Commentary on MIT’s new course, MIT and Slavery
There is merit in acquiring and acknowledging facts from the past, but passing ex post facto moral judgement on them deprives us of a correct understanding of history, of human nature, and of our own state of being.
#pick8: Fighting for Massachusetts’s prisoners
Not only will your interactions with these inmates help bring “a sense of normalcy” to their lives and help their development, but they will also challenge your own ideas of what is normal and help you develop various aspects of your life.
MIT, you’ve got commitment issues
People, institutions, and the relationships within all grow and change over time. We can’t be afraid of that; in fact, we should embrace it. Perhaps in the best relationships, partners grow alongside one another, committing to both give and take in a mutual exchange built on reciprocal trust and respect.
Climate change and the terrifying cost of being young
The economic decisions we make today must account for both the future and immediate impacts to ensure my generation inherits an economy marked by prosperity rather than climate chaos.
IM T-shirts are a misogynistic microaggression
The shirts should be thrown out; there is no appropriate situation in which they are acceptable to wear. I was then extremely angry to see that the floor continued to wear the shirts during the intramural three-on-three league during IAP and around the MIT campus.
Why the Aziz Ansari story and discussions of grey areas are central to the #MeToo movement
People’s negative responses to Grace's story demonstrate that our society faces a deeper issue, where people understand sexual assault in solely the most extreme terms and fail to recognize more quotidian forms of gendered violence.
Why is Arab violence taken as a given?
On Dec. 6, 2017, President Trump announced that America officially acknowledges Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and would eventually move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Referring to this as “acknowledging the obvious,” Trump explained that Israel is a sovereign state, recognized internationally and by the U.S., with the right to determine its own capital. In his declaration, Trump reiterated that such a move has no bearing on the city’s status under any peace agreement.
Not-so-Merry Christmas in Jerusalem
There was no Christmas tree put up in Jerusalem this holiday season. In fact, it has been some time since a Christmas tree was put up in Jerusalem.
SIPB: net neutrality matters
A week from now, on December 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote to dismantle net neutrality rules. Unless you are an Internet Service Provider, the end of net neutrality rules is bad news.
Poor logic behind current tax reform bill
With President Trump’s reinterpretation of what is taxable income, he will surely lead by example and pay out of pocket to cover taxes on all of his travel expenses whether he travels to meet a foreign dignitary or to just dust off his putter.
GOP tax bill would undercut MIT’s mission
MIT produces an extraordinary amount of beneficial — lifesaving — research, and the new taxes would damage its capability to do that.
Among tax bill’s offenses, an insult to students
While MIT bears no responsibility for this attack on higher education, this scandal calls into question the decency of a bizarre semesterly ceremony: MIT cutting a check to itself, we hope on our behalf.
The need for a more nuanced understanding of technology
At a school like MIT, a global leader in technological innovation, students and faculty should work not only to promote technology’s advancement, but also to understand and craft comprehensive solutions to the issues it creates. One such problem is automation’s ability to displace many middle-class laborers by mechanizing their work.
A call for MIT to unite against bigotry and hatred
Taking inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr., who proclaimed, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” we call for dialogue across all spectrums of views and identities, with the goal of achieving greater understanding and compassion for each other.
There will be no war
It is far too easy nowadays to become overwhelmed with all the strife and conflict worldwide. On all outlets of media, from CNN to Facebook, we find ourselves presented with disaster after disaster, crisis after crisis, war after war. And yet the last fifteen years have been some of the safest the Earth has ever seen.
In support of a School of Computing at MIT
The mission of a School of Computing or an Institute-wide computing initiative should be to understand computing in all its forms, advance computing technology to support engineering, science and the humanities, educate students to be innovators of computing technology, and inform the public in the state-of-the-art of computing.
When systems biology fails to predict the biology of people
Ayyadurai’s understanding of biological health does not translate to an understanding of healthcare policy, which is geared towards ensuring widespread accessibility to medical services, and necessitates the tackling of essentially social topics such as insurance risk discrimination and whether health care itself is a universal right.
Pleasure@MIT responds to the #MeToo campaign
Me too. Me too. Me too. Story after story has appeared on our social media accounts, reminding us of the unacceptable prevalence of sexual violence in the lives of people around us.
CASE leaders and MIT deans on financial hardship
Last week’s Tech article on the Class Awareness, Support, and Equality (CASE) socioeconomic study was a stark reminder to the MIT community that financial hardship is a real issue on campus. It affects undergraduates and graduate students alike, often invisibly. At an institution like MIT, it is unacceptable for any student to go without basic needs due to a lack of funds.
Please vote Nov. 7
When I was a student at MIT, almost no one voted in municipal elections; they seemed so inconsequential. After I left MIT, I was surprised to find that participating in municipal elections has a direct impact on my life and a much greater impact than national elections.