The MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing (SCC) is revolutionizing the Institute's approach to technology education by integrating the power of computing and artificial intelligence across all academic disciplines. This groundbreaking initiative ensures that the future of AI and computing will be shaped by diverse perspectives from every field of study at MIT.
To advance the planning for this innovative college, Dean Melissa Nobles reached out to faculty members from all 14 humanistic disciplines within MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. She posed two critical questions to guide the development of this transformative educational model:
1) What essential domain knowledge, unique perspectives, and methodological approaches from your field should be incorporated into the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and what is the significance of these contributions?
2) What meaningful opportunities does advanced computing technology create for innovation and advancement within your specific discipline?
As Dean Nobles explains in her introduction to this series, "Collectively, the responses to these questions provide a roadmap for the countless productive ways technical, humanistic, and scientific fields can collaborate at MIT and beyond to enhance human well-being and promote planetary sustainability."
The following excerpts showcase faculty insights, organized by discipline across the humanities, arts, and social sciences, with links to their complete commentaries.
Introduction by Melissa Nobles, Professor of Political Science and Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
"The emergence of artificial intelligence presents humanity with an unprecedented opportunity disguised as an existential challenge: How can we preserve our humanity in the era of AI? More importantly, how can we evolve to become more humane, creating a world that is more just and sustainable? With both promise and urgency, MIT is accelerating efforts to fully integrate technical and humanistic discovery in our curriculum, research, and institutional mindset."
Read more >>Comparative Media Studies: William Uricchio, Professor of Comparative Media Studies
"Given our research and practice focus, the CMS perspective offers crucial insights into understanding how computation transforms knowledge and representation, as well as computation's relationship with the cultural processes of knowledge formation, sharing, and validation."
Recommended action: "Unite media and computer scholars to explore complex issues requiring interdisciplinary expertise: text-generating algorithms (challenging our understanding of human creativity); computational gatekeepers (prompting reflection on cultural priorities); and personalized filters and content (compelling us to examine our inherent biases)." Read more >>
Global Languages: Emma J. Teng, T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations
"Language and cultural studies serve as gateways to international experiences and are vital for developing cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. Such understanding is essential for addressing the social and ethical implications of technologies that increasingly impact daily life worldwide."
Recommended action: "We envision creating a 21st-century language center that serves as a hub for cross-cultural communication, collaboration, action research, and global classrooms. We also intend to preserve the intimate scale and human-centered approach of MIT's language classes, which become increasingly valuable as technology permeates every aspect of our world." Read more >>
History: Jeffrey Ravel, Professor of History and Head of MIT History
"Emerging computational methods continue to enhance our access to historical information and improve our analytical tools. However, the field of history will always benefit from traditional scholarly approaches; critical human thinking remains fundamental to humanistic inquiry."
Recommended action: "Leverage the nuanced debates historians engage in about causality to provide a valuable framework for addressing issues that will inevitably arise from new computing technologies. This historical methodology offers a powerful approach to help navigate today's existential challenges." Read more >>
Linguistics: Faculty of MIT Linguistics
"The most promising opportunities for collaboration between computational and linguistic research involve exploring the relationship between formal linguistic properties and their computational implementation in systems that learn, parse, and generate human language."
Recommended action: "Significantly, innovative tools have emerged from institutions where linguists and computational researchers work collaboratively, translating between the computational properties of linguistic grammars and other systems." Read more >>
Literature: Shankar Raman, with Mary C. Fuller, Professors of Literature
"In the AI era, we have the opportunity to develop revolutionary reading tools. Making the expert reading skills we teach MIT students available to readers beyond academia would dramatically expand access to literary materials in transformative ways."
Recommended action: "At least three priorities of current literary engagement with digital technology should be integrated into the SCC's research and curriculum: democratizing knowledge; developing new modes of knowledge production; and critically analyzing the social conditions that determine what can be known and who has access to knowledge." Read more >>
Philosophy: Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy and Head of MIT Philosophy; and Tamar Schapiro, Associate Professor of Philosophy
"Computing and AI present numerous ethical challenges concerning: privacy (such as data system design), discrimination (including bias in machine learning), law enforcement (such as surveillance technologies), democratic processes (exemplified by the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal), remote warfare, intellectual property, regulatory frameworks, and corporate accountability."
Recommended action: "The SCC offers MIT an opportunity to become a thought leader in technology ethics. The ethics laboratory we propose could transform this vision into reality." Read more >>
Science, Technology, and Society: Eden Medina and Dwaipayan Banerjee, Associate Professors of Science, Technology, and Society
"A global perspective on computing reveals a wider range of possibilities than one centered solely on American experiences, while also demonstrating how computer systems can reflect and address diverse needs and societal structures. These varied experiences can inspire innovative thinking about computing's future on a broader scale."
Recommended action: "Adopt a global approach to research and teaching within the SCC, one that views the U.S. experience as one among many valuable perspectives." Read more >>
Women's and Gender Studies: Ruth Perry, Ann Friedlaender Professor of Literature; with Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy, and Elizabeth Wood, Professor of History
"The SCC provides MIT with a distinctive opportunity to lead in addressing critical challenges arising from computing technologies' role in society—particularly how these technologies often reinforce existing social inequalities."
Recommended action: "Ensure women's voices are prominently featured and that coursework and research are designed with acute awareness of gender's impact. This represents the most powerful approach MIT can take to address inequities in computing fields." Read more >>
Writing: Tom Levenson, Professor of Science Writing
"Computation and its society-impacting applications cannot be accepted as inherently beneficial. Professional science and technology writers are essential resources for the new computing college's mission and must be integrated within its research infrastructure."
Recommended action: "Integrate writing and conceptual thinking in coursework to provide depth that purely technical expertise alone cannot deliver." Read more >>
Music: Eran Egozy, Professor of the Practice in Music Technology
"Developing tomorrow's music systems responsibly demands a truly multidisciplinary education encompassing scientific models, engineering challenges, artistic practice, and societal implications. New music technologies will raise complex questions: Who owns music generated by algorithms trained on human compositions? How can we ensure music, an art form fundamental to all humans, isn't controlled by a select few?"
Recommended action: "Through the SCC, our responsibility extends beyond developing new music creation, distribution, and interaction technologies to studying their cultural implications and establishing frameworks for harmonious outcomes benefiting all stakeholders." Read more >>
Theater Arts: Sara Brown, Assistant Professor of Theater Arts and MIT Theater Arts Director of Design
"As a subject, AI challenges our understanding of humanity itself. The presence of intelligent machines raises endless questions. Theater, as a synthetic art form that values and leverages live performance, provides an ideal medium for exploring the complex, multi-layered issues presented by AI and advanced computing."
Recommended action: "Numerous opportunities exist for integrating advanced computing into theater, both as a tool and as an exploration subject. As a tool, computing can develop performance systems that respond in real-time to live performers or incorporate virtual reality for design previsualization." Read more >>
Anthropology: Heather Paxson, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology
"Anthropological methods—systematically studying human cultural beliefs and practices—are uniquely suited to examining automation and digital technologies' effects on social life. For anthropologists, 'Can artificial intelligence be ethical?' is an empirical question, not hypothetical. Ethical for what purposes? For whom? Under what conditions?"
Recommended action: "Integrate anthropological thinking into the new college to prepare students to live and work effectively and responsibly in a world of technological, demographic, and cultural exchange. We envision an ethnography lab providing digital and computing tools specifically designed for anthropological research and projects." Read more >>
Economics: Nancy L. Rose, Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics and Head of the Department of Economics; and David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics and Co-director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future
"The intellectual connection between economics and computer science dates back nearly a century to game theory's founding in 1928. Today, practical synergies between these disciplines are flourishing. We outline numerous opportunities for deeper engagement between economics and computer science through the new SCC."
Recommended action: "Research applying economic tools and expertise to issues of fairness, expertise, and cognitive biases in machine-supported and machine-delegated decision-making; on market design, industrial organization, and the future of work; scholarship at the intersection of data science, econometrics, and causal inference; developing expertise in network science, algorithmic game theory and mechanism design, and online learning; creating tools for rapid, cost-effective, and ongoing worker education and retraining." Read more >>
Political Science: Faculty of the Department of Political Science
"Computing's advancement raises numerous conceptual and normative questions that are political rather than ethical in nature. Political science and theory play crucial roles in addressing questions such as: How do major technology companies seek to legitimize their authority in making decisions affecting everyone? And where should that authority reside in a democratic society?"
Recommended action: "Incorporate political science research and perspectives into SCC research and education to ensure computational awareness of social contexts, particularly regarding governing institutions, international relations, and human rights." Read more >>
Series prepared by SHASS Communications
Series Editor and Designer: Emily Hiestand
Series Co-Editor: Kathryn O'Neill
