good evening everyone so this is Lucy
she’s three years old and she really
wanted to chocolate sundae so she asked
her mom but her mom said no so she threw
a temper tantrum now this is Jack he
also really wants a chocolate sundae but
he’s 65 years old so he asked his
partner if he can get one but she says
no and he gets angry saying that she
doesn’t respect his needs he throws a
temper tantrum so it makes sense to
think of individuals in terms of growth
and development but can we do the same
to understand humanity because Lucy
she’s three years old we think it’s
normal for her to throw a temper tantrum
but when Jack has a tantrum we expect
him to grow up and control his emotions
we expect him to be more mature can we
think of this when we look at history
and when we look at humanity I’m
adolescent so I know a few things about
being one and one thing I noticed is
that in our world today there are many
signs of adolescence let me give you a
couple examples trying to find a sense
of identity and rebellion teenagers are
always trying to find a sense of
identity we want to figure out who we
are and where we fit in many social
movements in the world today are also
built on defining and asserting identity
on one hand we have movements like black
lives matter I don’t know more that
raise awareness of our diversity and on
the other hand we have various
nationalistic and extremist movements
that reject our diversity teenagers are
also rebellious as we gain the freedom
to make her own choices we use it to
challenge authority Donald Trump rose to
power on an anti-establishment message
and many social movements are also all
about protests and resistance so we can
say that the world is like its in the
stage of collective adolescence but
teenagers are expected to grow up so we
should expect humanity to
as well but what does this mean what
would a more mature world look like one
way of measuring maturity is how much
someone moves from me to we how much
they move from being focused only on
themselves to showing concern for others
let me give you an example let’s say I
have to babysit my neighbor’s toddler
the three-year-old is so self-centered
he only focuses on what’s directly in
front of him and that’s all he wants so
if he sees a ball at the top of the
stairs he’ll forget about the stairs go
for the ball and then tumble down he
can’t even take care of himself and
that’s where I come in as the babysitter
I’m expected to be mature enough to take
care of myself and the toddler at least
for a short amount of time this
broadening of interest also happens on
the collective level in the past we used
to identify ourselves based on our
family or a town and then our city or
country now the unit of identity is
global and many of us see ourselves as
world citizens achieving global unity
however is going to be a defining
challenge of our collective maturation
and it involves all of us as individuals
it requires us to tap into our
capacities to know to love and to choose
first of all we have to understand that
our world is interdependent just like
the human body when one part suffers the
whole is affected many of humanity’s
biggest problems like climate change
population growth economic development
disease war in conflict many of these
problems require us to tap into and
recognize this interdependence in order
to come up with real solutions this
interdependence also means that we have
to have concern and care for others in
the world just because we but this this
broader concern doesn’t mean that we
can’t care about what’s more local just
because I love my country doesn’t mean I
can’t love my city this concern
and understanding doesn’t mean anything
unless we act on it we have to make the
choice to use our power for others
rather than over others in fact we
expect this service for others from many
people in positions of power like
doctors teachers parents and elected
officials we have to choose to do the
same now recently I celebrated my
birthday and I received a box of fancy
French chocolates I really wanted to eat
all of them by myself but my parents
expected me to be mature enough and
share it with my brother I didn’t I ate
them all clearly adding a digit to my
age doesn’t by itself do anything I have
to choose to be more mature and
shouldn’t humanity make that choice as
well thank you
[Applause]
she’s three years old and she really
wanted to chocolate sundae so she asked
her mom but her mom said no so she threw
a temper tantrum now this is Jack he
also really wants a chocolate sundae but
he’s 65 years old so he asked his
partner if he can get one but she says
no and he gets angry saying that she
doesn’t respect his needs he throws a
temper tantrum so it makes sense to
think of individuals in terms of growth
and development but can we do the same
to understand humanity because Lucy
she’s three years old we think it’s
normal for her to throw a temper tantrum
but when Jack has a tantrum we expect
him to grow up and control his emotions
we expect him to be more mature can we
think of this when we look at history
and when we look at humanity I’m
adolescent so I know a few things about
being one and one thing I noticed is
that in our world today there are many
signs of adolescence let me give you a
couple examples trying to find a sense
of identity and rebellion teenagers are
always trying to find a sense of
identity we want to figure out who we
are and where we fit in many social
movements in the world today are also
built on defining and asserting identity
on one hand we have movements like black
lives matter I don’t know more that
raise awareness of our diversity and on
the other hand we have various
nationalistic and extremist movements
that reject our diversity teenagers are
also rebellious as we gain the freedom
to make her own choices we use it to
challenge authority Donald Trump rose to
power on an anti-establishment message
and many social movements are also all
about protests and resistance so we can
say that the world is like its in the
stage of collective adolescence but
teenagers are expected to grow up so we
should expect humanity to
as well but what does this mean what
would a more mature world look like one
way of measuring maturity is how much
someone moves from me to we how much
they move from being focused only on
themselves to showing concern for others
let me give you an example let’s say I
have to babysit my neighbor’s toddler
the three-year-old is so self-centered
he only focuses on what’s directly in
front of him and that’s all he wants so
if he sees a ball at the top of the
stairs he’ll forget about the stairs go
for the ball and then tumble down he
can’t even take care of himself and
that’s where I come in as the babysitter
I’m expected to be mature enough to take
care of myself and the toddler at least
for a short amount of time this
broadening of interest also happens on
the collective level in the past we used
to identify ourselves based on our
family or a town and then our city or
country now the unit of identity is
global and many of us see ourselves as
world citizens achieving global unity
however is going to be a defining
challenge of our collective maturation
and it involves all of us as individuals
it requires us to tap into our
capacities to know to love and to choose
first of all we have to understand that
our world is interdependent just like
the human body when one part suffers the
whole is affected many of humanity’s
biggest problems like climate change
population growth economic development
disease war in conflict many of these
problems require us to tap into and
recognize this interdependence in order
to come up with real solutions this
interdependence also means that we have
to have concern and care for others in
the world just because we but this this
broader concern doesn’t mean that we
can’t care about what’s more local just
because I love my country doesn’t mean I
can’t love my city this concern
and understanding doesn’t mean anything
unless we act on it we have to make the
choice to use our power for others
rather than over others in fact we
expect this service for others from many
people in positions of power like
doctors teachers parents and elected
officials we have to choose to do the
same now recently I celebrated my
birthday and I received a box of fancy
French chocolates I really wanted to eat
all of them by myself but my parents
expected me to be mature enough and
share it with my brother I didn’t I ate
them all clearly adding a digit to my
age doesn’t by itself do anything I have
to choose to be more mature and
shouldn’t humanity make that choice as
well thank you
[Applause]
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