In "Address to Students at Moscow State University," President Reagan expresses the idea that progress can only be achieved it man is free to
pursue knowledge and learn from his mistakes.
Which two sentences from the passage best support this concept?
from Address to Students at Moscow State University
by Ronald Reagan
Like a chrysalis, we're emerging from the economy of the Industrial Revolution - an economy confined to and limited by the Earth's physical
resources-into, as one economist titled his book, The Economy in Mind," in which there are no bounds on human imagination and the freedom to
create is the most precious natural resource. Think of that little computer chip. Its value isn't in the sand from which it is made but in the microscopic
architecture designed into it by ingenious human minds. Or take the example of the satellite relaying this broadcast around the world, which replaces
thousands of tons of copper mined from the Earth and molded into wire. In the new economy, human invention increasingly makes physical
resources obsolete. We're breaking through the material conditions of existence to a world where man creates his own destiny. Even as we explore
the most advanced reaches of science, we're returning to the age-old wisdom of our culture, a wisdom contained in the book of Genesis in the
Bible: In the beginning was the spirit, and it was from this spirit that the material abundance of creation issued forth.
But progress is not foreordained. The key is freedom-freedom of thought, freedom of information, freedom of communication. The renowned
scientist, scholar, and founding father of this university, Mikhail Lomonosov, knew that. "It is common knowledge," he said, "that the achievements of
science are considerable and rapid, particularly once the yoke of slavery is cast off and replaced by the freedom of philosophy." You know, one of the
first contacts between your country and mine took place between Russian and American explorers. The Americans were members of Cook's last
voyage on an expedition searching for an Arctic passage, on the island of Unalaska, they came upon the Russians, who took them in, and together
with the native inhabitants, held a prayer service on the ice.
The explorers of the modern era are the entrepreneurs, men with vision, with the courage to take risks and faith enough to brave the
unknown. These entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. They are the
prime movers of the technological revolution. In fact, one of the largest personal computer firms in the United States was started by two college
students, no older than you, in the garage behind their home. Some people, even in my own country, look at the riot of experiment that is the free
market and see only waste. What of all the entrepreneurs that fail? Well, many do, particularly the successful ones; often several times. And if you
ask them the secret of their success, they'll tell you it's all that they learned in their struggles along the way, yes, it's what they learned from
failing. Like an athlete in competition or a scholar in pursuit of the truth, experience is the greatest teacher.
And that's why it's so hard for government planners, no matter how sophisticated, to ever substitute for millions of individuals working night and
day to make their dreams come true.
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