哈佛大学演讲稿.doc

Professor Lawrence H. SummersPresident of Harvard UniversityAddress to Peking University on May 14, 2002Vice President Min, President Xu, thank you for all of those kind words, thank you for the hospitality that you have shown me, thank you for the hospitality that you have shown the visiting delegation from Harvard University.I believe we have gathered, these few days in Beijing, the largest delegation of faculty from Harvard University that has ever come to China. That is, I believe, a reflection of the importance of China to the world of the Twenty-First Century. It is a reflection of our common endeavor: the pursuit of knowledge, and the teaching of students. I am very excited to be here at one of Chinas great universities, at one of the worlds great universities, and I am especially glad to have the chance to talk to so many of your students about the world that they are going to inherit.You know, if you think about what we do in universities, if you think about the phenomenon of globalization, I believe that our special role today and the phenomenon of globalization are manifestations of a yet deeper transformation that is going on throughout the world. And that is this: knowledge is becoming more central to every aspect of human activity than it ever has before. Think about some examples. I am convinced that when the history of this period is written, two centuries from now, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War will be the second story that is written in those history books. The first story that will be written about the last fifth of the Twentieth Century will be the rise of societies where over a billion people- closer to two billion people- live, to modernity; will be the doubling of standards of living that take place within a decade, and then take place within a decade again, for, literally, billions of people. That is an event that, in the history of the second millennium, I believe, has potential to rank with the Renaissance and with the Industrial Revolution.And what is at it center? China is at its center, with the dramatic transformation that China has seen over the last two centuries. And knowledge, the spread and dissemination of knowledge, is at its center as well, because no country in Europe, no country in North America, has ever grown nearly as rapidly in a decade as China has grown in the last decade, and in the decade before that.That is a reflection of the enormous opportunities that modern technology provides for convergence. It is a reflection of knowledge. Think about something else: we are alive in the one period in human history when science has the potential to understand disease processes. When science has the potential, during the period in which the people in this room will be alive, to understand, at the level of individual molecules, what it is that goes wrong and causes human beings to suffer and to die, and to find that understanding in ways that can be made operational, to bring about remedies. We have the potential to see more progress against disease in the period in which we are alive than in any other period in human history.And what is that about? That is about the growth of knowledge as well. And we know some things about the growth of knowledge, and about the process of research, and the process of knowledge finding applications that are not obvious at all. We know some things about the role of serendipity; we know some things about the role of organizations.Let me make one general observation about knowledge, and that is, that you can never tell where the most useful knowledge is going to come from. You cannot predict where it is going to come from; you cannot direct programs to find the most useful forms of knowledge.Let me give you two very, very different kinds of examples. Perhaps the most abstract subject we teach in the university, in certain respects, is mathematics. Perhaps the least applied area of mathematics is number theory, the study of numbers. Every one of you who has sent an e-mail has benefited from discoveries in number theory made within the last twenty-five years, because research on prime numbers form the basis for encryption algorithms, which form the basis of every aspect of electronic communication and electronic exchange today. That, from the most abstract type of knowledge that we have.Ill give you a very, very different kind of example, and its an example from a part of the world where things are very difficult, and, in some ways, it seems, a strange example to cite today. One of the most important contributions that the United States has been able to make to world peace over the years has been the agreement that was negotiated at Camp David in 1978 between Israel and Egypt, with respect to the Mideast conflict. We obviously arent all the way to peace in the Middle East today, but that was an important step towards stability. Those who were there report that our Presidents ability to speak of each of the locations that were at issue, in terms of their Biblical name, and in terms of their Biblical role, was essential to his ability to reach that peace between Israel and Egypt. The study of religion, the study of history from two thousand years ago: it seems abstract and intellectual, and yet, that knowledge was central to a crucial, practical achievement.One could go on and on, from almost every field of knowledge in a university, but I think that the one kind of knowledge that will always elude our grasp is the ability to predict which types of research, which types of pure inquiry, will make the greatest contributions to the future of our society. But equally, if we will not be able to predict which types of knowledge will make the greatest contribution to our society, we can confidently predict that new knowledge, new ideas, new approaches, and clever thinking will be central to our future.Increasingly, this is evident, not just in universities, but in the ways in which business organizations, organizations that are intensely practical and motivated by profit, organize themselves in our society. I had occasion to speak with a professor of astrophysics at one of Americas leading universities not long ago, and he asked me who I thought was their largest employer of Ph.D. graduate students. I thought, possibly, it might be Harvard; possibly, it might be some observatory. The answer he gave me was, that it was Morgan Stanley, one of the largest investment banks in the United States, that was reaching and looking to get those with the greatest quantitative aptitude, the greatest capacity to do quantitative research, because of the contribution that made to their role in financial markets.And indeed, if one looks at the best business organizations, one finds that they are increasingly looking for the people who are most creative, who are best schooled, who are most intellectually able. Indeed, if you look at the best organizations around the world, they are increasingly taking on some of the attributes of the best universities.What is it that is most distinctive about the best universities? One thing is this: ideas are judged by the quality they possess, and not by the status of the presenter. Professors at Harvard want their students to do what is new. When students do research, testing a hypothesis or a theory posed by one of their professors, sure, the professor would prefer it if the research came out to confirm the professors hypothesis to the research coming out to deny the hypothesis; professors are human. But the professor would be absolutely insistent that the research was important to do, was important to point out, was important to publish, no matter what results were displayed. We have professors at Harvard who are very committed to particular beliefs about the nature of evolution, about environmental issues, about economic issues; but every one of them would insist that it was the obligation of the University to hire the best and most promising scholars to join their department, regardless of whether they agreed or whether they disagreed with their research.This emphasis, this emphasis on judging ideas by their quality, is finding its way throughout the world. People in business speak of the death of hierarchy. They speak of the rising importance of teamwork. They speak of the importance of emphasizing creativity. And, dare I say, this approach of judging ideas by their quality, rather than their source, has been something very important to the revolution that has taken place in China over the last twenty-some years, and to the enormous progress that Chinese society has made.A second deep commitment of universities that is also being emulated throughout a broader world is a commitment to a diversity of perspective, a willingness to draw individuals from any background, no matter what, if it contributes to our excellence. This has been a continuing quest for us at Harvard University. A century ago, Harvard University was a place where gentlemen from rich families taught other, younger, gentlemen from rich families in New England. It was not open to students who had gone to public schools; it was not open to students who were black; it was not open to students who were women; it was not open to students who were born in a large part of the United States. As recently as half a century ago, there were faculty members who were asked to leave Harvard University because they were not of the right religion. There were limits placed on certain groups, because they would otherwise be too numerous and make people feel uncomfortable.Today, Harvard is a university that is far more open and inclusive to persons, men and women, to persons of all faiths, to persons of all races, to persons from every state in our country, to persons from every country I the world. But we still have a long way to go if we are going to be more inclusive and open, if we are going to get the benefits that diverse perspectives provide, but, even more, if we are going to bring the best learners and teachers to our campus. We must cast our net for excellence as widely as we possible can.And, as universities have evolved, so, too, have the best and most sophisticated business organizations, have the governments of the best-led countries, away from choosing a narrow elite based on personal connection, towards finding the people who are most able, and are able to make the greatest contribution. And we have a long way to go here, too. But we are making progress, and we are making progress in no small part based on a model that has come from universities.There is a third difference that is very real, and very special, about universities, but that is increasingly important in all kinds of organizations. And here, it is a place where, perhaps, universities and China have something in common, and that is: an emphasis on taking the long view. When we think about a work of scholarship, we are not just seeking to judge what its impact will be tomorrow, what its impact will be next week, next month, or next year. We are seeking to make contributions to knowledge that will, ultimately, make the biggest difference over the longest run. And, increasingly, the best business organizations, the best institutions of any society, are those which, yes, try to move rapidly to take advantage of any opportunity, but also which pay attention to the very long run, and invest in the ideas that are going to make the biggest differences, not tomorrow, but over the very long run.Let me give you an example of something that could not have happened in the United States thirty years ago. The biotechnology industry in the United States is worth several hundred billion dollars, if you look at its market value. There has not been a single year in American history that it has made a profit. How has that happened? It is because people see the potential of what is going to come. They take the long view. They invest, just as universities do when they bring the best scholars, let them follow their imaginations, and dont try to direct them, in reliance on the idea that, in the long run, it is their knowledge that will pay off.This is the faith on which universities are supremely based. It is a faith that has paid off in the United States, and, I believe, has paid off for all who have sought to follow it. Some seventy-five percent of major patents granted in the United States draw their inspiration, in important respects, from university-based research. The desire of students from all over the world to come to American universities makes universities who dont try to profit, who dont naturally use words like competition, as successful as any export activity that the United States possesses.What is it that has enabled American universities to be successful, and what is the best thinking that we have right now about how universities can excel? Id like to reflect on a few aspects of that, and then Id like to reflect on what seemed to me to be some of the challenges for universities in going forward.First: separation from politics and from external control. At Harvard University, the Governor of Massachusetts, or the President of the United States, can have absolutely no sway over who is appointed as a professor of economics, or a professor of engineering, or a professor of medicine; none for their friends, and none for their objectives.Let me tell you something else that is important, I think is an important part of, why universities succeed. We have individuals who have been very, very successful, who have made very great contributions to our University, in a financial sense. Sometimes we name buildings after them; sometimes we name programs after them; sometimes we name professorships after them. When my colleagues were introduced this morning, you will have noticed that most of them were identified by their professorship: the, somebody, the Craustein Professor of Mathematics, the Stimson Professor of Law; other professorships were also mentioned. I can tell you one thing for certain: you could come to Harvard University and make a commitment of resources for a professor of mathematics, or a professor of politics, or a professor of law; but you cannot tell the University who that professor should be, or what that professor must believe. And, if you do, we will say, and we have said, “Take your money to a different university. Take your money somewhere else.” I belabor this point because, I think, in understanding the source of intellectual excellence, it is something that is absolutely fundamental to the best universities.There is a second thing that is essential to the best of universities, and that is this: they compete ruthlessly for the most able people. I was asked at a gathering, earlier, in China, what advice I would give to someone who was trying to create the best possible university. And I said, there was really, in the long run, only one thing that mattered to having the best possible university, and that was having the most creative, the most intellectually engaged, and the smartest faculty, I said that, if a university was successful in finding the best young scholars, and attracting them to spend their careers at that university, and they found the best scholars, the best students would find their way to the best scholars; the most research funding would find its way to the best scholars. And, in the end, very little else matters other than making an absolute commitment to having the best.Having the best means not having the idea that everybody can be treated in precisely the same way. Having the best means having the idea that those with the newest ideas will also be those with the most threatening ideas, and that those threats have to be overcome. Having the best will mean accepting the best, because the best will not always be the easiest with whom to get along. Indeed, it will often be true that the very same features that make individuals most creative, that make them most challenging, that make their ideas most exciting, also make them the people who dont fit in in the smoothest ways. And the best universities understand that, and they reach to find the most able people.There is a third important part of how the best universities stay the best, and that is: they are constantly looking for ways to measure themselves, ways to pressure themselves to be excellent. In business, in the for-profit sector of the economy, which is, after all, where most of the organizations take place, there is a ready way to measure whether you are being the best, or not. Its called the bottom line. Its profits. Universities have no such measure that they can look at, so they need to find other ways to assure themselves that they are always pushing themselves to be the best.What are some of those ways? One way is to encourage scholars to seek external funding for research. At Harvard, we do not fund a large part of the research conducted by our scientists. In part, that is because our resources are scarce, and we want to be sure to channel those resources to areas of research where, if the University does not provide funds, no one else will provide funds, so that we can use our resources in the most important way. But there is a second, very important, reason, that is: there are those that provide funds, who also do their own investigations, who do their own monitoring, and who make their own judgments as to what is the best kind of research. And when they make those judgments, resources tend to flow to those who are being more productive, and they tend to flow away from those who are being less productive.We do something else that is very important at the University, and were going to be