monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for
last lecture
carnegie mellon professor randy pausch died this morning, at age 47, of pancreatic cancer. he’s notable for a lecture he gave last year, as part of the school’s “last lecture” series. the concept was, if you were about to die and could only give one last lecture, what would it be? but for professor pausch, who knew he had terminal cancer, this was nearly the case. his lecture is just over an hour long, but really worthwhile. and he’s hilarious. the theme of his lecture is his childhood dreams.
his specialty was virtual reality, and the virtual reality example at about the 38 minute mark made me want to stab my eyes out. until the dark ending to the virtual world, which made it all better. definitely a nod to don hertzfeld.
millions have watched his video, i recommend watching it all the way through. he summarizes his lessons from life in the final minutes, but i’m not sure they are as meaningful without the story leading up to that. what a wonderful opportunity, both for us to share in his insights but also that he could leave something so beautiful for his three children to see years from now.
hmm… what were my childhood dreams… when i was six years old, i said i wanted to be a software engineer. check, did that. i wanted to invent new things, ok. but i think most of all, i wanted to have a good relationship with my parents and stay close to them. that was dicy as a young adult, but i’m closer to them now than ever as an adult. i haven’t said that out loud before, but i’m grateful i’ve had that opportunity.
what are your childhood dreams? how are they coming along?
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26. July 2008 at 3:44 pm :
I watched this when it first came out. He was/is obviously a great teacher. I admired his humor too, and the modesty that came with it.
My childhood dream was to become a content and kind old woman, I’m making progress.
26. July 2008 at 9:22 pm :
I think also had a vision of myself as a wise and helpful old man. still working toward that. i think it included the adjectives kind and cheerful too.
29. July 2008 at 2:02 pm :
I’ve watched this video some time ago, giving me a very special occasion to reflect on life and how to get the most out of it while we’re still here. Just wish I could have attended a live session with Randy Pausch myself. Empowering and enriching as a gift to the world, a video like this has immense value.
Finding your post today, Davee, was extremely sense making to me in my durrent state of grieving and reflectivity. My 83 year old father died on Sunday, after a very long period of incurable pain and exhaustion. There was no reason to believe he could have recovered by any means. This made sense - his life had come to an end, and the body gave up. What now remains are the memories and how we who are alive will cope with the challenge of getting things done the best way for as many of us as can be.
30. July 2008 at 12:05 pm :
Sus, I’m so sorry to hear about your father. It sounds like it was a difficult and painful time for him too. I don’t appreciate enough the people most close to me, and how uncertain the remaining time is that I have left with them.