Hello, I'm a Senior at Manhattan University pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a Concentration in Applied Mathematics.
I believe that the United States of America is the only country in the world that is in the position to be the strongest force for good to make the world the best it can be before the end of time.
More and more, the divide between right and left in the United States becomes a matter of those who build and those who destroy, those who make and those who take, those who love America, and those who hate it, those who believe in freedom and liberty and those who don't, those who believe in the American Dream and capitalism, and those who despise it. As Ronald Reagan once said, "...there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down..." and that statement still holds applicability to the political and economic landscape of today.
My view on facing challenges is that being outside your comfort zone is the best place for a person to be. Adversities and difficulties are catalysts for personal growth and learning new things. This fosters resilience, perseverance, and innovation. Comfort fosters stagnant mediocrity and complacency. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, "I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life... I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well." and this can be applied to any succesful individual across history.
Richard Nixon once said,"If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything." and this is commonly seen as a defining characteristic of effective leadership. Strong conviction, principled beliefs, and unwavering commitment are essential for making a meaningful impact.
My philosophy on the gradual decline of the West is based on a 1920 quote by French-English writer and politician Hilaire Belloc who said, "The modern world imagines that it has outgrown religion. It has done nothing of the kind. It has merely forgotten it. And because it has forgotten it, it no longer understands itself. Men do not realize that the whole framework of their moral judgments, their political habits, and even their intellectual methods were formed within a Christian society and cannot exist long outside it. When that framework breaks, they will not find themselves enlightened, but bewildered; not free, but enslaved; not rational, but confused."
On faith and religion, my beliefs are summed up well by a C.S. Lewis quote: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
The recent rise of socialism and communism in American society is a dangerous trend that threatens the foundations of our democracy. The Constitution has proven to stand the test of time as the best framework for governing a free society. No other system or governing document has that track record. Why would we replace what has already worked with something that failed every single time it was attempted? Capitalism works because it aligns with human nature, free will, and personal responsibility.
A system that values laissez-faire free market capitalism, rugged individualism, and small government is an ideal framework for a prosperous economy.
Many problems that we face today can be solved by simply fixing the incentive structures. The complicated part is actually implementing the right incentives.
On the realms of science, chemistry rules the world, physics defines the rules, biology bends the rules. In the future, the only currencies will be mass, energy, and momentum which are fundamental concepts for the standard model of physics as we know it.
My view on the future is simple: the future is worth building. The world is broken and needs fixing. I would consider myself to be a strong definite optimist and a staunch advocate for anti-doomerism. I believe all successful engineers and builders need to have that mindset. Civilizational progress depends on creativity, experimentation, iteration, and continuous improvement.
Now, how is all of this boiled down into my lifelong mission statement? I would say the best way to summarize what I strive to accomplish in this life is to focus on solving seamingly impossible problems for fun an profit, advocate for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and defend the pillars of Christianity, Capitalism, and Civilization which built the West.