CAN’T SLOW DOWN TO THINK

From Alan Lightman, the first professor at MIT with a joint appointment in the humanities and science (italics added):

I was on the Harvard faculty for 10 years before I went to MIT, so I have a good sense of the differences in the student bodies.  The students at MIT are brighter and they are quicker and more original, but they are not nearly as well read as the Harvard students. 

What I don’t like about MIT and I don’t mind saying this is that it’s too high pressure, it’s a workaholic place and I don’t think this is good for the students and I don’t think it’s good for the faculty.  The students are madly rushing to learn as much as they can.  They take as many courses as they can.  They just assume that more is better.  It is their mantra.  The more you can cram in, the better.  They assume that all technology is progress.  If you design a car that goes at twice the speed as the current cars, you should design it.  If you can build a machine that goes twice as fast, you should build it.  If you can build a computer that stores twice the information, you should build it.  They just assume without questioning that more is better.  They don’t take the time or they don’t have the time to slow down and really think about what is important, what is the value of their lives, what is the value of this technology, to question the technology.  Some technology can be used well and some cannot be used well, how should we be using the technology?  What is important?  They don’t the time to go back to square zero and ask the question, why are we doing this?  What do I really believe in?  What’s really important?  They don’t have the time for that.  The students and faculty are similar.  They are all rushing too rapidly.

The rest is here: http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/fin_aids/OH_Texts/Lightman.html

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *