts in sub-Saharan Africa, and on, and on… Mind you, this was not because the climate crisis had been solved (with billions of dollars of investment), just that the previous climate goals that had been set were (now seemingly) unattainable and these other concerns he had were now more important (to him) than the climate crisis.
While I have always had serious doubts about climate change being an existential crisis that poses an immediate threat to the well-being of all mankind, I listened to Mr. Gates in the past because of his position as a clearly brilliant individual who, at a critical time in our recent past, essentially saw into our future and developed technologies that previously did not exist and essentially transformed the world we all live in. These credentials, combined with the power of his conviction on this climate matter, made Mr. Gates someone you may not fully agree with, but difficult not to at least listen to and consider his arguments. No more. I will never be able to take Mr. Gates' concerns seriously. Not only has he lost credibility related to climate change, but he has lost credibility related to whatever other “crisis” he begins to bemoan next.
Stay mindful of the Everything in Moderation concept. Don’t just apply it to your consumption habits; apply it to your expression habits. Don’t follow Mr. Gates lead by going “all in” on one thing and then losing credibility when you change your mind.