1/ Commencement speeches are, word-for-word, some of the most wisdom-dense content you can consumer. This recent speech by @futurejurvetson to St. Mark’s is an instant classic. Some fav quotes below + transcription for easy reading.

Transcript here: https://12mv2.com/2020/06/24/transcript-steve-jurvetson-2020-commencement-speech-saint-marks-school/

2/ life at home also affords an opportunity to reflect on what you choose to do each day. Will you start each day with exercise?... These simple choices, compounded over a decade, can make all the difference in the world for your professional advancement, happiness, and health

3/ Think of the power of compounded interest. Let me say it more forcefully. Spend less time focused on the goals for your life. Spend more time on the habits and simple iterative algorithms that will improve your life

4/ The process of innovation is more important than the product of innovation…[ @elonmusk opened @Tesla's patents to] help recruit and motivate the best engineers to build the next product. He prioritizes a process of continuous innovation over protecting the products of the past

5/ Your tombstone virtues will include none of your resume virtues – the goals and prizes you may seek today.

6a/ Later this month, SpaceX will return astronauts to space, and before you graduate college, we will have a permanent lunar settlement, and have sent our first landing party to Mars…

6b/ ...As we expand outward on the final frontier, we find it representative of the palpable excitement on all the frontiers of the unknown – from neuroscience to AI to synthetic biology

7/ Now you may have noticed I haven’t said nothing about the tumult in the economy around us. It turns out that market disruption in needed for new entrants and new ideas. It’s an essential precursor for progress

8/ New entrants forge the future. They always have. They are the source of all meaningful change. And that is true for new companies, as well as new intellects – such as yourself – entering the world stage

9/ I will wish you the best in this. That you may skip forward on your future path, with playful curiosity, and consider your potential on this planet as something grand. You can change the world for the better, and find the sublime satisfaction of symbolic immortality

End/ If you prefer video > transcript, you can find the video here (intro cut out though): https://www.smtexas.org/2020/2020jurvetson