Public policy professor Nicco Mele discussed the ways in which evolving technology is creating a generation of “people with all of this power in their pockets” by pushing power from institutions to individuals.

“[Mele’s speech] makes us think hard about the impact of our technological advances,” Dai said.

Biology professor Jeff W. Lichtman, a self-proclaimed “savant” who has studied the wiring of the brain for over 30 years, enlightened the audience about “brain pruning”—the process in which human infants gradually lose brain synapses as their brains become more specialized.

“The way you get to be a very smart adult is by changing the wiring in your brain,” Lichtman said.

Linguistic anthropologist and and hip-hop expert Marcyliena Morgan reflected on the journey that led her to study hip-hop and explained common themes in the genre, including dreams and imagination.

—Staff writer Mariel A. Klein can be reached at marielklein@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @mariel_klein.