Media Lab 40th Anniversary celebration

Thank you, Jessica, for the introduction! And big thanks to you and Tod for inviting me to join in this wonderful celebration!

You all have a feast of a day ahead of you, so I’ll offer just a few observations.

The Media Lab was founded by two legendary figures in Institute history: Nicholas Negroponte and Jerry Wiesner. Both of them stood out – even at MIT! – for their brilliance, intellectual daring, and creativity. 

Jerry was a distinguished electrical engineer – and a humanistic thinker of incredible range, on subjects from nuclear disarmament to the intersection of technology and the arts. 

For nine years in the 1970s, he served as MIT’s 13th president. So, as MIT’s 18th president, I wanted to see what he was thinking at the ceremony dedicating the Media Lab’s original building. (I understand at least one person here was present for that ceremony. Tod, I’m looking at you!)

Two things struck me right away from Jerry’s remarks: How much has changed in those 40 years! Good grief! And how well his vision for the lab has stood the test of time.

Jerry made clear that the Media Lab was not the creation of a few individuals: He understood it as “a product of the MIT culture.” A culture of great technical sophistication, that was passionate about venturing bold ideas, about solving interesting problems and about inventing and pushing the limits of new tools. And a culture that was completely uninterested in the supposed boundaries between disciplines, sectors and fields.

As he put it, because

“Novel creations of the mind require the intersection of two normally unrelated sets of ideas or mental fields”….“The more different things you have in your head…the greater chance you have of being a truly creative, contributing citizen.” 

Jerry saw “All of life, all of society, [as] an experimental learning process” (…which might as well be the Media Lab motto!)

And he saw the role of digital technologies as one and the same with the role of the lab itself: To vastly expand and enhance the creative capacities of human beings.

At the dedication, Jerry explained that his most important job as president was to be an “enthusiasm amplifier.” 

So now, to this room full of “truly creative, contributing citizens,” known around the world for your “experimental learning processes” and “novel creations of the mind” – allow me to amplify your enthusiasm! 

And, in the spirit of Jerry Weisner, though in a very different time, I challenge you keep doing all you can to help society use today’s technologies in ways that “enhance human creative capacities” and promote human flourishing, above all.

Thank you! Congratulations! And here’s to your next 40 years!