Saturday, August 16, 2008

Nobelist George Akerlof said during the Berkeley's December 2003 convocation, "...The uneducated too often believe that a conflict of interest occurs because other people are evil. The educated believe that conflicts of interest naturally occur. Moreover, these conflicts occur especially because other people are basically so very much like ourselves. So the university teaches us to see other people's views. We have mercy for them.

...you should act justly. You should love mercy, and you should walk humbly with your God...

Twenty-five hundred years later, your education reverses this dictum. It first leads you to act humbly. It teaches you that wisdom involves humility in the fact of ignorance. But then it teaches you also that you are not alone. There are many people like you, even though they may appear different and even though they may act differently. And so you learn mercy. With mercy and knowledge, you then act. You do justice..."


you know you are learning the RIGHT things when you spend more time thinking than the time spent understanding. im guessing that the above quote makes A LOT of sense, a lot of sense that i cant unravel. but i'll spend my semester thinking over these, over humility and mercy and justice. and no, i'm not doing philosophy in case you're wondering.

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