Remaking the Mosquito the End of Malaria?
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Danielle Allen • Drama and Dance • Robots vs. Wages Remaking the Mosquito The end of malaria? Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. atMay-June 617-495-5746 2016 • $4.95 For the most critical questions. No matter how complex your business questions, we have the capabilities and experience to deliver the answers you need to move forward. As the world’s largest consulting fi rm, we can help you take decisive action and achieve sustainable results. www.deloitte.com/answers Audit | Tax | Consulting | Advisory Copyright © 2016 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. Consulting Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 160505_Deloitte_ivy.indd 1 3/14/16 11:44 AM MAY-JUNE 2016 VOLUME 118, NUMBER 5 FEATURES 37 Forum: Who Owns the Robots Rules the World by Richard B. Freeman Technological change, jobs, and inequality intersect 40 The Egalitarian | by Spencer Lenfield Political philosopher Danielle Allen plumbs the roots and meaning of equality in American democracy p. 18 48 Vita: Champ Lyons | by Martin L. Dalton and Laurence A. Lyons Brief life of an innovative surgeon: 1907-1965 50 Editing an End to Malaria? | by Jonathan Shaw Gene editing holds promise—if the technology can be deployed safely JOHN HARVard’s JournAL 18 Studying—and performing—drama and dance. Plus an American art curator, public-health dean, CS50 goes to high school, the Yard greened, Larry Summers, contested Overseers’ election, Supreme Court nominee, sexual assault and other campus news, when undergraduates advocate change, and a basketball streak ends p. 15 p. 40 DEPARTMENTS EN J OOI R 2 Cambridge 02138 | Letters from our readers—and thinking strategically LLEN VAN E 3 The View from Mass Hall ; H MIT S 12 Right Now | Why wages are gendered, which calories count, cancer’s unexpected inception HOPKINSON F 16A Harvard2 | Spring events, Color of Film festival, Hawthorne’s iconic house, an OURTESY O Andover outing, Commencement schedule, cutting-edge Kendall Square cuisine, and more C 61 Montage | The “shameless popularism” of Ellen Harvey’s paintings, America’s foreign-policy problem, lutenist Hopkinson Smith, a photographer’s close-up fascination ILIPPE GONTIER/ Ph with spring, the history of economic growth, fireflies, and more 72 Alumni | Houston’s hands-on mayor, and the Board of Overseers and alumni association candidates OSNER; JIM HARRISON; R TU 76 The College Pump | A president who tippled, and an eternally faithful dog S p.65 84 Treasure | Radio days On the cover: Illustration by Pete Ryan 77 Crimson Classifieds CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: www.harvardmagazine.com Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 LETTERS EDITOR: John S. Rosenberg SENIOR EDITOR: Jean Martin MANAGING EDITOR: Jonathan S. Shaw Cambridge ART DIRECTOR: Jennifer Carling ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Marina Bolotnikova, Overseers’ election, “flyover” states, Law School shield Sophia Nguyen STAFF WRITER/EDITOR: Lydialyle Gibson ASISTANT EDITOR-ONLINE: Laura Levis FROM Eugenics… Adam cohen’s article stimulated me to run I commend the excellent article “Harvard’s a quick check on the Oregon State Board of ASSISTANT EDITOR: Nell Porter Brown Eugenics Era” (by Adam Cohen, March- Eugenics, which ordered more than 2,600 BERTA GREENWALD LEDECKY April, page 48). The “era” was not just at involuntary sterilizations from 1917 to 1981. UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS Harvard but really encompasses the United As a lowly intern rotating on the gyne- Jenny Gathright, Bailey Trela States generally and ought to be required cology service at the University of Oregon EDITORIAL INTERN: Olivia Campbell reading for American history, lest we forget. Hospital in 1961, I was handed a formal Alan Goldhammer, J.D. ’66 court order to perform an involuntary ster- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berkeley, Calif. ilization on a woman. My strong protests John T. Bethell, John de Cuevas, Dick 7 WARE STREET a possible bias that might “favor financial Friedman, Adam Goodheart, The Tiger Roars capital at the expense of human and physi- Elizabeth Gudrais, Jim Harrison, cal capital.” Courtney Humphries, Christopher S. Princeton is not Harvard. Smaller, more Administrators are directed to increase Johnson, Adam Kirsch, Colleen Lannon, intimate, it offers superb undergraduate and spending from the current low level, to Christopher Reed, Stu Rosner, Deborah doctoral education in the liberal arts and “co-invest” with eager supporters who Smullyan, Mark Steele engineering and applied sciences, without share Princeton’s goals—a nifty option, HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. the huge professional schools (business, law, immediately after a capital campaign. To PRESIDENT: Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. medicine) that shine so brightly in the Crim- that end, the university will, inter alia, ex- ’69. DIRECTORS: Peter K. Bol, Jonathan son firmament. pand its undergraduate population by 500, L.S. Byrnes, D.B.A. ’80, Scott V. Edwards, For whatever reason—a more unified to about 5,800, adding a new residential Thomas F. Kelly, Ph.D. ’73, Ann Ma- culture, sheer nimbleness—the Tiger has college; accept transfers, in part to seek shown it can roar with a single voice. The economic diversity by enrolling veterans, rie Lipinski, NF ’90, Lars Peter Knoth trustees’ Princeton University Strategic community-college students, and others; Madsen, John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, Bryan E. Framework, dated January 30 (a frills-free augment service-oriented education and Simmons ’83 24 pages, black type on white paper), out- extracurriculars; build capacity signifi- lines an institutional vision, a contempo- cantly in environmental sciences, educa- BOARD OF INCORPORATORS rary operating context, a financial model, tion research, engineering (computer sci- This magazine, at first called the Harvard Bulletin, was founded in 1898. Its Board of Incorporators was char- and clear priorities for the next few years. ence, statistics, and machine learning); tered in 1924 and remains active in the magazine’s The framework, and progress in effecting and seek partnerships with external con- governance. The membership is as follows: Stephen it, are to be reviewed every four years. stituencies. J. Bailey, AMP ’94; Jeffrey S. Behrens ’89, William I. Bennett ’62, M.D. ’69; John T. Bethell ’54; Peter K. Bol; Adherents of peer schools might take In all, it is a useful vision for Princeton Fox Butterfield ’61, A.M. ’64; Sewell Chan ’98; Jona- note. Eschewing the sprawl of the “mul- as a “liberal arts university for the twenty- than S. Cohn ’91; Philip M. Cronin ’53, J.D. ’56; John de Cuevas ’52; James F. Dwinell III ’62; Anne Fadiman tiversity,” Princeton declares itself a first century.” ’74; Benjamin M. Friedman ’66, Ph.D. ’71; Robert H. “cohesive institution with a shared and The governance reforms Harvard en- Giles, NF ’66; Richard H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83; Owen Gingerich, Ph.D. ’62; Adam K. Goodheart ’92; Phil- intensely felt sense of mission.” Perhaps acted in late 2010 aimed in part to give ip C. Haughey ’57; Brian R. Hecht ’92; Sarah Blaffer as a result it is materially fortunate (per the Corporation capacity to think more Hrdy ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Ellen Hume ’68; Alex S. Jones, NF student, Princeton’s endowment is about ’82; Bill Kovach, NF ’89; Florence Ladd, BI ’72; Jen- strategically. Toward that end, Princeton’s nifer 8 Lee ’99; Randolph C. Lindel ’66; Ann Marie 50 percent larger than Harvard’s), and the framework, downloaded from New Jer- Lipinski, NF ’90; Scott Malkin ’80, J.D.-M.B.A. ’83; trustees find that the spending of that sey, would fit nicely in the Fellows’ next Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. ’69, Ed ’77, L ’78; Lisa L. Martin, Ph.D. ’90; David McClintick ’62; Winthrop wealth has “tended in practice to favor fu- briefing packets. Harvard is emphatically L. McCormack ’67; M. Lee Pelton, Ph.D. ’84; John P. ture generations” unduly. They therefore not Princeton—but this community could Reardon Jr. ’60; Christopher Reed; Harriet Ritvo ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Henry Rosovsky, JF ’57, Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98; adopt a higher maximum spending rate, surely benefit from engaging in a similar Barbara Rudolph ’77; Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D. ’78; the better to advance research and educa- exercise, and producing an equivalent road Theda Skocpol, Ph.D. ’75; Peter A. Spiers ’76; Scott H. Stossel ’91; Sherry Turkle ’69, Ph.D. ’76; Robert H. tion in the here and now—and to reduce map. v john s. rosenberg, Editor Weiss ’54; Jan Ziolkowski. 2 May - June 2016 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 THE VIEW FROM MASS HALL “Learning to Change the World” ne of the highlights of my spring semester is speak- ing with members of the senior class about their plans for the future. Some leave Harvard College in continu- ing pursuit of longstanding goals, and others depart Owith dreams they could not have predicted four years ago. This year, I had an opportunity to meet with the first cohort of Harvard Teacher Fellows, a select group of undergraduates who, through an innovative program at the Harvard Graduate School of Educa- tion (HGSE), are preparing to become secondary school teachers in communities most in need of high-quality instruction. Our Fellows come from diverse backgrounds—a third are male, more than half are people of color, and together they represent fif- teen concentrations—but they share a belief in the power of ed- ucation and a commitment to changing individual lives through their work. Students of history spoke with me about their hope of making the past come alive in the classroom, and a young man de- scribed his deeply satisfying extracurricular work as a mentor and tutor as a springboard into the program. A mechanical engineer- ing concentrator from Dallas was motivated, counterintuitive as it may seem, by a lackluster high school physics teacher who almost stifled her interests.