Harvey Mudd Commencement Speech 2024
Added 2024-05-18 14:55:44 +0000 UTCI had the joy and the honor of being invited to give Harvey Mudd’s commencement address this year. In it, I explore a 5-dimension subspace of the vector space of all advice orthogonal to the “Follow your dreams” vector.
Comments
I grew up watching your videos.... always loved them still I do.
TA U SIF
2024-06-19 09:27:31 +0000 UTCYoutube disallows adblocers. They've nnow disabled the player on browsers that use adblockers. Since I can no longer watch your videos on youtube, there's no point in supporting you on patreon. I hope you and the other patreon creators I support will make youtube understand this is a really, really bad move on their part. If they don't reverse that policy, I'll be cancelling all of my patreon subscriptions. Sad to do this. I hope you can make them change.
Nick Seidenman
2024-06-17 10:26:45 +0000 UTCThanks!
Hitoshi Yamauchi
2024-05-24 08:07:48 +0000 UTCWise words, and you're very right. The comedian example is great.
3blue1brown
2024-05-23 15:23:23 +0000 UTCI guess their process for selection is very student-led, which is neat. It reflects a lot of respect between the faculty and undergrads.
3blue1brown
2024-05-23 15:21:18 +0000 UTCShe's a true delight
3blue1brown
2024-05-23 15:20:08 +0000 UTCI'm glad it resonated. I saw a shift in a lot of my peers regarding how they thought about their jobs 1 year out from graduation (wanting to work on "interesting" problems) compared to a decade out (more appreciation for the primacy of adding value to others), so the hope was to help speed up that transition a bit.
3blue1brown
2024-05-23 15:19:47 +0000 UTCI found this speech great. These days, I think my career is driven by value (what kind of world you want to see.) In your case, it seems like "sharing the beauty of math with the world, and people are excited about that". It sounds like you are always on this path. Just the methods are different. For me, your force vector is always constant. Regarding career, I will never ask children "What do you want to be?", but I ask "What do you want to do?". For example, one of my friends wants to be a stand-up comedian. But that is quite hard. Someone asked him, "What really do you want to do?" He answered, "I want to make people laugh and happy." Then he realized, that a comedian is a method. His value (his wanting to see the world) is to make people laugh and that makes him happy. Suddenly, so many possibilities emerge. He can write a comedy book, he can have a funny YouTube channel, he can be a teacher and make the students laugh... So, what you want to be is just a method, it can change in ten years. But, what you want to do, is your compass, that is your force vector or the goal. That is timeless. I used to want to have a job. When I failed to get it, I lost. But, a job is neither a compass nor a goal. If I want to go to New York (that is the goal). But the method can be any, walk, bike, car, train, airplane... If you want to know what kind of world you want to live in, methods are secondary and interchangeable. I kind of envy that you have your compass so clear in the early of your life since I found it late. I wish I could hear your speech (and Steve Jobs's commencement) when I was a graduate student. Thanks a lot!
Hitoshi Yamauchi
2024-05-19 09:31:27 +0000 UTCI'm yet another Mudd alum (class of '81) who has renewed faith in my school because they had the sense to invite you to give the commencement address! Bravo!
Robert Berkowitz
2024-05-19 00:56:03 +0000 UTCHah! I ITR'd from Mudd in 96. Great school. I definitely wasn't expecting to see it in my inbox today!
Brian Kimball
2024-05-19 00:16:28 +0000 UTCAs a Mudd alum, this is so cool in so many ways! Great advice, and love the love for Prof. Williams! She's amazing
Nate Pinsky
2024-05-18 23:39:51 +0000 UTCWait this is actually really good advice. The adding value thing is so real. I'm realizing this reaching halfway through undergrad. So tempting to focus on learning something as thoroughly as possible, when those around me who are most successful are those focused on actual useful output
Owen Cromly
2024-05-18 22:10:52 +0000 UTCI'm jealous! Better come to my school's commencement in 2026
Owen Cromly
2024-05-18 22:08:57 +0000 UTCSome how, am addicted to your voice and I imagine all those visualisations just listening to it 😂
Sai Nishanth
2024-05-18 17:57:01 +0000 UTCWise words - Thanks for sharing!
Dan Sherman
2024-05-18 17:15:08 +0000 UTCDid I just spot Prof. Barzilay in the crowd? 15:15-15:25
Ekaterina Korneeva
2024-05-18 16:58:40 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing, loved the quirky mathematical angle of the speech (and so did the crowd!). All good points for the class, and it was fun to learn more about your personal journey to where you are today. One thought -- I believe the rank of my hippocampus' vector space is probably 3 dimensional ;)
Michael Kokosenski
2024-05-18 15:31:49 +0000 UTC
