Said and Done | In the Media | November 2017
 


A section of Said and Done
Full November 2017 Edition
 


COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES
“The Enemy” review: facing down conflictD. Fox Harrell
“Who is your enemy? Mr. Khelifa’s voice asks each. Have you ever killed? What is violence? What is peace? What gives you joy?”
Story at the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)


PHILOSOPHY
Review: is that all there is? | Kieran Setiya
The midlife ‘crisis’ is more often a midlife malaise—a time of monotony and dissatisfaction rather than a radical break from the past. Eric Felten reviews Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya.
Story at the Wall St Journal (subscription required)


CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
For families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, Trump visit brings spotlight
“The abductee issue pulls at the heartstrings of the general public in a way that no other issue can,” says Richard Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies. “Because it’s about innocent people.”
Story at The New York Times


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
We’ll love our robot pets, but will they love us back? | Sherry Turkle
“When a computer or robot seems to ask for our help we treat it as though it cares about us,” Turkle says. “We are vulnerable here. We are vulnerable to feeling that objects that have no care for us do have care for us.”
Story at The Daily Beast


ECONOMICS
Amazon job fairs underway in Bay Area; seasonal work could lead to full-time jobs
MIT economist David Autor says of a recent urge of hiring by Amazon, “It's hugely unlikely that it would actually increase in net the total number of warehouse jobs.” More likely, he explains, competitors are losing jobs due to dwindling market share.
Story at the Mercury News
 

WRITING
Seeking a voice, via a bilingual M.F.A., in writing and in life | Junot Díaz
Pulitzer Prize–winning MIT writing faculty member Junot Díaz reflects on the importance of bilingualism in MFA programs and his own writing process.
Story at the New York Times
 

“If I’m writing a character who is Spanish dominant, they talk and think within me in Spanish and I translate most of it into English. Some words refuse translations — sometimes it’s the joy of the word, or the energy it pulses with in the original Spanish sentence.”



POLITICAL SCIENCE
What Trump, U.S. allies can do about North Korea
North Korea's September nuclear test was big enough to “pretty much end an American city” if successfully delivered by an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to MIT political scientist Vipin Narang.
Story at Bloomberg


HISTORY
Christopher Capozzola on World War I centennial
Cappozola, Associate Professor of History, shared his thoughts on WWI and its aftermath during a short video put out by the National World War I Museum.
Watch the video


ECONOMICS
Grad students would be hit by massive tax hike under House GOP plan
“A lunchtime talk about the Republican tax plan is getting underway at MIT. Now, a talk about tax policy might sound kind of boring, but the room is packed. Grad students are wide awake and focused on this tax plan because of what it would mean for them.”
Story at NPR


KNIGHT SCIENCE JOURNALISM
WGBH talks to KSJ fellow Rowan Jacobsen
Jacobsen is a writer and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. His latest book is The Essential Oyster.
Listen at WGBH


ECONOMICS
Jonathan Gruber appears on Boston Public Radio
Gruber, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act and a professor of economics at MIT, joined Boston Public Radio to take health care and tax reform questions.
Story at WGBH
 

SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM
Hours after NYC terror attack, political blame game erupts
Carol Savietz, a senior advisor at MIT’s Security Studies Program, talks to WGBH's Jim Braude about the poltical response to the most recent act of terrorism in New York City.
Video at WGBH
 

 

A section of Said and Done
Full November 2017 Edition