Randy Pausch's "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

[bhodi]

If you were a professor, knew you had just a few months to live, and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor, was about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he said a word, he received a standing ovation from 400 students and colleagues.

He motioned to them to sit down. "Make me earn it," he said.

They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last lecture." This is a common title for talks on college campuses today. Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last Lecture Series," in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks. For the audience, the question to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them. At the University of Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O'Connor recently titled her lecture "Get Over Yourself." At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a course titled "Desire," spoke about sex and technology.

At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch's speech was more than just an academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months.

10 minute version given on Oprah  (Don't watch this, watch the one below!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIyt8oSLVs

Full version given at Carnegie Mellon University
http://wms.andrew.cmu.edu/001/pausch.wmv

Full version given at Carnegie Mellon University minus the introduction  (Don't watch this, watch the one above!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Spoiler: Amazingly, he's still alive and healthy.


He talks a little about working with Disney, EA, google, UI design, and his Building Virtual Worlds course that he ran for 10 years, and of course, his life. This has been making the rounds for a while, but I'm shocked, shocked that it was never mentioned here.

You really need to take some time and watch this, even if you have to do it in segments. I thought about putting it in useless videos but this is far from useless. Give it 10 minutes if you aren't sure, don't let the 1h 45m length scare you.

You'll thank me.

[stray]

I watched to end of his lecture... Looks like I have a little ways to go still, but I gotta run for now.

Anyways, it was interesting. I want to be Tigger, not Eyeore. 

That's great that he's still healthy. I hope by some miracle he stays that way. Seems like the guy does a ton of good.

[NiX]

Thanks Bhodi. Is there a link to download it? There's mention of some, but I can't find it.

[Baldrake]

His time-management seminar is also kick-ass. Given the amount of time we all piss away trolling sites like this, it's clearly something we all could benefit from.

My first time-management tip: skip the first 7:30 minutes.

[Baldrake]

And now he has passed.

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose “last lecture” about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a bestselling author, died Friday. He was 47.

[Nebu]

Thanks for linking that.  I enjoyed the talk.

[NiX]

That sucks. That speech was very insightful and he seemed like a really great guy.