David Rothkopf talks with Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, Inc., who accepted this year’s Diplomat of the Year award on behalf of Google. The conversation at the awards dinner was centered on how the massive gains in connectivity are changing the landscape of diplomacy. Within just a few years, everyone on this planet may be connected to the internet. 

In many isolated communities around the world, basic cellphones serve as medics and smartphones as diagnostic clinics. Mobile devices, particularly inexpensive basic cellphones, expand the reach and effectiveness of health care in the developing world as health workers send text-based medical advice, keep patients’ records, monitor for epidemic outbreaks and keep account of medical supplies.