Visiting MIT
I am so grateful to be here at MIT. So let me bring you here and feel the joy. ^^
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The sluggish MBTA train has finally brought us to Kendall MIT T station. The stairs to the main road will take us from a dark lifeless tunnel to a bright lively world on the outside. Let’s climb them and enjoy the strong chilly winds slapping on your face. Hehe.
Look, here is Kendall Square!! A vibrant place full with science and innovations. Nice cafes and buildings are welcoming us. Hey, there’s a Google logo in one of those buildings. Hmm, is this where the Google generative AI is being trained? Let’s take picture. Well, Google is not part of MIT though, so let’s just pass by and start the tour.
A few minutes walks from here will take us to the Broad Institute. This is where scientists are diving to the world of the cells to understand cancer. They are trying to understand how it begins at the first place and how it evolves along the way. They are racing against these minuscule trouble makers, barcoding them, tracing their evolution on a petri dish. In a world where millions are falling to despair and grief due to the disease, a reliable quest to find the cure is happening here. (Sadly, only for the rich).
Next door is the Whitehead Institute, a place where the fundamentals of biology is being used for the frontiers of biomedical research. The moment when and the regulation of how a pluripotent cell is destined to be a specific cell is being studied here. The Koch Institute is also nearby. Here we can find the blend of art and science on its lounge. Striking visuals on cell division, infection, communication, and all that happens. Walk a little farther to the Mass Ave, and you can find McGovern Institute where people are trying to understand the nature of consciousness and biological foundations that underlies mental illness.
And then let’s head to Memorial Drive, the place for the Great Dome. We’ll cross the yard in front of the unique Stata building (seemingly made of metal and woods). We’ll meet planetary scientists on our way who had just brainstormed on how to detect life in exoplanets and geochemists who are thinking of how to sequester more carbon dioxide to the earth crust, well you know, to mitigate the climate crisis. I would also love to introduce you to those geobiologists who are working in front of their computers, trying to infer the characteristics of our Last Universal Common Ancestor by using genomics and proteomic approach. What’s that?! (Never mind, haha)
We’ll also visit the Media Lab where anything could happen literally, a real-life source of Blackmirror series. One scientist is working on how to insert an electrical chip to the brain using a biological agent to detect a brain cancer. Another scientist is weighing on the ethics of AI research and how to use them for the good of humanity. She told me once that she had developed a personal assistant AI which record our conversations with people and help us some time if we forget something. Kinda creepy and sciency at the same time.
Okay now, I think we are tired. We’re almost there but let us just stop at the Hayden Library. Relax on its comfy sofa while reading Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. We could also watch the glimmer of lights sparkling from the crystal blue surface of the Charles River. Ahhh, after seeing all those scientists work, who do you think will benefit from their science? How will they change the world? And how would we live our life after knowing all these things?
As for me, I am gonna go back home first, my friend. To a totally different world but it doesn’t mean it’s worse. And hopefully, I could connect them some day..with stories or…with anything. And I hope you’ll help me along!