Foer closed his Middlebury address with a profound call to presence and attention. He argued that everyone is always in need of something that another person can give — whether undivided attention, a kind word, or deep empathy — and that responding to those needs represents the highest use of one's life. By 'human computing,' Foer meant the difficult, messy, sometimes painful work of choosing to engage with another person: struggling for the right language, risking getting it wrong, discarding the protective shells we hide behind. He described this work not as something we give away but as something we receive in exchange for having to die — the beauty that a finite existence makes possible. It was a fitting conclusion from a novelist who believes deeply in the power of attention as, in Simone Weil's words, 'the rarest and purest form of generosity.'