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There has never been a commencement speech made when the speaker couldn't have spent the entire time speaking about problems. Ever. Not even one. It has always
by jerf 5mo ago
There has never been a commencement speech made when the speaker couldn't have spent the entire time speaking about problems. Ever. Not even one. It has always been possible to spin an hour of doom and gloom about the future, based on 100% real problems.
A commencement speech is not the time or place for that.
I'm not saying it has to be 100% upbeat each time, just that it is not the time or place for an enumeration of problems.
It won't even do any good. What are they supposed to do with this that they weren't already doing? It's not like the world was sunshine and rainbows for all of them up to this point and the commencement speech is the correct time to disabuse them of that notion. This isn't your one chance to reach them with news of doom. It's your one chance to send them off and maybe encourage them to fight the doom. It is appalling to miss out on that opportunity because you've got an axe to grind and don't understand that not every opportunity to grind it is appropriate. Actively depressing and discouraging them is almost certainly achieving the opposite of what even you want to achieve.
- PaulHoule 5mo agoI think in this case the speaker was talking about a "solution" which the students perceived as a "problem"
- chadgpt3 5mo agoI think the speaker was talking about a "problem" which the speaker perceived as a "solution"
- smallmancontrov 5mo agoYes, and the audience noticed that his solution was a solution to the problem of "how do I multiply my $40B net worth" and not the problem of "AI blasted the job market how do I pay rent?"
- DavidPiper 5mo agoSlightly facetiously, but also completely seriously: I thought the speaker was talking about a "solution" that explicitly frames the students as the "problem" - and the students noticed.