Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990) | Hacker News Reader

Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990)

web.mit.edu

195 pointscryingpotato53 comments

He buried the lede: "Drawing comic strips for five years without pay drove home the point that the fun of cartooning wasn't in the money; it was in the work."

My advice is similar: don't do what you love, do what you can stand doing for 10 hours a day.

When people ask about software development, I say: can you debug one line of code for 10 hours straight? if so, then you can be a software engineer.

(actually, I've had to chase bugs for 3+ days straight, but I don't mention this lest it scare the kiddies...)

3+ days is standard for code in academia hahah.

Academic mathematician here. I’ve been stuck on something for the last 20 years.

Can you tell us what it is?

Prove this, and the Fields is yours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz_conjecture

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this margin is too small to contain. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

An excerpt of that speech as a cartoon done by Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils - http://www.zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoon... (published 2013 along with commentary)

New Yorker's "Life after Calvin and Hobbes" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/30/the-mysteries-...

The Mysteries - by Bill Watterson, published October 10th, 2023 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Wa...

Thanks for sharing the cartoon author's name. I have seen that before and didn't realize that Gavin is most likely a descendant from Burmese parent(s) -- his last name 'Aung Than' is distinctly Burmese. I immigrated to the US from Burma and it always brings me joy/pride when I see my fellow country people (or descendants of them) are doing something that contributes to the humanity/society. :)

Thank you for sharing this. So beautiful.

"my fondest memories of college are times like these, where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded."

Sounds like the ideal which “unschooling” aims toward. Look for the child’s inner imperative and give that the focus.

A piece I read at least twice a year to understand how creative work is done - "Some thoughts on the real world by one who glimpsed it and fled"

https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html

To save a search for anyone that wants to read it.

You should be able to click on the title to get to it, but thanks for posting here too!

I don’t know if I got anything very profound from it tbh - this sounds like just another commencement speech from someone who has very little in common with almost every person in their audience asking them to do something they would never do. Similar initially inspiring but later on making you question speeches include the ones from Neil Gaiman, Steve Jobs and Conan O’Brien.

Honestly the most amazing speech is from David Foster Wallace. Some great wisdom that’s not easily found elsewhere that applies to the common man instead of the exceptional creative.

I disagree about Watterson's speech. It seems very actionable to me for the common man: define meaning in life for yourself, don't get stuck on the hedonic treadmill, think about what your values are and shape your life around them, etc

Yeah I totally agree with this! The crux of the speech for me is "To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

This is not very different from telling a depressed person to just cheer up and go for a walk imo.

No one told Watterson to love cartooning and hate “work” the way he says it with disdain. He was just born that way.

And he also turned out to be an exceptional artist. People with exceptional skills should refrain from telling others to follow their paths. It’s disingenuous and not in the interest of the audience at all. Follow your passion will fail badly at you if you are bad at it.

This is a really negative outlook. The crux of the advice is to have a playful mind, and don't live a life of quiet desperation. This advice can apply to engineers, business people, and anyone else. It does not mean you have to be a cartoonist. In fact the reason I love programming is exactly the same as the reason he says he loves cartooning, because it allows us to play with ideas and learn new domains and problems and ways of thinking. Let's go exploring.

I don't think he's just saying follow your passion. He's saying be true to your values (and figure out what those are). If your values are that hardwork is important or providing well for your family is the priority then you can be happy doing those things.

He's not telling them to follow his path. He's telling them to make sure the path they follow leaves them satisfied.

I'm not particularly exceptional, and I give the same advice.

The way I read it, it's not about being exceptional (or not).

More like not blindly following other people's definition of success.

We all have choices to make. And most of us could, for example, choose a less prestigious job in order to have more time and energy for other stuff. Among other things..

I agree on the DFW point. It’s rare for a commencement speech to hit the nail on the head, it almost always lapses into this “do what you love” shtick that isn’t really relatable for kids who studied business to pay off their incredibly large student loans - at that point, you love not being in debt

I've always been conflicted about the DFW speech as a wonderful tool to think about how to live from a man who seemed to have led a pretty troubled life. I keep coming back to the speech for its content, but can't help but think of the man who gave it when I do.

You can take the argument at its own merit. The a big chunk of the world walks their bride to the music of one of the most famous antisemites in history anyway!

It’s gotta be tough to write a more realistic speech for those folks though: “if you don’t love business and making money you done fucked up. Even if you do? This was almost certainly a dumb idea.”

For those who want to learn more about Watterson, I read “Chasing Calvin and Hobbes” a few years ago and recently re-read it, really enjoying it both times. It’s a more in-depth view of the strip and Watterson as a person.

I am not familiar with the story, what's your pitch for the book (without spoilers)?

That sounds interesting, could you share a link? I couldn’t find anything obvious by Googling. Thanks!

I'm curious too. Nothing on Google, except this thread haha.

could it be "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip"?

Related. I thought there were others but can't find them...

Bill Watterson's Speech – Kenyon College, 1990 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5587976 - April 2013 (58 comments)

Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3412165 - Dec 2011 (14 comments)

One of the smartest things I've done in recent years is to buy the complete Calvin and Hobbes and put it prominently on a table that I walk by daily.

I turn a page a day...

In the morning before I get coffee usually, though it's often too dark and I'll come back to read the two facing pages later. Depending on the day that means I'll read a Sunday strip and three daily strips or six daily strips. Once in a great while it's one Sunday strip and some custom art -- I presume from one of the books. Those days are a little disappointing but it's still one page turn a day.

I'm re-reading Calvin and Hobbes at somewhere around 5x original speed but somewhere about 50x slower than if I were to sit down with it and turn pages willy nilly. I've been doing it about six months and I'm still in the first book of the three that comprise the complete set.

It's a real added joy in my day and will be for some time. Some of the best money I've spent in a long long time.

They're right now working on shrinking the size, with the "portable compendium vol 1" out now with more on the way. I love the original books but they're a bit unwieldy for me to just pick up and browse, so I'm buying these as they come out.

The form factor is huge! In my case it works really well because I can read it standing up while looking down at the huge book.

But that's a great edition to put out!

Reminds me of the project where someone got a big eInk display to show the front page of every newspaper in the morning.

Could be awesome to apply here to get a Calvin and Hobbes a day on the wall.

You are doing what I have been planning to do all year. Looks like 2024 will be the year for me.

I've had The Complete on a bookshelf, unread for a decade. And yesterday (!) I decided to start reading it, but man, is there a lot there. About 1500 pages, with each either a Sunday strip or three dailies.

I like your idea a lot, but I'm wondering if leaving such an enormous book open to a page would break the binding. Any trouble with that?

My personal opinion is that books are there to be used in the way one finds most convenient, not art sculptures to be kept pristine. If that breaks the binding, then so be it.

So far it has not broken the binding but then I didn't buy it as a collectors piece and if it does break the binding, that's OK with me.

Not deriding book collecting. :) I've been there. I've just decided on this one that I don't care about the book. I care about the experience. I bought it to do this exact thing with.

It is also great for kids.

My oldest has read it multiple times, and my first grader has started reading it (struggling with all the big words). One of the longer lasting Christmas gifts I bought.

I think I got my first Calvin and Hobbes book when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I think over the years I collected all but one or two of the books, and read them almost religiously. It largely shaped (or reinforced) my worldview as a kid

There's nothing wrong with leading a life of quiet desperation. What's wrong is cheating yourself out of happiness by not being grateful for what you have. So you're one of the unwashed masses in the garage waiting for the clock. Does that mean you have to be unhappy? Not if you can be grateful for what that affords you in the rest of your life, not to mention grateful the work isn't worse. You can always choose to change things. But don't change just because you don't think you're happy enough.

This is a very profound piece of wisdom. There are times where I dwell on how I should have invested my money a decade ago and wish I made different choices before hitting my mid 30s. Yet I have a lot to be thankful for now, despite my mistakes.

Don't beat yourself up. When i was in my mid-30's I had trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I had escaped the fate of every other member of my family: poverty, addiction, and early death. Compared to that, my investment decisions seem trivial.

You’re right. Having perspective can be very healthy, especially if one lives in a first world bubble like me.

I don't think he meant to chide those who don't love their jobs. Quite the opposite, really: he encouraged us to ignore how unprofitable it is to play, and play anyway.

Link to a Calvin and Hobbes collection:

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/18

Links re Bill Watterson: http://timhulsizer.com/calvin/index.php/words/

The ol’ recurring dream! Freak me out too. And Randall I assume: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/557:_Students

On a tangential note, here's Calvin and Hobbes Search Engine - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26119380

Just joining in the love fest for Calvin and Hobbes and Bill Watterson. Absolutely monumental work.

Just watched the utter sewage that was Rebel Moon and was thinking someone needs to install Bill Watterson as content approver at Netflix asap, cause the amount of visuals to convey absolutely nothing is reaching new highs of mindlessness. Tools being used for no reason other than they exist.

Its a sign there aren't enough Bill Wattersons in the room.

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