Matt Damon recently returned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, only this time he wasn’t acting. Those who have ever watched Good Will Hunting will know what I mean. You know, the movie where Matt Damon plays a genius working as a janitor at MIT? Yeah, that one!
Damon, who won an Academy Award for his role in the film, took to the MIT stage on Friday to deliver the commencement speech for the 2016 graduating class. His speech, however, was nothing short of entertaining.
He began by covering Simulation Theory, which he described as the following:
“The basic idea, as I understand it, is that we could be living in a massive simulation run by a far smarter civilization, a giant computer game, and we don’t even know it.“
Damon went on to ask the crowd:
“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?“
Then, with a call-to-action, Damon insisted the new grads put their education to good use and go out into the world to solve problems:
“This world – real or imagined – this world has problems we need you to drop everything and solve.“
Giving them plenty of causes to choose from, he said:
“Economic inequality, that’s a problem. How about the refugee crisis? Massive global insecurity, climate change, pandemics, institutional racism — 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 hawk you products that you don’t need. And add to that a banking system that steals people’s money.“
Then, after giving a good roasting to “the banker who brought us the biggest heist in history,” Damon said:
“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 is Elizabeth Warren.“
Watch Matt Damon’s full speech below, via YouTube:
Feature Image is a screengrab via YouTube.
