Science in service to the public good | Siddhartha Roy

52,142 views ・ 2017-05-22

TED


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Translator: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Camille MartΓ­nez
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Fresh out of college,
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I went to work for a consulting firm.
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During orientation, the leaders dished out advice.
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Amongst them was one pithy counsel I will never forget.
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He told us, "Be easy to manage."
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Considering how naΓ―ve I really was at the time,
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I took his advice to heart.
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I told myself,
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"Yes, I will be the ultimate team player.
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I will do everything I'm told.
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I will be easy to manage."
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It wasn't until I arrived in graduate school
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and witnessed firsthand the criminal actions of scientists and engineers
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in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan
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that I realized how dangerous and yet surprisingly common
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this line of thinking really is.
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Make no mistake:
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the Flint water crisis is one of the most egregious environmental injustices
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of our time.
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For over 18 months,
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100,000 residents, including thousands of young children,
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were exposed to contaminated drinking water with high levels of lead.
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Lead is a potent neurotoxin
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which causes cognitive and developmental disabilities
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and is especially harmful to growing fetuses and young children.
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We've known about its dangers since the Roman Empire.
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Amongst a whole host of health issues,
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12 people died by contracting Legionnaires' disease.
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Flint's water infrastructure --
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the complex network of underground pipes --
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has been severely damaged.
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And while the water quality is slowly improving
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and the pipes are being replaced now,
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more than two years later,
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the water is still not safe to drink.
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So, people are still in shock.
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They ask themselves,
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"How could this have happened?"
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The short answer is: the crisis began when an emergency manager,
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appointed by Michigan's governor,
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decided to switch their water source to a local river to save money.
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But it continued for so long
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because scientists and engineers at government agencies
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in the state of Michigan and in the federal government
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did not follow federal regulations for treating the water right.
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What was more,
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they actively cheated on the law and orchestrated cover-ups.
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They ridiculed residents asking for help,
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while publicly insisting that the brown, smelly water coming out of the tap
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was safe to drink.
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The system at the local, state and federal levels completely failed
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to protect our most vulnerable,
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and an entire population was left to fend for itself.
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Now, amidst this injustice, Flint residents were rallying together.
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Amongst them were some amazing women of Flint --
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mothers concerned about their kids --
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who came together forming many grassroots coalitions,
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and these groups started protesting and demanding change.
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The group also reached out to outside scientists for help,
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and a few responded.
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Amongst them was a guy named Miguel Del Toral,
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a water expert at the US EPA -- the Environmental Protection Agency --
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who actually wrote this scientific memo
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and sent it to the state of Michigan and the federal government
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to bring their attention to this problem.
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He was characterized a "rogue employee,"
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and silenced.
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In collaboration with Flint residents,
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our research team here at Tech,
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of students and scientists led by professor Marc Edwards,
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conducted citywide testing
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to prove that Flint's water was indeed contaminated,
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even toxic in some homes.
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We substantiated what Flint had been screaming for months,
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and put it on the Internet for the world to see.
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Now, when I was getting involved,
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when I said yes to this,
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I had no idea what I was getting into.
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But every second of this journey has been totally worth it.
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This was science in service to the public.
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This is what I came to graduate school for,
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and this is how I would rather spend my life.
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And so this coalition --
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this unlikely coalition of citizens, pastors, journalists and scientists --
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came together to uncover the truth using science, advocacy and activism.
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A local pediatrician figured out
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that the instances of childhood lead poisoning had indeed doubled
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in Flint during the crisis.
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And the state of Michigan was forced to acknowledge the problem
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and take steps to correct it.
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This group and many others got Flint's kids protected.
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A few months later,
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President Obama came in and declared a federal emergency,
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and now Flint is getting more than 600 million dollars
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in healthcare, nutrition, education
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and overhauling their water infrastructure.
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However, the arrogance and the callous disregard for public health
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shown by scientists and engineers at these government agencies
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is beyond belief.
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These unhealthy cultures that are festering in these groups,
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where the focus is on meeting regulations and checking boxes
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as opposed to protecting public health,
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is just appalling.
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Just consider this email that an EPA employee wrote,
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where she goes,
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"I'm not so sure Flint is a community we want to go out on a limb for."
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The dehumanization of an entire population could not be more obvious.
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Now, contrast that to the first canon of engineering,
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which, in my opinion, should be the first law of humanity:
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"To hold paramount the health, safety and welfare of the public,"
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above all else.
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This is the Hippocratic Oath we've rarely acknowledged,
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let alone embraced.
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And so when scientists and engineers, very much like medical doctors,
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screw up,
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people can get hurt --
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even die.
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If our professionals and even students fail to get that,
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society pays a huge price.
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Buried deep in history lies a character I deeply admire --
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an engineer named Peter Palchinsky.
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He lived in the time of the Soviet Union.
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And Palchinsky repeatedly got in trouble for his radical honesty
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and willingness to point out major flaws in the Soviets' mindless pursuit
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of rapid industrialization.
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Everyone was expected to follow orders coming from the top.
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Anyone asking questions or offering feedback was unwelcome.
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The Soviets had created the largest army of engineers the world had ever seen,
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and yet most of them were mere cogs in a gigantic machine heading for doom.
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Palchinsky, on the other hand, implored engineers
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to look at the economic, political and social consequences of their actions;
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in other words, be more public-focused.
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His fearless voice of reason was seen as a threat
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to the political establishment,
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and Joseph Stalin had him executed in 1929.
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Palchinsky's view on technocrats is very different
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from one that is still very popular, still very common --
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that of a dispassionate researcher working in his ivory tower lab,
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or a nerdy engineer working in his cubicle.
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Brilliant, no doubt,
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yet somehow cut off from the world,
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shows little emotion --
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kind of like Spock from "Star Trek," you know?
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This guy.
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(Laughter)
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Let's try and do the Spock salute.
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I don't think I'll succeed ...
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See, I can't be Spock.
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Thank goodness I can't be Spock.
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(Laughter)
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I was reminded of this distinction because a recent article came out
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in a very reputed scientific journal,
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which kind of characterized our Flint work as driven by "youthful idealism,"
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and "Hollywood's dramatic sensibilities."
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It asks scientists to protect their research funding and institutions
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at all costs, no matter how just the cause.
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And if you think you have to get involved in something,
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even if it's an emergency,
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try finding an activist group or an NGO,
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and obtain the full support of the academic community --
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whatever that means --
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before you get involved.
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Not one mention of our moral and professional obligation
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of preventing harm to the public,
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or the fact that we have all this expertise,
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resources and, for some, even tenure
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to, you know, accomplish this task.
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I'm not saying every scientist should be an activist.
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There are real and sometimes very painful consequences of speaking up.
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But to denounce this idea, this possibility so completely
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so that you can protect research funding,
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simply screams of self-serving cowardice,
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and these are not the ideals we would want to pass to our students.
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And so you may think, "OK, all this sounds great,
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but you'll never completely change organizational cultures,
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or imbibe mindsets in students and professionals
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to look at their work as a public good --
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science in service to the public."
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Maybe so.
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But could a big reason for that be
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that we are not training our students right?
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Because if you look closely,
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our education system today is focused more on creating
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what ex-Yale professor Bill Deresiewicz calls "excellent sheep" --
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young people who are smart and ambitious,
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and yet somehow risk-averse, timid, directionless
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and, sometimes, full of themselves.
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Now, kids ... you know,
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we fell in love with science when we were kids,
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and yet we somehow spend most of our time during high school and college
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just jumping through hoops
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and doing things so that we can polish our rΓ©sumΓ©
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instead of sitting down
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and reflecting on what we want to do and who we want to be.
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And so,
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the markers of empathy in our college graduates
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have been dropping dramatically in the past two decades,
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while those of narcissism are on the rise.
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There is also a growing culture of disengagement
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between engineering students and the public.
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We are trained to build bridges and solve complex problems
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but not how to think or live or be a citizen of this world.
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My undergraduate years were explicit job preparation,
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and I cannot tell you how suffocating and painful it was at times.
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And so,
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some people think the solution to great engineers, to great scientists,
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is more technical training.
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Maybe so.
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But where are the discussions on ethical decision-making,
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or building character,
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or discerning right from wrong?
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Consider this project that I deeply love and admire.
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It's called, "Heroic Imagination Project."
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A brainchild of Dr. Phil Zimbardo,
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famous for the Stanford Prison Experiment,
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this program seeks to train school-going children around the world
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to look at themselves as heroes-in-waiting,
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or heroes-in-training.
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So, these young minds work over time to develop skills and virtues
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so that when the opportunity comes,
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no matter what that opportunity be,
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to stand up and do the right thing.
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In other words,
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anyone can be a hero.
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Think about that idea for a second.
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Why don't we teach science and engineering like that --
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where heroism and public service are seen as key values,
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because indeed, it's often heroism
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that is not only the antidote to public indifference,
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but also to systemic evil like we saw in Flint.
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And so, dream with me
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what a 21st-century scientist slash engineer could look like:
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individuals who are driven to master the sciences
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so that they can serve society,
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and are also aware
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of the tremendous power their knowledge and decisions have;
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folks who are developing their moral courage at all times,
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and who realize that conflict and controversy
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are not necessarily bad things
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if our ultimate loyalty is to the public and the planet.
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These are the people who will stand up like we did in Flint --
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not to be saviors or heroes in the media,
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but altruistic and fundamentally good actors that you and I can trust.
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Imagine fostering such a public-focused mindset
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in classes, on service trips and during activities
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during college or even high school,
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so that these young minds will hold onto those ideals
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when they actually enter the real world,
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whether that be consulting, academia, policy making --
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or even becoming the president of a country.
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Some of mankind's greatest challenges lie ahead of us;
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contaminated drinking water is just one example.
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We could definitely use more --
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nay, we desperately need more -- compassionate upstanders
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and public-focused scientists and engineers
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who will strive to the do right thing,
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and not be easy to manage.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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