I care deeply about opportunity and fairness, because I grew up really poor.

It's fine to pretend that people are one-dimensional, like in body size; the problem comes when you forget that you are just pretending.

Education and the workforce: I think these two things go together in terms of human potential.

I enrolled at a local college, but this time paid attention to myself - took only courses that really interested me, even if they weren't in sequence; kept out of classes with people I knew from high school, because I tended to act like the class clown around them; selected teachers by their teaching style - until I could build up my study habits. I ended up graduating with a 3.97 GPA and got into Harvard for my doctorate.

The Age of Average gave us a lot. Take clothing: We've all benefited remarkably from large, medium and small sizes making things affordable and available, but when it really counts - the wedding gown and the pressurized fighter pilot suit - it's bespoke all the way.

We've become so used to the concept as a measuring and sorting tool, that it and its correlates - below-average, above-average - are everyday speech. We don't even question the language, although the challenges we face require a different mindset.

Right now, for instance, we resist giving people extra time on exams or for assignments, as though it's unfair to the faster students.