Navigating the Algorithm: MIT’s SHASS Marks 75 Years of Humanistic Inquiry in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently played host to a milestone gathering that bridges the historical gap between rigorous technical innovation and the timeless tenets of human culture. At the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) 75th Anniversary Symposium, held from September 24 to 25 inside the Linde Music Building’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall, scholars, students, alumni, and institutional leaders converged to assess the past three-quarters of a century of multidisciplinary scholarship. Yet, rather than serving as a retrospective gala aimed solely at cataloging past achievements, the two-day event functioned as a forward-looking laboratory. Attendees grappled head-on with the most pressing existential and pedagogical questions of the twenty-first century, chief among them the rapid, disruptive ascent of artificial intelligence across global societies.
The symposium underscored a fundamental truth of the modern technological landscape: that the velocity of digital transformation demands an equally robust commitment to human-centric philosophy, ethical frameworks, and historical context. As automated systems, generative models, and machine learning architectures reshape the boundaries of labor, education, and human interaction, MIT’s humanists and social scientists are positioning themselves not as peripheral observers, but as indispensable architects of a balanced, equitable future.
Historical Foundations and the Post-War Imperative
To understand the contemporary urgency of SHASS within an elite engineering and scientific institution, one must look back to the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The institutional origins of the school trace directly to the Lewis Committee Report, a landmark foundational document commissioned by MIT and published in December 1949. Led by a committee dedicated to evaluating the trajectory of education at the Institute, the report called for a deliberate, structural integration between scientific and technical disciplines and humanistic scholarship and teaching.
The post-war era presented a world waking up to the staggering power—and terrifying potential—of applied science, epitomized by the atomic age. The architects of the Lewis Committee recognized that training brilliant engineers and physicists was insufficient if those individuals lacked the ethical grounding, historical awareness, and sociological insight required to govern their own inventions responsibly. Over the subsequent 75 years, SHASS evolved from a supportive elective framework into a powerhouse of critical thought, housing world-class departments in economics, linguistics, philosophy, literature, political science, history, and anthropology.
Opening the anniversary symposium, MIT President Sally Kornbluth drew a direct historical parallel between the uncertainties of the post-war period and the anxiety surrounding contemporary artificial intelligence. Addressing the assembly in the Thomas Tull Concert Hall, Kornbluth offered an enthusiastic appreciation of the school’s enduring value.
“How should we think about MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences? With enthusiastic appreciation and gratitude,” President Kornbluth stated. Comparing the current technological inflection point to the era of the school’s founding, she emphasized the sheer scale of the shift. “AI has suddenly arrived with enormous consequences for both research and education. As we face the challenges of our own time, and our own society, it’s clear that MIT has never needed your particular insight and guidance more than we do now.”
Institutional Leadership and the Human-Centered Approach
The opening remarks set a tone of urgent collaboration. Provost Anantha Chandrakasan reinforced the administration’s commitment to a human-centered approach to technology—an operational philosophy that weighs not merely the functional efficacy of a digital tool, but its downstream societal, psychological, and economic impacts. Chandrakasan highlighted the burgeoning portfolio of research emerging from the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (HIC), a strategic institutional initiative launched in 2024 designed to fund and amplify cross-disciplinary projects addressing the intersections of technology and humanity.
“Today—a time of rapid, AI-driven change—the arts, humanities, and social sciences are as important as ever,” Chandrakasan remarked to the packed auditorium. “To be able to contribute effectively to solving the world’s great challenges, it is not enough to gain technical mastery.”
This sentiment was echoed by Chancellor Melissa Nobles, who served as the dean of SHASS from 2015 to 2021. Drawing on her extensive administrative and academic experience—including her background as a professor of political science—Nobles reflected on the profound, often invisible bridges built between engineering students and the humanistic disciplines. She recalled reviewing student course evaluations over the years, noting how the feedback consistently revealed a deep, unquenchable thirst for humanistic inquiry among STEM-focused undergraduates.
“MIT students have a range of interests that draw them to our classes that may be invisible to their STEM professors, but that we very well know our students have,” Nobles observed.
Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of SHASS and a professor of philosophy, expanded on the unique ethos of the school during his address. While acknowledging that SHASS researchers are heavily engaged in solving monumental, practical crises such as climate change and algorithmic bias, Rayo cautioned against evaluating the worth of the humanities solely through a utilitarian or transactional lens.
“Education should also help us ask what is worth doing, what do we owe one another, and what makes a life worth living,” Rayo argued. “Some research matters because it helps us understand the histories, cultures, and social structures that have made us who we are. Some things matter because they enrich human life.”
A Two-Day Exploration of Pedagogy, Computing, and Society
Structured across two dynamic days, the symposium featured a diverse array of research presentations, panel discussions, and artistic performances designed to interrogate the societal forces reshaping our world.
“We gather not so much to look back over the past 75 years, but to showcase where we are now, and share what we urgently aim to tackle together in the years ahead,” noted David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science, professor of physics, and chair of the symposium planning committee.
The first day of events focused heavily on pedagogical innovations and the transformation of the modern classroom. Faculty members showcased flagship educational programs housed within SHASS, including the MIT Indigenous Languages Initiative Master’s Program, the Master in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP), and MISTI, the Institute’s premier hub for international student experiences and global internships.
Amid discussions of high-tech educational delivery, Stephanie Seed, associate professor of literature, offered a compelling defense of traditional texts. She explained why faculty members are deliberately reintegrating classic literature into the MIT curriculum at a time when digital distractions and automated tools dominate student attention.
“MIT, of course, is an institution unusually oriented towards the future,” Seed noted. “Our students are trained to imagine and create worlds that don’t yet exist. And it’s precisely this future orientation that makes reading the past especially important here.”
Complementing Seed’s perspective, Eric Klopfer, professor of Comparative Media Studies/Writing and co-author of a recent institutional report on AI and instruction, argued that instructors face a generational mandate to overhaul how higher education is conceptualized and delivered.
“I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but I do think it means something that’s more than modifying our curriculum,” Klopfer said. “I think it really means rethinking what the educational experience is.”
The Computing and Society Frontier: From Code to Intimate Machines
Perhaps the most palpable tension at the symposium emerged during the sessions dedicated to computing, artificial intelligence, and human society. Scholars presented divergent, deeply probing analyses of how computational systems alter human cognition, social structures, and emotional capacities.
Professor D. Fox Harrell, speaking during a panel on technology and human perception, focused on the psychological phenomenon of projecting human traits onto software architectures. He introduced the concept of "selfness" in machines, arguing that public engagement with AI goes far beyond cold mathematics.
“We project aspects of ourselves onto computational systems,” Harrell explained. “What makes an AI system is not just the code, not just the programming or the algorithm, it’s the fact that we narrate it as being intentional.”
Taking a more cautionary stance, Professor Sherry Turkle of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society delivered a stark warning regarding the proliferation of generative AI chatbots. Turkle, a renowned expert on the sociology of digital culture, categorized these systems not merely as productivity tools, but as "intimate machines" designed to simulate empathy.
“If social media came for our attention, I argue that chatbots are coming for our capacity for attachment, which is deeper and much more troubling,” Turkle cautioned.
David Autor, professor and head of the Department of Economics, framed the current moment as an unprecedented epoch in economic and technological history. Pointing to the velocity of change rippling through global markets, Autor emphasized that the academic stakes have never been higher for researchers working at the intersection of economics, labor, and computational science.
“I don’t think there’s a close analogy to a moment when everyone felt the world change so quickly,” Autor observed. “The stakes feel incredibly high.”
Artistic Expression and Human Resilience
The first day of the anniversary celebrations culminated in a vibrant showcase of Music and Theater Arts, demonstrating that creative expression remains central to the MIT identity. The evening opened with a staged excerpt from Stan Lai’s acclaimed play “A Dream Like A Dream,” performed and directed by students and faculty from the course 21T.100 (Theater Arts Production).
The artistic programming also featured “Variations on the Theme of SHASS 75,” an original, multimedia choreography by senior lecturer and dance program director Dan Safer that merged human movement, architectural lighting, and live music to honor the school’s diamond anniversary. Musical ensembles representing diverse global traditions—including Rambax MIT, the MIT Concert Choir, and the MIT All-Star Jazz Combo—shared the stage, delivering resonant performances of pieces such as “Madrigal,” composed by Vice Provost for the Arts Keeril Makan, alongside a moving rendition of “Prayer for Peace.”
Alumni Perspectives and the Real-World Impact of SHASS
Transitioning into the second day, the symposium turned its lens outward, examining the long-term impact of a SHASS education through the lived experiences of distinguished alumni.
Jessica Coon, PhD ’10, now a professor of linguistics at McGill University, reflected on the pioneering role MIT Linguistics has historically played in documenting and preserving endangered indigenous languages. She credited her graduate training at SHASS with equipping her not only with rigorous academic methodologies, but with the communicative skills necessary to translate complex linguistic research into actionable public advocacy.
“SHASS gives us the tools not just to conduct research, but to communicate the impacts of this research across a variety of different audiences and in different ways,” Coon said.
Another alumnus perspective came from Ankita Reddy ’19, who completed a rigorous double major in anthropology and biology before pursuing an MD/PhD track at the University of Pennsylvania. Reddy highlighted specific humanistic coursework, such as the seminar 21A.308 (Global Mental Health), as transformative milestones in her intellectual development.
“This was the first time I was forced to consider how good health care looks different based on social systems and cultural practices,” Reddy noted. “SHASS made me more comfortable with, and more curious about, complexity.”
The Future of Art and Intellect in the Algorithm Age
The symposium’s final panel discussion brought philosophers, literature scholars, and technologists together to debate the dizzying implications of generative artificial intelligence for artists, writers, and creative professionals whose copyrighted works are frequently harvested to train machine learning models.
Sandy Alexandre, associate professor of literature, questioned the prevailing cultural narrative surrounding rapid technological obsolescence. Pointing to the relentless corporate marketing of new software iterations, she posed a foundational query to the assembly: “There’s so much praise for new and upgraded technologies. The question I consistently have is: What does it mean to be an upgraded human being? How are we innovating as technology is innovating?”
Philosopher Justin Khoo offered a nuanced take on AI’s encroachment into the creative arts, comparing computational tools to “a giant paint brush you don’t have much control over.” Khoo predicted the emergence of bifurcated artistic sub-genres, ranging from strictly human-crafted works to fully automated, AI-generated compositions.
In his closing remarks, Khoo urged current and future MIT students to commit fully to the breadth of their humanistic education. “A broad understanding of a set of concepts which are widely applicable, not just narrowly applicable, I think that’s what we need more than ever now,” he said.
As the 75th Anniversary Symposium drew to a close, the mood among attendees was one of resolute optimism tempered by intellectual sobriety. Kent Sahin, a dedicated participant who attended every single session across the two-day event, captured the consensus of the room during a final conversation.
“I’ve attended every session, and this is a fantastic program and a great celebration of the 75th anniversary,” Sahin reflected. “Clearly, whether it’s AI impact, the impact of climate change, or the impact of political and social change, SHASS is in the right place at the right time.”
