Dr. Zeynep Tufecki delivered her speech on the Influence of Technology and Science in Society at weekly ASM.
Dr. Zeynep Tufekci, opinion columnist for “The New York Times”, discussed the prominence of technology and science for social impact in an academic setting at All-School Meeting (ASM) on September 27. Through her talk, Tufekci urged members of the Andover community to defy institutional boundaries and navigate technology in a rapidly changing society.
As a Turkish-born American, Tufekci first spoke about growing up overseas before pursuing her academic career in the United States of America. She emphasized that by intentionally not following the rules of a profession, one can lead to technological discoveries outside of one’s area of expertise.
“I taught [at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County], and it was only when Facebook first came to college [that] a lot of things changed… In many ways, I was ahead of my time, partly because I did not follow the rules, because I did not know the rules… Not following the rules of academic disciplines, not following the rules of topics A and B, [and] not really following the rules of what brings you privilege, where you’re supposed to publish [and] study, gave me what the sociologists would call a sociological imagination,” said Tufekci.
Henry Zimmerman ’27, who was intrigued to hear about the perspective of a columnist, asked a question during the ASM about which historical period influenced Tufekci’s perspective on the modern world the most. He appreciated the usage of history to support her ideas and noted how Tufekci’s answer granted him a new perspective on the societal impact of technology.
“The [ASM] speaker brought up many interesting historical points and I was wondering what specifically influenced her framing of the modern world the most. She gave a really eloquent answer on political assassinations and [the history of] nitroglycerin, which I’d never thought about before in any capacity and [explained] many of the political changes that lead to our present-day surveillance state and also the war on terrorism,” said Zimmerman.
In addition to bringing up historical instances, Tufekci outlined the implications of Artificial Intelligence and technology for the current generation. Helios Hong ’25 found her analogy of comparing cars to horseless carriages intriguing but wished that she could have better organized her speech.
“What [Tufekci] did was that she compared cars to horseless carriages and said that cars are not horseless carriages, because apart from being horseless carriages, cars [have] other implications that a carriage does not have due to its speed. I thought that was really interesting… A lot of the things she talked about were [also] interesting, but she didn’t have a lot of strong talking points. So a lot of it was just going around in circles, which she could [have done] a little better,” said Hong.
Although Takunda Basvi ’28 felt as if the topic of the ASM didn’t relate to her, she still found Tufekci’s talk inspirational and engaging. Basvi resonated with Tufekci’s point on the ability to stray from societal norms. She compared this idea to a music sheet in that each and every component contributes to the success of an overall product.
“Something that really stood out to me during ASM was when she was talking about stepping out of the box… [She also talked about] finding your own space, like a music sheet, and how you have different notes in different places, and how you can choose to be inside the little lines, or you can be in between, and you [have] the ability to do so, and that ability to do so can help you accomplish so many things,” said Basvi.
Sami Tokat ’26 expressed his outlook on the general student engagement during the ASM. Although the ASM was interesting for him, he felt that the choice of speaker could have been catered to a broader audience rather than just those interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
“At the start of every year, people are still not as attentive when it comes to the ASMs. But I feel like it’s also this topic of science and humanities [that] pertains to a certain interest group, [like] people who are interested in STEM, the applications of STEM and such. Because of that, it might have been harder for a lot of students to connect to that. That has nothing to do with her as a speaker or her ideas, but rather just it’s less relevant to each individual student,” said Tokat.
To close her talk, Tufekci brought up the benefits of aligning personal interests with career possibilities. She encouraged the student body to explore their passions in respect to the broader world around them.
“The world is interconnected. Thinking is interconnected… So you can still say, ‘I am going to match my broad interest with the broadness of the world, and see where that takes me.’ I cannot guarantee you that your career will be great, but I can tell you [that] it will be a lot more fun and fulfilling if you follow that broad world. Your mind, your own will, and your own interest can bring it together,” said Tufekci.
