Ad Terras Per Aspera

Several months ago, back in September, I linked to a lecture by Randy Pausch, a professor from CMU that has pancreatic cancer. I’m just going to say it now, I think the man is a genius, and it really fucking sucks that maybe tomorrow or the day after that hes going to be dead.

This is possibly the most important lecture you’re ever going to watch, and the most important stuff you’re ever going to learn. For those that haven’t already seen it, watch the whole thing; and for those that have, watch the whole thing again.

I honestly should have written this stuff in September, but I didn’t… I didn’t know what to write. If statistics applied to Randy Pausch, I shouldn’t even have this chance to write this to him. 75% of people who get pancreatic cancer die within the first year. Thankfully, Randy hasn’t shuffled off his mortal coil yet. I still don’t know what to write, but I’m going to try anyhow because I feel this is important.

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Dear Randy,

I would to thank you for the most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen, and probably will ever see. I wish the teachers that I’ve had in my life had this sort of mastery of telling people the real things they need to know, instead of just parroting things out of books.

Your experiences in life are not just important to you, but important to everyone that watches your lecture. Your experiences have given you a real rare look into how the world really works, and I thank you for sharing that with not only your students but with the entire world.

I didn’t grow up in the same environment you did, I was always taught (although I didn’t really believe it) that the walls in life were there to protect others first and then protect you second; if someone would have told me that the walls are there to tell you what you really want when I was a kid, I would probably be a lot more happy than I am now and I would have actually followed my dreams instead of doing what was slightly easier.

When I was a kid, I wanted to make video games. Nintendo was sort of the heroes I had. I bet I’m not different than a lot of students that you’ve had over the years, but the goal of making video games like that was so far away I abandoned it by the time I was old enough to know better.

I’m now 24, and looking back, I don’t think its too late to do what I want in life. Maybe not video games, but things that are still important in the computer industry I probably can tackle and solve. Some things people just do not want to tackle, partially because there is no funding (sound familiar?), and some things people don’t even believe need to be solved.

In my area of the industry, Google is sorta like your Imagineering guys, except instead of building really awesome VR worlds and other technological feats, Google data crunches. The fact I can describe what Google does in two words means what they do is extremely hard and would probably scare the crap out of most people.

Honestly, I don’t think Google has solved all the problems they can solve yet, and I do believe that they need to have more competition (friendly, of course, I have great respect for those guys). I think that being the next Google is one gigantic wall that people, including myself, should try to either climb over or just plow through like you’re the Kool-Aid guy. I may not be able to do it, but it’ll be an interesting experience to have none-the-less.

Again, thank you. I don’t think I would even be trying to do this if I had never seen your lecture.