The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is well-published and is one of the creators of Alice, 3D modeling software that is growing in popularity with the rise in metaverses on the Internet. He is the creator of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), an academic research institute that brings artists and technologist together to develop, primarily, virtual spaces. The ETC is as old as the IU School of Informatics, and some of our current research echoes the ETC mission.

Randy Pausch is also dying of cancer.

Pausch was originally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the start of the new academic year in 2006. One year later, after the conclusion of a round of chemotherapy, he was regaining strength … and receiving news that there were 10 tumors in his system. The prognosis is bleak, with about a semester left of good health and a painful journey after that. Randy has long since relinquished control of his pet projects and is focused on spending time with his wife and three young kids. The kids, he is advised, shouldn’t be told the bad news yet.

The Wall Street Journal published a tribute to the terminal professor on Thursday:

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. His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life.

The lecture was taped as a gift to his children, to watch when they are older and in a better position to understand what is happening to their family. Randy Pausch concluded his talk: “This was for my kids.”

Watching the video of Pausch’s Last Lecture is very moving, for several reasons. I am reminded immediately of my friend and fellow fantasy sports guru Scott Seator, who died over a decade ago. I empathize about the pain of leaving a family behind, especially when some of them are too young to really say goodbye. I also wonder about how the sum of my own life would read. Are my priorities reflected in what I have done? Have my visions of my contribution to the world been realized? In design, we are taught to iterate, reflect, and let go when the resources and constraints dictate. Is life the same?

Not everyone is lucky enough to prepare and give a last lecture. I wonder what the world would be like if we were all that lucky.

Copies and transcripts of Randy’s last lecture will be made available. There is a YouTube version as well, across several segments (Intro|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10) and also a full one-hour, 44-minute version on Google Video.