To everyone stepping onto campus for the first time and to everyone returning for another year, welcome to Tufts. We enter this fall semester with remaining uncertainty about COVID-19 and the increased prevalence of newer variants but also with the added comfort of vaccinations — bringing us just a little closer to some sense of normalcy.
Aside from the impressive discoveries made by these robots as they examine extraterrestrial rocks, what is also significant is the sheer amount of dedication shown by the creators of these robots — some of the greatest scientific minds in the country who want to explore places that we, as humans, cannot go ourselves.
It is important that we unite against the conspiracy theories permeating American society. Even if government institutions are unable to build a consensus to condemn elected officials’ roles in spreading blatant, violence-provoking misinformation, we must set standards of accountability within our own communities.
In “A Theory of Justice,” John Rawls discusses societal progress through collective creativity and labor. Rawls is correct that we gain strength and innovation by participating in the collective, but I would rather think of this idea as relevant to our lives and relationships on a smaller scale — reflected in 2020 Spotify Wrapped.
Friedrich Hayek wrote in The Road to Serfdom (1944) that “We are ready to accept almost any explanation of the present crisis of our civilization except one: that the present state of the world may be the result of genuine error on our own part." Perhaps he’s right.
Trump's base’s unwavering devotion more closely resembles the admiration of the British monarchy than any kind of thoughtful support for a democratic leader.
In “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” Adam Smith posits that there is a significant difference “between those qualities and actions which deserve to be admired and celebrated, and those which simply deserve to be approved of.”
I’m tired of being mad at the state of the world. But I am absolutely furious that I’m still being told that the only way to make progress is to replace anger with politeness and respect.
It is extremely easy to want to return to the worldview a lot of us had prior to Trump’s presidency, a time that we now call "normal." I want to caution against this wishful thinking. It does us no good to long for the way things felt before Trump moved our Earth.
