
Comedian Hasan Minhaj, a senior correspondent on The Daily Show, performed to a sold-out crowd in Kresge in September. Known for his fearlessness at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he poked fun at the commander in chief and his administration with abandon, Minhaj spent much of his 30-minute set at MIT talking about how Americans treat immigrants and refugees. According to the Tech, he recalled fellow plane passengers becoming uncomfortable when they heard his mother talking to him in Urdu on speakerphone. But he figured the presence of a Galaxy Note 7 on the same flight didn’t bother anyone since “just because one Samsung Galaxy Note 7 blows up, it doesn’t mean they’re all going to blow up.” He also countered media portrayals of refugees as a safety threat by sharing cause-of-death statistics in America, observing that the chances of being buried alive dwarf those of being killed by a refugee. When students asked questions at the end of the show, one wanted to know what he’d like to ask an MIT student. Minhaj replied, “How does it feel to know that you’ve made it?”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google
Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.