Ronan Farrow, then serving as the State Department's Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues, delivered an address at Dominican University of California in 2012 that reframed the perceived weaknesses of youth as evolutionary strengths. Citing recent neurological research, he explained that the young brain undergoes a massive reorganization between ages 12 and 25. Scientists once viewed this as an incomplete work in progress, but newer studies showed something far more flattering: the young brain's recklessness, risk-tolerance, and resistance to familiar patterns are precisely calibrated for the period of life when humans face their greatest challenges — entering the real world, finding passions, and building families. Farrow argued that evolution gave young people their 'reckless brains' specifically because the trailblazing qualities of youth provide an unmatched power to accept change, challenge norms, and adapt to new environments.