Speech
演讲

President, esteemed faculty, proud parents, devoted friends, squirming ^[1] siblings—but especially Class of 2018: Congratulations—you made it! It wasn't always easy. You plowed ^[2] through four years of problem sets. You conquered the snow of 2015. You survived way too many Weekly Wednesdays at the Muddy Charles ^[3] and learned this important life lesson: There's no such thing as a free chicken wing.

Today you are graduates of one of the most revered ^[4] technical institutions in the world. The Harvard people tried to get me to say “most revered institution within a 2-mile radius ^[5] ”. I said no, but you're soon going to find out how persistent alumni associations can be. Just ask the class of '68. They've been to more fundraisers than you've eaten chicken wings.

One thing I remember from graduation is that feeling of turning one corner—and not being able to see clearly around the next. For someone like me who, yes, very annoyingly, started studying for finals the first day of the semester, that was unsettling ^[6] . Graduation was the first time in my life where the steps were not clearly laid out. I remember the feeling of excitement and possibility, mixed in with just a teeny ^[7] amount of crushing ^[8] uncertainty.

If you know exactly what you're gonna do for your career, raise your hand. There are always some. That is impressive. I did not. I didn't know where I would fit in ^[9] best or contribute most. These days, when I need advice, I turn to Mark Zuckerberg, but back then, he was in elementary school.

I was sure of only one thing: I didn't want to go into business. And it never even occurred to me to go into technology. I guess that's a warning for those of you who put your hands up. Certainty is one of the great privileges of youth.

Things won't always end up as you think. But you will gain such valuable lessons along life's uncertain path. And the lesson I want to share with you today is one I learned in my very first job out of college—working on a leprosy ^[10] treatment program in India.

Since biblical ^[11] times, leprosy patients were ostracized ^[12] from their community to prevent the disease from spreading. By the time I graduated from college, the technical challenges had been solved. Doctors could easily diagnose leprosy—it shows up as skin patches on your chest—and medicine could easily treat the disease. But the stigma ^[13] remained—so patients hid their disease instead of seeking care. I will never forget meeting patients for the first time and extending my arm, and watching them recoil ^[14] because they were not used to even being touched.

The real breakthrough didn't come from technicians or doctors but from local community leaders. They knew that they had to erase the stigma before they could erase the disease—so they wrote plays and songs in local languages and went around the community encouraging people to come forward without fear. They understood that the most difficult problems and the greatest opportunities we have are not technical. They are human. In other words, it's not just about technology. It's about people.

This is a lesson you've learned here at MIT—and not just those of you graduating with technical degrees, but those who studied anything from urban planning to management, or Course 11 or Course 15 in MIT speak. You know it's people who build technology—and people who use it to make their lives better; to get educated; to get health care; to share an infinite number of cat videos that are all unique and totally adorable. Unless you're a dog person.

Today, anyone with an internet connection can inspire millions with a single sentence or a single image. That gives extraordinary power to those who use it to do good—to march for equality; to reignite ^[15] the movement against sexual harassment ^[16] ; to rally around the things they care about and the people they want to be there for.

But it also empowers those who would seek to do harm. When everyone has a voice, some raise their voices in hatred. When everyone can share, some share lies. And when everyone can organize, some organize against the things we value the most.

Journalist Anne O'Hare McCormick ^[17] wrote about the impact of new technology. She said we had created the ultimate democracy, where anything said by anyone could be heard by everyone. But she worried. She worried whether it provoked partisanship ^[18] or tolerance, whether it was time wasted or time well-spent. She wondered if it explained “all the furious fence-building, the fanned-up nationalisms, and the angers and neuroses of our time”. She wrote this in 1932—about the radio. And by the way, she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism.

The fact that the challenges we face are not new does not make them less pressing. Like the generations before us, we have to solve the problems that our technology brings. I believe there are three ways we can deal with these challenges. We can retreat in fear. We can barrel ^[19] ahead with a single-minded belief in our technology. Or we can fight like hell to do all the good we can, knowing that what we build will be used by people—and people are capable of great beauty and great cruelty.

I encourage you today to choose the third option—to be clear-eyed optimists. To see that building technology that supports equality, democracy, truth, and kindness means looking around corners and throwing up every possible roadblock against hate and violence and deception. You might be thinking, given some of the issues Facebook has had, isn't what I'm saying hitting pretty close to home? Yes. It is.

I am proud of what Facebook has done around the world—proud of the connections that have been created. Proud of how people use Facebook to organize for democracy, for the Women's March, for Black Lives Matter. Proud of how people use Facebook to start and grow businesses and create jobs all around the world.

But at Facebook, we didn't see all the risks coming. And we didn't do enough to stop them. It's painful when you miss something—when you make the mistake of believing so much in the good you are seeing that you don't see the bad. It's hard when you know you let people down.

In the middle of one of my toughest moments, Michael Miller, the former superintendent ^[20] of the Naval Academy, kindly reached out to remind me that smooth seas never make good sailors. He's right. The times in my life when I have learned the most have definitely been the hardest. That's when you will learn the most about yourself. You can almost feel yourself growing—you can feel the growing pains. When you own your mistakes, you can work harder to correct them—and even harder to prevent the next ones. That's my job now. It won't be easy, and it's not gonna be fast. But we will see it through.

Yet the larger challenge is one all of us here must face. The role of technology in our lives is growing—and that means our relationship with technology is changing. We have to change too. We have to recognize the full weight of our responsibilities. It's not enough to be technologists—we have to make sure that technology serves people.

It's not enough or even possible to be neutral—tools are shaped by the minds that make them and by the hands that use them. And it's not enough to have a good idea—you have to know when to stop a bad one.

This is hard because technology changes faster than society. When I was in college, no one had a cell phone. Today there are more cell phones than people on Earth. We are in one of the most remarkable moments in human history—and you will not just live through it, you will shape it.

Many of you will work on technologies that will change the world. You will connect the rest of the world, create new jobs and disrupt old ones, give machines new powers to think, and give us the means to communicate in ways we haven't even thought of.

We are not passive observers of these changes. We can't be. Trends do not just happen—they are the result of choices people make. We are not indifferent creators—we have a duty of care. And even when with the best of intentions you go astray—as many of us have—you have the responsibility to course correct. We are accountable—to the people who use what we build, to our colleagues, to ourselves, and to our values.

So if you're thinking about joining a team, an NGO, a startup or a company—ask if they are doing good for the world. Research at that other school down the river shows that we become more creative when we ask “Could we?” And we become more ethical when we ask “Should we?” So ask both. Know that you have an obligation to never shy away from ^[21] the good from doing the right thing, because the fight to ensure that tech is used for good is never over.

To make sure that technology reflects and upholds the right values, we have to build with awareness. And the best way to be more aware is to have more people in the room with different voices and different views. There are still skeptics out there when it comes to the value of diversity. They dismiss it as something we do to feel better, not to be better. They're wrong. We cannot build technology for equality and democracy unless we have and we harness ^[22] diversity in its creation. More people with more diverse backgrounds are working in technology than ever before—and graduating in your class than ever before. But our industry is still lagging MIT.

Even the newest technology can contain the oldest prejudices. Our lack of diversity is at the root of some of the things we fail to see and prevent. It is up to all of us to fix that—people like me, and people like you; everyone graduating today and all the graduates to come.

So continue the example you have lived at MIT. Continue to engage with people outside your discipline, your gender, your race. Talk with people who grew up in different places, who believe different things, who live and worship differently than you do. Talk with them, listen to them, get their perspectives, as you have done here—and encourage them to work in and with technology too.

To all the current and future educators here today, let's reform our educational system so we give everyone the opportunity to learn to code. This is a basic language now that needs to be taught in all of our schools so that more people have a choice. When some kids learn it and some kids don't, that creates an unequal playing field long before people go into the workforce. And to all the future leaders in tech—that's you—know that you have a chance to right wrongs, not reinforce them. Tech institutions can be some of the strongest voices for progress in the workplace—but we can always do better.

Encourage your employers and policymakers to ensure that everyone—and that includes contractors—earns a living wage. Fight for paid family leave—with equal time for all genders—because equality in the workplace will not happen until we have equality in the home and because no one should be forced to choose between the job they need and the family they love. Give people bereavement ^[23] leave—because when tragedy strikes, we need to be there for each other.

And build workplaces where everyone—everyone—is treated with respect. We need to stop harassment and hold both perpetrators and enablers accountable. And we need to make a personal commitment to stop racism and sexism, including the expressions of bias that become commonplace and accepted instead of rejected and fought.

I want you to know that you can impact the workplace from the very day you enter it. A few months ago, LeanIn.org surveyed people to understand how the #MeToo movement was influencing work. After so many brave women spoke out, we found evidence of an unintended backlash ^[24] : Almost half of male managers in the U.S. are now uncomfortable having a work meeting alone with a woman—and more uncomfortable having a work dinner with a female colleague. These are the informal moments where men have long gotten more mentoring than women, and now it looks like it could get worse. For the men here: Someone might pull you aside your first week at work and say “never be alone with a woman”. You know they're wrong. You know how to work respectfully with all people. So give them advice instead. Tell them that they have the responsibility to make access equal—and if they don't feel comfortable having dinner with women, they shouldn't have dinner with men. Group lunches for everyone.

In one of my early jobs, I had a boss who treated me quite differently from my two male team members—and not in a good way. He spoke to them with kindness and respect but belittled me very publicly. I tried to talk to him, but it made it worse. My two male teammates—right out of school themselves—stepped up and it stopped. Even if you're the most junior person in the room, you have power. Use it. And use it well.

Class of 2018, it is not the technology you build that will define you. It is the teams you build—and what people do with your technology. We have to get this right because we need technology to solve our greatest challenges. When I sat where you are sitting today, I never thought I would work in technology. But somewhere along that uncertain path I learned new lessons and became a technologist. And technologists have always been optimists. We're optimists because we have to be. If you want to do something that's never been done before, so many people will tell you it can't be done. Graduates of this amazing university have helped sequence the human genome ^[25] , paved the way for the treatment of AIDS—and made an MIT balloon appear in the middle of the Harvard-Yale game.

We're optimists because we run the numbers. Our world can feel polarized and dangerous—but in many critical ways, we are so much better off. A century ago, global life expectancy was 35—for 2 billion people. Today it is 70—for 7 billion. When I graduated from college, one in three people lived in extreme poverty. Today it is one in ten. It's still way too high, but we have made more progress in our lifetimes than in the rest of human history.

Our challenge now is to be clear-eyed optimists or to paraphrase President Kennedy, optimists without illusions; to build technology that improves lives and gives voice to those who often have none while preventing misuse; to build teams that better reflect the world around us—with all its complexity and diversity. If we succeed—and we can and will succeed—we can build technology that better serves not just some of us, but all of us.

MIT graduate and former faculty member David Baltimore won a Nobel Prize for his work on the interaction between viruses and the genetic material of the cell. But before that, he helped bring biologists, lawyers, and physicians together to debate new gene-editing technology. They were worried that it had the potential to cause more harm than good. But they concluded that the opportunities for progress were too great—so they created ethical guidelines and continued the research. That decision led to some of the greatest advances in genetic science and medicine. It also set a standard that we as technologists can follow: Seek advice from people with different perspectives, look deeply at the risks as well as the benefits of new technology—and if those risks can be managed, keep going even in the face of ^[26] uncertainty.

Class of 2018, you are now graduates of one of the most forward-thinking places on Earth. You will have tremendous opportunities and you will be highly sought after ^[27] . You will learn to use what you learned here to work on some of the most critical questions we face. I hope you use your influence to make sure technology is a force for good in the world. Technology needs a human heartbeat; the things that bring us together and the things that bring us joy are the things that matter the most.

The future is now in your hands. Congratulations!

校长、尊敬的老师们、骄傲的家长们、忠实的朋友们、坐不住的兄弟姐妹们，特别是2018届的毕业生们：恭喜——你们成功了！这并非易事。你们辛辛苦苦啃了四年习题集。你们战胜了2015年的大雪。你们在马迪·查尔斯酒吧享受了太多的周三免费鸡翅后，终于学到了这一重要的人生哲理：世上根本没有免费的鸡翅。

今天你们要从世上最受人尊敬的技术院校之一毕业。哈佛人曾试图让我说“半径两英里之内最受人尊敬的技术院校”，我拒绝了，但你们很快就会发现那些校友协会能有多固执。问问68届毕业生就知道了。他们参加的筹款会比你们啃过的鸡翅还要多。

我对毕业还留有的一个印象就是，感觉像转过了一个街角，却不能清楚地看到下一个街角。我属于那类开学第一天就为期末考试做准备的人，是的，很令人讨厌。对于我这样的人来说，这真的让人心神不安。毕业是我生命中第一次台阶并未在我面前铺好的时候。我还记得那种兴奋不已、万事皆有可能，还掺杂着那么一丁点儿沉重的忐忑不安的感觉。

如果你明确知道自己将做出什么样的事业，请举手。总是有一些人是知道的。这令人印象深刻。我当时就不知道。我不知道自己最适合什么或者做什么贡献最大。最近这些日子，当我需要建议的时候，就求助于马克·扎克伯格，不过当年他还在读小学。

我只确定一件事：我不想经商。而且我甚至从未想过搞技术。我猜这对你们当中那些举手的人来说是种警醒。对未来确定无疑是年轻人了不起的特权之一。

事情的结果并不会总如你所料。但你却会沿着人生这条不确定的小路拾得珍贵的经验。我今天想要同你们一起分享的就是我在大学毕业后的第一份工作——在印度从事一个麻风病治疗项目中得到的经验。

从《圣经》时代起，麻风病人就被他们的社区所隔离，以防止疾病的扩散。我大学毕业时，技术问题已经解决了。医生们能够轻松地诊断出麻风病——胸部皮肤会出现斑块——而且药物可以轻松治疗这一疾病。然而羞耻却依然存在，所以病人们遮掩他们的疾病，而不是寻求治疗。我永远不会忘记，第一次见到麻风病人时，我伸出手臂，但注意到他们向后退却，因为他们甚至不习惯被触碰。

真正的突破并不是来自技术人员或者医生，而是来自当地社区的领袖。他们知道，在消除疾病之前，必须消除这种羞耻感，因此他们用当地语言创作戏剧和歌曲并且在社区里巡视，鼓励人们不要害怕，走出来。他们明白，我们面对的最大难题和最大机遇都不是技术方面的，而是人。换句话说，这不单与技术有关，还与人有关。

这是你们已经在麻省理工学院学到的一课——不只是你们当中拿到技术学位毕业的人，还有那些修习城市规划或管理等许多专业的人，或者用麻省理工学院人的话说，就是课程11或课程15。你们知道是人创造了技术——而且是人使用技术来改善生活，接受教育，获得医保，分享海量独一无二、超级可爱的猫视频。除非你是爱狗人士。

如今，任何能上网的人都能用一句话或者一个图像就鼓舞成百上千万的人。这给予那些利用网络行善者以超凡的力量——他们为争取平等进行游行；重新点燃反性骚扰运动；团结起来致力于他们关心的事情，和支持他们想要支持的人。

但是网络也同样为那些试图作恶者提供了力量。当人人都能够发声时，有些人却满怀仇恨大声喧嚣。当人人都能够与他人分享时，有些人却分享谎言。当人人都能够组织起来时，有些人却组织起来反对我们最珍视的东西。

记者高密克曾这样描述新技术的影响。她说我们创造了终极民主，即任何人说的任何话都能够被每个人听到。但她表示担忧。她担心这种民主到底是激发了党派偏见还是宽容，是浪费时间还是有效利用了时间。她想弄明白，这种民主是否解释了“我们时代所有设置壁垒的狂暴行为、被煽动的民族主义、愤怒和神经官能症”。她在1932年针对收音机写下了这些话。顺便提一句，她是首位获得普利策新闻奖的女性。

我们所面对的挑战并不新鲜，这一事实并不能让这些挑战显得不那么紧迫。我们和之前的那几代人一样，不得不解决技术带来的问题。我认为我们有三种方法来对付这些挑战。我们可以因恐惧而后退。我们可以一根筋地相信我们的技术，向前挺进。或者我们也可以竭尽全力做好事，知道我们创造的东西将会为人们所用——而人们能够创造大美之物，也能够做出残酷之举。

今天，我鼓励你们选择第三种方法，成为有洞察力的乐观主义者。你们要看到，想要创造支持平等、民主、真理和善良的技术，就意味着要环顾四周，建起每一个可能的路障，以对抗仇恨、暴力和欺骗。鉴于脸书曾发生过的一些事，你们可能会想，我说的话不是相当中肯吗？是的，很中肯。

我为脸书在全世界所做的事感到骄傲——为它建立起的（人们之间的）联系感到骄傲。我骄傲，因为人们使用脸书组织起来争取民主，进行“妇女游行”，发起“黑人有所谓”运动。我骄傲，因为人们利用脸书在全世界开办和发展企业，创造工作。

但是在脸书，我们当时未能预见所有即将到来的风险。我们没能竭尽全力阻止那些风险。当你忽略了某件事情——太过错误地相信你看到的善，以至于忽视了恶时，你会很痛苦。当你知道你让人们失望了，你会很难过。

我曾经历过一些极其艰难的时刻，其中有一次，前海军学院校长迈克尔·米勒伸出了善意之手，他提醒我，平静的海洋从来无法造就优秀的水兵。他说得对。我生命中收获最多的时刻绝对是那些最艰难的时刻。正是在那些时刻你对自己有了最深刻的了解。你几乎能感觉到自己在成长——你能感受到成长的痛苦。当你承认自己的错误时，你就能更加努力地去纠正错误，甚至为了防止更多的错误而加倍努力。这就是我现在的工作。这并非易事，也不会一蹴而就。但我们会坚持到底。

然而更大的挑战是我们所有在场的人必须面对的。技术在我们生活中扮演的角色变得越来越重要——这意味着我们同技术的关系正在发生改变。我们也不得不改变。我们不得不认识到我们所肩负的重任。仅仅当技术专家是不够的——我们必须确保技术为人服务。

保持中立是不够的，甚至是不可能的——工具由制造它们的头脑和使用它们的手所塑造。仅仅有好的想法是不够的——你必须知道什么时候应当掐灭坏的想法。

这很难，因为技术的变化快过社会的变化。我上大学时，没人有手机。如今地球上手机的数量多过人的数量。我们身处人类历史上最卓越的时代之一——你们不能只是平凡度日，你们要塑造这个时代。

你们中的许多人将致力于研究那些将改变世界的技术。你们将把世界的其他地方联系在一起，创造新的工作岗位，打乱旧的工作岗位，赋予机器新的力量，让它们能够思考，并且为我们提供不曾想过的交流方式。

我们并不是这些变化被动的旁观者。我们不可能是。潮流并不是自然而然产生的，它们是人们选择的结果。我们不是冷漠的创造者，我们有关心的责任。即便你们怀着最善良的初衷走偏的时候——正如我们中的许多人都曾犯过这样的错误——你们也有责任自我纠正。我们是负有责任的，对那些使用我们所创之物的人，我们的同事，我们自己以及我们的价值观负有责任。

因此，如果你正在考虑加入一个团队、一个非政府组织、一个初创企业或一家公司，先问问它们是否在为世界做好事。河下游的那所学校曾做过的，研究显示我们在问“我们是否能够”时是最有创造力的；而当我们问“我们是否应该”时，则是最道德的。所以两个问题都问一下。要明白，你有责任永远不能在做正确的事情时畏缩，因为确保技术被用于正途的斗争远没有结束。

要想确保技术反映并支持正确的价值观，我们就必须在开发技术时有这样的意识。而变得更有意识的最好办法就是让房间里有更多的人，发出不同的声音，表达不同的见解。当涉及多样性的价值时，仍然有一些怀疑论者。他们对多样性很排斥，将其当成某种我们为了感觉更好，而非为了变得更好而为之的事物。他们错了。除非我们在创造技术之时就拥有并利用多样性，否则我们是无法为平等和民主开发技术的。如今从事技术工作的人比以往任何时候都多，背景也更广泛，你们这一届毕业的学生也是如此。但是我们的行业仍然落后于麻省理工学院。

即便是最新的技术也会存在最古老的偏见。在我们忽视并且未能阻止发生的事情当中，有一些的症结就在于缺乏多样性。要想解决这个问题就要靠我们所有人——靠像我和你们这样的人；每一个今天毕业的人以及所有今后毕业的人。

因此，请继续按照你们在麻省理工学院时的样子生活吧。继续与别的学科、别的性别、别的种族的人交往。与生长于不同地域，相信不同事物，具有不同生活方式和信仰的人们交谈。和他们说话，倾听他们，了解他们的视角，就像你们在这里所做的一样，并且鼓励他们也从事技术工作并使用技术。

所有今天的教育工作者和未来的教育工作者，让我们改革我们的教育体系吧，让我们为每个人都提供机会学习编程。如今在我们所有的学校里都需要教授这种基础语言，为了让更多的人们多一种选择。如果一些孩子学了编程，而另一些孩子却没有学，这就在人们参加工作之前早早地造成了不平等的竞争环境。技术行业所有的未来领袖们，就是你们，要知道，你们有机会纠正错误，而不是错上加错。技术院校可以成为呼吁工作场所进步的最强音之一，不过我们总是可以做得
更好。

鼓励你们的雇主和决策者们，确保每个人，包括承包人，都能得到生活工资。为所有性别争取同等时间的带薪家庭休假，因为除非我们在家庭内部实现平等，否则工作场所的平等就是空谈，也是因为不该强迫任何人在自己需要的工作和热爱的家人之间做出取舍。为人们提供丧亲假，因为当悲剧发生时，我们需要在那里陪伴彼此。

我们要创建这样的工作场所，在那里每个人——每个人——都能够获得尊重。我们必须制止骚扰，追究犯罪者和创造犯罪条件的人责任。我们必须做出个人承诺，保证制止种族歧视和性别歧视，包括已经被普遍接受而不是遭到拒绝和反对的偏见。

我希望你们知道，你们在入职第一天就能够对工作场所产生影响。几个月前，LeanIn.org开展了一次调查，试图弄清楚“#MeToo”运动是如何正在影响工作场所。在如此众多的女性勇敢发声之后，我们发现了一种预料之外的反应：美国几乎半数的男性经理如今在单独和一位女性进行工作会面时都感到不自在——同一位女性同事一起共进工作晚餐会更不自在。长久以来，这些都是男性能比女性获得更多指导的非正式场合，如今看来情况会变得更糟。在场的男同学们：你们参加工作的第一周可能就会有人把你们拽到一旁，对你们说“永远别和女人独处”。你们知道他们错了。你们知道该如何彬彬有礼地同所有人共事。所以不要听他们的，而是给他们建议。告诉他们，他们有责任创造平等机会——如果和女性共进晚餐让他们觉得不自在的话，那他们也不应该和男性共进晚餐。所有人一起共进午餐吧。

在我早年从事的一份工作中，我有一个上司在对待我和对待另外两个男性团队成员时有很大不同——不是好的不同。他和男性队员说话时和蔼亲切，彬彬有礼，对我则公开贬低。我试图和他沟通，但情况却变得更糟。我的两个男性队友自己也刚踏出校门，他们挺身而出，这种情况终于结束了。即便你是房间里资历最浅的人，你也拥有力量。使用这种力量。好好用。

2018届的同学们，定义你们的不是你们创造的技术，而是你们创建的团队，以及人们使用你们技术的方式。我们必须明白这一点，因为我们需要技术来解决我们最大的挑战。当年我坐在你们今天所坐位置上的时候，我从未想过我会从事技术行业。然而沿着那条不确定的小路走下去时，在某个地方我学到了新的东西，成了一名技术专家。技术专家总是乐观主义者。我们是乐观主义者，因为我们不得不是。如果你想做以前从未有人做过的事情，会有太多的人告诉你办不到。这所了不起的大学的毕业生们曾经帮助确定人类基因组的序列，为治疗艾滋病铺平了道路——还让麻省理工学院的一个气球飘在哈佛对耶鲁的球赛现场。

我们是乐观主义者，因为我们掌控着数字。我们的世界可能会给人以两极分化和危险的感觉——但在许多关键地方，我们的生活又好得多。一个世纪之前，全球预期寿命是35岁——当时有20亿人口。现在我们的预期寿命是70岁——我们有70亿人口。我大学毕业时，三个人当中有一个处于极度贫穷状态。如今是十个人当中有一个。比例还是太高了，但我们已经在我们这一生中取得了比人类历史上的其他时候都更大的进步。

我们现在面临的挑战就是要成为有洞察力的乐观主义者，或者套用肯尼迪总统的话说，就是不带幻想的乐观主义者。我们要创造能够改善生活，给那些经常无处发声的人们发声机会的技术，同时又要防止技术被滥用。我们要创建能够更好地反映我们周遭世界的团队，能够反映这个世界的复杂性和多样性。如果我们成功了——我们能够而且必将成功——我们就能创造出不仅能更好服务我们中一些人的技术，而是能更好服务我们所有人的技术。

麻省理工学院毕业生、前教师大卫·巴尔的摩因在病毒和细胞遗传物质之间相互反应方面的研究获得了诺贝尔奖。但在那之前，他曾帮助把生物学家、律师和医生聚在一起，对新的基因编辑技术进行辩论。这些人担心该技术带来的伤害可能大于好处。但他们认为进步的机遇巨大，所以他们制定了道德指南，并把研究继续了下去。这一决定触发了基因科学和医学领域里一些了不起的进步，还为我们技术人员制定了可以遵循的标准：向持有不同视角的人们征求意见，除了深刻审视新技术的好处外，还要审视其风险——如果那些风险可以管控，那就继续研究下去，即便具有不确定因素。

2018届的同学们，你们就要从地球上最具前卫思维的地方毕业了。你们将会拥有极好的机遇并非常抢手。你们要利用在这里学到的东西去解答我们所面临的一些最重大的问题。我希望你们能利用你们的影响力，确保技术成为世界向善的力量。技术需要人类的心跳；把我们联系在一起的东西，为我们带来欢乐的东西才是最重要的东西。

此刻，未来就在你们的手中。祝贺你们！