According to novelist/essayist and theoretical physicist Alan Lightman, unstructured time that allows our minds to roam freely can lead to more creativity. “We need a new mental attitude,” he advocates—one “that values our inner reflection, values stillness, values privacy, values personal reflection—that honors the inner self.”

Lightman—who is a professor of the practice of the humanities as well as a senior lecturer in physics at MIT—shared these and other thoughts on creativity with an audience of MIT alumni in late 2018. He delivered his lecture at MIT’s Endicott House during a holiday luncheon event jointly organized by the MIT Alumni Association’s Cardinal and Gray Society and Emma Rogers Society. 

Read more on the Slice of MIT blog: bit.ly/2TTn3MX
Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/2UuF2gT

Photo: Jack Mohr ’50

In Praise of Wasting Time with MIT Professor Alan Lightman

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IT specialist Ravi Patil ‘93, SM ‘95 talks with Slice of MIT about how he came to host and produce a podcast focused human-interest stories from the MIT community.

In this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, you'll hear a featured episode of the Institrve, in which Ravi speaks with Curtis Blaine, Class of 1967, and you’ll hear how their MIT stories intertwine. 

Listen to more episodes of the Institrve podcast: https://bit.ly/3tyA8iY

Read more, and find the transcript of this episode, on Slice of MIT: https://bit.ly/3Xbl5cs

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Slice of MIT Podcast Presents: Institrve

Dana Dabbousi ‘20, Omar Obeya '18, MEng '19, Mayce El Mostafa MEng '13, and Mamoun Toukan AF '17, MAP '18 sit down with Slice of MIT to share their experience of launching the podcast UnliMITed, a production of the MIT Arab Alumni Association. In this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, you'll hear a featured episode of UnliMITed, in which host Omar Obeya talks to Dr. Ayman Ismail MCP '99, PhD '09. Dr. Ismail is the director of the AUC Venture Lab at the American University in Cairo’s School of Business.

Listen to more episodes of the UnliMITed podcast: https://bit.ly/3QOeLDo

Read more, and find the transcript of this episode, on Slice of MIT: https://bit.ly/3BhQujp

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Slice of MIT Podcast Presents: UnliMITed

Julia Yoo ‘10, MBA ‘14 shares her experience of hosting the podcast, MIT Catalysts, a production of the MIT Alumni Club of Northern California. In this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, you'll hear Yoo's interview with John Whaley ‘99, MEng ‘99, founder of the tech company UnifyID—along with her advice for other MIT alumni clubs that might want to start their own podcast.

Read more, and find the transcript of this episode, on Slice of MIT: https://bit.ly/2XqAauq

Slice of MIT Podcast Presents: MIT Catalysts

MIT professor Alan Guth ’69, PhD ’72 pioneered the theory of cosmic inflation: a period of rapid expansion that occurred a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. And he also supports the idea that our universe is just one of many in a much larger multiverse.

“What we call the Big Bang Theory is really just a theory of the aftermath of some kind of a bang,” Guth says. “And inflation is a possible answer to what propelled this expansion. It's based on the idea that gravity itself can, under some circumstances, act as a repulsive force instead of an attractive force.”

Read the transcript to the lecture on the Slice of MIT blog:
https://alum.mit.edu/slice/podcast-inflationary-cosmology-our-universe-part-multiverse

Inflationary Cosmology—Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse with Professor Alan Guth ’69, PhD ’72

Andrew Rader PhD '09, SpaceX mission manager, discusses his book Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars, published in 2019 by Scribner, a book Kirkus calls "an astute—and highly flattering—view of human aspirations."

Read more, and find the transcript of this episode, on Slice of MIT: https://bit.ly/2KEVjtI

In Praise of Wasting Time with MIT Professor Alan Lightman

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