English Speech Matt Damons MIT Commencement Speech with Big Subtitles

it is such an honor to be part of your

day it’s an honor to be here with you

with your friends your professors and

your parents but let’s be honest this is

an honor I didn’t really earn I’m just

gonna put that out there I mean I’ve

seen the list of previous commencement

speakers Nobel Prize winners the UN

secretary-general president of the World

Bank president of the United States and

who did you get the guy who did the

voice for a cartoon horse if you’re

wondering which cartoon horse that

spirit stallion of the Cimarron a movie

some of you might have grown up watching

it’s definitely one of my best

performances as a cartoon horse well

look I don’t even have a college degree

as you might have heard I went to

Harvard I just didn’t graduate from

Harvard I got pretty close but I started

to get movie roles and I didn’t finish

all my courses but I put on a cap and

gown and I walked with my class my mom

and dad and brother were there and

everything I just never got an actual

degree you could say I kind of faked

graduated so you can imagine how excited

I was when president rife called to

invite me to speak at the MIT

commencement and then you can imagine

how sorry I was to learn that the MIT

commencement speaker does not get to go

home with a degree so yes for the second

time in my life I am fake graduating

from a college in my hometown

and my mom and my dad and my brother are

here again and this time I brought my

wife and my four kids so welcome kids to

your dad’s second fake graduation you

must be so proud so as I said my mom is

here she’s a professor so she knows the

value of an MIT degree she also knows

that I couldn’t have gotten in here

I mean Harvard you know barely or a

safety school like Yale look I’m not

running for any kind of office I can say

pretty much whatever I want up here no I

couldn’t have gotten in here but I did

grow up here I grew up in the

neighborhood in the shadow of this

imposing place my brother Kyle and I and

my friend Ben Affleck brilliant guy good

guy never really amounted to much we all

grew up right here in Central Square

children of this sometimes rocky

marriage between this city and its great

institutions to us MIT was kind of like

the man this big impressive impersonal

force at least that was our provincial

knee-jerk teenage reaction anyway and

then Ben and I shot a movie here one of

the scenes in Good Will Hunting was

based on something that actually

happened to my brother Kyle he was

visiting a physicist that we knew at MIT

and he was walking down the infinite

corridor he saw those blackboards that

lie in the halls and so my brother who’s

an artist picked up some chalk and wrote

an incredibly elaborate totally fake

version of an equation and it was so

cool and completely insane that no one

erased it for months

this is a true story anyway

Kyle came back and he said you guys

listen to this they’ve got blackboards

running down the hall because these kids

are so smart they just need to you know

drop everything and solve problems it

was then we knew for sure we could never

have gotten in but like I said we later

made a movie here which did not go

unnoticed on campus in fact I’d like to

read you some actual lines some selected

passages from the review of Good Will

Hunting in the MIT school paper

if you haven’t seen it will was me and

Sean is played by the late Robin

Williams a man I miss a hell of a lot so

I’m quoting here Good Will Hunting is

very entertaining but then again any

movie partially said at MIT has to be

more in the end the reviewer writes the

actual character development flies out

the window will and Shawn talk bond

solve each other’s problems and then cry

and hug each other after said crying and

hugging the movie ends such feel-good

pretentiousness is definitely not my mug

of eggnog well that kind of hurts but

don’t worry I know now better than to

cry at MIT but look I’m happy to be here

anyway I might still be a knee-jerk

teenager in key respects but I know an

amazing school when I see it we’re lucky

to have MIT in Boston and we’re lucky it

draws the people that it does people

like you from around the world I mean

you’re working on some crazy stuff in

these buildings stuff that would freak

me out if I actually understood it

theories models paradigm shifts I’m

gonna tell you about one that’s been on

my mind simulation theory mostly you’ve

probably heard of this maybe even took a

class with Max tegmark but for the

uninitiated there’s a philosopher named

Nick Bostrom at Oxford and he’s

postulated if there’s a truly advanced

form of intelligence out there in the

universe it’s probably advanced enough

to run simulations of entire worlds

maybe trillions of them maybe even our

own so the basic idea as I understand it

is that we could be living in a massive

simulation run by a far smarter similar

civilization like a giant computer game

and we don’t even know it and here’s the

thing a lot of physicists a lot of

cosmologists they won’t rule it out I

just watched a discussion online a few

weeks back it was moderated by Neil

deGrasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium

and by and large the panel couldn’t and

wouldn’t give a definitive answer

Tyson himself put the odds at 5050 now

I’m not sure how scientific that was but

it had numbers in it so I was impressed

but it it got me to thinking what if

this all of this is a simulation I mean

it’s a crazy idea but what if it is and

if there are multiple simulations how

come we have to be in the one where

Donald Trump becomes the Republican

nominee for president can we like

transfer to a different one well

professor tegmark has an excellent take

on all of this my advice he said

recently is to go out and do really

interesting things so the simulators

don’t shut you down now then again what

if it isn’t a simulation either way my

answer is the same either way what we do

matters what we do affects the outcome

so either way mit you’ve got to go out

and do really interesting things

important things inventive things

because this world real or imagined this

world has some problems that we need you

to drop everything and solve so go ahead

and take your pick from the world’s

worst buffet economic inequality that’s

a problem how about the refugee crisis

massive global insecurity climate change

pandemics institutional racism Appleton

nativism fear driven brains working

overtime here in America and in places

like Austria where a far-right candidate

nearly won the president a presidential

election for the first time since World

War two or the brexit for God’s sakes

that insane idea that the best path for

Britain is to cut loose from Europe and

drift out to sea I mean what is Europe

even going to look like in 25 years and

add to that an American political system

that’s failing we’ve got congressmen on

a two-year election cycle who are

incentivized to think short-term and

simply do not engage with long term

problems and add to that a media that

thrives on scandal and people with their

pants down anything to get you to tune

in so they can hock you products that

you don’t need and add to that a banking

system that steals people’s money it’s

alright I’m not running for office

but by the way while I’m on this let me

just say to this to the bankers

specifically the ones who brought you

the biggest heist in history it was

theft and you knew it it was fraud and

you knew it and you know what else we

know that you knew it so yeah you sort

of got away with it you got that house

in the Hamptons that other people paid

for is their own mortgages went

underwater and you might have their

money but you don’t have our respect and

just so you know when we pass you on the

street and look you in the eye that’s

what we’re thinking and I don’t know if

justice is coming for you in this life

or the next but if justice does come for

you in this life her name will be

Elizabeth Warren alright so before my

little banking digression I rattled off

a bunch of big problems and a natural

response is to tune out and turn away

but before you step out into our big

trouble the world I want to pass along a

piece of advice that Bill Clinton

offered me a little over a decade ago

actually when he said it it felt less

like advice and more like a direct order

what he said was turned toward the

problems you see you have to engage and

turn towards the problems that you see

except it sounded like turn towards the

problem that you see but when he said

this to me he literally turned his body

for emphasis towards me yeah no listen

it seemed kind of simple at the time but

the older I get the more wisdom I see in

this that is what I want to urge you to

do today to turn towards the problems

that you see and engage with them walk

right up to him look him in the eye and

then look yourself in the eye and decide

what you’re gonna do about them now in

my experience there is just no

substitute for actually going and seeing

these things I owe this insight like

many others to my mom when I was a

teenager mom thought it was important

for us to see the world outside of

Boston and I don’t just mean Framingham

she took us to places like Guatemala

where we saw extreme poverty up close

and it changed my whole frame of

reference and I think it was that same

impulse that took my brother and me to

Zambia in 2006 as part of the one

campaign the organization that bono

founded to fight desperate and what he

calls stupid poverty and preventable

disease in the developing world and on

that trip in a small community I met

this girl and I walked with her to a

nearby borewell where she could get

clean water she’d just come home from

school and I knew the reason that she

was able to go go to school at all was

clean water namely the fact that it was

available nearby so she didn’t have to

walk miles back and forth all day to get

water for her family like so many girls

and women do around the world so I asked

her if she wanted to stay in her village

when she grew up and she smiled and said

no no I want to go to Lusaka and become

a nurse so clean water something as

basic as that had given this child a

chance to dream and now as I learned

more about water and sanitation I was

floored by the extent to which it

undergirds all these problems of extreme

poverty the fate of entire communities

economies countries is caught up in that

glass of water something the rest of us

get to take for granted

people at one told me that water is the

least sexy and cool aspect of the effort

to fight extreme poverty and water goes

hand-in-hand with sanitation so if you

think water isn’t sexy you should try to

get into the business but I was

hooked already I the enormity of it the

complexity of the issue it just it just

hooked me

and getting out in the world and meeting

people like this little girl is what put

me on the path to starting water.org

with a brilliant civil engineer named

Gary white and for Gary and me seeing

the world and its problems its

possibilities heightened our disbelief

that so many people millions 660 million

in fact can’t get a safe clean drink of

water or a clean private place to go to

the bathroom there are more people with

a cell phone than access to a toilet on

our planet and this heightened our

determination to do something about it

now you see some tough things out there

but you also see life-changing joy and

it all changes you

there was a refugee crisis back in oh

nine that I read about in this amazing

article in The New York Times people

were streaming across the border of

Zimbabwe to a little little town in

northern South Africa called Messina

well I was working in South Africa at

the time so I went up to Messina to see

for myself what was going on I spent a

day speaking with women who had made

this perilous journey across the Limpopo

River dodging bandits on one side

crocodiles in the river bandits on the

other every woman that I spoke to that

day had been raped every single one on

one side of the river or both and at the

end of my time there I met a woman who

was so positive she was so joyful she

had just been given her papers so she’d

been granted political asylum in South

Africa and in the midst of this joyful

conversation I mustered up my courage

and I said ma’am do you mind my asking

were you assaulted on your journey to

South Africa and she replied still

smiling oh yes I was raped but I have my

papers now and those bastards didn’t get

my dignity

human beings will take your breath away

they will teach you so much

but you have to engage I only had that

experience because I went there myself

it was difficult in many ways but of

course that’s the point there is a lot

of trouble out there MIT but there’s a

lot of beauty too and I hope you see

both but again the point is not to

become some kind of well-rounded

high-minded voyeur the point is to

eliminate your blind spots the things

that keep us from grasping the bigger

picture and look even though I grew up

in this neighborhood in this incredible

multicultural neighborhood that was a

little rough at that time I find myself

here before you as a middle-aged

American white male movie star I don’t

have a clue where my blind spots begin

and end but looking at the world as it

is and engaging with it is the first

step towards identifying our blind spots

and that’s when we can really start to

understand ourselves better and begin to

solve some problems and with that as

your goal there’s a few more things I

hope you’ll keep in mind first you’re

gonna fail sometimes and that’s a good

thing for all the amazing successes I’ve

been lucky to share and few things have

shaped me more than the auditions that

Ben and I used to go on as young actors

where we’d get on a bus we show up in

New York we’d wait our turn we’d cry our

hearts out for a scene and then be told

okay thanks meaning game over we used to

call it being okay thanks to and those

experiences became our armor all right

now you’re thinking great

thanks Matt failure is good and thanks a

ton tell me something I didn’t hear at

my high school graduation to which I say

okay I will you know the real danger for

MIT graduates it’s not getting okay

thanks to the real danger is all that

smoke that’s been blown up your

graduation gowns about how freakin smart

you are well you are that smart but

don’t believe the hype that’s thrown at

you you don’t have all the answers and

you shouldn’t and that’s fine you’re

going to have your share of bad ideas

for one hour for me one was playing a

character named Edgar

wacker I wish I could tell you I’m

making that up that’s but as the great

philosopher Benjamin Affleck once said

judge me by how good my good ideas are

not how bad my bad ideas are you’ve got

a suit up in your armor you’ve got to

get ready to sound like a total fool not

having an answer isn’t embarrassing it’s

an opportunity don’t be afraid to ask

questions I know so much less the second

time I’m fake graduating than the first

time the second thing I want to leave

you with is you got to keep listening

the world wants to hear your ideas good

and bad but today is not the day you

switch from receive to transmit once you

do that your education is over and your

education should never be over even

outside of your work there are always

ways to keep challenging yourself listen

to online lectures I just took a retook

a philosophy course that I took at

Harvard when I was 19 you go to MIT

OpenCourseWare go to wait but why calm

go to ted.com I’m told there’s even a

Trump University I have no earthly idea

what they teach there but whatever you

do just keep listening even to people

you don’t agree with at all

I love what President Obama said at

Howard University’s commencement last

month he said democracy requires

compromise even when you are 100 percent

right I heard that and thought here is a

man who has been happily married for a

long time

not that the first lady has ever been

wrong about anything just like my wife

never wrong not even when she decided

last month that in a family with four

kids what was missing in our lives was a

third rescue dog that was an outstanding

decision honey and I love you the third

and last thought I want to leave you

with is that not every problem has a

high-tech solution now if anybody has

the right to think we can pretty much

tech support the world’s problems into

submission its you think of the

innovations that got their start at MIT

or by MIT alums the world wide web

nuclear fission

condensed soup that’s true you should be

very proud of that but the truth is we

can’t science the you-know-what out of

every problem there is not always an app

for that

I mean take water again as an example

people are always looking at some quite

scientific quick fix for the problem of

dirty and disease ridden water a pill

you put in a glass of filter etc but

there’s no magic bullet the problems

just too complex yes there is definitely

absolutely a role for science there’s

incredible advances being made in clean

water technology companies and

universities are getting in on the game

and I’m glad to know that professors

like Susan Mercat at D lab are focusing

on water and sanitation but as I’m sure

she’d agree science alone can’t solve

this problem we need to be just as

innovative in public policy just as

innovative in our financial models and

that’s the idea behind approach an

approach we have at water credit at

water.org called water credit it’s based

on Gary’s insight that poor people were

already paying for their water and they

know less than the rest of us want to

participate in their own solutions

so water credit helps connect the poor

with microfinance organizations which

enables them to build water connections

and toilets in their homes and

communities and this approach is really

working helping four million people so

far and it’s only to start our loans are

paying back at 99 percent and above

which is a hell of a better deal in

those bankers I was

talking about earlier gave anybody and I

agree it is still not sexy but it is

without a doubt the coolest thing I have

ever been a part of so thanks so let me

ask you this in closing what are you

going to be a part of what is the

problem that you will try to solve

whatever your answer it is not going to

be easy

sometimes your work will hit a dead end

sometimes your work will be measured in

half steps sometimes your work will make

you wear a white sequined military

uniform and make love to Michael Douglas

alright maybe that’s just my work but

for all of you here your work starts

today and seriously how lucky are you I

mean what are the odds that you are the

ones who are here today in the Earth’s

4.5 billion year run with a hundred

billion people who have lived and died

and the 7 billion of us here now here

you are yes here you are alive at a time

of potential extinction level events a

time when fewer and fewer people can

cause more and more damage a time when

science and technology may not hold all

the answers but are indispensable to any

solution what are the odds that you get

to be you right now the MIT class of

2016 with so much on the line there are

potentially trillions of human beings

who will someday exist or not

whose fate in large part depends on the

choices you make on your ideas on your

grit and persistence and willingness to

engage if this were a movie I was trying

to pitch I’d be laughed out of every

office in Hollywood

Joseph Campbell himself would tell me to

throttle down and lower the stakes but I

can’t because this is a fact this is not

fiction this improbable thing is

actually happening there’s more at stake

today than in any story ever told and

how lucky you are that you’re here and

you’re you

and how lucky we are that you’re here

and you are you so I hope you’ll turn

toward the problem of your choosing

I hope you’ll turn toward the problem of

your choosing I hope you’ll drop

everything and I hope you’ll solve it

this is your life class of 2016 this is

your moment and it is all down to you

ready player one your game begins now

thank you congratulations

[Applause]