Casper said Stanford is engaged in discussions with Princeton and Yale about the growing interest in distance learning and web-based educational programs in the arts and sciences, initially focused on continuing education for alumni. Of course, the Internet and its challenges are partly the result of technological innovations born at Stanford. Casper spoke about Stanford's role in developing Silicon Valley but also about what sets Stanford apart from what the Valley has come to symbolize. The United States obviously occupies a strange place in the world. It is the capital of innovation, of material prosperity, of a certain kind of energy, of certain kinds of freedom, and of transience.
Silicon Valley is to the United States what the United States is to the rest of the world.
To say so would be a facile elaboration but wrong. Quite to the contrary, it is our responsibility to be concerned with fundamentals, including traditions and basic aspects of the human condition. It is our responsibility to take the long view of everything. Our commitment, however, is to the search to know, to the pursuit of truth. Casper's wide-ranging speech also addressed key issues of his presidency and some disappointments.