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Around Campus

Bold predictions on civilization’s momentum fill hopeful Last Lecture

Physics and astronomy professor Dan Reichart delivered the annual Last Lecture for the Class of 2018.

Dan Reichart stands at a podium
Professor Dan Reichart delivers the 2018 Last Lecture on April 19 at McCorkle Place. (Photo by Brandon Bieltz/UNC-Chapel Hill)

At UNC-Chapel Hill’s Last Lecture on April 19, professor Dan Reichart described the vast span of humankind’s history and place in time, then shared his concept of civilizational momentum and made bold predictions.

Reichart, the Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of physics and astronomy, has been a popular and respected faculty member since 2002. He earned more respect in November 2017 when he tried to put out a fire at the University’s iconic Davie Poplar tree.

When a backpack placed at the tree’s base exploded, he sustained first- and second-degree burns on his face, ears, neck, arms, hands and fingers. Surgery and treatment required a five-day stay in the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Health Care. Reichart found the experience humbling because the University community’s caring response made him realize that he is part of a large family that cares deeply for its members.

The Last Lecture asks each lecturer, “If you knew this was the last lecture you will ever give, what would you say?” The concept has been at Carolina and other universities for many years, with favorite professors speaking. The UNC General Alumni Association sponsors the event.

Speaking on a chilly, windblown McCorkle Place lawn, Reichart gave seniors from the Class of 2018 much to think about.

He outlined an enormous timeline of humankind’s place in history and space before he asked the audience to think of challenges we face and how we can work together to keep civilization moving forward.

Reichart estimates that he has 2,000 more class lectures ahead of him, “assuming I steer clear of any more explosive devices,” he said.

“Let’s call this a mid-career lecture for me,” Reichart said. “But for you, the senior class of 2018, this will be one of your last lectures, at least here at UNC.”

Astronomers think spatially on the grandest scale imaginable, he said. “Our sun is one of the few hundred billion stars that form our Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is one of at least a hundred billion that span our universe. That’s just the part of the universe we can see. The true number may be infinite,” Reichart said. Realizing that a billion trillion Earth-like worlds orbit sun-like stars in the universe is a humbling thought that can make one feel insignificant and not special at all, he said.

However, Reichart thinks we occupy a special, even critical moment in time. After people started living in cities 5,000 years ago, the world developed at a measured pace until the scientific revolution began 400 years ago and more recent advancements in agriculture, health and medicine, child mortality rates, increased lifespans and communication. People in today’s world are fully connected by living closer together, by improvements in travel between distant places and by the speed of communication through email, video, social media, other real-time digital tools and the Internet, he said.

After developing at a breakneck pace, the world exists in a perpetual feedback loop in which humanity continues a dizzyingly fast development that he calls civilizational momentum, he said.

Reichart admitted that where the momentum leads is anyone’s guess. “But since I’m giving the lecture, I’ll make the guess.” His predictions for the Class of 2018 include:

  • In the next few decades, they will colonize worlds near Earth, beginning with the moon and Mars,
  • They will seek solutions for political, economic and technical challenges of food production and energy supply, climate change and education,
  • As people increasingly interact with each other, they will solve problems of conflict through greater understanding, compassion and improvements to education.

In an upbeat voice, Reichart ended the lecture by predicting a time thousands of years from now when students’ descendants on surrounding stars will see today’s generation as legendary, as people who took control and came together at humanity’s most consequential moment.

“With your mind on the lessons of the past, with your heart and your hands on the challenges of the present and with your eyes agaze on the promise of the future, it’s time to go and make it count,” Reichart said.