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By Edward Manukyan
Speech delivered at Kresge Auditorium in MIT, on Friday, January 22, 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A lot of my music is performed tonight; so, I won’t talk too much. Let me just say that I am very thankful to those who helped us organize this event.

We are honoring some great human beings. My admiration for scientists and people of reason is beyond measure. These are people who find out things about the nature and the universe, using their natural, honest curiosity. But Prof. Chomsky is, of course, to be admired on another important level. Not only his is committed to rational ways of understanding and explaining things, he is also a man of impeccable moral strength.

The German philosopher Georg Hegel tells us that a human being is to be defined by a summary of the entire range of things he does in the course of his life. Now, it turns out that the entire life of Prof. Chomsky has been a commitment to science, reason - with a boundless desire to see a world without unnecessary suffering and death. Small wonder that this aspect of Prof. Chomsky’s personality has given me more inspiration than I could possibly derive from his scientific work.

It is impossible to remain uninspired when you read any of Chomsky’s writings. And for a musician, the first impulse is that music must be written, songs must celebrate… Thank you.

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