From Roadblocks to Utopia
Maria T. Zuber
Commencement Address
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
University of California Berkeley
May 20, 2025
Faculty, community members, parents, friends and especially the graduates of the Class of 2025:
As you gather to celebrate this milestone, you are probably wondering about the future. You have undoubtedly heard the line: "The best way to predict the future is to create it." So, on this auspicious occasion, I created one! Strap in for a trip to Maria’s future for the 2025 graduating class!
It is the year 2075. The concentration of atmospheric CO2 measured at the Inez Fung Station at the summit of Mauna Loa is 340 parts per million, the lowest it has been since 1980. Its decline continues, thanks to a near-zero carbon global energy system accelerated by atmospheric carbon removal at gigaton scale. These days, if you want to see a gasoline engine you need to go to the Smithsonian. Electric cars and air taxis dominate personal transportation, thanks to breakthroughs in hydrogen fuel cells and non-combustible, ultra-fast charging quantum batteries.
Global jet setters rejoice at the return of supersonic air transport, powered by high energy density biofuels produced from synthetic photosynthesis. Taking full advantage of this new transportation mode, you managed to score a dinner reservation at that new Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in London next month!
The electric grid has been revolutionized by a new generation of low-temperature semi-conductors made possible by a massive drop in the prices of rare Earth minerals, ironically driven by the cost-effective robotic mining of a nearby asteroid. This has also allowed the regeneration of natural areas on our planet that had previously been ravaged by strip mining. A breakthrough in gyrotron technology pioneered for plasma research allows energy-efficient directed 2 vaporization of rock that has ushered in an era of cheap, deep geothermal prospecting that is providing seemingly unlimited steam power.
Cyberspace is saturated by good news. Last month a paper in Science reported a successful experiment to use a satellite tether to harvest energy from field- aligned currents in an ionospheric aurora. The FDA recently approved a new Alzheimer’s treatment -- whose fundamental ingredient is a secretion from a species of cephalopod that was near extinction but is now abundant due to restoration of its coral reef habitats. And only last week planetary scientists announced the fourth exoplanet this year characterized by non-equilibrium atmospheric gases that may be evidence of carbon-based life.
The steady stream of discoveries has squeezed conspiracy theorists from their online ecosystem, replaced by scientists, including citizen scientists, technologists and educators, who report and describe advances that are lifting society to better standards of living and quality of life.
Your grandchildren take this utopia for granted and can't imagine the world any other way. They are pre-occupied with their upcoming vacation to hike and birdwatch in Utah. Someday you should tell them about the time during grad school that you were arrested for blockading a road to a Utah national monument to prevent attempts to open the area to mineral exploration. You were a Berkeley student, after all. You hope your grandchildren will also be interested in attending Berkeley, and if they do the price will be right. Leaders of both the asteroid mining and deep geothermal companies are EPS alums, and they established an endowment that allows students to attend tuition free.
Wouldn't it be amazing if even part of this future could be realized? The truth is that we can't know what lies ahead, and so, graduates, none of you can say whether my view of the future is more or less probable than any other possible future. The key feature of my future is that every element makes use of the kind of knowledge and training that your graduating class has collectively amassed during your time at Berkeley.
As a cohort you arrived with dreams and aspirations for how your education will propel you towards a bright future. Until very recently, there were well understood pathways to pursue the myriad careers that are possible with your 3 degree. Your job was to learn the material, get the experiments and codes to work, and obtain that degree that unlocks the coveted pathway. Alas, where there were once clear trails there are now roadblocks, and your near term direction is far less certain.
An important thing to keep in mind is that time is not elastic. When we emerge from the current disruption the landscape is not going to snap back to where it was before. Instead, a new normal will emerge, yet many aspects of the present will cross the current valley of uncertainty. There will be a dearth of clean, fresh water. The climate will still be warming. There will be an ever-expanding need for food, natural resources and energy to power the economy. And there will still be a remarkable planet and a vast universe where discovery awaits.
So, everything you’ve learned is going to be useful moving ahead, and it's just a question of how to chart your path. To paraphrase Lewis Carroll: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will do." But the reasons that motivated you to get this degree are still as vital as ever. So, start thinking about the future that you want, and steps, including unconventional steps, that you could take in that direction. Remember that your friends and advisors will be there for you with advice and encouragement as you make your way. Out of change comes opportunity, and today we celebrate you for being so well prepared to start your journey. Class of 2025, good luck and Godspeed!
