WATCH: Ideas Rule the World, not Kings or Corporations

What will historians say about our time 250 years from now? In this final video of our Floating University playlist, Lawrence Summers, economist, professor, former president of Harvard University, and economic adviser to President Barack Obama, asks this question in a thought-provoking lecture about the evolution of ideas and the critical importance of education in an increasingly multifaceted world.

What is it that we do that seems natural to us today that will seem barbaric 100 years from now? This question is all the more important given the rapid rise of globalization, the explosion of human interconnectedness, and an accelerating technology curve. This will be a moment in history when the world evolved from a world governed by the idea of authority to a world governed by the authority of ideas and Summers tells you how to become a part of the next great revolution.

This video is part of Big Think’s Floating University video playlist, featuring some of the most mind-changing ideas delivered by America’s leading thinkers. There are 11 other discussions waiting to feed your mind and spark your imagination. Check out the entire Floating University. Enjoy!