To wrap up the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, Bill Gates took the stage to talk with host Brent Schiender. A big idea of the conference was the future of technology, especially as it related to the economy. Gates talked a lot about that, but perhaps in a way you wouldn’t imagine. His mind was in the gutter. Literally.

“Latrines are fascinating,” Gates said. The way he said it was in a bit of a joking manner, but he’s not kidding. He talked about how many books he reads on the subject these days. “No one wants to read about it — it’s one of the greatest under-investments,” Gates said.

“We’re gonna have a breakthrough in the latrines,” he continued. He said that while the flushable toilet is the gold standard, it isn’t efficient at all. Someone is going to fix that, according to Gates.

So what books is he reading on the subject? He named a few. One was Water and Sanitation. “It’s quite lurid,” Gates joked. “It’s a super-important topic,” Gates reiterated. “You can visit poor-world latrines and learn from that as well,” Gates joked.

Gates really does think about this topic a lot. Later in the conversation, he returned to it when talking about investing in certain types of education. ”When it comes to things like investing in new toilets, not much money goes into that,” Gates said.

“You end up with the low IQ guy on the toilets.”

Indeed.

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• BILL GATES

Person: Bill Gates

Companies: Microsoft, bgC3, Gates Foundation

William (Bill) H. Gates was chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$55.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions. On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health...

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