American inventor Dean Kamen (he invented the IBOT all-terrain wheel chair, amazing medical equipment, water purifying systems and the Segway Human Transporter), had this to say to the 2007 graduates of Bates college. Students all over the world would do themselves and the world a favor by reading what this brilliant inventor has to say:
On who deserves sympathy (hint: it’s not the students)
Let me make a couple of observations, because I’m sure some of you — woe is you — think you need sympathy. You’ve got student loans and all sorts of stuff to pay off. So, a little perspective on the world as I see it. Just pick up any newspaper. The polar caps are melting. There’s terrorism everywhere. We’re running out of fuel; we’re running out of air; we’re running out of water. The population is going to be nine billion people by the time you’re in your mid-career. It’s one depressing fact after another. Add to that, that a billion people on this planet live on less than a dollar a day. Four billion people, two-thirds of humanity, live on less than two dollars a day. So for those of you who are looking for sympathy — not here.
Lucky enough to be student?
Students all over the world who are lucky enough to get an education ought to keep those facts in mind and keep asking yourselves the same question: If the world’s got all these problems, and we seem to be in a rush to create new ones, and we all believe we want them solved, who’s going to solve them? The four billion people who have a problem like, “Can I find water that won’t kill me or my kids, my babies”? Who’s going to solve them? People who are wondering whether there will be food around? The 1.6 billion people who have never used electricity?
A tiny minority with a huge responsibility..
There is a disproportionate capability among people on this planet to solve problems. We certainly can’t expect most of the people who don’t have the resources to be the ones who supply the solutions. That makes you a very small minority. I heard different definitions of “minority,” but educated people who understand the laws of nature, the rules of engineering, or the laws of man and economics and finance and politics and democracy are an incredibly small minority on this planet, and they have a huge advantage in the leverage and the control they have over the world’s physical and political environment. You don’t have to be an historian to know most of the time that leverage is used to help the rich get richer. You are able to think about how your education is going to enrich you.
New ideas and new people for a new world..
You also ought to remember that if you are going to solve all problems that we’re facing in this world, it’s unlikely that the people and ideas that got us to where we are, are either the people or ideas that are going to get us to a different place. It’s going to require new people with new ideas [applause]. And that would be you.
Read the whole thing here
Comments
One response to “Freshly graduated? Maybe you should read these word..”
wwo333ww, pretty insightful