Discussion among 2007 Commencement honorees tackles “knife-edge” issues

Troy, N.Y. — Whether technology unites or divides depends, in large measure, on those who harness and apply its potential. That was among the key messages of the 2007 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President’s Commencement Colloquy. The May 18 event, which featured four individuals who have shaped the international discourse on some of today’s most pressing issues, is scheduled to air twice in the coming week on WMHT-TV.

The Colloquy will run first on Tuesday, Aug. 21 at 8 p.m., with a repeat on Sunday, Aug. 26 at 6 p.m.

Moderator and Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson was joined by the Institute’s Commencement honorees — New York Times columnist Thomas L. Freidman, CBS News producer Don Hewitt, and former astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison — for a discussion titled “Balancing on the Knife-Edge: Politics, Technology, and Ethics.” The four attracted a standing-room-only crowd, filling a 500-seat lecture hall and 200 seats in a designated overflow area.

Jackson launched the conversation with pointed questions that drew on each honoree’s insights and expertise to stimulate discussion of issues ranging from technological innovation, globalization, and energy security to ethical leadership, education, and the media’s influence on politics and perspective.

Following are some highlights.

On globalization:
Friedman: “Globalization is going to be the greatest engine for cultural diversity that mankind has ever seen... The defining feature, to me, of the ‘flat world’ — the world that we’re in — is that we’ve gone from a globalization that really was first built around countries to globalization driven by companies to, now, a globalization built around individuals. That is the new, new thing: the degree to which the flat world empowers and enables, enjoins and requires individuals to globalize themselves. The world will never be the same.”

On technological innovation:
Jemison: “Technologies don’t come full-formed; they don’t sit in the sky waiting for us to discover them. It’s how we decide to take advantage of our knowledge and our resources that makes a difference... In terms of transforming technology, it all depends on the people — it depends on what we want to do; it depends on our society.”

On ethical responsibility:
Jackson: “The world our students are graduating into is more flat and integrated, yet it is more asymmetrical than ever before, where the economic divides are deeper and many regions of the world are more unstable. New technologies have opened up a universe of equality in which those who have access, ingenuity, and motivation can compete. Yet many do not have access. These global imbalances, if not addressed within an ethical framework, will come back to haunt us.”

Jemison: “We shouldn’t feel comfortable burning that much energy and then telling other people they have to be willing to allow us to use all of their oil—and that we shouldn’t have to give anything back. I think it’s an issue of ethics, an issue of what’s morally responsible... I don’t think it’s just about profits.”

On the media’s influence:
Hewitt: “I’ve always thought that night [of the first televised presidential debates] was the worst night that ever occurred in American politics. From that day on, in the greatest democracy on Earth, you can’t even begin to think about running for local dogcatcher unless you’ve got money for television time... It doesn’t make any sense in a democracy for television time to be that expensive and to decide how and why we’re going to have our next president.”

Jemison: “The impact of television has been that information is formatted in very, very small sound bites that end up not being able to actually convey any of the conversation... You have people getting information that’s very constricted, that does not help to move public discourse, public debate along, and, yet, that’s what is news.”

On energy and innovation:
Jackson: “We talk about energy independence, which really makes no sense when we have global markets, global trade, weather phenomena, disasters, terrorism, and we have increasing energy demand by rising economies around the globe. This is interdependence as opposed to independence, and the fact that people believe in one and don’t understand the other is an inconvenient truth.”

Friedman: “You cannot make a product greener without making it smarter — smarter software, smarter materials, and smarter design. What can we still do here in America, in Troy? We can still do knowledge-based manufacturing. That’s what’s not getting outsourced... To the extent that we shift the whole debate in the world to green, we actually play to the strength of our economy.”

On the need for national leadership:
Jemison: “The United States really is a de facto role model for the much of the world. If we don’t change the way we do things, then much of the rest of the world is going to say, ‘Why should we change what we’re doing?’ ”

Hewitt: “What you’re talking about is looking for leadership. The ‘we’ has no power to do anything. Somebody has to shape this thing, and nobody seems to be taking any lead in it. That, I think, is the problem. It’s not the ‘we.’ ‘We’ would all welcome it.”

On education and investment:
Jackson: “We could talk a good game as much as we want about what has to happen — about innovation, about leadership — but if you don’t have educated people who can do all of these things, nothing happens. We need a consistent investment in research and development, but we especially need a consistent investment in human talent.”

The colloquy is was held in conjunction with Rensselaer’s 201st Commencement on May 19, where Friedman, Hewitt, and Jemison received honorary degrees. Friedman delivered the Commencement address at the ceremony on the Harkness Field. For highlights of the ceremony and Friedman’s address, go to: http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2159.

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Contact: Jason Gorss
Phone: (518) 276-6098
E-mail: gorssj@rpi.edu