Fantasy Roundup: Week 2
Week 2 of the NFL season has been marked by injuries to quarterbacks and tight-ends, though many had little impact on the field. Below are the matchups, final scores, and a top performer and underperformer from each team. For full team rosters, see last week’s issue. Pfirst Down (1-0) vs Bring it Dome (0-1): 139.64 […]
How to Build a Life, Live
On Sept. 9, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum opened the fall semester featuring Professor Arthur C. Brooks in conversation with Tarek Masoud. Drawing on his new book, “The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life,” Brooks offered a practical blueprint for contentment, urging his audience to take leisure seriously, embrace calibrated risk, and treat […]
Journalism at Risk in the AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to how people seek information, the journalism industry faces a dilemma. Large language models may not yet be able to break news, but they can synthesize it immediately. With this, what incentivizes readers to visit multiple online publications and sustain civic participation; and if journalism becomes an obsolete […]
Thoughts from New Quincy: The Notebook Reboot
Before the semester started, I argued in these pages that Harvard shouldn’t ban AI but instead teach students to use it critically, the way calculators or word processors were once absorbed into learning. That argument felt urgent then; it feels even more now. When I returned to campus this fall, I found classrooms not only […]
The Absolute Bane of My Existence
I hate texting. I’m a bad texter. Like, BAD. Anyone who knows me can vouch: I’m notoriously terrible at responding to messages. And it’s not because I don’t see them—that excuse doesn’t fly in a world where our phones are glued to our hands. The truth is, I just can’t take texting seriously as a […]
Who Owns Your Thoughts?
Brain-computer interfaces are no longer science fiction. For most, the idea brings to mind “Severance,” Apple’s unsettling series about surgically divided minds. Yet beyond television, companies like Neuralink are already conducting human trials, Chinese firms are investing heavily into neurotechnology, and research labs are learning to decode brain activity in real time. The question is […]
Harvard Time Capsule
The “Harvard Time Capsule,” created by Andrew Zolty, who goes by his artist name BREAKFAST, in 2020, is an interactive kinetic art installation that captures video snippets of those who encounter and interact with it. The exhibition is located on the first floor of the Science & Engineering Complex and uses over 23,000 custom-engineered bi-directional […]
What is Art?
Walk through the halls of Leverett House, and you’ll notice AI generated name tags that decorate room doors. Take a stroll through Winthrop, and you’ll notice the same—and even if not clear at first glance, I’m sure this goes for many other houses too. Sure, the use of AI results in more personalized name tags, […]
Calculating Wellness
83. 75. When I wake up each morning, the first thing I check is two numbers—my Readiness and Sleep scores, courtesy of my Oura Ring. These digits define the quality of my rest and how energetic I am for the day ahead, calculating my physiological wellness through the light, gold ring that rests so delicately […]
Fantasy Roundup: Week 1
What a week. What an opening week. Where to begin? We’ll start with the matchups and scoring (you can find the teams in last week’s issue). Listed below are the matchups from Week 1, the final score, and a top performer and underperformer from each team. Bring it Dome vs The Inn-Zone: 117.46 – 130.22 […]
Here for You: Mental Health Resources at Harvard
*Due to the sensitivity of mental health work, the majority of representatives the Independent spoke with chose to remain anonymous. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students in the United States. With an average of 24,000 attempts and 1,100 deaths per year, mental health services are starting to be seen as […]
On the Ice for a Cause: Evening with Champions Blends World-Class Skating and Giving Back
For the past 50 years, skating fans and citizens of the Greater Boston area have flocked to Cambridge to watch an Evening with Champions. EWC is a public charity dedicated to fighting cancer by raising money for the Jimmy Fund, an organization for pediatric cancer research under the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. EWC was founded in […]
The Informative vs. Intrusive Debate
Harvard’s impressive athletic programs have continued to supply athletes with new gear, equipment, and technology in order to create professional environments for daily team operations. The integration of Catapult GPS units, WHOOP bands, and other sporting tracking devices into training and competition for many Harvard teams can cause both appreciation and disruption. Athletes’ personal use […]
On Harvard College Students’ Technology Habits
With education becoming increasingly digital and AI slowly impeding university classrooms, the Harvard Independent surveyed Harvard College undergraduates to understand student engagement with and opinions on machines of all kinds for our 2025 issue “Reboot.” Over a three-day period, the Independent received responses across grade levels and concentrations. Note that all questions were anonymous and […]