I learned a lot here at Harvard about the advances being made in the sciences, and I got great exposure to them. However, humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity, whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity.
Reducing inequity is the highest human achievement. I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country, and I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. It took me decades to find out.
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time, knowing more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how, in this age of accelerating technology, we can finally take on these inequities and solve them.
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause, and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives.
Where would you spend it? For Melinda and me, the challenge is how we can do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have, new ideas in economics and politics.