CMU Professor Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecture' 93
This is a bit of an unusual story for Slashdot- it's the "Last Lecture" of a professor at CMU who is terminally ill. His early research in VR has benefited everyone and even if you have never heard of Randy Pausch I think this is worth your time. It's a 2 hour long wmv filled with insight, laughs and wisdom from a man who has really done some amazing work. I've been watching it all morning and I think it would really be worth your time if you can spare it to listen to what he has to say. From virtual reality to education to stuffed animals and childhood dreams, there's a lot here worth your time.
Thanks drew for the link. Update: 09/21 15:44 GMT by Z : The link is already a little shakey, so you might want to turn to this cut up YouTube version of the talk instead.
Moving.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07262/818671-85.stm [post-gazette.com]
Do NOT mod up GP! (Score:2)
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Gee, if only there were some place we could find a trillion dollars in the last four or five years of the budget that was wasted and could have been better spent improving the world.
Hmm.
Can't think of any place, whatsoever.
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Our resources are spent on so many destructive processes that dwarf the amount spent on constructive ones. How can you possibly watch so many people suffer or die prematurely -- especially when you see what kind of people and personalities they are like you have been able
Re:Moving.. (Score:5, Informative)
1) It's in the endocrine system, meaning it has easy access to a lot of other vital organs that the cancer can spread to,
2) The pancreas is vital to survival (it produces insulin, as well as a host of pancreatic enzymes that the body needs to be able to process food and regulate metabolism) so you can't just chop the whole thing out if it becomes cancerous
3) It's nestled in the middle of a complex set of nerves, arteries and veins meaning that it's extremely difficult, and often impossible, to perform surgical or radiation treatments,
4) Screening programs often don't work, as the cancer is completely capable of developing without showing up in any blood tests,
5) This is the real kicker - the early symptoms of PC are identical to a host of other minor illnesses such as gallstones, back ache, indigestion or acid reflux. By the time the symptoms have become serious enough for the patient to go to the doctor with them, and by the time the doctor has ruled out all the simpler ailments the symptoms point to, it's almost always too late. That's why this disease has a 5 year mortality rate of 98% and a 1 year mortality rate of over 75%, along with being the U.S.'s most fatal cancer.
Even if we could implement an accurate and early-detection screening programme, the cancer is so aggressive that we really need a paradigm shift away from current radiation and chemotherapy treatments. It's not so much that we're lacking money in researching into new forms of treatment as it is we're lacking the knowledge necessary to advance in these areas right now. There are plenty of well funded people working to solve the problems of cancer - right now we're waiting for one of them to have the 'eureka!' moment.
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I think that's perhaps the main reason why, despite his situation, he's in as good spirits as he is.
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Worth it? (Score:1, Funny)
What do you think life and death is all about? (Score:2)
It's what you do with what you got, and that's what he's about.
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It would clearly interfere with your valuable
He made an impact on my life. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:He made an impact on my life. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not many people make you want to live up to their standa
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Slashdot stories (Score:5, Insightful)
Sad that youtube forces this stuff to be cut up (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Sad that youtube forces this stuff to be cut up (Score:5, Informative)
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YouTube evidently is able to serve up videos past the 10-minute limit. The official Google channel [youtube.com] and the Google Talks channel [youtube.com] have plenty of long videos. So, at least for those trusted channels the limit doesn't exist. I'm not sure if there is any way to get YouTube to trust your channel.
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My favorite channel on youtube has plenty of videos over 10 minutes. (http://www.youtube.com/viperkeeper) This is not meant as any sort of plug, I have no relationship with the director of this channel, other than being a fan.
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But a per-video limit doesn't make much difference to storage space if they allow you to upload an unlimited number of videos. Anyways, according to the official YouTube blog, the reason is indeed copyright concerns [youtube.com]:
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They've since changed the policy and the methods by which you become a Director, so this may be moot. However, I know I'm just a guy making videos with the tools he has and no corporate backing. I also rea
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Amazing Lecture - Dare to Dream (Score:5, Insightful)
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Try that. I hope it's ok, I didn't have a chance to preview the wmv, no graphics on that machine.
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Randy's Last Lecture [google.com]
Time management talk (Score:3, Interesting)
(Or, I suppose, the stress related to worrying about time management may affect your health...)
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Time management is (probably) for the birds (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, that's the question I had when I read through his PowerPoint slides [cmu.edu] yesterday morning, after the WSJ video came up in the course of my daily hour of mindless Fark surfing.
Pausch's methods are great for people who value a highly-regimented life, or who require the same to accomplish anything at all. There are people like that, and maybe he's one of them, but h
Re:Time management is (probably) for the birds (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually Zen Buddhist monks live very strict, regimented, structured lives. Espcially those in Japan. They would consider anybody with a tendency to daydream or procrastinate as failing to live "in the moment". One great quote I remember hearing goes, "Don't do nothing. Do nothing." One monk from the non-fiction book "Ambivalent Zen" would pay any bills he received as soon as he received them so that he could better keep his mind clear.
That said, I'd have a hard hard time changing my own daydreaming, procrastinating ways.
The kind of news you don't want to hear... (Score:1, Interesting)
He was one of my classmates when I was going to graduate school in the CMU CS department (back then, it was "just" a department, not a school). He was a nice guy (and a bit of a clown).
I hadn't kept in touch, so this is the first I've heard about the cancer. (And with three young children
Here's hoping he's among the "15% - 20%" for whom the pallative care actually extends life, and that his quality of life will be (as) good (as it can be).
Re:Great Professor (Score:5, Interesting)
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What can one say... (Score:5, Insightful)
This man has lived an amazing life, and no doubt, this gives him the courage and the peace of mind to leave in such a graceful way, in an ultimate act of generosity. "Take a piece of me" he said somewhere at the beginning, when inviting people in the audience to take away his stuffed animals. And I feel I received a piece of him, even though I am thousands of kilometers away from this great person.
If you want your children to persevere in their lives and reach their dreams, show them this lecture (I saw the videos on YouTube), and talk about it with them.
Met when @ UVA (Score:2, Interesting)
Godspee
watch it, learn from it (Score:4, Informative)
this is a lot more relevant than... (Score:2)
But I'd rather see this story on slashdot than something political. And I've seen far too much political bull on slashdot. If you wear a t-shirt that says Rush is Right or Impeach Cheney First, there's a 50% chance you'll end up nattering on about stuff
He's in the Guinness World Records (Score:2, Informative)
His ego is, I swear to God, bigger than that of Steve Jobs, really, no joke. When I was in school at CMU he required an Interview (uppercase I) to get into his class. What kind of professor tells undergrads that they don't deserve to have "an educational experience" in 3d, VR, game technology, etc?
I sumbitted. I didn't want to because i wholey disagreed with his philosophy of education. His class seemed interesting enough that i let it go. The inte
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That's nothing. When I was at CMU, I was seated next to him at a dinner and he practically required an audition for me to keep the seat. And it wasn't even his dinner. It was honoring someone infinitely more grac
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In my opinion he's right on the mark, I think he wanted to filter out weak students wouldn't survive in industry. Plus if I was in his position I wouldn't want students who are simply not interested in the work. Too many teachers have to deal with dumbing down their classes to the lowest common denominator. Not that I disagree that it can be hard or that maybe he's an idio
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I'm sorry you don't know my accomplishments but maybe you should hold your tongue until you know what I've done in the world, not that what one has done makes one valuable. Have you seen Fight club? "You are not your job. You are not the money in your bank account. You are not the car you drive. You are not
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Hmm... who has done more for (in decreasing order: the universe, all life, humanity, my family, my country, my region, my town, my neighborhood)? javalizard or Anonymous Coward... um...
'nuff said.
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Though I cannot detract from some valid and very compelling things he said, ultimately I think he is a very interesting study in the modern academic culture. For one thing, he's got folks on one side saying he's brilliant, and on the other hand he said he blew his GREs. I have noticed that it isn't always the deserving who win in that game. The culture is self-serving, and likes to retain the ones who basically make them feel good. Honestly, I have to include the drive to increase women and minorities i
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Anyway he seems to have the ability to manage and drive people, something people utterly lacking them seem to enjo
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Just because he required an interview for his course doesn't make him a jerk, it just means he wants people in the class who really want to be there. Similarly with his comment to you, I think he was looking for a little more then "I want to take it" as a reason for getting in.
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Requiring an interviewing for his course doesn't make him jerk. I just believe he doesn't understand pedagogy. Who would want to take a class whose professor, they believed, didn't understand the principles of undergraduate education?
Alas, who says that kind of thing within the first 30 seconds of meeting someone? That's being a jerk.
Have you ever been in an interview? You need to start somewhere. "I'm really excited to be here",
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best teacher I ever had (Score:2, Insightful)
Watched it all (Score:1)
This guy is amazing. Reminds me of. . . (Score:3, Insightful)
Those two gents made a huge impact upon me when I was growing through high school, and all I had access to were a few recordings and videos of them speaking, but the philosophies they broadcast were powerful enough to change me forever.
Teachers of this caliber are golden.
The very best thing you can do for the world is to Live Your Light. --Just doing so and encouraging others to do so changes the world in ways which are not immediately obvious, but it is enough to win the war against the dark side.
-FL
What no Suntan vs p53 (Score:1)
I am in awe of this man (Score:2)
Reminds me so much of that episode of The Simpsons when Homer thought he was dying. But with actual feelings. Gets one thinking what th