Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Introduction

• The lecture series was originally called "The Last Lecture."
• If you had one last lecture before dying, what would it be?
• Randy Pausch addresses his terminal cancer diagnosis (3–6 months to live).
• Focus is on responding to challenges, not dwelling on them.

Setting the Topics

• No discussion of cancer, his family, spirituality, or religion.
• Today's topic: Childhood Dreams and achieving them.
• Enabling the dreams of others.
• Lessons learned.

Childhood Dreams

• List of Dreams:
  • Being in zero gravity
  • Playing in the NFL
  • Authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia
  • Being Captain Kirk
  • Winning big stuffed animals
  • Becoming a Disney Imagineer

Achieving Dreams

• Zero Gravity:

  • NASA's "vomit comet": parabolic arcs to achieve 25 seconds of weightlessness.
  • Found a loophole to experience it as a “journalist”.

• Playing in the NFL:

  • Didn't reach NFL but learned valuable life lessons from the sport.
  • Jim Graham: fundamentals are crucial.
  • Importance of criticism from Coach Setliff: “Critics are the ones still loving you.”

• World Book Encyclopedia:

  • Authored an article on Virtual Reality.
  • Lesson: Achieving a long-held dream.

• Being Captain Kirk:

  • Inspired by leadership and cool technology of Captain Kirk.
  • Meeting William Shatner, who visited his lab.

• Winning Big Stuffed Animals:

  • Childhood fascination with winning large stuffed animals at amusement parks.
  • Demonstrated achievement by showing a collection of won stuffed animals.

• Disney Imagineering:

  • Initial rejections but persistence led to an opportunity.
  • Worked on the Aladdin Virtual Reality Project.
  • Lessons on collaboration and project management.

Enabling Dreams of Others

• Teaching at University:
  • Helped Tommy Burnett achieve his dream of working on Star Wars.
  • Created the ‘Building Virtual Worlds’ course at CMU.

Building Virtual Worlds (Course)

• 50 students, multidisciplinary backgrounds.
• Randomly assigned teams, changed every two weeks.
• Final projects showcased to a large audience.

Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)

• Created with Don Marinelli.
• Interdisciplinary professional master’s degree.
• Focus on project-based learning.
• Opportunities for students in prestigious companies.

Projects and Impact

• Field Trips:
  • Visits to industry leaders like Pixar and ILM.
• Edutainment:
  • Firefighter training simulations, partnerships with top companies.

Alice Project

• Overview: Teaching programming through storytelling.
• Scalability: Potential to reach millions of children.
• Upcoming Version: Teaching Java with characters from "The Sims".

Lessons Learned

• Role of Parents and Mentors:

  • Parents: encouraging, supportive, impactful.
  • Mentors: Andy van Dam's wisdom and guidance were crucial.

• Personal Development:

  • Importance of passion, perseverance, and continuous learning.
  • Criticism is a sign of caring.
  • Gratitude and humility.
  • Loyalty is a two-way street.
  • Don’t give up.
  • Be earnest, tell the truth, show gratitude, and be prepared.

Conclusion

• About Leadership and Life:

  • Not just achieving dreams but living life right.
  • Dreams will come as a byproduct of leading a good life.

• Final Head Fake:

  • The true audience was his children.

Final Message

• Importance of leading a right life with honesty, humility, and preparedness.
• Achieving dreams comes from living well.