1
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(Ian Goldin) Great, thank you: it's
wonderful to be with educators

2
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who care about the intersection
of learning and technology,

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because that's going to shape the future.

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Whether we're able
to get this right or not

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
will determine whether we have
a glorious 21st century

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or a period of unmitigated risks.

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The walls are coming down everywhere and
it's difficult to not think about this,

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
being so close to it, here in Berlin,

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
25 years ago, these walls coming down.

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But it's not just about physical walls
coming down,

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it's about mental walls,
it's about financial walls,

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it's about technological walls.

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
All the walls are coming down,
and it's that

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which makes this the most exciting century
in the history of humanity.

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It changes all of our lives
in surprising ways.

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And it's certainly changed mine.

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I was living in Paris
when this wall came down.

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I didn't imagine that it would touch me
personally.

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I thought it was about Eastern Europe,
about the Cold War, about something else.

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But within 6 months, I would,
much to my surprise,

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I was invited to have dinner with
President Mandela in Paris.

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He wasn't president then,
he had just been released from prison.

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But he was released
because the Cold War ended.

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And the defining feature of this period
we live in our lives

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is what happens elsewhere will
dramatically affect us in new ways.

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's this change that results
from the walls coming down.

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And it's this chance that will shape
education going forward

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and technological progress.

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And of course, the other fundamental
period of -- in this time --

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is technology, technology,
which got off the ground

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at the same time as the Berlin Wall
came down, over 25 years.

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This exponential growth in
virtual connectivity.