2003-04-17 - 9:22 a.m.
Ok, Kurt Vonnegut never gave any MIT address. I owe this knowledge to Emily of course, my friend who will never let me get away with any form of deceit. (a sincere thanks for that) She sent me lots of information about this particular internet hoax. One quote from Vonnegut himself states that "cyberspace is "spooky," populated by people who'll believe anything they're told."
Yes, I fall into this category. I was forwarded something by my mom, which turned out to be part of just a gigantic internet hoax! I've been duped! I fell for yet another internet hoax!
Actually I don't feel bad. Although ascribing something to an author who never wrote it is in bad practice, I don't feel this invalidates the messages the pseudo commencement speech brings across. Another quote from Vonnegut says "I thought about it and said I didn't think I gave any talk like that, but I wished I had." Interesting to me how he can say that cyberspace is populated by people who will believe anything they're told, but he only thinks he didn't give any talk like that.
But far be it from me to criticize the man.
I believe that in this day and age of the information superhighway, when the knowledge of mankind is at our fingertips, it's our job as philosophers to gather up the information and make a synthesis of it. Everything's out there. We just have to connect the pieces. Whoever wrote this "commencement speech" (actually according to the email I received, it was one Mary Schmich) had some interesting things to say, and I think that the advice given, if not helping me to understand why I'm here, could perhaps help me to live better. I think there's some good advice in there.
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