Our planet.
Out here, all looks well.
Up close, it’s more challenging . . .
[Footage of world problems: terrorism.]
[Footage of world problems: poverty.]
[Footage of world problems: war.]
[Footage of world problems: disease.]
[Footage of world problems: global warming.]
[Footage of world problems: oppression.]
These problems aren’t new or exhaustive.
And they’re complex.
But at university, you are up to the task.
There is nothing complicated
that does not have something simple at its root.
You start small, but think big.
Thinking means making connections and seeing
relations.
You begin with small pieces.
Then you fit these together to see broader panoramas.
At university you think.
But developing your own thoughts means wrestling with other people's.
It means trying to make sense of a global
society that moves, and communicates, faster
and faster every day.
It means sifting through and making sense
of the information this global world churns out--
facts and opinions, documents and websites,
advertisements and videos, scholarly articles and books.
Anyone aiming to make sense
of our increasingly cluttered global society
needs to learn how to sluice out gold from the gravel.
Much information is dross; some is crucial.
Some, in different contexts, is both.
Understanding the context of information
and grasping how to find, evaluate, and use it
enables you to help shape this global society, rather than simply submit to its size and complexity.
It enables you to build a world, rather than
take one apart;
to heal, rather than harm;
to cultivate, rather than destroy.
Mastering this skill takes a lifetime.
Yet the basics form the bedrock of all learning.
