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6 D) j# _/ ?+ {1 @0 H4 FRandy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
/ `: [0 o. }; MGiven at Carnegie Mellon University( \% v0 {" {% q; a* A$ |% G7 D
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 h/ {9 M P; T6 r* y
McConomy Auditorium7 S- K- l' i, `7 E
For more information, see www.randypausch.com5 q6 Z# r7 f. B/ ?
© Copyright Randy Pausch, 20071
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Introduction by Indira Nair, Carnegie Mellon’s Vice Provost for Education:7 B8 O; G7 g9 o7 R
Hi. Welcome. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to the first of our new university’s lectures titled1 t( i+ n/ X# F1 h# Z! z* r* j
Journeys – lectures in which members of our community will share with us reflections and insights
! C) n8 T* Q" E* |on their personal and professional journeys. Today’s Journey’s lecture as you all know is by
' l0 c* J( l! r: x0 L3 D4 a$ WProfessor Randy Pausch. The next one is on Monday, September 24th by Professor Roberta Klatzky.
9 h: k& Z' q$ `4 N3 FTo introduce Professor Randy Pausch, our first Journeys speaker, I would like to introduce Randy’s6 E6 B/ x2 u# r& c l
friend and colleague, Steve Seabolt. Steve has been at Electronic Arts for six years and is the Vice r3 Q1 Y' j, K) E, s1 ^! |9 M
President of Global Brand Development for The Sims label at Electronic Arts. As you all know, The
( K& o8 |; E, c% N' sSims is one of the most, if not the most successful PC games in the world, with sales approaching& Q7 z" }8 ^, e! d( Z
over $100,000,000. Prior to that, Steve was the Vice President for Strategic Marketing and4 D+ o/ \4 g: ^1 T
Education at EA, bridging academia and Electronic Arts. His goal was to work with academics so. c' s, q8 N+ W" D+ j r. X' Y
there was an effective educational pathway for kids with building games as their dreams. It was in5 w. o5 b, x; W: T- a' I
that role that Randy and Steve became colleagues and friends. Before Electronic Arts, Steve was the; M' J/ _9 {8 R( y5 p: T
worldwide Ad Director for Time Magazine and CEO of Sunset Publishing, which is a very favorite K3 G8 \6 V! z
magazine in the Southwest, and as CEO there, one of the things he started was school tours,) c6 K+ g8 U2 M
because like Randy he shares a passion for inspiring kids of all ages to share their excitement for
2 q" F1 s2 L( K* \science and technology.
( w* g$ `) Q* O$ k# `# K9 oSo to introduce Randy, his friend Steve Seabolt. Steve?
f8 j6 n9 R* [8 N" |9 j[applause]# I' W' S, v4 I7 B/ t
Steve Seabolt, Vice President of Worldwide Publishing and Marketing for Electonic Arts (EA):8 a" Q; k* x8 f1 ^& D. n4 o+ u; L/ D
Thank you very much. I don’t mean to sound ungracious by correcting you, but given that our PR
1 N" P) E) ~- V! _people are probably watching this on webcast, I’d catch heck if I went home and didn’t say that it; K) A2 \" u ?0 x1 |
was 100 million units for The Sims. [laughter] Not that big numbers matter to Electronic Arts.
+ ~5 t. [; v, M) g[laughter]; v+ g$ h1 s) z3 F
I don’t see any empty seats anywhere, which is a good thing, which means I just won a bet from
( G, } c7 W2 z* L6 u8 WRandy as a matter of fact. Depending upon who’s version of the story you hear, he either owes me
- w4 U; l' Z5 W20 dollars or his new Volkswagen. [laughter] So, I’ll take the car.
; |' V$ F: H+ J: m# `0 t) r) gIt’s a pleasure to be here, thank you very much. I’m going to start by covering Randy’s academic
8 m8 w! e U' t' n7 zcredentials. It’s a little bizarre for me to be standing here at Carnegie Mellon, which is a school I8 ^5 I- Q/ w. X& b$ r
couldn’t get into no matter how much I contributed to this institution. [laughter] But, no really, I’m& y2 Z; {( _% m) q- F' u b% ?
not kidding! You all think, oh gosh he’s humble. Really, no, I’m not humble at all. Very average SAT1 D& v8 `# r4 [5 {3 I! _
scores, you know, right in the middle of my high school class of 900. Anyway, Randy. Randy earned
2 @: L) u; Q) C– it really pisses me off that Randy’s so smart—actually I called him, we decided about, what, four; m$ K" z0 _# H
weeks, ago and we heard the news went from bad to horrific. It was on a Wednesday night and I
z- v' r1 D K9 R# e+ w2 s! Bsaid look – we have two choices. We can play this really straight and very emotional , or we can go
, ?! ^% R! `" o$ ?to dark humor. And for those of you who know Randy well, he was like oh, dark humor! So I called
1 A7 q: T7 H. J6 ?him the next day and I was like, dude you can’t die. And he’s like, what do you mean? And I said,
- ]- j$ Z6 ~: V# E1 [% U6 x& x3 Fwell, when you die, the average of IQ of Seabolt’s friends is going to like drop 50 points. [laughter] To
6 \! F6 v: U- B ^# z3 ~# u9 I( Gwhich he responded, we need to find you some smarter friends. [laughter] So you’re all smart8 W: H/ c- @) z, U+ ^" v6 v0 X- r
because you’re here, so if you want to be my friend, I’ll be over in a corner of the reception room.- Y, I3 v3 g9 ~( `
Randy earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Brown in 1982. His Ph.D. in CS from
1 @+ P1 @5 g# @) q" D1 T# f9 Y/ C. {Carnegie Mellon in 1988 and taught at the University of Virginia where he was granted tenure a year
, S. @) t: W0 ?early. He joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1997 with appointments in the CS, HCI and Design
/ U6 R1 s- y5 d A8 Tdepartments. He has authored or co-authored five books and over 60 reviewed journal and2 O" z# r# s% s
conference proceeding articles, none of which I would understand. With Don Marinelli, he founded
* D; Y3 f* E0 p, D) N+ s0 ^the Entertainment Technology Center, which quickly became the gold standard organization for
3 j3 a( a, A( i) O- htraining artists and engineers to work together. It is my view and the view of our company,5 x9 T! |, P$ T
Electronic Arts, that the ETC is the interactive program by which all others in the world are judged., O/ a; ?5 U: c* ~ \/ f
I met Randy in the Spring of 2004, and when I look back it’s sort of hard to imagine it’s only been7 j9 {4 {" D/ Z% K# A
three years given the depth of our friendship. The ETC already had a very strong relationship with
2 A& T0 U* t# k$ _EA and with Randy. And Randy as he always does, for those of you who know him well, wanted to
9 `* f$ x% ^; C- Q0 x8 O, h3 W { Mlearn more, with his own eyes, about how the games business works, and how games really got2 O2 A" S) {6 s& b
made. So he spent a summer in residence at EA, and I was his primary contact point. We were in
2 _6 T0 P* k8 Q4 z+ Jmy view the odd couple. Randy the brilliant, charming, Carnegie educated CS professor. And me
$ }6 o4 l" v3 y. o7 B- wwho went to the University of Iowa on a wing and a prayer. We spent a lot of time together that
1 F, r8 M, F/ u) p. psemester and for those of you who know Randy well, that’s a lot of turkey sandwiches on white
/ W4 g9 K' t. zbread with mayo. [laughter, clapping] My kids tease me about being “white.” There’s nobody more; K* S n0 P0 ]8 w
“white” than Randy. [laughter] We spent an enormous amount of time together. We taught each; p+ p1 }" g. a% W/ p1 f3 }
other about each other’s very interesting, strange cultures to the other. Academic versus the
( i2 j3 l; U: _, hcorporate world. And we developed a deep friendship woven together with stories about our kids,
`) Q) ?& H0 n5 @. i2 W% U* X0 s$ Gour wives, our parents, as well as deep discussions about the paramount nature of integrity in$ R2 h6 v n% |8 F7 g" I7 M
everything you do, family first, religion, our shared joy in connecting people and ideas, and( Z5 Y2 l$ C/ ?% A9 H( V
deploying money and influence to do good. And the importance of having a lot of laughs along the
' P8 ~0 r* M: j0 k1 j; j: }$ S2 N! Dway.+ N! O* |8 Y1 L9 b. u
Randy’s dedication to making the world a better place is self evident to anyone who has crossed
; }2 v6 x2 D: x" w8 h* M) Kpaths with him. Whether it’s directly influencing students, creating organizations like the ETC,
, {/ j7 [) z1 E! ]' q Fbuilding tools like Alice or doing what he probably does best, which is bridging cultures. As Ben% w. d! M- R! y. H0 A i4 t! e
Gordon, EA’s Chief Creative Officer, says of Randy, even more important than Randy’s academic,( V7 c7 T& p) ^
philanthropic, and entrepreneurial accomplishments has been his humanity and the enthusiasm he9 j- z% A- d% L1 p
brings to students and coworkers on a daily basis.
5 e3 P, h8 d+ A: A" VFor those of you who know Randy, Randy brings a particular zest for life and humor, even while
7 V5 e! Y1 `) F4 Pfacing death. To Randy, this is simply another adventure. It is my great honor to introduce Dylan,
& D/ h) p! N9 p2 }% pLogan and Chloe’s dad, Jai’s husband, and my very dear friend, Dr. Randy Pausch. [applause] R, \1 j! a/ s9 e+ z/ t
Randy Pausch:. r; b1 L$ s/ Y, ~5 U8 a9 e
[responding to a standing ovation] Make me earn it. [laughter]
- g- A' J, {* y% |0 ?3 {# [It’s wonderful to be here. What Indira didn’t tell you is that this lecture series used to be called the
& Q% M. c9 o+ D3 g& QLast Lecture. If you had one last lecture to give before you died, what would it be? I thought, damn,
a9 W: N! @% b' q8 iI finally nailed the venue and they renamed it. [laughter]
$ e! {$ J2 g! E) H# rSo, you know, in case there’s anybody who wandered in and doesn’t know the back story, my dad
, y' O- ?' I: ?. W) L g* @always taught me that when there’s an elephant in the room, introduce them. If you look at my CAT
3 z; O( c2 i w5 E' Uscans, there are approximately 10 tumors in my liver, and the doctors told me 3-6 months of good! ]( k$ Z/ ]' @5 ]. O, {2 C
health left. That was a month ago, so you can do the math. I have some of the best doctors in the, y- F& f- w! n+ z6 n
world. Microphone’s not working? Then I’ll just have to talk louder. [Adjusts mic] Is that good? All
5 _% t% D2 |- Z0 L) ?right. So that is what it is. We can’t change it, and we just have to decide how we’re going to) I! S0 c. J5 d2 p
respond to that. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don’t, D; v1 k7 ?9 Q/ O( J
seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you. [laughter] And I assure you I
: ~- R5 `& }0 w0 L: N: Qam not in denial. It’s not like I’m not aware of what’s going on. My family, my three kids, my wife,, s) J( _# [7 m9 |. Q! H# L
we just decamped. We bought a lovely house in Virginia, and we’re doing that because that’s a( p& D" k! Q, |. z) M5 @, A) K8 h
better place for the family to be, down the road. And the other thing is I am in phenomenally good
4 y6 T$ b) s7 q0 ehealth right now. I mean it’s the greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is the fact0 C% ^5 @) J5 z9 z
that I am in really good shape. In fact, I am in better shape than most of you. [Randy gets on the" t; Z$ ^5 ~4 M2 R- a
ground and starts doing pushups] [Applause] So anybody who wants to cry or pity me can down and8 K; c5 g' q1 `" \7 [5 m5 {
do a few of those, and then you may pity me. [laughter]
+ v1 _9 f1 T' k6 l w0 ~All right, so what we’re not talking about today, we are not talking about cancer, because I spent a4 `% b2 O9 B& \1 L6 D% v- b9 c
lot of time talking about that and I’m really not interested. If you have any herbal supplements or
5 ^7 q" V; t: P; E/ rremedies, please stay away from me. [laughter] And we’re not going to talk about things that are
6 D4 {; u( |7 s0 e& ueven more important than achieving your childhood dreams. We’re not going to talk about my wife,
- J8 ]% N2 U6 x% A2 L+ c( _we’re not talking about my kids. Because I’m good, but I’m not good enough to talk about that& V, |; g F0 j
without tearing up. So, we’re just going to take that off the table. That’s much more important.
2 t6 F/ G; c: s8 o r! |- @3 xAnd we’re not going to talk about spirituality and religion, although I will tell you that I have
# S8 B) B) \) G- O+ Lachieved a deathbed conversion. [dramatic pause] … I just bought a Macintosh. [laughter and& O4 G6 x. L6 [5 T7 u
clapping] Now I knew I’d get 9% of the audience with that … All right, so what is today’s talk about( t; F: B9 d: R4 n6 `2 ^; b* S
then? It’s about my childhood dreams and how I have achieved them. I’ve been very fortunate that
* p. e+ `! V, C: {- W2 `! Xway. How I believe I’ve been able to enable the dreams of others, and to some degree, lessons
! `, F) V: V8 I! ?learned. I’m a professor, there should be some lessons learned and how you can use the stuff you
3 Q5 X' d" E; ^( V4 `5 m4 ohear today to achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older, you may' C5 q6 [( i+ p- q
find that “enabling the dreams of others” thing is even more fun.2 L/ Q ~% e( ~3 j/ |0 k* S) s* E
So what were my childhood dreams? Well, you know, I had a really good childhood. I mean, no
& n/ t4 r: S5 O8 a2 J; G# skidding around. I was going back through the family archives, and what was really amazing was, I! b: G3 S! Z( y2 D2 O, S
couldn’t find any pictures of me as a kid where I wasn’t smiling. And that was just a very gratifying' B& R6 F; {$ m- B* l1 S
thing. There was our dog, right? Aww, thank you. And there I actually have a picture of me
0 d4 B8 ~0 N. R/ U! ?4 Q& xdreaming. I did a lot of that. You know, there’s a lot of wake up’s! I was born in 1960. When you9 ~& B* K; m* x2 w! J( C
are 8 or 9 years old and you look at the TV set, men are landing on the moon, anything’s possible.8 E9 \) Z# {/ M2 I* L! F0 ~/ g( n
And that’s something we should not lose sight of, is that the inspiration and the permission to
7 a4 f8 {# {6 ~0 W9 J% ?4 D5 q4 @dream is huge.0 b2 Z4 T- O6 H2 t# N5 ?: c
So what were my childhood dreams? You may not agree with this list, but I was there. [laughter]! {, I, @! S1 S5 J5 m$ j
Being in zero gravity, playing in the National Football League, authoring an article in the World Book
) D+ ]: v0 s0 J! GEncyclopedia – I guess you can tell the nerds early. [laughter] Being Captain Kirk, anybody here have
: S: Z; y: Z# G4 h9 w1 w, ythat childhood dream? Not at CMU, nooooo. I wanted to become one of the guys who won the big0 B6 ]: K" Y1 _# n% b8 O
stuffed animals in the amusement park, and I wanted to be an Imagineer with Disney. These are not! \0 K' l; K6 A
sorted in any particular order, although I think they do get harder, except for maybe the first one.
: e# I* B8 Q- ~% _% G, i) vOK, so being in zero gravity. Now it’s important to have specific dreams. I did not dream of being an
" z( z* W% G4 ]3 e3 Bastronaut, because when I was a little kid, I wore glasses and they told me oh, astronauts can’t have
7 ~/ }+ z' x1 O0 o" ?glasses. And I was like, mmm, I didn’t really want the whole astronaut gig, I just wanted the floating.
w0 B4 [* |0 R) k1 N1 W( y' a2 |So, and as a child [laughter], prototype 0.0. [slide shown of Randy as a child lying in floatingformation" F; N5 |4 Q7 u, E$ ~4 q/ p% K5 s
on a table top] But that didn’t work so well, and it turns out that NASA has something
D" w; X- |) R! lcalled the Vomit Comet that they used to train the astronauts. And this thing does parabolic arcs,
9 |- k5 t+ v8 @8 Gand at the top of each arc you get about 25 seconds where you’re ballistic and you get about, a
- x& H- b4 H) p* S& w" ?: D, Jrough equivalent of weightlessness for about 25 seconds. And there is a program where college& J8 o4 | q1 z$ I: v* c2 e
students can submit proposals and if they win the competition, they get to fly. And I thought that
7 ^6 e% `0 c3 X! I/ uwas really cool, and we had a team and we put a team together and they won and they got to fly.
8 R+ D% j% F1 S0 s9 @And I was all excited because I was going to go with them. And then I hit the first brick wall, because& A. m# Z- v9 K3 z8 |% A0 g/ v
they made it very clear that under no circumstances were faculty members allowed to fly with the
3 E$ j" ?9 r$ R% C) pteams. I know, I was heartbroken. I was like, I worked so hard! And so I read the literature very- c" M" n% l! `4 E1 Y: ~* r
carefully and it turns out that NASA, it’s part of their outreach and publicity program, and it turns
. C' m2 B3 h$ kout that the students were allowed to bring a local media journalist from their home town.
- H* e" f3 ?4 G4 c3 d- N[laughter] And, [deep voice] Randy Pausch, web journalist. [regular voice] It’s really easy to get a
- z; y- J7 N% p1 e0 rpress pass! [laughter] So I called up the guys at NASA and I said, I need to know where to fax some& w f4 u! u$ x' Z7 W
documents. And they said, what documents are you going to fax us? And I said my resignation as% H3 Y9 K- o7 }0 \2 A; X6 ?
the faculty advisor and my application as the journalist. And he said, that’s a little transparent, don’t: i$ f/ R4 `+ G2 ~; l5 i& c. h7 m/ N
you think? And I said, yeah, but our project is virtual reality, and we’re going to bring down a whole" E+ Y4 T) K5 H4 f5 ^
bunch of VR headsets and all the students from all the teams are going to experience it and all those! @$ d0 w1 U4 j; A- I9 d' g
other real journalists are going to get to film it. Jim Foley’s [who is nodding in the audience] going" h: w- e. B, S: \% _' [) \
oh you bastard, yes. And the guy said, here’s the fax number. So, indeed, we kept our end of the( K, _: @8 n; i+ d, S* `
bargain, and that’s one of the themes that you’ll hear later on in the talk, is have something to bring
P7 |' ]5 \' z3 d+ n1 Ato the table, right, because that will make you more welcome. And if you’re curious about what+ M+ |# ]" Y% Q7 P0 r
zero gravity looks like, hopefully the sound will be working here. [slide shows videotape from' I" R1 D0 z! r1 G. |/ v5 u+ @
Randy’s zero gravity experience] There I am. [laughter] You do pay the piper at the bottom. [laugher,4 Y: Z2 Q7 X1 W& x- z
as the people in the video crash to the floor of the plane on the video] So, childhood dream number2 @8 N9 A* l/ w+ ]/ V3 n6 a
one, check. x- j2 g$ _% {* ~# b5 U! b
OK, let’s talk about football. My dream was to play in the National Football League. And most of
/ |# k5 E3 W2 Y2 t1 F" U \6 uyou don’t know that I actually – no. [laughter] No, I did not make it to the National Football League,0 l" a" E$ \3 {# z' ~$ a
but I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones
' ]! e9 a+ u1 _, ?7 _0 dthat I did accomplish. I had a coach, I signed up when I was nine years old. I was the smallest kid in( [! x+ s/ G3 X0 A" e5 \
the league, by far. And I had a coach, Jim Graham, who was six-foot-four, he had played linebacker
; Y5 i4 n6 e. o9 W! cat Penn State. He was just this hulk of a guy and he was old school. And I mean really old school.
' s+ J+ {% U3 p4 l8 ^& D) \ fLike he thought the forward pass was a trick play. [laughter] And he showed up for practice the first$ F% O) E0 |9 l+ p6 s6 _; \! U0 W, @
day, and you know, there’s big hulking guy, we were all scared to death of him. And he hadn’t+ j! C/ x5 p% F1 |4 L' l
brought any footballs. How are we going to have practice without any footballs? And one of the
' } P3 h" v' fother kids said, excuse me coach, but there’s no football. And Coach Graham said, right, how many' J; h. K; b& s: x L7 u
men are on a football field at a time? Eleven on a team, twenty-two. Coach Graham said, all right,6 h. Y* `3 |% a2 r% V* o
and how many people are touching the football at any given time? One of them. And he said, right,
/ K: h" g8 c* G- q7 u& A$ P; iso we’re going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing. And that’s a really good+ L% c2 U, Y/ e/ a& B
story because it’s all about fundamentals. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got8 j1 }6 [6 ^; N: | K6 b* |
to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work. And the other
1 u8 o; Q7 i v# RJim Graham story I have is there was one practice where he just rode me all practice. You’re doing7 H1 [( q/ |# B: b0 E- l* a) C
this wrong, you’re doing this wrong, go back and do it again, you owe me, you’re doing push-ups
% q8 w4 }. j& R, [! V1 u( H% `7 }1 G& Wafter practice. And when it was all over, one of the other assistant coaches came over and said,
! }0 C A' t+ j5 j2 j$ gyeah, Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn’t he? I said, yeah. He said, that’s a good thing. He
" i$ W% i2 J8 _7 b" ?( Z) tsaid, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave
: ]- x! |( j& d m1 t) `up. And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing
/ }" }3 i# R( u7 r, Osomething badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your5 h. N9 n9 _, g( }* y$ Z8 `
critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
8 F0 w) w" o8 PAfter Coach Graham, I had another coach, Coach Setliff, and he taught me a lot about the power of
0 U5 T$ ]2 p, O, ?enthusiasm. He did this one thing where only for one play at a time he would put people in at like7 ]* f' c" L1 }8 t- P4 T# k
the most horrifically wrong position for them. Like all the short guys would become receivers, right?
3 R$ t3 d/ ?, {7 \0 tIt was just laughable. But we only went in for one play, right? And boy, the other team just never* V6 W1 p# j2 n% _1 u
knew what hit ‘em them. Because when you’re only doing it for one play and you’re just not where
8 f. X" U- b) gyou’re supposed to be, and freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, boy are you going
! \' Q/ c. T9 {6 Kto clean somebody’s clock for that one play. And that kind of enthusiasm was great. And to this
- e7 a) @% [: z* m' U/ w/ qday, I am most comfortable on a football field. I mean, it’s just one of those things where, you
& @# {$ r: _5 L! H5 hknow, [pulls out a football] if I’m working a hard problem, people will see me wandering the halls& I1 Q$ ~5 X9 J8 y
with one of these things, and that’s just because, you know, when you do something young enough; _# x6 G% \. m7 p0 \
and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you. And I’m very glad that football was a part of my
, |' d. W& f! K1 k( Hlife. And if I didn’t get the dream of playing in the NFL, that’s OK. I’ve probably got stuff more
* b' g# O: b* G. M7 lvaluable. Because looking at what’s going on in the NFL, I’m not sure those guys are doing so great
* u; p9 x i: Q/ _# x( g6 tright now.
. E3 y6 D8 m: y: W# F QOK, and so one of the expressions I learned at Electronic Arts, which I love, which pertains to this, is. S0 u# D) c+ Q+ \
experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And I think that’s absolutely
* q7 v0 `. o% o( f) y& jlovely. And the other thing about football is we send our kids out to play football or soccer or$ r8 b: r7 j) v+ @7 I$ ?
swimming or whatever it is, and it’s the first example of what I’m going to call a head fake, or& Q* {! M/ l# W
indirect learning. We actually don’t want our kids to learn football. I mean, yeah, it’s really nice that
/ R# D% p' X( R# y x0 F9 S9 g7 OI have a wonderful three-point stance and that I know how to do a chop block and all this kind of3 L2 P& {2 T6 p V& ]
stuff. But we send our kids out to learn much more important things. Teamwork, sportsmanship,- ]% f, _, v6 h; L
perseverance, etcetera, etcetera. And these kinds of head fake learning are absolutely important.6 k' m4 R b( n0 I7 e
And you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.
! U" }1 G0 Q0 U' }8 VAll right. A simple one, being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia. When I was a kid, we had
# o2 d9 R3 H7 m7 F! Qthe World Book Encyclopedia on the shelf. For the freshman, this is paper. … We used to have these
/ X+ R' I1 |' K e0 gthings called books. [laughter] And after I had become somewhat of an authority on virtual reality,) w( L) v B* S d* S% c9 |
but not like a really important one, so I was at the level of people the World Book would badger.# i( t0 z% ^, z6 t% b+ u
They called me up and I wrote an article, and this is Caitlin Kelleher [shows slide of Caitlin wearing
5 b# L" |. P, x' }virtual reality headset manipulating a 3D world], and there’s an article if you go to your local library; Y4 V) X5 V( W4 n7 F
where they still have copies of the World Book. Look under V for Virtual Reality, and there it is. And# n. F$ J! w& }0 D: N1 i9 A
all I have to say is that having been selected to be an author in the World Book Encyclopedia, I now3 B" i% K$ N1 o" ]+ |8 Q7 k- d- I
believe that Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source for your information because I know what the* |8 k! M9 {4 X9 t
quality control is for real encyclopedias. They let me in.( A4 E# V# `; w3 r. J$ `
All right, next one. [laughter] [shows slide “Being like Meeting Captain Kirk”] At a certain point you( `# S( d- f. E q' s
just realize there are some things you are not going to do, so maybe you just want to stand close to+ Q, t& A) l0 `* L4 C
the people. And I mean, my god, what a role model for young people. [laughter] [shows slide of
/ F: m0 M7 [% w1 oCaptain Kirk sitting at his control station on the Starship Enterprise] I mean, this is everything you
- s: K" {1 f3 B: g1 k) Mwant to be, and what I learned that carried me forward in leadership later is that, you know, he
X8 x- R6 s& ]' l. i* Awasn’t the smartest guy on the ship. I mean, Spock was pretty smart and McCoy was the doctor and
: B' x% J) o; q: [, a+ \Scotty was the engineer. And you sort of go, and what skill set did he have to get on this damn thing
/ a u" N% @6 v1 ?' C! r yand run it? And, you know, clearly there is this skill set called leadership, and, you know, whether or: x# z4 W, _* d/ d* _
not you like the series, there’s no doubt that there was a lot to be learned about how to lead people
$ \3 N1 c& g+ G2 Z Xby watching this guy in action. And he just had the coolest damn toys! [laughter] [shows slide of9 q; f, J- S) n2 O& x
Star Trek gadgets] I mean, my god, I just thought it was fascinating as a kid that he had this thing
5 l" }, Z; B" m/ I7 C W[Takes out Star Trek Communicator] and he could talk to the ship with it. I just thought that was just
0 w; C1 _7 a8 z! Jspectacular, and of course now I own one and it’s smaller. [takes out cell phone] So that’s kind of3 @+ G3 q' P# t4 n! X
cool.
% u, ^8 Z4 o0 S; l: USo I got to achieve this dream. James T. Kirk, and his alter ego William Shatner, wrote a book, which4 u3 f! v6 m$ h% w' c# c- M
I think was actually a pretty cool book. It was with Chip Walter who is a Pittsburgh- based author. \0 y, h" ~ M
who is quite good, and they wrote a book on basically the science of Star Trek, you know, what has: g+ \, @4 T/ M! A6 f9 [; q
come true. And they went around to the top places around the country and looked at various things" d7 d' ~0 q* Y; {) X
and they came here to study our virtual reality setup. And so we build a virtual reality for him, it
- X; y. W0 W6 qlooks something like that. [shows slide of virtual Star Trek bridge from the 1960’s TV show] We put it8 A$ j4 D* R1 I7 d# E. x
in, put it to red alert. He was a very good sport. [sarcastically] It’s not like he saw that one coming.8 D0 Q* X9 @, e# N1 i$ p
[laughter] And it’s really cool to meet your boyhood idol, but it’s even cooler when he comes to you0 Q; b5 y8 W% W$ Y5 w/ e6 z8 J" I, b$ ?
to see what cool stuff you’re doing in your lab. And that was just a great moment.
G; U. j, l! v; jAll right, winning stuffed animals. This may seem mundane to you, but when you’re a little kid and: q) x# }- o& E2 J
you see the big buff guys walking around the amusement park and they’ve got all these big stuffed$ v. W3 B% [) s/ R4 S/ ^
animals, right? And this is my lovely wife, and I have a lot of pictures of stuffed animals I’ve won.: K% R+ G8 W( D9 A0 Y9 y/ v3 e
[laughter] [shows slides of several large stuffed animals] That’s my dad posing with one that I won.
$ b- v# g7 m7 x BI’ve won a lot of these animals. There’s my dad, he did win that one, to his credit. And this was just: W5 u" w, G p& W7 j
a big part of my life and my family’s life. But you know, I can hear the cynics. In this age of digitally
4 t. l6 F8 `- W0 G3 z) p2 p+ Cmanipulated images, maybe those bears really aren’t in the pictures with me, or maybe I paid
. R4 t3 g: }7 @& D" M6 qsomebody five bucks to take a picture in the theme park next to the bear. And I said, how, in this) L2 |0 k, I$ c1 t' V' z9 f- G4 j
age of cynicism can I convince people? And I said, I know, I can show them the bears! Bring them
q6 g2 H9 s4 h& ^1 h5 F0 C9 @$ Eout. [several large stuffed animals are brought onto the stage] [laughter and clapping] Just put them: D: O. `6 g& ~! d: Y& V( o. u
back against the wall.( _! s; w) O+ w, Q- Q! r% x
Jai Pausch (Randy’s wife):6 U G+ p$ m& o: }" R
It’s hard to hear you. [adjusts Randy’s microphone]
7 p% D6 f$ L5 |; LRandy Pausch:
- y( [& z6 @7 M- qThanks honey. [laughter] So here are some bears. We didn’t have quite enough room in the moving
7 D& o9 q) `. o* I( J' N8 w& X) Mtruck, and anybody who would like a little piece of me at the end of this, feel free to come up and
4 ^2 _, K1 M& b& G- t0 r! H: a9 ^take a bear, first come, first served.
% D3 W: w& z/ \7 i1 f% rAll right, my next one. Being an Imagineer. This was the hard one. Believe me, getting to zero$ ^" w0 l! k! P* n: }# s4 f
gravity is easier than becoming an Imagineer. When I was a kid, I was eight years old and our family
/ J4 N8 Q( H7 etook a trip cross-country to see Disneyland. And if you’ve ever seen the movie National Lampoon’s( r( b7 W0 N/ O2 t. e: Z
Vacation, it was a lot like that! [laughter] It was a quest. [shows slides of family at Disneyland] And
8 ]+ J! @: [% b5 c0 Tthese are real vintage photographs, and there I am in front of the castle. And there I am, and for& k& X& T" O, A
those of you who are into foreshadowing, this is the Alice ride. [laughter] And I just thought this was6 O! [& _) I4 A0 W9 y! B) z3 k
just the coolest environment I had ever been in, and instead of saying, gee, I want to experience this,4 `4 ^! z! q# Y8 t W H) F
I said, I want to make stuff like this. And so I bided my time and then I graduated with my Ph.D.
2 [7 u. N( E( f; B1 z. Jfrom Carnegie Mellon, thinking that meant me infinitely qualified to do anything. And I dashed off: v0 g: i9 |, \8 r) D% |
my letters of applications to Walt Disney Imagineering, and they sent me some of the damned nicest6 z. k& U6 z: i( ?2 d z. o1 ?
go-to-hell letters I have ever gotten. [laughter] I mean it was just, we have carefully reviewed your/ y: }2 R. ], k' p
application and presently we do not have any positions available which require your particular
2 G: A! _# [% k' W! b/ Equalifications. Now think about the fact that you’re getting this from a place that’s famous for guys
' W0 R% C/ l% i4 L: j$ o; @/ Wwho sweep the street. [laughter] So that was a bit of a setback. But remember, the brick walls are: Q" ]7 t. f- b2 Y
there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us
3 a9 n$ {7 D/ N6 |4 k! c7 va chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the+ v. h( J7 n+ y0 M
people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.3 F5 a. p; x( f# u& }, z0 S5 e
All right, fast forward to 1991. We did a system back at the University of Virginia called Virtual
5 M4 t* V+ P4 F/ D( VReality on Five Dollars a Day. Just one of those unbelievable spectacular things. I was so scared& z' w( e$ @/ z9 u7 b) j* L
back in those days as a junior academic. Jim Foley’s here, and I just love to tell this story. He knew# t, F# Z5 h- y4 d" v/ E1 _
my undergraduate advisor, Andy Van Dam, and I’m at my first conference and I’m just scared to
1 b- H1 H! _- wdeath. And this icon in the user interface community walks up to me and just out of nowhere just# T. W9 N: @4 c' w
gives me this huge bear hug and he says, that was from Andy. And that was when I thought, ok,( l- u( Z2 h: }9 \
maybe I can make it. Maybe I do belong. And a similar story is that this was just this unbelievable! g9 u$ G% S, o; V4 R
hit because at the time, everybody needed a half a million [dollars] to do virtual reality. And
5 b1 Z2 E) Z1 N& Y1 Meverybody felt frustrated. And we literally hacked together a system for about five thousand dollars# n' |& p* B M4 U. k) m6 J) U% o
in parts and made a working VR system. And people were just like, oh my god, you know, the
4 a3 p. J5 |/ u: R5 HHewlett Packard garage thing. This is so awesome. And so I’m giving this talk and the room has just; X% u8 U9 ~9 l! H
gone wild, and during the Q and A, a guy named Tom Furness, who was one of the big names in
" L! B, W8 r0 B# H/ Wvirtual reality at the time, he goes up to the microphone and he introduces himself. I didn’t know' q6 `) v1 @. }7 n9 Z4 h
what he looked like but I sure as hell knew the name. And he asked a question. And I was like, I’m
3 p; ?2 U2 Z% X8 lsorry did you say you were Tom Furness? And he said yes. I said, then I would love to answer your
7 \8 M6 W. }. \" _( }5 l( ^question, but first, will you have lunch with me tomorrow? [laughter] And there’s a lot in that little
7 U9 r" R6 P+ c8 emoment, there’s a lot of humility but also asking a person where he can’t possibly say no. [laughter]
* _ m7 ~0 `- J _' o/ @7 BAnd so Imagineering a couple of years later was working on a virtual reality project. This was top: [( {1 [# q$ f+ S4 c% ?) y4 d# e
secret. They were denying the existence of a virtual reality attraction after the time that the
% f, B$ Q! |6 l; o6 o1 r8 ipublicity department was running the TV commercials. So Imagineering really had nailed this one
0 e6 V$ y% l8 [, ]$ ]2 [0 n" @tight. And it was the Aladdin attraction where you would fly a magic carpet, and the head mounted
' U8 f5 q; l- x3 E" ~9 F1 ?- t7 q) fdisplay, sometimes known as gator vision. And so I had an in. As soon as the project had just, you
, N; z4 Q% k$ V+ [$ }8 D- Vknow they start running the TV commercials, and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of Defense
2 u# ^' T: x0 v* Ron the state of virtual reality. OK, Fred Brooks and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of
/ D t1 n& `, H F! uDefense, and that gave me an excuse. So I called them. I called Imagineering and I said, look, I’m0 x- [ T4 d1 {
briefing the Secretary of Defense. I’d like some materials on what you have because it’s one of the% S L z. X+ Y& R
best VR systems in the world. And they kind of pushed back. And I said, look, is all this patriotism
- }$ d6 b+ ^3 w2 s3 O9 Z$ E' b. hstuff in the parks a farce? And they’re like, hmm, ok. [laughter] But they said this is so new the PR
1 I! H* ^- }; pdepartment doesn’t have any footage for you, so I’m going to have to connect you straight through9 X! Q/ O5 w8 }' i8 V# ~
to the team who did the work. Jackpot! So I find myself on the phone with a guy named Jon Snoddy
+ W4 e- G" b# Wwho is one of the most impressive guys I have ever met, and he was the guy running this team, and# ^, e# d3 H K' Q
it’s not surprising they had done impressive things. And so he sent me some stuff, we talked briefly
6 m% p7 e/ W5 M( j9 C) s: Xand he sent me some stuff, and I said, hey, I’m going to be out in the area for a conference shortly," V) g/ y# V6 q9 x
would you like to get together and have lunch? Translation: I’m going to lie to you and say that I
& {8 o! e: o3 {9 f% i0 }+ H0 L7 Zhave an excuse to be in the area so I don’t look too anxious, but I would go to Neptune to have
3 [$ Y" e" ^/ z, C4 E5 hlunch with you! [laughter] And so Jon said sure, and I spent something like 80 hours talking with all3 s' }- t$ t' N8 V. f! {* ^
the VR experts in the world, saying if you had access to this one unbelievable project, what would
& A6 v1 `9 [" d2 p9 Vyou ask? And then I compiled all of that and I had to memorize it, which anybody that knows me) A9 [. \5 P# n/ s
knows that I have no memory at all, because I couldn’t go in looking like a dweeb with, you know, [in5 V$ u0 v. u3 {9 K; ^& v2 Y
dweeby voice] Hi, Question 72. So, I went in, and this was like a two hour lunch, and Jon must have
* X6 G% p/ A+ Ythought he was talking to some phenomenal person, because all I was doing was channeling Fred+ H% e6 @ B N5 J' ?
Brooks and Ivan Sutherland and Andy Van Dam and people like that. And Henry Fuchs. So it’s pretty
, r+ P/ b5 K* [: c9 S# E# U2 l" {easy to be smart when you’re parroting smart people. And at the end of the lunch with Jon, I sort3 T! J8 R. h0 \' c
of, as we say in the business, made “the ask.” And I said, you know, I have a sabbatical coming up.
) N' y) e2 K" u( m9 eAnd he said, what’s that? [laughter] The beginnings of the culture clash. And so I talked with him
8 Y% G7 {! j6 ^" ^: cabout the possibility of coming there and working with him. And he said, well that’s really good
/ y3 B1 w5 l ]% ^( h$ [- h. [0 Xexcept, you know, you’re in the business of telling people stuff and we’re in the business of keeping, P. ~0 J. q, {
secrets. And then what made Jon Snoddy Jon Snoddy was he said, but we’ll work it out, which I9 ^! K: x9 n6 Z: m, p8 g1 A8 Y! f- |
really loved. The other thing that I learned from Jon Snoddy – I could do easily an hour long talk just4 f. J3 h# o0 Y' N! B
on what have I learned from Jon Snoddy. One of the things he told me was that wait long enough
4 \+ X" h8 y) f9 a, _and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you’re pissed off at somebody and you’re
" `( C+ I" V2 t' Y0 ^, p0 v9 wangry at them, you just haven’t given them enough time. Just give them a little more time and1 L$ K$ ~6 D1 o" A; e
they’ll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he’s absolutely right on2 H& x2 \: V; M' m9 Q! w
that one. So to make a long story short, we negotiated a legal contract. It was going to be the first –
$ G+ \( C$ A% f5 lsome people referred to it as the first and last paper ever published by Imagineering. That the deal$ U" o2 z ^3 Y9 w" O
was I go, I provide my own funding, I go for six months, I work with a project, we publish a paper.
% O* Q y, a# a$ x5 M( N; j$ \And then we meet our villain. [shows slide of a picture of a former dean of Randy’s] I can’t be all% ?* j* y" s" O d5 v# ?4 r% M
sweetness and light, because I have no credibility. Somebody’s head’s going to go on a stick. Turns
! X W0 Y1 N5 A$ Rout that the person who gets his head on a stick is a dean back at the University of Virginia. His
9 H$ t6 l/ e3 y) N/ C4 Pname is not important. Let’s call him Dean Wormer. [laughter] And Dean Wormer has a meeting3 e1 f6 V5 |2 s h% h
with me where I say I want to do this sabbatical thing and I’ve actually got the Imagineering guys to* a4 q% p% h8 W4 ~' i
let an academic in, which is insane. I mean if Jon hadn’t gone nuts, this would never have been a, S3 N. j" @$ c- {, C
possibility. This is a very secretive organization. And Dean Wormer looks at the paperwork and he
- \2 q8 G7 _& I6 n1 _( _' \& Msays, well it says they’re going to own your intellectual property. And I said, yeah, we got the
% r" l; n* f# u# _5 W3 jagreement to publish the paper. There is no other IP. I don’t do patentable stuff. And says, yeah,
; e; r# t H! y6 J% gbut you might. And so deal’s off. Just go and get them to change that little clause there and then
! @* S' j) w1 z8 l" L* Y9 m( |come back to me. I’m like, excuse me? And then I said to him, I want you to understand how
4 V* x* e) D; u5 w. w/ dimportant this is. If we can’t work this out, I’m going to take an unpaid leave of absence and I’m just5 N% q0 A* p) g2 p
going to go there and I’m going to do this thing. And he said, hey, I might not even let you do that. I
# ]& x4 y3 h3 w% O& ?' ^ Hmean you’ve got the IP in your head already and maybe they’re going to suck it out of you, so that’s
- e( s0 S! M' E3 z; hnot going to fly either. [laughter] It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And* m9 B9 z" x4 ?
it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible. So I said to him, well, let’s back off on this.
7 y0 Z# }! N2 k0 ]5 rDo we think this is a good idea at all? He said, I have no idea if this is a good idea. I was like,& x& w5 t ~& a M" q; g
[sarcastically] OK, well we’ve got common ground there. Then I said, well is this really your call?/ n0 A6 D: W/ D% ^" q* n2 |
Isn’t this the call of the Dean of Sponsored Research if it’s an IP issue? And he said, yeah, that’s true., G( @8 [0 D# a: g, Z4 G! B; P
I said, but so if he’s happy you’re happy? [So he says] Yeah, then I’d be fine. Whoosh! Like Wile E.
) \( G- ^2 {0 g0 Q& OCoyote, I’m gone in a big ball of dust. And I find myself in Gene Block’s office, who is the most; z' e' _* ~. u
fantastic man in the world. And I start talking to Gene Block and I say let’s start at the high level,
( j( y8 y% }; q9 u, Jsince I don’t want to have to back out again. So let’s start at the high level. Do you think this is a
+ U+ X# b& M6 I+ {! z; Lgood idea? He said, well if you’re asking me if it’s a good idea, I don’t have very much information./ g* M: m E" L/ r: S/ S$ o
All I know is that one of my star faculty members is in my office and he’s really excited, so tell me
& E2 |6 j) `$ t7 @8 u0 N' w/ g$ w+ Tmore. Here’s a lesson for everybody in administration. They both said the same thing. But think
, K0 d0 Y j/ ~7 b! B8 L2 c5 Q6 Oabout how they said it, right? [In a loud, barking voice] I don’t know! [In a pleasant voice] Well, I
+ G1 M- w" l! s/ r2 p4 Fdon’t have much information, but one of my start faculty members is here and he’s all excited so I
/ q1 I8 W5 `. x) d, twant to learn more. They’re both ways of saying I don’t know, but boy there’s a good way and a bad
_0 H) q8 ]( e: ^7 K: Mway. So anyway, we got it all worked out. I went to Imagineering. Sweetness and light. And all’s" q7 U/ _3 I9 @- S7 l
well that ends well.
- {) h U" p) N+ L$ w9 fSome brick walls are made of flesh. So I worked on the Aladdin Project. It was absolutely
0 K, V9 v9 Z+ O6 Pspectacular, I mean just unbelievable. Here’s my nephew Christopher. [Shows slide of Christopher
2 T3 c9 v& |3 O# o) e& jon Aladdin apparatus] This was the apparatus. You would sit on this sort of motorcycle-type thing.
6 m; k$ b- I+ v3 }: lAnd you would steer your magic carpet and you would put on the head-mounted display. The headmounted4 r: H0 \* v4 L3 V
display is very interesting because it had two parts, and it was a very clever design. To get' ^+ V1 p8 O/ d/ i
throughput up, the only part that touched the guest’s head was this little cap and everything else
' s( u4 b4 l4 W- l# d4 T. uclicked onto it – all the expensive hardware. So you could replicate the caps because they were7 s: D5 F5 q% a$ Z/ l: T% ~
basically free to manufacture. [Showing slide of Randy cleaning a cap] And this is what I really did is! }& a) b' B/ {) M5 j4 N
I was a cap cleaner during the sabbatical. [laughter] I loved Imagineering. It was just a spectacular
5 g2 }# t4 V! u- eplace. Just spectacular. Everything that I had dreamed. I loved the model shop. People crawling
' D, v! @* ]; Zaround on things the size of this room that are just big physical models. It was just an incredible5 p9 B9 t% \8 Y4 x4 k' `5 K
place to walk around and be inspired. I’m always reminded of when I went there and people said,7 ^; K4 [$ C) K0 Q! t! q' N
do you think your expectations are too high? And I said, you ever see the movie Charlie and the) ~3 i& ^. E2 L) T
Chocolate Factory? Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory? Where Gene Wilder says to the little
6 E/ O2 j7 I5 ?3 `1 hboy Charlie, he’s about to give him the chocolate factory. He says “Well Charlie, did anybody ever
8 f! o& ]9 G+ O& M) ]7 o" m2 U7 ptell you the story of the little boy who suddenly got everything he ever wanted?” Charlie’s eyes get3 t" d! z/ G! h- A7 v
like saucers and he says, “No, what happened to him?” Gene Wilder says, “He lived happily ever
8 t+ g9 b& s" O$ jafter.” [laughter]
; l' k5 T' H$ I$ [OK, so working on the Aladdin VR, I described it as a once in every five careers opportunity, and I2 J- P6 H- M) d$ a. E
stand by that assessment. And it forever changed me. It wasn’t just that it was good work and I got
% M$ G* s% F2 J0 P3 z$ qto be a part of it. But it got me into the place of working with real people and real HCI user interface
" Y! z# X; b& G E7 Yissues. Most HCI people live in this fantasy world of white collar laborers with Ph.D.s and masters
8 H& P$ I2 V0 Ddegrees. And you know, until you got ice cream spilled on you, you’re not doing field work. And
' {2 S# l$ T0 [$ g' Q/ Kmore than anything else, from Jon Snoddy I learned how to put artists and engineers together, and' c& Y. i9 E5 f( }4 F* g
that’s been the real legacy., U; g' T: K K
We published a paper. Just a nice academic cultural scandal. When we wrote the paper, the guys at
! s- h! o' {) m2 nImagineering said, well let’s do a nice big picture. Like you would in a magazine. [Showing slide of3 Q& j) C* |2 S Z1 d+ [
first page of the paper, with a photo at the top that spans two columns]. And the SIGGRAPH! G" l0 x% p" P1 Z+ m! F
committee, which accepted the paper, it was like this big scandal. Are they allowed to do that?
6 y: M" A% g" P- i& Z[laughter] There was no rule! So we published the paper and amazingly since then there’s a
( ^% v9 K. O5 w1 o$ [6 F, Ytradition of SIGGRAPH papers having color figures on the first page. So I’ve changed the world in a
o. V5 N6 [. n6 u ^small way. [laughter] And then at the end of my six months, they came to me and they said, you- E7 d7 w* f3 h# x& q4 N( N
want to do it for real? You can stay. And I said no. One of the only times in my life I have surprised
9 Y8 V. F( ]# @3 z" P! Cmy father. He was like, you’re what? He said, since you were, you know [gesturing to height of a1 n% G, x* k a5 A$ g9 N
child’s head],this is all you wanted, and now that you got it, and you’re… huh? There was a bottle of; u( `- G0 ]( G! _% ?" L& h. f
Maalox in my desk drawer. Be careful what you wish for. It was a particularly stressful place.1 \2 i3 q9 D. u. r) U
Imagineering in general is actually not so Maalox-laden, but the lab I was in – oh, Jon left in the
4 Y; b& B4 X: J* ]/ q) Jmiddle. And it was a lot like the Soviet Union. It was a little dicey for awhile. But it worked out OK.0 H' L4 i* E8 s
And if they had said, stay here or never walk in the building again, I would have done it. I would/ X$ D; w7 q. w1 v- K- V6 }9 c
have walked away from tenure, I would have just done it. But they made it easy on me. They said
9 T, ~# T: @# ^, t4 m4 ?7 _you can have your cake and eat it too. And I basically became a day-a-week consultant for2 P* D: I; _# [) m5 q
Imagineering, and I did that for about ten years. And that’s one of the reasons you should all
, x c( D5 F8 Z5 x Z2 k- lbecome professors. Because you can have your cake and eat it too.2 [7 P: i7 w* b# y
I went and consulted on things like DisneyQuest. So there was the Virtual Jungle Cruise. And the: a* c1 O# j3 Y( p5 f0 d
best interactive experience I think ever done, and Jesse Schell gets the credit for this, Pirates of the
$ z a8 {$ S& r" H OCaribbean. Wonderful at DisneyQuest.. K" d$ G6 H. Y6 A) i% s
And so those are my childhood dreams. And that’s pretty good. I felt good about that. So then the& |% e2 U9 O. z* i
question becomes, how can I enable the childhood dreams of others. And again, boy am I glad I% z, k+ P% L: J, l, N0 i) ]
became a professor. What better place to enable childhood dreams? Eh, maybe working at EA, I w" l' [2 N4 `
don’t know. That’d probably be a good close second. And this started in a very concrete realization9 u; L0 v8 E/ P) |, O) Y& S( _! D. g
that I could do this, because a young man named Tommy Burnett, when I was at the University of
1 @) b, W8 {& Z5 H2 b# _ {* `8 c( pVirginia, came to me, was interested in joining my research group. And we talked about it, and he
+ ^1 R6 n3 N2 Y8 p( Q4 ^' Ksaid, oh, and I have a childhood dream. It gets pretty easy to recognize them when they tell you.# X6 d' V( |) m
And I said, yes, Tommy, what is your childhood dream? He said, I want to work on the next Star/ z" ?( f2 L( d: B
Wars film. Now you got to remember the timing on this. Where is Tommy, Tommy is here today.
8 V# T! t7 w; c" Y5 EWhat year would this have been? Your sophomore year.
8 k C6 D) `7 g* sTommy:, H3 _- s: Z$ u: U
It was around ’93.
6 ~0 r% g$ g" v/ M! MRandy Pausch:
* l3 X8 T: |! |; T4 BAre you breaking anything back there young man? OK, all right, so in 1993. And I said to Tommy,
- l4 N. P& W5 Lyou know they’re probably not going to make those next movies. [laughter] And he said, no, THEY/ F" ?3 v0 u H$ C" E
ARE. And Tommy worked with me for a number of years as an undergraduate and then as a staff/ }) }) A! q0 B7 Q
member, and then I moved to Carnegie Mellon, every single member of my team came from Virginia% N; C, e, p& p3 u
to Carnegie Mellon except for Tommy because he got a better offer. And he did indeed work on all
. r0 I9 F. q' Hthree of those films. And then I said, well that’s nice, but you know, one at a time is kind of5 X* ?$ _, q- |, p% r! h4 Z
inefficient. And people who know me know that I’m an efficiency freak. So I said, can I do this in6 a* I3 E$ B' C9 U
mass? Can I get people turned in such a way that they can be turned onto their childhood dreams?+ v# k* E( I2 E+ }# [2 S
And I created a course, I came to Carnegie Mellon and I created a course called Building Virtual
9 d) K+ b- x/ J. B7 Y3 o, \4 bWorlds. It’s a very simple course. How many people here have ever been to any of the shows?8 {( P6 K3 t) G" ^6 [8 o6 z! `' G
[Some people from audience raise hands] OK, so some of you have an idea. For those of you who
X J$ C; E3 {7 ?3 Z: Hdon’t, the course is very simple. There are 50 students drawn from all the different departments of' E& G. C$ f9 r' i
the university. There are randomly chosen teams, four people per team, and they change every
( k5 {4 v5 f, \+ C r8 Lproject. A project only lasts two weeks, so you do something, you make something, you show
: Q( Y9 y+ a) ]7 ^) jsomething, then I shuffle the teams, you get three new playmates and you do it again. And it’s" M- H9 A/ I+ y4 N/ k3 U d
every two weeks, and so you get five projects during the semester. The first year we taught this. [! s, u# s% f0 ^3 {6 Z3 S
course, it is impossible to describe how much of a tiger by the tail we had. I was just running the, B. Z. _* K) T, F! ~
course because I wanted to see if we could do it. We had just learned how to do texture mapping
$ D( s1 m% x) Hon 3D graphics, and we could make stuff that looked half decent. But you know, we were running9 k+ Y. D7 S5 N
on really weak computers, by current standards. But I said I’ll give it a try. And at my new university( O. \3 Y7 I, h2 E, c% @9 w/ u) J0 x
[Carnegie Mellon] I made a couple of phone calls, and I said I want to cross-list this course to get all
! w+ v+ h& k% `" mthese other people. And within 24 hours it was cross-listed in five departments. I love this
8 K0 S" A9 d% n. g6 }university. I mean it’s the most amazing place. And the kids said, well what content do we make? I% Q$ n! y9 A4 W- Q. `
said, hell, I don’t know. You make whatever you want. Two rules: no shooting violence and no
/ x+ U6 A% j6 J# Qpornography. Not because I’m opposed to those in particular, but you know, that’s been done with
9 R5 B; s& q; B$ {# vVR, right? [laughter] And you’d be amazed how many 19-year-old boys are completely out of ideas
2 P- O) {! O7 ^$ y6 B/ Twhen you take those off the table. [laughter and clapping]
/ [! {1 w4 W6 L5 F; C) @% i/ }Anyway, so I taught the course. The first assignment, I gave it to them, they came back in two4 e" t" V1 L* ?, l B+ A2 @4 l( ~# m
weeks and they just blew me away. I mean the work was so beyond, literally, my imagination,' j/ d0 b0 V( h) T+ ^
because I had copied the process from Imagineering’s VR lab, but I had no idea what they could or& L' K. L# i$ Z7 {7 U
couldn’t do with it as undergraduates, and their tools were weaker, and they came back on the first
, [+ X# b3 c; K& K+ \3 s9 k M9 W4 kassignment, and they did something that was so spectacular that I literally didn’t, ten years as a
2 i" l: k7 ~" p) k: @professor and I had no idea what to do next. So I called up my mentor, and I called up Andy Van( x0 [$ Y/ d( M4 A7 i1 j
Dam. And I said, Andy, I just gave a two-week assignment, and they came back and did stuff that if I
3 D1 m5 T+ X3 q: Phad given them a whole semester I would have given them all As. Sensei, what do I do? [laughter]
$ g! h: P4 }; ^6 r$ @+ K N& X$ P7 zAnd Andy thought for a minute and he said, you go back into class tomorrow and you look them in
- K8 t( b9 J) q9 Ithe eye and you say, “Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better.” [laughter] And that
% Q! Y( n$ V' s% gwas exactly the right advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don’t know where the bar
7 Y; I8 C" h% S; e/ q) E+ ashould be, and you’re only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere. And boy was that; j7 Z+ m0 `+ ^& B& Y9 F8 f3 a3 n
good advice because they just kept going. And during that semester it became this underground
: @. I' L+ l" y% b! e. zthing. I’d walk into a class with 50 students in it and there were 95 people in the room. Because it
0 Q: ^, f4 n( ~. w( P" F8 Zwas the day we were showing work. And people’s roommates and friends and parents – I’d never& s% V9 @" O8 i" ]4 A- x
had parents come to class before! It was flattering and somewhat scary. And so it snowballed and: i$ F, z: D o. N2 J" _6 q
we had this bizarre thing of, well we’ve got to share this. If there’s anything I’ve been raised to do,
- G0 a Q$ e' X) d$ U- ?2 q4 mit’s to share, and I said, we’ve got to show this at the end of the semester. We’ve got to have a big
# s; d1 X' l/ _4 ~5 z8 D. Eshow. And we booked this room, McConomy. I have a lot of good memories in this room. And we
" a' X! d8 u t6 Qbooked it not because we thought we could fill it, but because it had the only AV setup that would
6 e/ O. t: R6 Z" K, Kwork, because this was a zoo. Computers and everything. And then we filled it. And we more than
8 Z1 p1 J5 C; e$ d$ c9 T. w& g$ Wfilled it. We had people standing in the aisle. I will never forget the dean at the time, Jim Morris
" g9 ]: O" ^/ I' U- fwas sitting on the stage right about there. We had to kind of scoot him out of the way. And the
/ w; T2 Y( H! R+ ]* f" i! qenergy in the room was like nothing I had ever experienced before. And President Cohen, Jerry- T" e! T& u: Z: d+ e9 ~
Cohen was there, and he sensed the same thing. He later described it as like an Ohio State football, J B. {# [- D# C) ?: m+ _
pep rally. Except for academics. And he came over and he asked exactly the right question. He1 E& B( V. c+ \) U9 F" s
said, before you start, he said, where are these people from? He said, the audience, what
; w% b8 m% V" w1 ~: e: }, b6 e4 Y( P, odepartments are they from? And we polled them and it was all the departments. And I felt very
' w) P& o( _' Y- [8 Igood because I had just come to campus, he had just come to campus, and my new boss had seen in
) P; u6 | q" t3 ~- xa very corporal way that this is the university that puts everybody together. And that made me feel4 F ?! D" A* E5 M
just tremendous.
2 ]& I: W$ O/ o# v" @' kSo we did this campus-wide exhibition. People performed down here. They’re in costume, and we
_) |# G+ o) ]4 ?+ m+ uproject just like this and you can see what’s going on. You can see what they’re seeing in the head# z2 p. x% ~; i- x8 U
mount. There’s a lot of big props, so there’s a guy white water rafting. [shows slides of a BVW show]
6 C3 u, q' T. h/ H, p. [This is Ben in E.T. And yes, I did tell them if they didn’t do the shot of the kids biking across the3 v, @5 @6 `. A( Z! V
moon I would fail him. That is a true story. And I thought I’d show you just one world, and if we can
! L1 B8 Z& }7 m* R& [/ iget the lights down if that’s at all possible. No, ok, that means no. All right. All right we’ll just do
! P! z- U5 \+ r6 G; x4 uour best then. [Shows “Hello.world” world done in the BVW class, audience applauds at the end.] It
3 S, |+ g5 D1 I# Z p( K" T; hwas an unusual course. With some of the most brilliant, creative students from all across the
: i' M1 s' P# w0 k$ G: h, ?campus. It just was a joy to be involved. And they took the whole stage performance aspect of this
- c2 N* S9 |$ Z' ]( |, ~way too seriously [shows pictures of very strange costumes students wore]. And it became this
' `4 Y- X6 W; U+ O. mcampus phenomenon every year. People would line up for it. It was very flattering. And it gave kids% U8 C5 c! K! G# L [
a sense of excitement of putting on a show for people who were excited about it. And I think that
8 m2 m/ ^4 }3 Ethat’s one of the best things you can give somebody – the chance to show them what it feels like to
, J7 g9 @. N" j" Kmake other people get excited and happy. I mean that’s a tremendous gift. We always try to
4 C4 y1 D8 {% Y# X) Minvolve the audience. Whether it was people with glow sticks or batting a beach ball around… or! }9 @) m. x4 \9 r
driving [shows photo of audience members leaning in their seats to steer a car]. This is really cool.) Z7 o: k; _' B# K
This technology actually got used at the Spiderman 3 premiere in L.A., so the audience was
1 s% b$ }, e$ U& h9 b- Hcontrolling something on the screen, so that’s kind of nice. And I don’t have a class picture from
7 d; W- }& T1 k5 ], H ievery year, but I dredged all the ones that I do have, and all I can say is that what a privilege and an
7 l ~. J8 L3 F, Thonor it was to teach that course for something like ten years.* Y9 I8 c b. v* Y5 I9 b+ q
And all good things come to an end. And I stopped teaching that course about a year ago. People/ Q' ^: q# b, ?, K1 o( C& d7 p
always ask me what was my favorite moment. I don’t know if you could have a favorite moment.. U8 f! O8 ~& z$ Y
But boy there is one I’ll never forget. This was a world with, I believe a roller skating ninja. And one3 W" E6 k- w% Z; }/ J0 X- }
of the rules was that we perform these things live and they all had to really work. And the moment
( h P8 r& E# `4 M5 ]8 ?: D0 Q) z0 r" C+ wit stopped working, we went to your backup videotape. And this was very embarrassing. [Shows
$ h6 x4 o: i# ?% P: Pimage of Roller Ninja world presentation] So we have this ninja on stage and he’s doing this roller
$ E( u& v x9 i6 l: f2 m mskating thing and the world, it did not crash gently. Whoosh. And I come out, and I believe it was( k- Y: N z2 i5 ?- s
Steve, Audia, wasn’t it? Where is he? OK, where is Steve? Ah, my man. Steve Audia. And talk" H0 O4 N5 R1 O: {
about quick on your feet. I say, Steve, I’m sorry but your world has crashed and we’re going to go to
# v5 k/ M& y4 y2 Q$ I; hvideotape. And he pulls out his ninja sword and says, I am dishonored! Whaaa! And just drops!
9 M7 O O3 ^4 R5 f0 N1 L: k[applause and laughter] And so I think it’s very telling that my very favorite moment in ten years of
/ ?$ L J1 k) Lthis high technology course was a brilliant ad lib. And then when the videotape is done and the, M- b& Q8 m: n& X2 ]" G R1 I i
lights come up, he’s lying there lifeless and his teammates drag him off! [laughter] It really was a
+ i' @/ g& @4 G: k, y9 [fantastic moment., o! ]# l; ?$ @- P: W
And the course was all about bonding. People used to say, you know, what’s going to make for a0 F$ D V5 n5 l, Q+ f7 f
good world? I said, I can’t tell you beforehand, but right before they present it I can tell you if the
) y# M1 {% e1 S. O, b% Y3 _& Rworld’s good just by the body language. If they’re standing close to each other, the world is good., @# I$ H9 j1 U2 k! u
And BVW was a pioneering course [Randy puts on vest with arrows poking out of the back], and I
3 E% n( P% [; V8 Swon’t bore you with all the details, but it wasn’t easy to do, and I was given this when I stepped r7 G+ ~: B) |4 W
down from the ETC and I think it’s emblematic. If you’re going to do anything that pioneering you9 w- W' Q; T8 F$ r' o# n; O
will get those arrows in the back, and you just have to put up with it. I mean everything that could
g- }: v: c2 l1 G1 A& I. m) w: Ago wrong did go wrong. But at the end of the day, a whole lot of people had a whole lot of fun.
4 [- J: A# p9 _5 w( vWhen you’ve had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it’s the toughest thing in the
- i# J( [& q0 a# h) Zworld to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand1 C$ T* b% t5 p' r/ L
it to. And that’s what I did. There was this kid at the VR studios way back when, and you didn’t have& X4 [7 i1 g: V4 [! R& _# n/ \1 w
to spend very long in Jesse Schell’s orbit to go, the force is strong in this one. And one of my
& T. b, W9 F( Mgreatest – my two greatest accomplishments I think for Carnegie Mellon was that I got Jessica
$ ]; Z# G V- K9 d; Y' fHodgins and Jesse Schell to come here and join our faculty. And I was thrilled when I could hand this
( @4 a8 I. ~: aover to Jesse, and to no one’s surprise, he has really taken it up to the next notch. And the course is
0 i% x; v2 c7 M [4 b/ P$ Bin more than good hands – it’s in better hands. But it was just one course. And then we really took
9 E) s$ |, z0 q) o, M, a: W: a2 Vit up a notch. And we created what I would call the dream fulfillment factory. Don Marinelli and I
1 u, \ B0 v v- V1 ^6 Kgot together and with the university’s blessing and encouragement, we made this thing out of whole
; F6 q+ D; Z7 m+ x+ a. Xcloth that was absolutely insane. Should never have been tried. All the sane universities didn’t go" |, Z4 ] s) g! C/ D; @8 d4 i; j
near this kind of stuff. Creating a tremendous opportunistic void. So the Entertainment Technology
! r3 c4 `) n3 hCenter was all about artists and technologists working in small teams to make things. It was a twoyear. t" [ q) w' G2 d
professional master’s degree. And Don and I were two kindred spirits. We’re very different –
& E' E. v! d5 J8 |5 U4 T& [anybody who knows us knows that we are very different people. And we liked to do things in a new6 H( f+ {9 ]5 B( n; U! _* l5 k
way, and the truth of the matter is that we are both a little uncomfortable in academia. I used to
% H t j; e% [2 O3 L/ B/ tsay that I am uncomfortable as an academic because I come from a long line of people who actually/ D& U; D) R5 I' a+ }
worked for a living, so. [Nervous laughter] I detect nervous laughter! And I want to stress, Carnegie
9 o5 [. q; [9 @0 D# Y; qMellon is the only place in the world that the ETC could have happened. By far the only place./ m- c% P, K/ w4 q2 ^& j/ I- o
[Shows slide of Don Marinelli in tye-dyed shirt, shades and an electric guitar, sitting on a desk next
4 L! c' ^2 R2 p) w F6 q+ _to Randy, wearing nerd glasses, button-up shirt, staring at a laptop. Above their heads were the
5 W) w5 J8 `9 q1 \$ Slabels “Right brain/Left brain”] [laughter] OK, this picture was Don’s idea, OK? And we like to refer
; d: w- }& ?+ W4 |. w) Y0 J8 ^$ Oto this picture as Don Marinelli on guitar and Randy Pausch on keyboards. [laughter] But we really, K$ n! p( y8 O `/ J" \
did play up the left brain, right brain and it worked out really well that way. [Shows slide of Don+ ` l# d( n$ ]# T' D9 z* x. n
looking intense] Don is an intense guy. And Don and I shared an office, and at first it was a small. i& e6 d5 C$ l; @* f9 h
office. We shared an office for six years. You know, those of you who know Don know he’s an9 P+ U3 ~6 q" ]8 _2 |- W
intense guy. And you know, given my current condition, somebody was asking me … this is a
' p4 z6 x4 N5 d' I% K. Nterrible joke, but I’m going to use it anyway. Because I know Don will forgive me. Somebody said,
G2 n0 h6 S5 n% _; h9 A# b$ u! K/ Sgiven your current condition, have you thought about whether you’re going to go to heaven or hell?
; h! o& g# O V' kAnd I said, I don’t know, but if I’m going to hell, I’m due six years for time served! [laughter] I kid.
( ]/ B2 d& [ Q R: oSharing an office with Don was really like sharing an office with a tornado. There was just so much- }# @4 n, \3 P' q
energy and you never knew which trailer was next, right? But you know something exciting was
* \+ {3 n2 d& Q2 p+ ~1 v% V' |going to happen. And there was so much energy, and I do believe in giving credit where credit is I3 s, b- L) R
due. So in my typically visual way, if Don and I were to split the success for the ETC, he clearly gets/ ]+ t8 b' Y5 m' }. B |' {2 R& j
the lion’s share of it. [Shows image of a pie chart divided 70/30 (Don/Randy) ] He did the lion’s share4 u3 |8 f4 f; E' M8 V
of the work, ok, he had the lion’s share of the ideas. It was a great teamwork. I think it was a great$ Y6 c! H2 H, N- O8 Y2 h
yin and a yang, but it was more like YIN and yang. And he deserves that credit and I give it to him, g, Z K+ {# t. s i2 a
because the ETC is a wonderful place. And he’s now running it and he’s taking it global. We’ll talk
: w' S2 E9 Y. yabout that in a second.
" R$ d7 o, W7 z: n$ K0 ?Describing the ETC is really hard, and I finally found a metaphor. Telling people about the ETC is like
7 F0 m) z# ?- v9 pdescribing Cirque du Soleil if they’ve never seen it. Sooner or later you’re going to make the
) j% _5 [& K$ N5 m: V2 |" Tmistake. You’re going to say, well it’s like a circus. And then you’re dragged into this conversation
' e0 r! U7 r$ g% i: H! Q5 A2 ^about oh, how many tigers, how many lions, how many trapeze acts? And that misses the whole
H/ J1 U4 C+ `point. So when we say we’re a master’s degree, we’re really not like any master’s degree you’ve' t+ r) X( N, q2 X, i$ L: m6 Y
ever seen. Here’s the curriculum [Shows slide of ETC curriculum, listing “Project Course” as the only
( Q5 d) k+ ], Rcourse each semester; audience laughs] The curriculum ended up looking like this. [shows slightly' u6 ^' f5 i. B1 c5 d* S$ u
more detailed slide]. All I want to do is visually communicate to you that you do five projects in) D% L) k; ]$ Q: Z8 s2 D2 z* Z
Building Virtual Worlds, then you do three more. All of your time is spent in small teams making% t% N2 J1 G- X; X3 s9 u& O; Z
stuff. None of that book learning thing. Don and I had no patience for the book learning thing. It’s
[6 G7 e( Q$ S3 {% ga master’s degree. They already spent four years doing book learning. By now they should have/ h. i& a# Y5 X& F+ W5 u
read all the books.
, P4 p1 {/ Y- |" u- h, eThe keys to success were that Carnegie Mellon gave us the reins. Completely gave us the reins. We* y% x: O& ]% {, p3 P5 {; q5 L- u! I
had no deans to report to. We reported directly to the provost, which is great because the provost: G) J& M1 Q7 n, y$ z2 U8 G" p
is way too busy to watch you carefully. [laughter] We were given explicit license to break the mold.
" R9 \2 e* `8 n8 p, s2 V; `It was all project based. It was intense, it was fun, and we took field trips! Every spring semester in9 a3 Y2 c% f# p- V1 g
January, we took all 50 students in the first year class and we’d take them out to Pixar, Industrial# w- H% [/ B7 ?4 t/ p7 ]$ N
Light and Magic, and of course when you’ve got guys like Tommy there acting as host, right, it’s# Q u5 v7 {; J$ Y1 k1 E
pretty easy to get entrée to these places. So we did things very, very differently. The kind of4 i( S, A" {1 y! \1 B
projects students would do, we did a lot of what we’d call edutainment.% F' |" e: I& e5 q5 I
We developed a bunch of things with the Fire Department of New York, a network simulator for$ U( Q1 }; u2 N8 Y) ]4 Z! S. d' X3 |
training firefighters, using video game-ish type technology to teach people useful things. That’s not0 n& J; w# Q) C; L! Y
bad. Companies did this strange thing. They put in writing, we promise to hire your students. I’ve
" J! p5 ]; S$ H6 B. [got the EA and Activision ones here. I think there are now, how many, five? Drew knows I bet./ w K' b4 Q0 @
[Drew Davison, head of ETC-Pittsburgh, gestures with five fingers]. So there are five written
; t& K4 [2 M% F ^' w' Cagreements. I don’t know of any other school that has this kind of written agreement with any
7 X' A8 d4 ~) J& ?: K! Tcompany. And so that’s a real statement. And these are multiple year things, so they’re agreeing to1 c, _2 {: f& Q
hire people for summer internships that we have not admitted yet. That’s a pretty strong statement8 a" h% L' E( M
about the quality of the program. And Don, as I said, he’s now, he’s crazy. In a wonderful
- u0 s3 [* t3 ?2 m) ~complimentary way. He’s doing these things where I’m like, oh my god. He’s not here tonight; y) H6 p' c) N) U% W* Y
because he’s in Singapore because there’s going to be an ETC campus in Singapore. There’s already+ u C7 u% K# A0 Q8 J. J4 d
on in Australia and there’s going to be on in Korea. So this is becoming a global phenomenon. So I
! L7 X5 _; T, i% q: ?$ athink this really speaks volumes about all the other universities. It’s really true that Carnegie Mellon0 N" c# \: j; f' |5 J0 I
is the only university that can do this. We just have to do it all over the world now.
! h8 `" w- @. G8 _% T% s: n( F" b7 gOne other big success about the ETC is teaching people about feedback [puts up bar chart where
8 n$ H& U9 z- O: ?' ostudents are (anonymous) listed on a scale labeled “how easy to work with” ] -- oh I hear the5 D% V* d2 ?$ _0 K6 `" {) O
nervous laughter from the students. I had forgotten the delayed shock therapy effect of these bar$ s9 ?0 Q" ]% h" F0 ]+ R$ f
charts. When you’re taking Building Virtual Worlds, every two weeks we get peer feedback. We put; S6 r8 w% t$ A/ m
that all into a big spreadsheet and at the end of the semester, you had three teammates per project,8 A4 P' C! o, A) j# {
five projects, that’s 15 data points, that’s statistically valid. And you get a bar chart telling you on a
1 z5 L3 Z- P$ j! P% m% I# a7 qranking of how easy you are to work with, where you stacked up against your peers. Boy that’s hard6 W% c8 Y' Q, q9 k, K w F
feedback to ignore. Some still managed. [laughter] But for the most part, people looked at that and! H _3 J( v0 h# p- ~/ X. W" j
went, wow, I’ve got to take it up a notch. I better start thinking about what I’m saying to people in
6 N9 V" @, {/ ?9 p+ r2 P5 @these meetings. And that is the best gift an educator can give is to get somebody to become self; j) a5 W* B- b
reflective.
4 n! K3 U; J9 V9 J, S. b$ y) `; NSo the ETC was wonderful, but even the ETC and even as Don scales it around the globe, it’s still very9 e- U; O+ ]+ r- p; [& r4 V
labor intensive, you know. It’s not Tommy one-at-a-time. It’s not a research group ten at a time.
* i# x( e l9 L& RIt’s 50 or 100 at a time per campus times four campuses. But I wanted something infinitely scalable.0 d# r5 j4 @2 b |
Scalable to the point where millions or tens of millions of people could chase their dreams with0 t' W2 d1 r% h- u
something. And you know, I guess that kind of a goal really does make me the Mad Hatter. [Puts on
1 C" l0 C& x5 [; ha Mad Hatter’s green top hat]. So Alice is a project that we worked on for a long, long time. It’s a
1 E) Z) D+ |+ p1 v9 l; knovel way to teach computer programming. Kids make movies and games. The head fake – again,
( ]% r- b v y, u" cwe’re back to the head fakes. The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think- ^: b; ?) }3 w+ |- ]/ q
they’re learning something else. I’ve done it my whole career. And the head fake here is that
: m0 W$ w' e$ s# Rthey’re learning to program but they just think they’re making movies and video games. This thing" H1 C. q* @: V% o, N% J
has already been downloaded well over a million times. There are eight textbooks that have been
# g7 \5 x4 a3 ^" Z' `$ Kwritten about it. Ten percent of U.S. colleges are using it now. And it’s not the good stuff yet. The% y0 y) B7 e8 E" O' t0 k
good stuff is coming in the next version. I, like Moses, get to see the promised land, but I won’t get( |% C* j5 z) P0 M$ S
to set foot in it. And that’s OK, because I can see it. And the vision is clear. Millions of kids having
) p) }" f' N: B3 y: A$ s3 ofun while learning something hard. That’s pretty cool. I can deal with that as a legacy. The next
+ r2 `" F5 \" Q, d8 y b, Aversion’s going to come out in 2008. It’s going to be teaching the Java language if you want them to t) d! `9 r) Y$ O/ n* o8 [7 {
know they’re learning Java. Otherwise they’ll just think that they’re writing movie scripts. And
- C8 |% U1 k3 C1 K# A: j# D# J) a2 fwe’re getting the characters from the bestselling PC video game in history, The Sims. And this is
' |( a) o& }( Balready working in the lab, so there’s no real technological risk. I don’t have time to thank and
4 L6 c: C- ~9 ]mention everybody in the Alice team, but I just want to say that Dennis Cosgrove is going to be6 }2 ^* }# n: \. i" p$ D
building this, has been building this. He is the designer. This is his baby. And for those of you who* L j! [" ?6 L* X8 C# X; V- S
are wondering, well, in some number of months who should I be emailing about the Alice project,5 k1 h" d3 R5 l0 a
where’s Wanda Dann? Oh, there you are. Stand up, let them all see you. Everybody say, Hi Wanda.
( g( p, c. H, ]$ m% kAudience:0 e, p6 P$ b9 A+ \( K/ T
Hi, Wanda.. f& y" C# N8 Z+ I
Randy Pausch:
2 B: D) u8 `& u3 \Send her the email. And I’ll talk a little bit more about Caitlin Kelleher, but she’s graduated with her) G. }. v) ^6 Y& Q6 `/ V# N8 @, R1 m- j {
Ph.D., and she’s at Washington University, and she’s going to be taking this up a notch and going to
, y6 t/ [; }6 Z, K& f7 @( Gmiddle schools with it. So, grand vision and to the extent that you can live on in something, I will N p" Q2 T% B5 d# [/ {& ?
live on in Alice.
6 \) j7 A; G% K8 i+ q' zAll right, so now the third part of the talk. Lessons learned. We’ve talked about my dreams. We’ve2 H% ?2 q) Q7 p- x
talked about helping other people enable their dreams. Somewhere along the way there’s got to be; u+ Z, s- Q% ]5 }0 `+ j) @
some aspect of what lets you get to achieve your dreams. First one is the rule of parents, mentors1 \( j6 w+ I7 |, c9 g! X9 o
and students. I was blessed to have been born to two incredible people. This is my mother on her
! X; J1 ]; S2 M4 F70th birthday. [Shows slide of Randy’s mom driving a race car on an amusement park race course]
3 P7 S0 B1 T4 q[laughter] I am back here. I have just been lapped. [laughter] This is my dad riding a roller coaster1 P1 `/ [: a6 ]$ U
on his 80th birthday. [Shows slide of dad] And he points out that he’s not only brave, he’s talented* ] [3 c$ f/ @' R# N9 K
because he did win that big bear the same day. My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an8 l U/ [- x$ N J
adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag.] I don’t know what’s in that bag,- W6 v, e, }, I0 e) N4 Z
but I know it’s cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things
* I% \) p) M* u( S( l7 x# uto help lots of people. This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every
: D% h& J) b/ U3 b1 n2 Pyear about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn’t have otherwise. This is something my wife
$ p7 o; }7 M, ]6 f" Q6 {% _and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody
# l4 d; R2 R& g6 Y! Tought to be doing. Helping others.( ^. ~$ `! ?' A+ w8 {! Q
But the best story I have about my dad – unfortunately my dad passed away a little over a year ago
$ F% P# i' [' k! K" D. B4 N3 ?– and when we were going through his things, he had fought in World War II in the Battle of the
9 a$ h( O! e- eBulge, and when we were going through his things, we found out he had been awarded the Bronze
. v* `0 u( j& HStar for Valor. My mom didn’t know it. In 50 years of marriage it had just never come up.
* O6 \7 m. l$ i& x/ G2 }2 nMy mom. [Shows picture of Randy as a young child, pulling his Mom’s hair]. Mothers are people, \# ]& ]) h2 [* T& b, i" g
who love even when you pull their hair. And I have two great mom stories. When I was here
1 ]6 q1 Y; H( E3 \( K( c& r: |0 u4 Astudying to get my Ph.D. and I was taking something called the theory qualifier, which I can1 o# a x: m* c3 {8 x
definitively say is the second worst thing in my life after chemotherapy. [laughter] And I was
& q( b E/ M2 q4 F. P. T& c1 ^complaining to my mother about how hard this test was and how awful it was, and she just leaned' y6 v! ~& G3 b( B# U
over and she patted me on the arm and she said, we know how you feel honey, and remember when& E( T' z+ S( b1 q4 \% e# }9 p
your father was your age he was fighting the Germans. [laugher] After I got my Ph.D., my mother# _/ p$ \. ^* {# ~3 l1 x" J
took great relish in introducing me as, this is my son, he’s a doctor but not the kind that helps people.+ D% K) r4 j+ g0 b& h; H8 `( e
[laughter] These slides are a little bit dark [meaning “hard to see”], but when I was in high school I- P5 Z9 f4 u2 M
decided to paint my bedroom. [shows slides of bedroom] I always wanted a submarine and an
* n, _. r+ \: M- } y) Qelevator. And the great thing about this [shows slide of quadratic formula painted on wall]
+ a# F* E1 ~$ D: n& i7 A( M[interrupted by laughter] – what can I say? And the great thing about this is they let me do it. And
: h! x8 V. b# c6 D' ?# zthey didn’t get upset about it. And it’s still there. If you go to my parent’s house it’s still there. And
) h) s1 ? L; T" }( G) \anybody who is out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me
* j( O) j' ?* S( n" a- \let them do it. It’ll be OK. Don’t worry about resale value on the house.) F R' J" R3 |
Other people who help us besides our parents: our teachers, our mentors, our friends, our0 Y) x+ t1 N, B* E: O+ L- W- n+ n# ]
colleagues. God, what is there to say about Andy Van Dam? When I was a freshman at Brown, he9 L) g) S" M$ h3 m
was on leave. And all I heard about was this Andy Van Dam. He was like a mythical creature. Like a
& B2 z7 S) q) d) M% u5 n8 Tcentaur, but like a really pissed off centaur. And everybody was like really sad that he was gone, but$ s* E! o) ]6 n5 H: x/ L
kind of more relaxed? And I found out why. Because I started working for Andy. I was a teaching
/ p, V7 p- R! f2 ]8 ?assistant for him as a sophomore. And I was quite an arrogant young man. And I came in to some
. H" Y9 U, z0 i% c# U B; Eoffice hours and of course it was nine o’clock at night and Andy was there at office hours, which is
% l5 I" |& s# l( u2 M2 p7 Iyour first clue as to what kind of professor he was. And I come bounding in and you know, I’m just
* R7 i/ q* D5 n$ bI’m going to save the world. There’re all these kids waiting for help, da da, da da, da da, da da, da$ n0 O) e3 \' J" p2 |' M
da. And afterwards, Andy literally Dutch-uncled – he’s Dutch, right? He Dutch-uncled me. And he
: U3 P0 w. J# F& Aput his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame
2 J* G+ l, E3 k% h) K$ ithat people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to i: n X. s$ _
accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” [laughter] Right? He doesn’t
' a' h5 F, _; R: n' m( Csay you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going+ X+ u7 Z) l% Z! n7 {4 R! l/ r: }
to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish.
% m* a o3 M' h$ }When I got to know Andy better, the beatings became more direct, but. [laughter] I could tell you. A* F$ Y% E& Q2 K$ U' L8 w3 r
Andy stories for a month, but the one I will tell you is that when it came time to start thinking about
2 j7 _3 ~# I! Q* B9 Owhat to do about graduating from Brown, it had never occurred to me in a million years to go to
( I6 O2 c! `. X! |% v3 n4 b" M: J" Igraduate school. Just out of my imagination. It wasn’t the kind of thing people from my family did.9 N# F8 j9 w, i$ L& F9 D
We got, say, what do you call them? …. jobs. And Andy said, no, don’t go do that. Go get a Ph.D.% W( i0 K6 `6 E8 }
Become a professor. And I said, why? And he said, because you’re such a good salesman that any
7 `5 k- h1 a3 m; {, Acompany that gets you is going to use you as a salesman. And you might as well be selling
- w* j6 \# h' G& D4 H' a* K) zsomething worthwhile like education. [long pause, looks directly at Andy van Dam] Thanks.
3 g5 D5 e4 ?. L' k; w9 o, qAndy was my first boss, so to speak. I was lucky enough to have a lot of bosses. [shows slide of, v' G' m. V7 k
various bosses] That red circle is way off. Al is over here. [laughter] I don’t know what the hell
- x4 `6 K2 D/ F0 O' J" w2 s9 khappened there. He’s probably watching this on the webcast going, my god he’s targeting and he
; F X0 [: `/ O6 Dstill can’t aim! [laughter] I don’t want to say much about the great bosses I’ve had except that they
# o+ Q* L- [: v) K' ]/ p5 owere great. And I know a lot of people in the world that have had bad bosses, and I haven’t had to5 N; I3 m$ W( P3 }2 o
endure that experience and I’m very grateful to all the people that I ever had to have worked for.
! b$ r! S8 [; e9 [8 t9 @They have just been incredible.- G) D; {& D8 Q6 u9 R4 s5 ^
But it’s not just our bosses, we learn from our students. I think the best head fake of all time comes5 x; i$ o: e3 X7 [% G* w& C2 V, C. v9 @
from Caitlin Kelleher. Excuse me, Doctor Caitlin Kelleher, who just finished up here and is starting at
% V# T. @2 a' N: C; U! \7 G! y6 XWashington University, and she looked at Alice when it was an easier way to learn to program, and
6 H0 I8 @/ {" k7 J/ D8 F9 \4 Fshe said, yeah, but why is that fun? I was like, ‘cause uh, I’m a compulsive male…I like to make the
. p3 @1 N( b7 u) a1 P- Vlittle toy soldiers move around by my command, and that’s fun. She’s like, hmm. And she was the& S5 R v) o% u; Q) d! D) j2 r
one who said, no, we’ll just approach it all as a storytelling activity. And she’s done wonderful work# _; a, p* U, w9 z: i6 j9 G
showing that, particularly with middle school girls, if you present it as a storytelling activity, they’re
; z4 F+ {- q5 XP a u s c h P a g e | 19
, b) N$ t& S9 p) b0 x! o/ M" operfectly willing to learn how to write computer software. So all-time best head fake award goes to3 `( ~0 s( U& Y; x
Caitlin Kelleher’s dissertation.7 c+ s2 W$ |- M) b" E5 ~; J' r
President Cohen, when I told him I was going to do this talk, he said, please tell them about having7 A* Z# A& j0 D/ g& s
fun, because that’s what I remember you for. And I said, I can do that, but it’s kind of like a fish4 d7 [/ }/ U. _; K& K& y$ E
talking about the importance of water. I mean I don’t know how to not have fun. I’m dying and I’m ^9 H- o. |2 q% V) i
having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to; E- U, F4 R4 W, G1 P
play it.& a" n8 U9 H' f2 s8 U- z* i
So my next piece of advice is, you just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or and Eeyore. [shows slide
# U/ Z/ Z2 H- r G5 j) {with an image of Tigger and Eeyore with the phrase “Decide if you’re Tigger or Eeyore”] I think I’m
! d9 O6 w7 {1 a! @4 O! E! nclear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. [laughter] Never lose the childlike wonder.
- g( F/ H( U# Q# j, _5 BIt’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Help others. Denny Proffitt knows more about helping% H# L! ]6 Z8 Z( B6 y$ i
other people. He’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know. He’s taught me by example how to run a- f/ f7 @. Y: k$ D+ M \. Z" I
group, how to care about people. M.K. Haley – I have a theory that people who come from large, u7 C4 F% n5 L/ Z6 v6 U
families are better people because they’ve just had to learn to get along. M.K. Haley comes from a0 W) U# m* k* u& q/ d* d5 q% P
family with 20 kids. [audience collectively “aaahs”] Yeah. Unbelievable. And she always says it’s
$ r1 r: D! k" Z0 N! ukind of fun to do the impossible. When I first got to Imagineering, she was one of the people who+ y( P- Q# @- J5 \
dressed me down, and she said, I understand you’ve joined the Aladdin Project. What can you do?
, G- V) B3 @! i8 ^) K( E: d1 ]' dAnd I said, well I’m a tenured professor of computer science. And she said, well that’s very nice) I9 {! L& _4 {8 o% P
Professor Boy, but that’s not what I asked. I said what can you do? [laughter]" c! n$ Z' ~6 K$ h
And you know I mentioned sort of my working class roots. We keep what is valuable to us, what we
! Y6 ^1 t4 [5 s t/ Q' Z' @; i* dcherish. And I’ve kept my [high school] letterman’s jacket all these years. [Puts on letterman’s9 `' q w6 f0 m7 p, A* c
jacket] I used to like wearing it in grad school, and one of my friends, Jessica Hodgins would say, why" S V- x1 R: s% K p( c+ W' q
do you wear this letterman’s jacket? And I looked around at all the non-athletic guys around me- T) e" H! i5 j4 f% d# D; n2 A: {
who were much smarter than me. And I said, because I can. [laughter] And so she thought that was; Y& x3 Y( @8 e- k8 _
a real hoot so one year she made for me this little Raggedy Randy doll. [takes out Raggedy Randy]9 j( e" M. A( L1 r2 L
[laughter] He’s got a little letterman’s jacket too. That’s my all-time favorite. It’s the perfect gift for
% @0 l$ G3 {/ ]- a+ X+ l% k2 @the egomaniac in your life. So, I’ve met so many wonderful people along the way., v4 u5 P& N- X) O( H
Loyalty is a two way street. There was a young man named Dennis Cosgrove at the University of
/ h" ]! K8 o: v9 A2 SVirginia, and when he was a young man, let’s just say things happened. And I found myself talking
) o' Q( V7 n r6 qto a dean. No, not that dean. And anyway, this dean really had it in for Dennis, and I could never
# z/ E E7 B5 _, Ifigure out why because Dennis was a fine fellow. But for some reason this Dean really had it in for1 d) Z+ m9 L1 u5 [
him. And I ended up basically saying, no, I vouch for Dennis. And the guy says, you’re not even8 A1 x7 l$ I) Q( X3 q8 \1 Q
tenured yet and you’re telling me you’re going to vouch for this sophomore or junior or whatever? I
/ ^ h( t8 S4 bthink he was a junior at the time. I said, yeah, I’m going to vouch for him because I believe in him.
: S) C. ^5 B1 O& fAnd the dean said, and I’m going to remember this when your tenure case comes up. And I said,8 {' f/ f# ?1 v7 U8 f2 [# a
deal. I went back to talk to Dennis and I said, I would really appreciate you… that would be good.
$ w n1 I$ n) Y5 RBut loyalty is a two-way street. That was god knows how many years ago, but that’s the same, \- v) T9 s& T
Dennis Cosgrove who’s carrying Alice forward. He’s been with me all these years. And if we only
! T9 }% \+ n! [8 h7 ~, ^ vhad one person to send in a space probe to meet an alien species, I’m picking Dennis. [laughter] You
( `4 g' J5 K7 S& W- P: dcan’t give a talk at Carnegie Mellon without acknowledging one very special person. And that would
( p% Z) W. U6 h2 U5 G# Q. [2 {2 ebe Sharon Burks. I joked with her, I said, well look, if you’re retiring, it’s just not worth living
* l$ r6 q& f5 |; X Ranymore. Sharon is so wonderful it’s beyond description, and for all of us who have been helped by1 ~$ K; J/ S8 j- p1 i) Q. u6 ?
her, it’s just indescribable. I love this picture because it puts here together with Syl, and Syl is great
! s8 p9 B7 H4 o9 hbecause Syl gave the best piece of advice pound-for-pound that I have ever heard. And I think all' a {# A9 L, t* @; t
young ladies should hear this. Syl said, it took me a long time but I’ve finally figured it out. When it2 x7 Q/ D# e* s1 a
comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they' s, {+ R# ?3 t
say and only pay attention to what they do. It’s that simple. It’s that easy. And I thought back to
; N/ ~6 p7 y0 r7 C9 u' Amy bachelor days and I said, damn. [laughter]7 X8 w$ k8 y% \" ~, x
Never give up. I didn’t get into Brown University. I was on the wait list. I called them up and they. {: l9 Q ]: f
eventually decided that it was getting really annoying to have me call everyday so they let me in. At
- k1 J6 t. R& Z1 w' U& GCarnegie Mellon I didn’t get into graduate school. Andy had mentored me. He said, go to graduate+ q b/ Y- W6 I% x. j
school, you’re going to Carnegie Mellon. All my good students go to Carnegie Mellon. Yeah, you/ J8 M) R0 z1 Y
know what’s coming. And so he said, you’re going to go to Carnegie Mellon no problem. What he
i- s( x" ~8 r8 d: ehad kind of forgotten was that the difficulty of getting to the top Ph.D. program in the country had9 P# l* j8 ]. Q, ~
really gone up. And he also didn’t know I was going to tank my GRE’s because he believed in me.
& q4 I% u. l) \0 AWhich, based on my board scores was a really stupid idea. And so I didn’t get into Carnegie Mellon.' y5 h0 g# s3 k% o' S4 c
No one knows this. ‘Til today I’m telling the story. I was declined admission to Carnegie Mellon.
& B: D. U! Q' C& `$ v3 `And I was a bit of an obnoxious little kid. I went into Andy’s office and I dropped the rejection letter+ U8 B2 v; B. G e/ x1 U: ^
on his desk. And I said, I just want you to know what your letter of recommendation goes for at1 C3 z1 G+ s' F; w# H1 \; k
Carnegie Mellon. [laughter] And before the letter had hit his desk, his hand was on the phone and
/ J2 ^: K- `0 q1 S; x$ \+ khe said, I will fix this. [laughter] And I said, no no no, I don’t want to do it that way. That’s not the# L* e2 S4 C: r( }: b8 L8 v' f
way I was raised. [In a sad voice] Maybe some other graduate schools will see fit to admit me.
) a! i% }. _! s2 g+ Y0 z[laughter] And he said, look, Carnegie Mellon’s where you’re going to be. He said, I’ll tell you what,
: f% Y3 \) R5 U" @+ x5 |I’ll make you a deal. Go visit the other schools. Because I did get into all the other schools. He said,
) L* A9 S$ d0 ], s% Ago visit the other schools and if you really don’t feel comfortable at any of them, then will you let me
) R9 s& b# ]- B$ M3 Jcall Nico? Nico being Nico Habermann [the head of Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Dept.] and
s2 H. r# Q5 h0 s5 T) B% |4 QI said, OK deal. I went to the other schools. Without naming them by name -- [in a coughing voice]
, f" [. J/ J* I. d$ L9 V+ Y! PBerkeley, Cornell. They managed to be so unwelcoming that I found myself saying to Andy, you
1 Z' p+ o1 _# I( Vknow, I’m going to get a job. And he said, no, you’re not. And he picked up the phone and he talked; f$ _9 K' ]4 d: w
in Dutch. [laughter] And he hung up the phone and he said, Nico says if you’re serious, be in his
& e4 I8 A; t. T4 G2 G& soffice tomorrow morning at eight a.m. And for those of you who know Nico, this is really scary. So
; S$ ~7 v# l9 X2 m$ wI’m in Nico Habermann’s office the next morning at eight a.m. and he’s talking with me, and frankly I( e: F1 M8 g+ x) Q$ z: T
don’t think he’s that keen on this meeting. I don’t think he’s that keen at all. And he says, Randy,
, L6 q/ W( ~: C% W: L) Awhy are we here? And I said, because Andy phoned you? Heh-heh. [laughter] And I said, well, since
$ A) q2 N# S3 Y6 d4 {you admitted me, I have won a fellowship. The Office of Naval Research is a very prestigious
5 y! p' p& S. k& x! [5 P- ^# mfellowship. I’ve won this fellowship and that wasn’t in my file when I applied. And Nico said, a
2 E. p. |9 F1 b, ~) R# O, [) ifellowship, money, we have plenty of money. That was back then. He said, we have plenty of$ J9 Y) D" B) F7 J2 O) c
money. Why do you think having a fellowship makes any difference to us? And he looked at me.
9 s# Z! Y j( M6 m4 j2 sThere are moments that change your life. And ten years later if you know in retrospect it was one of$ ]* S7 W& J+ i4 b9 r* _: o
those moments, you’re blessed. But to know it at the moment …. with Nico staring through your
5 G4 P3 V; J; @5 qP a u s c h P a g e | 21
, \+ |+ [1 q ~. K0 Vsoul. [laughter] And I said, I didn’t mean to imply anything about the money. It’s just that it was an
) K4 G2 v, U8 j3 f! W& Bhonor. There were only 15 given nationwide. And I did think it was an honor that would be: l' v1 v3 B4 h) h( c8 x
something that would be meritorious. And I apologize if that was presumptuous. And he smiled.7 n8 }- d7 H' ^. ]. q
And that was good.
: m9 i0 Q% F" c4 ?# rSo. How do you get people to help you? You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I% f7 \1 {0 }7 O! c) k) w" @
do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being
6 u; a0 T/ S0 v9 y) Z, N* Searnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest: z w6 y. \' n. r
is long term.
; D# }/ T( X( t7 UApologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself. And I thought, how do I, z* C2 {. ~+ n9 ]5 l2 e8 L; v" a5 p) `
possibly make a concrete example of that? [Speaking to stage hand] Do we have a concrete
3 v& u& U4 |' m; w) `; cexample of focusing on somebody else over there? Could we bring it out? [Speaking to audience]
3 f7 s+ N' R! {* x8 k2 |8 v7 YSee, yesterday was my wife’s birthday. If there was ever a time I might be entitled to have the focus; o, g3 u5 z! j% k h9 V' d4 L
on me, it might be the last lecture. But no, I feel very badly that my wife didn’t really get a proper1 k9 ~ K" a/ A) N7 o
birthday, and I thought it would be very nice if 500 people— [an oversized birthday cake is wheeled; r M( w7 g$ O, x5 b# e& W4 _
onto the stage] [applause] Happy—
" S) d; i: r, a+ k$ A! dEveryone:% Z; o% R+ U/ {% N
…birthday to you [Randy: her name is Jai], happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jai, happy& a# ?9 e2 P& B( k9 g3 t
birthday to you! [applause]* N1 j$ Y( W: Z5 C
[Jai walks on stage, teary-eyed. She walks with Randy to the cake. Randy: You gotta blow it out. The
; r7 E% U" F, a( l; _# Naudience goes quiet. Jai blows out the candle on the cake. Randy: All right. Massive applause.]& S7 S1 y! ~8 m" ]
Randy Pausch:5 `) p4 r. Z! O; _/ E7 q
And now you all have an extra reason to come to the reception. [laughter] Remember brick walls let9 G# \. c2 g a# Q
us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to
! u. [2 f; X5 w1 K- v% E" V# Pachieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.
. u: k0 R; @, ]4 @[Shows slide of Steve Seabolt next to a picture of The Sims] [laughter] What Steve didn’t tell you was3 m: c, k+ Q9 M$ z
the big sabbatical at EA, I had been there for 48 hours and they loved the ETC, we were the best, we
0 S& ~5 F e) b1 Iwere the favorites, and then somebody pulled me aside and said, oh, by the way, we’re about to
" s7 M2 T: b! p6 U+ X, ]" _give eight million dollars to USC to build a program just like yours. We’re hoping you can help them
8 q/ \4 I9 o: I7 J, f" O+ Qget it off the ground. [laughter] And then Steve came along and said, they said what? Oh god. And
3 {. I3 k. w3 p, l8 k; B% u; Z {to quote a famous man, I will fix this. And he did. Steve has been an incredible partner. And we. k! L1 s! e& q3 h5 c) {$ ^
have a great relationship, personal and professional. And he has certainly been point man on
. q5 E7 w+ @6 @; U) }6 `getting a gaming asset to help teach millions of kids and that’s just incredible. But, you know, it7 w) l+ X6 \/ E* \$ |5 y/ u
certainly would have been reasonable for me to leave 48 hours after that sabbatical, but it wouldn’t! L0 D& p5 ?7 m8 U _
have been the right thing to do, and when you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.5 {+ ]4 Z+ v3 W$ C' w6 {$ W
Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or
6 |" w1 U' {/ `! u) `it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.+ H7 [+ ?9 J: X* e
P a u s c h P a g e | 22
- j: \. l. v- K0 I5 p0 [; c( H/ iAnybody can get chewed out. It’s the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. As opposed) [2 ]9 X) M. B! T' j" W
to, no wait, the real reason is… We’ve all heard that. When people give you feedback, cherish it and
, X7 x) K2 S5 e; H( s4 j: |# T& uuse it., {+ X; k. O5 L# V6 t
Show gratitude. When I got tenure I took all of my research team down to Disneyworld for a week.! s9 [. u. f. b; {& A) Y0 ], X8 t
And one of the other professors at Virginia said, how can you do that? I said these people just; r8 G/ G; a6 r
busted their ass and got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that?
8 ]' @( y+ d1 v! }" u6 l- c- LDon’t complain. Just work harder. [shows slide of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league1 d% ^5 Q) l8 _3 \6 [! l
baseball player] That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even
( F$ ?9 C! @7 v0 w( w- Xwhen the fans spit on him.
9 f/ P2 p! E$ KBe good at something, it makes you valuable.
- ?9 O8 y7 R1 `: XWork hard. I got tenure a year early as Steve mentioned. Junior faculty members used to say to me,: L& Z# h; G. }" K( \2 b
wow, you got tenure early. What’s your secret? I said, it’s pretty simple. Call my any Friday night in1 U3 {0 y% E1 c0 G
my office at ten o’clock and I’ll tell you.+ _) T7 n$ I$ c/ t1 n9 a. ?
Find the best in everybody. One of the things that Jon Snoddy as I said told me, is that you might) O7 c7 b- v, r- f( \% h
have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep2 D6 X( ?: {% K1 G3 }1 K
waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting,! |$ y8 S6 t$ f* x5 r( E
it will come out.1 Y" [- p) n. X: c0 Y' T h# |
And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity." I, O6 l, o! p) Y0 K
So today’s talk was about my childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and some lessons8 r! E* N8 A6 R% ]/ [% n- r
learned. But did you figure out the head fake? [dramatic pause] It’s not about how to achieve your
) o+ t$ _5 _. i* [) pdreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care! \4 O" w% A( D/ @: w
of itself. The dreams will come to you.
" L; b# I3 w) T0 u' X* cHave you figured out the second head fake? The talk’s not for you, it’s for my kids. Thank you all,, k: V, L j( A
good night.' t, F3 z) J* n* O9 f
[applause; standing ovation for 90 seconds; Randy brings Jai onto the stage and they take a bow; they sit
! D+ b. w8 n0 }- Fdown in their seats; standing ovation continues for another minute]7 [/ x) f6 M) N/ n9 K( c9 _
Randy Bryant:
" N! k4 x G- ^' `; m% M9 OThank you everyone. I’d like to thank all of you for coming. This really means a lot I know to Randy.
0 B, F0 ]* s: B; S$ fHe had this theory even up to yesterday that there wouldn’t be anyone in the room.1 H2 i/ A4 t+ O: z( \
Randy Pausch [from seat]:3 m9 H. z y9 z# _. G
After CS50…
& W7 {! N. B7 r3 aRandy Bryant:6 p7 K9 B5 q- ] B
I know. I’m the other Randy. That’s been my role here for the past 10 years ever since Randy5 i- h: i' n9 o& T" V9 h6 x$ H
Pausch came here on the faculty. And what I mean by that is, I introduce myself. I’m Randy Bryant
- r. M% Q: v: y; J M, [from Computer Science. They go, oh, Randy from CS. You’re the one that does all that cool stuff of+ P: @" H# ^# W# u7 z
building virtual worlds and teaching children how to program. And I go, no, no, sorry. That’s the
`) }4 g! G1 x }3 C3 t- E" [. Pother Randy. I’m the wrong one. Sorry, I’m just like a dull nerd. [laughter] So, but I’m very pleased. ?5 @1 c% [. w& R) X; U5 G0 \
today to be able to sort of run a brief series of ways in which we want to recognize Randy for his
; L6 Z, y- Q' i v3 w' ]* N, pcontributions he’s made to Carnegie Mellon, to computer science and to the world at large. So we# H) }1 L. g o' \( L' q; M! _
have a few – it will be a brief program. We have a few people I’ll be bringing up one after the other.
8 y3 y8 H# N, p9 @$ ^I’m sort of the MC here. So first I’d like to introduce who you’ve already met, Steve Seabolt from
# d1 O7 J: m! A1 ]0 Y; l4 e3 _; cElectronic Arts. [applause]5 G8 D4 \+ H7 Y9 _
Steve Seabolt:
4 p# k& }: A( u8 g' @ \My family wondered whether or not I would make it through the introduction. [voice starts to crack
0 T% @# o9 j c: b/ |9 s) T4 F; Fup] And I did that but I might not do so well now. So bear with me. As Randy mentioned, he and I,
1 K" c+ W# }# q9 [, Y$ d6 KCarnegie Mellon and Electronic Arts share a particular passion about nurturing young girls and trying
) K. q, r% v0 n9 Z% |" p$ Rto encourage young girls to stay with math and stay with science. Every geek in the world shouldn’t; H3 w! S; b$ B8 U6 T
be a guy. You know, it’s such a twist of fate that there’s so many people that are worried about offshoring,3 V6 p9 r U4 J+ I; u
and at the same time companies are forced to off-shore, there are fewer and fewer
3 Y1 o- u6 M- V$ }students entering computer science. And the number of women entering computer science just; x4 W0 `3 e# o0 N' R1 G" f) n0 K
keeps dropping like a rock. There are way too few Caitlins in this world. And Caitlin, we need so
6 Q3 h3 l4 m2 E, `) nmany more of you. And with that in mind, Electronic Arts has endowed a scholarship fund. It’s the
* A- M( L: p4 t' z+ SRandy Pausch endowed scholarship fund, established in 2007 by EA. In honor of Randy’s leadership
$ Z7 U( D) f* Z) Fand contribution to education, computer science, digital entertainment, and his commitment to N G- U) X% j5 O
women in technology. This scholarship will be awarded annually to a female undergraduate CMU
7 N' S: i- f# e8 K7 Vstudent who demonstrates excellence in computer science and a passion in the pursuit of a career in
! u+ O6 S! F' r/ ]6 c) Dvideo games. Randy, we’re so honored to do this in your name. [applause]
6 ?/ a: Z4 m4 c( @$ jRandy Bryant:! W3 q% v6 v8 c4 ~
Next I’d like to introduce Jim Foley. He’s on the faculty at Georgia Tech and he’s here representing
$ u, r/ N5 F* u8 h [" s8 mthe ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Human Interaction. Jim. [applause]
( ], b" D6 X& x: E" a3 S! Z4 W6 T& YJim Foley:
. l6 B+ U3 X# V3 M0 V) ?$ ][motions to Randy Pausch to come on stage; gives him a hug] That was for Jim. [applause] ACM, the0 {. b9 n( g1 x% u. ~$ F% }
Association for Computing Machinery is a group of about 100,000 computing professionals. One of
0 \, R7 ?( o. [( @# Mtheir special areas of interest is computer human interaction. A few weeks ago, someone who’s a. g, s' H8 p" X% O
very good friend of Randy’s wrote a citation which was endorsed by a number of people and went to
) p& n4 V* \9 N0 J( n" {the executive committee of SIGCHI, which on behalf of the SIGCHI membership, has authorized this/ Y$ ]8 o* P0 o; S' J
special presentation. The citation was written by Ben Schneiderman and worked on then by Jenny# @+ e- d/ c% b: P1 s `
Preese and Ben Peterson, and endorsed by a whole bunch of your friends and now from the
1 k; `( V s+ f9 ?: V Kexecutive committee. So let me read to you the citation. Special award for professional
) M5 [/ b+ F1 vcontributions. Randy Pausch’s innovative work has spanned several disciplines and has inspired both
* g6 m' S2 [3 A7 m- ~mature researchers and a generation of students. His deep technical competence, choice of
! U4 J8 q; B \( f) c" m' v: Zimaginative projects and visionary thinking are always combined with energy and passion. We’ve# B2 }* B& ]# C0 I4 Q, Q
seen that. From his early work on the simple user interface toolkit to his current work on 3D Alice- M+ X L0 P3 G$ n
programming language, he has shown that innovative tool design enables broad participation in
$ K4 {& z9 @) D% Dprogramming, especially by women and minorities. Randy Pausch has vigorous commitment to
0 C* ]4 l9 y" O0 m9 pengaging students at every level by compelling and intellectually rigorous projects, and his appealing5 K2 l) Y+ m( ]/ w9 G
lecture style for a role-model for every teacher and lecture. Yes, yes yes. [voice starts to crack up]* A1 z" s* e1 f1 n7 N" ]6 H7 y
His work has helped make team project experiences and educational computing research more f) S; X$ n0 M2 _* O9 j8 l
common and respected. As a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, a Lilly5 R/ a! D: E w* g
Teaching Foundation Teaching Fellow, co-founder of the CMU ET Center and consultant for Disney) j! M" R' Q( G9 z; S
Imagineering and EA, Randy’s done pioneering work in combining computing interface design and
' V3 ~# S3 G d% bemotionally rich experiences. For these and many other contributions, the ACM SIGCHI executive
# b7 `. S. |, E2 R O2 Vcouncil is proud to present to Randy Pausch a special award for professional contributions.
# @+ e: t& G) I# \, n. l[applause] [Randy comes back on stage to receive award]9 R$ c+ l5 u3 f
Randy Bryant:6 M" b4 }& t5 ~$ K5 o& ?
Thank you, Jim. Next I’d like to introduce Jerry Cohen, the President of Carnegie Mellon University., e8 `* v7 `: U$ q
[applause]
. K/ M7 `1 P0 ~9 `) ?$ i$ D" TJerry Cohen:
; Y8 \6 v1 w1 i# @& N: _: nThank you other Randy. [Tries to move Randy Pausch’s bag of props to the side of the podium] You
: @1 i$ U- l1 O# c+ A3 E9 dknow you’re traveling heavy, buddy. Many of us have been thinking about and talking about how; f& D' Z4 d' S& G7 I
we can recognize you on this campus in a way that is lasting and fitting in terms of what you meant2 x# m6 J) G' H+ ]8 _$ d7 z1 j8 O
to this university. A lot of people are involved in this. You thought the provost wasn’t paying
3 X" ^. a3 L4 P2 x8 V2 kattention all those years. [laughter] Actually, one of the ways we’re going to remember you is this
( ^- Z# ]" `$ v- c& t$50,000 bill for stuffed animals. $47,862.32 for pizza. You’ve made great contributions, Randy, we& Q% d6 g$ g" O
really appreciate it. [laughter] One thing we could not do, regrettably, is figure out a way to capture
6 ]* @5 W3 X1 rthe kind of person that you are. You’re humanity, what you’ve meant to us as a colleague, as a
7 v& V- v* O3 }, ~% Kteacher. As a student. And as a friend. There’s just no way to capture that. There is our memories,
* w$ ~. d- ?* {' ^however. And there is a way to remember you every day, as people walk this campus. So we’ve8 _2 `$ @7 I- t& [
come up with an idea. You’ve done great things for this campus and for computer science and for% V- G( L, a* f3 @
the world. Surely Alice will live on. But the one we’re going to focus on right now is what you’ve
# f- [7 v; F' o& `- x, v/ W) v! F' Jdone to connect computer science with the arts. It was remarkable, it was stunning. It’s had1 y; u H* S2 @; T$ k( x
enormous impact, and it will last, I daresay forever. So to recognize that, we are going to do the% i; C8 Y A: S w2 V: s
following. Good job, other Randy. [laughter, as Randy Bryant gets the projector to show the next
/ G% {, f) i; |8 z- a% H# C7 Xslide] In order to effect this, we had to build a building. [Shows slide of mockup of Gates building] A
$ h0 t' [6 F1 f6 }1 Hhundred million dollar building which will allow us to do the following. You’ll note, by the way, to m0 T( P4 ]! {
orient people. So the Purnell Center for the Arts is the home of the School of Drama. That modern$ t1 q) g7 E: s E. |
looking new thing, half of which has a green roof, is the new Gates Center for Computer Science.0 @+ P. u1 c8 ?
And we had long planned to connect these two physically, both to allow people to get down from& X; Y+ ~0 d" u. e/ m+ z9 R
the cut to lower campus, and you have to admit it carries tremendous symbolic importance. Well+ k8 j# T7 f1 z' j# p
on behalf of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon and on behalf of the entire university, I’m
: y2 }: u- H( @pleased to announce today that the bridge connecting these two will be known as the Randy Pausch
L. A) G5 t( n/ h; d1 WMemorial Footbridge. [shows slide of mockup of bridge] [applause] Now actually based on your talk# O9 V, Q! v7 U( Q5 v& y
today we’re thinking now about putting up a brick wall up at either end, and let students see what5 N3 G( w S; d8 w* y
they can do with it. [laughter] Randy, there’ll be a generation of students and faculty to come here3 B4 \ R, `, e3 M0 ~1 r
who will not know you, but they will cross that bridge, they will see your name, and they’ll ask those
$ _5 a: {$ a5 M) O1 g- J5 sof us who did know you. And we will tell them that unfortunately they were not able to experience" p4 a% O% c7 |6 k9 I
the man, but they are surely experiencing the impact of the man. Randy, thank you for all that
& K# _+ ^/ w# G$ t3 W, p& dyou’ve done for Carnegie Mellon. We’re going to miss you. [applause] [Randy walks on stage and X5 j* [0 u7 C) z1 p+ H
gives Jerry a hug]
6 Q1 C+ l8 w$ X" _3 }; r) I2 f# nRandy Bryant:
5 @ @; `. U; T/ K5 T/ ^- A. G/ QSo every good show needs a closing act, and so to do that I’ll invite Andy Van Dam. [applause]
1 A3 q5 W/ `3 [. K' {# JAndy Van Dam:: m* ^1 |) p( k' z
Oh how I love having the last word. [applause] But to have to go on after that fabulous show, I don’t+ c4 d6 E. A' W5 Z0 }1 o9 X
know whether that was good planning. Well I started in Brown in 1965 and it has been my pleasure4 h s. p# f/ l1 s' C6 G
and great joy not just to teach thousands of undergraduates and some graduates, but also to work5 q, o5 y/ i8 z+ W* [5 T
one-on-one with a couple hundred of them. And over 35 have followed me into teaching I’m proud
% j" j0 V+ X' Z% x; _ T. |0 f/ gto say. Out of those best and brightest it was very clear that Randy would stand out. He showed
y& U7 h3 V+ G( j- W8 `; Ugreat promise early on and a passion about our field and about helping others that you’ve seen/ |9 H. ?6 T9 g- i( g
amply demonstrated today. It was matched by fierce determination and by persistence in the face! u. V2 ~9 F$ [
of all brick wall odds. And you’ve heard a lot about that and seen that demonstrated as he fights% U" n& c. j. k. ^5 H1 t% @
this terrible disease. Like the elephant’s child, however, he was filled with satiable curiosity, you" C5 n% X+ z3 i# d) r8 E8 h
remember that. And what happened to the elephant’s child, he got spanked by all of his relations,$ o1 n" c$ v2 }& H. r
and you’ve heard some of that. He was brash, he had an irrepressible, raucous sense of humor,
0 f: {' m& H: ^3 H6 rwhich led to the fantastic showmanship that you saw today. He was self-assured, occasionally to
1 j/ D' ^9 B$ T9 g9 z3 [8 ^* l& pthe point of outright cockiness. And stubborn as a mule. And I’m a Dutchman and I know from" Z: ^- {* |$ T% j2 }& E/ Z$ {
stubbornness. The kind way to say it is he had an exceedingly strong inner compass, and you’ve
u2 A3 }' x& z7 J& W; _2 \, Iseen that demonstrated over and over again. Now, having been accused of many such traits myself,
, b) u4 W3 x, DI rather thought of them as features, not bugs. [laughter] Having had to learn English the hard way, I
+ S& J$ [* V9 i* [, `: T( Bwas a fanatic about getting students to speak and write correct English from the get-go. And Randy
8 d* S* e* w+ @4 rthe mouth had no problem with that. But he did have one problem. And I’m having a problem with
9 V& e9 L5 V1 n3 Q/ p/ ~my machine here, here we go. [gets slide to project on screen]. And that was another part of my0 X% b, G8 }2 Y( R2 S0 k7 b
fanaticism which dealt with having American students learn about foreign cultures. And specifically
5 \8 R' G6 c- t, D) Iabout food cultures, and more specifically yet, about Chinese food culture. So I would take my
" B; } q% }8 \2 H( Cstudents to this wonderful Chinese restaurant where they cooked off the menu using a Chinese
8 p( T3 h) Y8 g( D) pmenu. And I tried to get Randy to sample this. But would Mr. White Bread touch that stuff?
9 [. b5 e! n6 y- [) ` N! G4 `[laughter] Absolutely not. And worse, he refused to learn to eat with chopsticks. I was chairman at% A- F# S7 t$ t# [ r
the time and I said, Randy, you know, I’m not going to let you graduate if you don’t learn to eat with- `" v, l e! x
chopsticks! [laughter] It’s a requirement, didn’t you see that? He of course didn’t believe that. And
" X' h/ h$ g4 o1 W* k1 hso it came time for graduation and I handed him his diploma. And this was the picture one of my5 u7 `7 o0 Y( g( q* X" N( k
friends took. [Shows slide of Brown University commencement, 1982, Randy dressed in his cap and
& ^6 n6 D* E2 D2 kgown, opening his diploma, his mouth wide open in surprise] And what you see is Randy opening his
; B9 T- g3 o5 _diploma to show it to his parents, and there was an autographed copy of the menu in Chinese and' V, r, N% q) M
no diploma. [laughter, applause] It was one of the few times I got the better of him, I have to
# T8 O! P5 V# ~7 w, J, _confess. Well here we are today, all of us, and hundreds and hundreds of people all over the2 t; i i$ b% ~( w$ h/ _
country, I dare say all over the world, participating in this great event to celebrate you and your life.
5 p! d; w; R8 Q- f5 i9 P' L$ I' iRandy is the person, the Mensch, as we say in Yiddish. Your manifold accomplishments as a model
* j5 z0 I: d9 n4 C( Tacademic, especially as a mentor to your students. Your Disneyland expeditions not only were
# h5 |9 G3 r% w! h+ ]( U7 qunique but they are legendary. You have more than fulfilled the terms of Brown University Charter,
. N1 M( ~& i+ u. ^0 C$ k# Mwhich are: to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation. Your utter devotion to
6 ~) B8 V5 B' T0 W myour family and your career are exemplary, and continue unabated as you cope with the immensity3 D2 u3 Z* S& s4 [1 q( c
of your situation. You exemplify undaunted courage and grace under pressure. The most terrible1 M8 O- o6 z) ]) r: L" k! [
pressure one can imagine. Randy, you have been and you will continue to be a role model for us.
8 }6 n! d% @; H3 n+ ?% P: X% b[Voice starts cracking up] Thank you so much for all you have done for us. And to allow us to tell
' P3 O$ W7 l7 e( x4 r# }5 n5 Y% Yyou privately and in such a public way how much we admire, honor, and indeed love you. [applause]7 g) w+ @$ Z1 N4 @
[standing ovation]
2 J5 d# a+ {! o) r# Z) n2 Y! q6 O! O6 B
[ 本帖最后由 billzhao 于 2008-11-16 18:02 编辑 ] |
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