WEBVTT

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>> Make me earn it.

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It's wonderful to be here.
What Indira didn't tell you is that

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this lecture series used
to be called The Last Lecture.

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If you had one last lecture to give
before you died, what would it be?

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I thought, damn, I finally nailed
the venue, and they renamed it.

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So in case there's anybody who wandered
in and doesn't know the back story.

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My dad always taught me when there's
an elephant in the room, introduce them.

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If you look at my CT scans, there are
approximately 10 tumors in my liver,

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and the doctors told me 3-6
months of good health left.

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That was a month ago,
so you can do the math.

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I have some of the best doctors in

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the world. Microphone's not working?

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Then I'll just have to talk louder.

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Is that good? So that is what it is.

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We can't change it, and we just have to
decide how we're going to respond to that.

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We cannot change the cards we are
dealt, just how we play the hand.

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If I don't seem as depressed or morose
as I should be, sorry to disappoint you.

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And I assure you, I am not in denial.

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It's not like I'm not
aware of what's going on.

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My family, my three kids,
my wife, we just decamped.

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We bought a lovely house in Chesapeake,
Virginia near Norfolk,

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and we're doing that because
that's a better place for

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the family to be down the road.

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And the other thing is, I am
in phenomenally good health right now.

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It is the greatest thing of cognitive
dissonance you will ever see is the fact

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that I am in really good shape.

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In fact, I'm in better
shape than most of you.

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So anybody who wants to cry or pity
me can come down and do a few of those,

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and then you may pity me.

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So what we're not talking about today.

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We're not talking about cancer, because
I spent a lot of time talking about that,

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and I'm really not interested.

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If you have any herbal supplements
or remedies, please stay away from me.

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And we're not going to talk about
things that are even more important than

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achieving your childhood dreams.

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We're not going to talk about
my wife, we're not to talk to

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my kids because I'm good,
but I'm not good enough to

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talk about that without tearing up.

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So we're just going
to take that off the table.

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That's much more important.
And we're not going to talk

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about spirituality and religion.

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Although I will tell you that I have
experienced a deathbed conversion.

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I just bought a Macintosh.

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Now, I knew I'd get 9%
of the audience with that.

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So what is today's talk about then?

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It's about my childhood dreams
and how I've achieved them.

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I've been very fortunate that way.

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How I believe I've been able
to enable the dreams of others.

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And to some degree,
lessons learned. I'm a professor.

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There should be some lessons
learned and how you can

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use the stuff you hear today
to achieve your dreams or

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enable the dreams of others.
And as you get older, you may find that

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enabling the dreams of others
thing is even more fun.

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So, what were my childhood dreams?

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Well, I had a really good childhood.

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No kidding around. I was going
back through the family archives,

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and what was really amazing was I
couldn't find any pictures of me as a kid

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where I wasn't smiling.
And that was just a very gratifying thing.

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There was our dog.

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And there I actually have
a picture of me dreaming.

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And I did a lot of that.
There was a lot of "wake up!"

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And it was an easy time to dream.

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I was born in 1960. When you're
8- or 9-years-old, and you look at

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the TV set and men are landing
on the moon, anything is possible.

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And that's something we should not lose
sight of is that the inspiration and

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the permission to dream is huge.

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So what were my childhood dreams?

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You may not agree with this list,
but I was there.

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Being in zero gravity, playing
in the National Football League,

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authoring an article
in the World Book Encyclopedia.

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I guess you can tell the nerds early.

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Being Captain Kirk, anybody here have
that childhood dream? Not at CMU, no.

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I wanted to become one of the
guys who won the big stuffed

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animals in the amusement park, and I
wanted to be an Imagineer with Disney.

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These are not sorted
in any particular order,

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although I think they do get harder,
except for maybe the first one.

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So being in zero gravity. Now,
it's important to have specific dreams.

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I did not dream of being an astronaut,
because when I was a little kid,

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I wore glasses, and they told me,

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astronauts can't have
glasses, and I was like,

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I didn't really want the whole astronaut
gig. I just wanted the floating.

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And as a child, Prototype 0.0.

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But that didn't work so well.
And it turns out that NASA has

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something called the vomit comet
that they use to train the astronauts.

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And this thing does parabolic arcs.

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And at the top of each arc, you get about
25 seconds where you're ballistic and you

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get a rough equivalent
of weightlessness for about 25 seconds.

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And there is a program where college
students can submit proposals,

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and if they win the competition,
they get to fly.

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And I thought that was really cool, and we
had a team and we put a team together,

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and they won and they got to fly.

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And I was all excited cause
I was going to go with them.

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And then I hit the first brick wall
because they made it very clear that

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under no circumstances were faculty
members allowed to fly with the teams.

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I know, I was heartbroken.
I was like, but I worked so hard.

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And so I read the literature
very carefully,

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and it turns out that NASA, it's part
of their outreach and publicity program.

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And it turns out that these students
were allowed to bring a local media

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journalist from their hometown.

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And -- Randy Pausch, web journalist --

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It's really easy to get a press pass.

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So I called up the guys
at NASA and I said,

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I need to know where
to fax some documents.

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And they said, what documents
are you going to fax us.

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I said, my resignation
as the faculty advisor,

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and my application as the journalist.

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And he said, that's a little
transparent, don't you think?

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And I said, yeah,
but our project is virtual reality,

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and we're going to bring down
a whole bunch of VR headsets,

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and all the students from all
the teams are going to experience it,

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and all those other real journalists
are going to get to film it.

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Jim Polly's going, ha, you bastard, yes.

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And the guy said, here's the fax number.

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And indeed, we kept
our end of the bargain.

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And that's one of the themes that
you'll hear later on the talk is have

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something to bring to the table,
because that will make you more welcome.

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And if you're curious about
what zero gravity looks like,

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hopefully the sound will be working here.

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>> It's on. >> Go get them,
Mazzi. This is fantastic.

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It's just amazing. It's nothing like
I expected. We're having a great.

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>> Here I am. >> I don't
think any of us [inaudible].

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This is awesome.

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You got one, [inaudible] Mazzi.

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>> [inaudible],
got a ball for you [inaudible].

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>> You do pay the piper at the bottom.

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So childhood dream number 1, check.

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Let's talk about football. My dream was
to play in the National Football League.

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And most of you don't know that - no,

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I did not make it to the
National Football League.

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But I probably got more from
that dream and not accomplishing

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it than I got from any
of the ones that I did accomplish.

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I had a coach. I signed
up when I was 9-years-old.

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I was the smallest kid
in the league by far.

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And I had a coach Jim
Graham, who was 6'4".

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He had played linebacker at Penn State.

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He was just this hulk of a guy,
and he was old school. Really old school.

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He thought the forward
pass was a trick play.

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And he showed up
for practice the first day.

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And, this big hulking guy,
we were all scared to death of him.

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And he hadn't brought any footballs.

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How are we going to have
practice without any footballs?

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And one of the other kids said,
excuse me, coach, but there's no football.

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And Coach Graham said, right, how many
men are on a football field at time?

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So we said 11, on a team 22.
And Coach Graham said, and

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how many people are touching
the football at any given time?

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One of them. And he said, right.

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So we're gonna work on what
those other 21 guys are doing.

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And that's a really good story because

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it's all about fundamentals.
You've got to get the fundamentals down,

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because otherwise, the fancy
stuff isn't going to work.

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And the other Jim Graham story I have
is there was one practice where he just

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rode me all practice. You're doing
this wrong, you're doing this wrong.

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Go back and do it again. You owe me.

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You're doing pushups after practice.

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And when it was all over, one of the other
assistant coaches came over and said,

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Coach Graham rode you
pretty hard, didn't he?

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He said, that's a good thing.
He said, when you're screwing up

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and nobody's saying anything to you
anymore, that means they gave up.

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And that's a lesson that stuck with me.

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My whole life is that when you
see yourself doing something badly,

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and nobody's bothering to tell you
anymore, that's a very bad place to be.

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Your critics are your ones telling
you they still love you and care.

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After Coach Graham had
another coach, Coach Setliff,

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and he taught me a lot about
the power of enthusiasm.

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He did this one thing where only for one
play at a time, he would put people in at

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the most horrifically
wrong position for them.

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All the short guys would become receivers.

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It was just laughable,
but we only went in for one play.

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And boy, the other team just
never knew what hit them.

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Because when you're only doing
it for one play and you're just

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not where you're supposed to be,
and freedom's just another word

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for nothing left to lose,
boy, are you going to clean

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somebody's clock for that one play.

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And that kind of enthusiasm was great.

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And to this day, I am most
comfortable on a football field.

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It's just one of those things
where if I'm working a hard problem,

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people will see me wandering
the halls with one of these things.

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And that's just because
when you do something young

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enough and you train for it,
it just becomes a part of you.

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And I'm very glad that football
was a part of my life.

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And if I didn't get the dream
of playing in the NFL, that's okay.

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I probably got stuff more valuable because
looking at what's going on in the NFL,

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I'm not sure those guys are
doing so great right now.

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And so one of the expressions I learned
at electronic arts, which I love,

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which pertains to this is experience
is what you get when you

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didn't get what you wanted.
And I think that's absolutely lovely.

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And the other thing about football
is we send our kids out to play football,

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or soccer, or swimming, or whatever it is.

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And it's the first example
of what I'm going to call

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a head fake or indirect learning.

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We actually don't want
our kids to learn football.

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It's really nice that I have
a wonderful three point stance,

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and that know how to do a chop
block and all this kind of stuff.

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But we send our kids out to learn
much more important things,

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teamwork, sportsmanship,
perseverance, etc.

00:12:08.770 --> 00:12:13.297
And these kinds of head fake
learnings are absolutely important,

00:12:13.380 --> 00:12:16.517
and you should keep your eye out
for them because they're everywhere.

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A simple one, being an author
in the World Book encyclopedia.

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When I was a kid, we had the World
Book encyclopedia on the shelf,

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for the freshmen, this is paper.

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We used to have these things called books.

00:12:33.060 --> 00:12:37.497
And after I had become somewhat
of an authority on virtual reality,

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but not like a really important one,
so I was at the level of people

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the World Book would badger.
They called me up, and I wrote an article,

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and this is Caitlyn Kelleher.
And there's an article,

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if you go to your local library where
they still have copies of the World Book.

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Look under V, for virtual
reality, and there it is.

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And all I have to say is that having
been selected to be an author

00:12:58.160 --> 00:13:01.737
in the World Book Encyclopedia,
I now believe that Wikipedia

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is a perfectly fine source
for your information because I know what

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the quality control
is for real encyclopedias.

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They let me in. Next one.

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At a certain point, you just realize

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there's some things you're not going
to do, so maybe you just want to

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stand close to the people.

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And my god,

00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:32.290
what a role model for young people.

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This is everything you want to be.

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And what I learned that carried me
forward in leadership later is that

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he wasn't the smartest guy on the ship.

00:13:41.330 --> 00:13:45.277
Spock was pretty smart, and McCoy was
the doctor and Scotty was the engineer,

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and you go, and what skill set did he
have to get on this damn thing and run it?

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And clearly, there's this
skill set called leadership.

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And whether or not you like
the series, there's no doubt that

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there was a lot to be learned
about how to lead people by

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watching this guy in action.
And he just had the coolest damn toys.

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My god, I just thought it was fascinating

00:14:11.450 --> 00:14:16.430
as a kid that he had this thing,
and he could talk to the ship with it.

00:14:17.130 --> 00:14:19.947
I just thought that was just spectacular.

00:14:20.030 --> 00:14:26.827
And, of course, now I own one,
and it's taller. So that's kinda cool.

00:14:26.910 --> 00:14:32.780
So I got to achieve this dream.

00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:39.157
James T. Kirk, his alter ego,
William Shatner wrote a book,

00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:40.857
which I think was actually
a pretty cool book.

00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:45.557
It was with Chip Walter, who is a
Pittsburgh based author who's quite good.

00:14:45.640 --> 00:14:49.517
And they wrote a book on basically the
Science of Star Trek, What Has Come True.

00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:53.157
And they went around to top places around
the country and looked at various things,

00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:55.517
and they came here to study
our virtual reality center.

00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.537
And so we built a virtual reality for him.

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It looks something like that.
We put it in, put it to red alert.

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He was a very good sport.
It's not like he saw that one coming.

00:15:04.660 --> 00:15:10.117
>> [LAUGHTER]. >> And it's really

00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:13.337
cool to meet your boyhood idol.

00:15:13.420 --> 00:15:17.407
But it's even cooler when
he comes to you to see

00:15:17.490 --> 00:15:21.457
what cool stuff you're doing
in your lab. [LAUGHTER].

00:15:21.540 --> 00:15:27.820
That was just a great moment.
Winning stuffed animals.

00:15:28.760 --> 00:15:32.047
This may seem mundane to you,
but when you're a little kid, you see

00:15:32.130 --> 00:15:34.117
the big buff guys walking
around in an amusement park,

00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:38.247
and they got all these big stuffed
animals, And this is my lovely wife.

00:15:38.330 --> 00:15:42.937
And I have a lot of pictures
of stuffed animals I've won. [LAUGHTER].

00:15:43.020 --> 00:15:46.017
That's my dad posing with one that I won.

00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:50.447
I've won a lot of these animals.
[LAUGHTER] There's my dad.

00:15:50.530 --> 00:15:51.487
He did win that one to

00:15:51.570 --> 00:15:58.570
his credit. [LAUGHTER] And this

00:16:00.900 --> 00:16:02.797
was just a big part of my
life in my family's life.

00:16:02.880 --> 00:16:08.767
But can hear the cynics. In this age
of digitally manipulated things.

00:16:08.850 --> 00:16:12.127
Maybe those bears really aren't
in the picture with me. [LAUGHTER]

00:16:12.210 --> 00:16:15.457
Or maybe I paid somebody five
bucks to take a picture in

00:16:15.540 --> 00:16:17.087
the theme park next to the bear.

00:16:17.170 --> 00:16:20.667
And I said, how in this age
of cynicism can I convince people?

00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:24.147
And I said, I know.
I can show them the bears.

00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:31.230
[LAUGHTER][APPLAUSE].

00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.090
Just put them right there.
You just put them back against the wall.

00:16:42.530 --> 00:16:48.337
Thanks, honey. [LAUGHTER].

00:16:48.420 --> 00:16:52.927
So, here's some bears.
We didn't have quite enough room in

00:16:53.010 --> 00:16:55.067
the moving truck down to Chesapeake.

00:16:55.150 --> 00:16:59.297
And anybody who'd like a little
piece of me at the end of this,

00:16:59.380 --> 00:17:02.380
feel free to come up
first come, first served.

00:17:02.660 --> 00:17:05.767
My next one. Being an Imagineer.

00:17:05.850 --> 00:17:10.447
This was the hard one.
Believe me, getting to zero gravity is

00:17:10.530 --> 00:17:12.667
easier than becoming an Imagineer.

00:17:12.750 --> 00:17:16.927
When I was a kid, I was eight years old,
and our family took a trip cross

00:17:17.010 --> 00:17:20.007
country to see Disneyland.
And if you ever seen

00:17:20.090 --> 00:17:24.037
the movie National Lampoon's vacation,
it was a lot like that. [LAUGHTER].

00:17:24.120 --> 00:17:30.387
Because there's a quest.
And these are real vintage photographs.

00:17:30.470 --> 00:17:35.157
And there I am in front of the castle.

00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:38.207
And there I am and for those
of you who are into foreshadowing,

00:17:38.290 --> 00:17:41.787
this is the Alice Ride. [LAUGHTER].

00:17:41.870 --> 00:17:47.027
And I just thought this was just
the coolest environment I've ever been in.

00:17:47.110 --> 00:17:48.837
And instead of saying, Gee,
I want to experience this,

00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:51.107
I said, I want to make stuff like this.

00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:55.147
And so I bided my time, and then
I graduated with my Ph.D. from

00:17:55.230 --> 00:17:58.157
Carnegie Mellon thinking that meant
me infinitely qualified to do anything.

00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.447
And I dashed off my letters of application
to Walt Disney Imagineering,

00:18:01.530 --> 00:18:03.757
and they sent me some
of the damn nicest go to

00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:09.277
hell letters I've ever gotten. [LAUGHTER].

00:18:09.360 --> 00:18:12.487
We have carefully reviewed
your application, and presently,

00:18:12.570 --> 00:18:15.697
we do not have any positions
available which require

00:18:15.780 --> 00:18:17.917
your particular qualifications.

00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.837
Now, think about the fact
that you're getting

00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:24.967
this from a place that's famous for guys
who sweep the streets. [LAUGHTER].

00:18:25.050 --> 00:18:27.267
So that was a bit of a setback.

00:18:27.350 --> 00:18:31.677
But remember, the brick
walls are there for a reason.

00:18:31.760 --> 00:18:33.757
The brick walls are not
there to keep us out.

00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:36.217
The brick walls are
there to give us a chance

00:18:36.300 --> 00:18:40.777
to show how badly we want something,
because the brick walls are there to stop

00:18:40.860 --> 00:18:43.237
the people who don't want it badly enough.

00:18:43.320 --> 00:18:49.387
They're there to stop
the other people. [LAUGHTER].

00:18:49.470 --> 00:18:52.747
Fast forward to 1991, we did a system
back at University of Virginia called

00:18:52.830 --> 00:18:58.417
Virtual Reality on $5 a day. Just one
of those unbelievable spectacular things.

00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:02.087
I was so scared back in those
days as a junior academic.

00:19:02.170 --> 00:19:04.467
Jim Foley's here, and I
just love to tell the story.

00:19:04.550 --> 00:19:06.937
He knew my undergraduate
advisor, Andy Van Dam.

00:19:07.020 --> 00:19:09.447
And I'm at my first conference,
and I'm just scared to death.

00:19:09.530 --> 00:19:12.757
And this icon in the user
Interface Community

00:19:12.840 --> 00:19:15.577
walks up to me and just out of nowhere,
just gives me this huge bear hug,

00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:17.887
and he says, That was from Andy.

00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:21.587
And that was when I thought,
ok, maybe I can make it.

00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:27.127
Maybe I do belong. And a similar story is
that this was just this unbelievable hit

00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:28.567
because at the time,
everybody needed a half a

00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:31.567
million dollars to do virtual reality,
and everybody felt frustrated.

00:19:31.650 --> 00:19:33.827
And we literally hacked
together a system for about

00:19:33.910 --> 00:19:37.027
$5,000 in parts and made
a working VR system.

00:19:37.110 --> 00:19:38.227
And people were just like, oh my god.

00:19:38.310 --> 00:19:40.207
It's like the Hewlett
Packard garage thing.

00:19:40.290 --> 00:19:44.087
This is so awesome. And so I'm giving
this talk and the room has just gone wild.

00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:47.527
And during the Q&A a guy named Tom
Furness, who was one of the big names

00:19:47.610 --> 00:19:50.787
in virtual reality at the time, he goes up
to the microphone and introduces himself.

00:19:50.870 --> 00:19:53.017
I didn't know what he looked like,
but I sure as hell knew the name.

00:19:53.100 --> 00:19:57.757
And he asked a question. And I was like,
I'm sorry. Did you say you're Tom Furness?

00:19:57.840 --> 00:20:01.337
He said, yes, I said, then I would
love to answer your question, but first,

00:20:01.420 --> 00:20:05.407
will you have lunch
with me tomorrow? [LAUGHTER]

00:20:05.490 --> 00:20:07.937
And there's a lot in that little moment.

00:20:08.020 --> 00:20:11.787
There's a lot of humility,
but also asking a person where he

00:20:11.870 --> 00:20:18.870
can't possibly say no. [LAUGHTER].

00:20:19.770 --> 00:20:22.597
And so imagineering,
a couple of years later,

00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:24.097
was working on a virtual reality project.

00:20:24.180 --> 00:20:27.037
This was top secret.
They were denying the existence of

00:20:27.120 --> 00:20:31.077
a virtual reality attraction after
the time that the Publicity Department

00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:32.877
was running the TV commercials.

00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.057
So imagineering really
had nailed this one tight.

00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:39.967
And it was the Aladdin attraction
where you would fly a magic carpet.

00:20:40.050 --> 00:20:43.837
And the head mounted display,
sometimes known as Gator vision.

00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:49.197
And so I had an in.
As soon as the project had just,

00:20:49.280 --> 00:20:50.807
they started running the TV commercials.

00:20:50.890 --> 00:20:54.427
And I had been asked to brief
the Secretary of Defense

00:20:54.510 --> 00:20:55.607
on the state of virtual reality.

00:20:55.690 --> 00:21:00.857
Fred Brooks and I had been asked
to brief the Secretary of Defense.

00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:06.047
And that gave me an excuse.
So I called them up.

00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:07.327
I called the imagineering
and I said, look,

00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:08.827
I'm briefing the Secretary of Defense.

00:21:08.910 --> 00:21:11.077
I'd like some materials on what
you have, because it's one of

00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:12.487
the bestVR systems in the world.

00:21:12.570 --> 00:21:15.097
And they kind of pushed back and I said,
look, is all this patriotism stuff

00:21:15.180 --> 00:21:17.170
in the parks a farce?

00:21:19.310 --> 00:21:23.077
They said, this is so
new the PR department

00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:24.297
doesn't have any footage for you.

00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:25.957
So I'm going to have
to connect you straight

00:21:26.040 --> 00:21:27.747
through to the team who did the work.

00:21:27.830 --> 00:21:32.517
Jackpot. So I find myself on the
phone with a guy named Jon Snoddy,

00:21:32.600 --> 00:21:36.047
who is one of the most
impressive guys I have ever met.

00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:38.317
And he was the guy running this team,
and it's not surprising they

00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:42.067
had done impressive things.
And so he sent me some stuff.

00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:44.917
We talked briefly, sent me some stuff and
I said, I'm going to be out in the area

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.157
for a conference shortly, would you
like to get together to have lunch.

00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.577
Translation. I'm going
to lie to you and say that

00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:54.377
I have an excuse to be in the area,
so I don't look too anxious.

00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:56.857
But I would go to Neptune
to have a lunch with

00:21:56.940 --> 00:22:01.537
you. [LAUGHTER] And so Jon said, sure.

00:22:01.620 --> 00:22:07.267
And I spent something
like 80 hours talking with

00:22:07.350 --> 00:22:10.327
all the VR experts in the world,
saying, if you had access to

00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:13.907
this unbelievable project,
what would you ask?

00:22:13.990 --> 00:22:16.657
And then I compiled all
of that and I had to memorize it,

00:22:16.740 --> 00:22:18.457
which anybody knows me and knows
that I have no memory at all,

00:22:18.540 --> 00:22:22.257
because I couldn't go in looking
like a dweeb with Hi, question 72.

00:22:22.340 --> 00:22:26.277
So I went in and this
was like a two hour lunch.

00:22:26.360 --> 00:22:30.967
And Jon must have thought he was talking
to some phenomenal person because all

00:22:31.050 --> 00:22:34.987
I was doing was channeling Fred Brooks and
Ivan Sutherland and Andy Van Dam people

00:22:35.070 --> 00:22:37.837
like that, and Henry Fuchs.
So it's pretty easy to be

00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.567
smart when you're parroting smart people.

00:22:40.650 --> 00:22:43.747
And at the end of the lunch with Jon,

00:22:43.830 --> 00:22:46.797
I sort of as we say
in the business, made the ask.

00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.277
And I said, I have a sabbatical coming up.

00:22:50.360 --> 00:22:56.917
And he said, what's that? [LAUGHTER].

00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.947
The beginnings of the culture clash.

00:23:00.030 --> 00:23:03.907
And so I talked to him about
the possibility of coming

00:23:03.990 --> 00:23:09.187
there and working with him.
And he said, well, that's really good,

00:23:09.270 --> 00:23:12.097
except you're in the business
of telling people stuff,

00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:14.767
and we're in the business
of keeping secrets.

00:23:14.850 --> 00:23:17.867
And then what made Jon Snoddy
Jon Snoddy was, he said,

00:23:17.950 --> 00:23:20.757
but we'll work it out,
which I really loved.

00:23:20.840 --> 00:23:22.087
The other thing that I
learned from Jon Snoddy,

00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:25.387
I could easily do an hour-long talk just
on what have I learned from Jon Snoddy.

00:23:25.470 --> 00:23:28.447
One of the things he told
me was that wait long enough,

00:23:28.530 --> 00:23:30.457
and people will surprise and impress you.

00:23:30.540 --> 00:23:32.917
He said, when you're pissed off
at somebody and you're angry at them,

00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.297
you just haven't given them enough time.

00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:38.317
Just give them a little more time,
and they'll almost always impress you.

00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.147
And that really stuck with me.
I think he's absolutely right on that one.

00:23:41.230 --> 00:23:47.967
So, to make a long story short,
we negotiated a legal contract.

00:23:48.050 --> 00:23:51.417
It was going to be the first. Some people
referred to it as the first and last paper

00:23:51.500 --> 00:23:53.037
ever published by Imagineering.

00:23:53.120 --> 00:23:56.967
But the deal was, I go, I provide
my own funding, I go for six months.

00:23:57.050 --> 00:23:59.670
I work with a project, we publish a paper.

00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:03.000
And then we meet our villain.

00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:07.627
I can't be all sweetness and light,
because I have no credibility.

00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:10.127
Somebody's head's going to go on a stick.

00:24:10.210 --> 00:24:12.797
Turns out that the person who
gets his head on the stick is

00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:14.567
a dean back at the University of Virginia.

00:24:14.650 --> 00:24:15.667
His name is not important.

00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:22.750
Let's call him Dean Wormer. [LAUGHTER].

00:24:23.460 --> 00:24:25.987
And Dean Wormer has
a meeting with me where I say,

00:24:26.070 --> 00:24:28.867
I want to do the sabbatical thing, and
I've actually gotten the Imagineering guys

00:24:28.950 --> 00:24:30.857
to let an academic in, which is insane.

00:24:30.940 --> 00:24:33.787
If Jon hadn't gone nuts,
this would never been a possibility he is

00:24:33.870 --> 00:24:35.427
a very secretive organization.

00:24:35.510 --> 00:24:37.957
And Dean Wormer looks at the paperwork
and he says, well, says they're going to

00:24:38.040 --> 00:24:39.237
own your intellectual property.

00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:42.347
I said, we got the agreement to publish
the paper. There is no other IP.

00:24:42.430 --> 00:24:45.207
I don't do patentable stuff.
He says, yeah, but you might.

00:24:45.290 --> 00:24:48.887
So the deals off, get them
to change that little clause there.

00:24:48.970 --> 00:24:54.607
And then come back to me.
I was like, excuse me.

00:24:54.690 --> 00:24:57.877
And then I said to him, I want you
to understand how important this is.

00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:01.737
If we can't work this out, I'm going
to take an unpaid leave of absence,

00:25:01.820 --> 00:25:05.937
and I'm just going to go there,
and I'm going to do this thing.

00:25:06.020 --> 00:25:10.747
And he said, hey, I might
not even let you do that.

00:25:10.830 --> 00:25:12.757
You've got the IP in your head
already, and maybe they're going to

00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:13.387
suck it out of you,

00:25:13.470 --> 00:25:20.470
so that's not going
to fly either. [LAUGHTER].

00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:24.997
It's very important to know
when you're in a pissing match.

00:25:25.080 --> 00:25:28.707
And it's very important to get
out of it as quickly as possible.

00:25:28.790 --> 00:25:32.677
So I said to him, well,
let's back off on this.

00:25:32.760 --> 00:25:34.597
Do we think this is a good idea at all?

00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:36.587
He said, I have no idea
if this is a good idea.

00:25:36.670 --> 00:25:40.397
I was like well, ok,
we've got common ground there.

00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.787
And I said, well,
is this really your call?

00:25:42.870 --> 00:25:45.457
Isn't this the call of the
dean of sponsored research?

00:25:45.540 --> 00:25:48.067
If it's an IP issue,
and he said, yeah, that's true.

00:25:48.150 --> 00:25:49.797
I said, so if he's happy, you're happy?

00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:53.137
Then I'd be fine. [NOISE] Like Wile E.
Coyote a little. [LAUGHTER].

00:25:53.220 --> 00:25:54.547
And I find myself in Gene Block's office,

00:25:54.630 --> 00:25:56.117
who is the most fantastic
man in the world.

00:25:56.200 --> 00:25:58.957
And I start talking to Gene Block, and I
say, Let's start at the high level, since

00:25:59.040 --> 00:26:00.377
I don't want to have to back out again.

00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:01.267
Let's start at the high level.

00:26:01.350 --> 00:26:02.217
Do you think this is a good idea?

00:26:02.300 --> 00:26:05.217
He said, well, if you're
asking me if it's a good idea,

00:26:05.300 --> 00:26:06.377
I don't have very much information.

00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:08.677
All I know is that one of my star
faculty members is in my office,

00:26:08.760 --> 00:26:10.597
and he's really excited, so tell me more.

00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:12.787
Here's a lesson for everybody
in administration.

00:26:12.870 --> 00:26:15.747
They both said the same thing.

00:26:15.830 --> 00:26:21.407
But think about how they
said it. I don't know.

00:26:21.490 --> 00:26:25.117
Well, I don't have much information, but
one of my star faculty members is here,

00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.157
and he's all excited,
so I want to learn more.

00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:28.987
They are both ways of saying,
I don't know, but,

00:26:29.070 --> 00:26:31.017
boy, there's a good way and a bad way.

00:26:31.100 --> 00:26:34.227
So anyway, we got it all worked out.

00:26:34.310 --> 00:26:36.697
I went to Imagineering,
sweetness and light,

00:26:36.780 --> 00:26:42.757
and all's well that ends well. [LAUGHTER].

00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:45.760
Some brick walls are
made of flesh. [LAUGHTER].

00:26:46.070 --> 00:26:48.397
So I worked on the Aladdin project.

00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.387
It was absolutely spectacular,
just unbelievable.

00:26:53.470 --> 00:26:56.257
Here's my nephew Christopher.
This was the apparatus.

00:26:56.340 --> 00:26:58.607
You would sit on this
motorcycle type thing,

00:26:58.690 --> 00:27:03.137
and you would steer your magic carpet, and
you would put on the head mounted display.

00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:04.087
The head mounted display
is very interesting.

00:27:04.170 --> 00:27:06.757
It had two parts, and it
was a very clever design to

00:27:06.840 --> 00:27:08.167
get throughput through, the only part that

00:27:08.250 --> 00:27:10.717
touched the guests head was this little
cap, and everything else clicked onto

00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:11.807
it, all the expensive hardware.

00:27:11.890 --> 00:27:15.487
So you could replicate the caps because
they were basically free to manufacture.

00:27:15.570 --> 00:27:20.800
And this is what I really did,
as I was a cap cleaner during this matter.

00:27:22.010 --> 00:27:27.727
I loved Imagineering.
It was just a spectacular place.

00:27:27.810 --> 00:27:29.737
Everything that I had dreamed.

00:27:29.820 --> 00:27:33.037
I loved the model shop. People
crawling around on things the size of

00:27:33.120 --> 00:27:35.677
this room that are just
big physical models.

00:27:35.760 --> 00:27:39.617
It was just an incredible place
to walk around and be inspired.

00:27:39.700 --> 00:27:43.207
I'm always reminded when I went there,
and people said, do you think

00:27:43.290 --> 00:27:44.767
the expectations are too high?

00:27:44.850 --> 00:27:47.117
And I said, you ever see the movie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:50.017
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,
where Gene Wilder says to the little boy

00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:51.547
Charlie he's about to give
him the chocolate factory.

00:27:51.630 --> 00:27:54.637
He says, well, Charlie,
did anybody ever tell you the story of

00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:58.537
the little boy who suddenly
got everything he ever wanted?

00:27:58.620 --> 00:28:03.027
Charlie's eyes get like saucers,
and he says, no, What happened to him?

00:28:03.110 --> 00:28:08.857
Gene Wilder says, he lived
happily ever after. [LAUGHTER].

00:28:08.940 --> 00:28:11.347
So working on the Aladdin VR,
I described it as a once in

00:28:11.430 --> 00:28:14.457
every five years opportunity,
and I stand by that assessment.

00:28:14.540 --> 00:28:17.767
It forever changed me.
It wasn't just that it was good work

00:28:17.850 --> 00:28:22.537
and I got to be a part of it. But it
got me into the place of working with

00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:25.747
real people and real HCI
user interface issues.

00:28:25.830 --> 00:28:29.677
Most HCI people live in this fantasy
world of white collar laborers with

00:28:29.760 --> 00:28:33.877
Ph.D.s and master's degrees. And until
you've got ice cream spilled on you,

00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:39.157
you're not doing field work. And more
than anything else from Jon Snoddy,

00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.517
I learned how to put artists
and engineers together.

00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:43.357
And that's been the real legacy.

00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:46.637
We published a paper,
just a nice academic cultural scandal.

00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.787
When we wrote the paper,
the guys at Imagineering said,

00:28:48.870 --> 00:28:51.067
well, let's do a nice, big picture.

00:28:51.150 --> 00:28:54.277
Like you would in a magazine.
And the Siggraph Committee,

00:28:54.360 --> 00:28:56.627
which accepted the paper,
was like this big scandal.

00:28:56.710 --> 00:28:57.937
Are they allowed to do that? [LAUGHTER].

00:28:58.020 --> 00:29:04.867
There was no rule.
So we published the paper,

00:29:04.950 --> 00:29:07.687
and amazingly, since then,
there's a tradition of Siggraph papers

00:29:07.770 --> 00:29:10.027
having colored figures on the first page.

00:29:10.110 --> 00:29:12.517
So I've changed the world in a small way.

00:29:12.600 --> 00:29:18.547
[LAUGHTER]. And then at the end of my six
months, they came to me and they said,

00:29:18.630 --> 00:29:20.197
you want to do it for real?

00:29:20.280 --> 00:29:27.280
You can stay. [LAUGHTER]. And I said, no.

00:29:29.190 --> 00:29:31.807
One of the only times in my life
I have surprised my father.

00:29:31.890 --> 00:29:36.717
He was like, you what?
He said, since you were,

00:29:36.800 --> 00:29:39.820
all you wanted,
and now they got it in there.

00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:42.857
There was a bottle
of Maalox in my desk drawer.

00:29:42.940 --> 00:29:45.397
Be careful what you wish for.
It was a particularly stressful place.

00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:49.657
Imagineering in general is actually not
so Maalox laden, but the lab I was in,

00:29:49.740 --> 00:29:54.507
Jon left in the middle.
And it was a lot like the Soviet Union.

00:29:54.590 --> 00:29:56.977
It was a little dicy for a while.

00:29:57.060 --> 00:30:01.567
But it worked out okay. And if they
had said, stay here or never walk in

00:30:01.650 --> 00:30:03.697
the building again, I would have done it.

00:30:03.780 --> 00:30:06.907
I would have walked away from tenure,
I would have just done it.

00:30:06.990 --> 00:30:09.937
But they made it easy on me. They said
you can have your cake and eat it too,

00:30:10.020 --> 00:30:12.967
and I basically become a day
a week consultant for Imagineering,

00:30:13.050 --> 00:30:14.587
and I did that for about 10 years.

00:30:14.670 --> 00:30:18.287
And that's one of the reasons
you should all become professors.

00:30:18.370 --> 00:30:20.967
Because you can have
your cake and eat it too.

00:30:21.050 --> 00:30:24.967
I went on and consulted
on things like Disney Quest.

00:30:25.050 --> 00:30:26.887
So there was the virtual Jungle Cruise.

00:30:26.970 --> 00:30:29.847
And the best interactive
experience, I think ever done,

00:30:29.930 --> 00:30:31.767
and Jesse Schell gets the credit for this.

00:30:31.850 --> 00:30:36.247
Pirates of the Caribbean.
Wonderful at Disney Quest.

00:30:36.330 --> 00:30:38.147
And so those are my childhood dreams.

00:30:38.230 --> 00:30:41.207
And that's pretty good.
I felt good about that.

00:30:41.290 --> 00:30:45.847
So then the question becomes, how can
I enable the childhood dreams of others?

00:30:45.930 --> 00:30:49.027
And again, boy,
am I glad I became a professor.

00:30:49.110 --> 00:30:53.250
What better place
to enable childhood dreams?

00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:56.257
Maybe you're working at EA, I don't know.

00:30:56.340 --> 00:30:58.660
That probably is a good close second.

00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:08.077
This started in a very concrete
realization that I could do this because

00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:10.637
a young man named Tommy Burnett,
when I was at the University of Virginia,

00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.917
came to me was interested in joining
my research group, and we talked about it,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:16.767
and he said, and I have a childhood dream.

00:31:16.850 --> 00:31:20.407
Well, it gets pretty easy
to recognize them when they tell you.

00:31:20.490 --> 00:31:23.017
And I said, Yes, Tommy,
what is your childhood dream?

00:31:23.100 --> 00:31:26.170
He said, I want to work
on the next Star Wars film.

00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:30.597
Now, you got to remember
the timing on this. Where is Tommy?

00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.590
Tommy is here today? What year would
this have been? Your sophomore year?

00:31:35.470 --> 00:31:37.407
>> [BACKGROUND]. >> Are you
breaking anything back there,

00:31:37.490 --> 00:31:42.967
young man? So in 1993.
And I said to Tommy, you know they're

00:31:43.050 --> 00:31:46.780
probably not going
to make those next movies.

00:31:50.450 --> 00:31:55.240
And he said, no, they are.

00:31:58.310 --> 00:32:02.467
And Tommy worked with me
for a number of years as an

00:32:02.550 --> 00:32:05.867
undergraduate and then as a staff member,
and then when I moved to Carnegie Mellon,

00:32:05.950 --> 00:32:10.397
every single member of my team came
from Virginia to Carnegie Mellon,

00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.577
except for Tommy because
he got a better offer.

00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:18.820
And he did indeed work
on all three of those films.

00:32:19.370 --> 00:32:24.617
And then I said, Well, that's nice, but,
one at a time is kind of inefficient.

00:32:24.700 --> 00:32:27.447
People who know me know
that I'm an efficiency freak.

00:32:27.530 --> 00:32:29.707
So I said, can I do this in mass?

00:32:29.790 --> 00:32:33.097
Can I get people turned in such
a way that they can be turned

00:32:33.180 --> 00:32:37.747
onto their childhood dreams? And I came
to Carnegie Mellon and I created a course

00:32:37.830 --> 00:32:38.837
called Building Virtual World.

00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:43.207
It's a very simple course. How many
people have ever been to any of the shows?

00:32:43.290 --> 00:32:46.837
Some of you have an idea, for those
of you don't, the course is very simple.

00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:50.677
There are 50 students drawn from all the
different departments of the university.

00:32:50.760 --> 00:32:56.047
There are randomly chosen
teams, four people per team,

00:32:56.130 --> 00:32:57.857
and they change every project.

00:32:57.940 --> 00:33:01.807
A project only lasts two weeks,
so you do something, you make something,

00:33:01.890 --> 00:33:05.317
you show something, then I shuffle
the teams, you get three new playmates,

00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:09.057
and you do it again. And it's
every two weeks, and so you do

00:33:09.140 --> 00:33:11.187
five projects during the semester.

00:33:11.270 --> 00:33:16.867
The first year we taught this course,
it is impossible to describe how much of

00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:20.407
a tiger by the tail we had.
I was just running the course

00:33:20.490 --> 00:33:22.017
because I wanted to see if we could do it.

00:33:22.100 --> 00:33:24.697
We had just learned how to do
texture mapping on 3D graphics,

00:33:24.780 --> 00:33:27.787
and we could make stuff that looked
half decent, but we were running on

00:33:27.870 --> 00:33:30.907
really weak computers
by current standards.

00:33:30.990 --> 00:33:32.447
But I said, I'll give it a try.

00:33:32.530 --> 00:33:35.097
And at my new university, I made
a couple of phone calls and I said,

00:33:35.180 --> 00:33:37.167
I want to cross list this course
to get all other people,

00:33:37.250 --> 00:33:40.637
and within 24 hours it was cross
listed in five departments.

00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:44.937
I love this university.
It's the most amazing place.

00:33:45.020 --> 00:33:47.257
And I said the kids said,
well, what content do we make?

00:33:47.340 --> 00:33:50.437
I said, hell, I don't know.
You make whatever you want.

00:33:50.520 --> 00:33:54.337
Two rules: no shooting
violence and no pornography.

00:33:54.420 --> 00:34:00.400
Not because I'm opposed to those in
particular, but, that's been done with VR.

00:34:01.370 --> 00:34:05.947
And you'd be amazed how many 19-year-old
boys are completely out of ideas

00:34:06.030 --> 00:34:08.140
when you take those off the table.

00:34:12.260 --> 00:34:15.257
Anyway, so I taught the course.

00:34:15.340 --> 00:34:18.637
The first assignment, I gave it to them,
they came back in two weeks,

00:34:18.720 --> 00:34:25.097
and they just blew me away. The work
was so beyond literally my imagination,

00:34:25.180 --> 00:34:29.467
because I copied the process from
Imagineerings VR Lab, but I had no idea

00:34:29.550 --> 00:34:32.287
what they could or couldn't do
with it as undergraduates because

00:34:32.370 --> 00:34:35.287
their tools were weaker. And they
came back in the first assignment,

00:34:35.370 --> 00:34:38.277
and they did something that was so
spectacular that I literally,

00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:42.697
10 years as a professor I had no idea
what to do next. So I called up my mentor.

00:34:42.780 --> 00:34:48.397
I called up Andy Van Dam. And I said,
Andy, I just gave a two week assignment,

00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:51.127
and they came back and did stuff
that if I'd given them a whole semester,

00:34:51.210 --> 00:34:52.527
I would have given them all A's.

00:34:52.610 --> 00:34:55.480
Sensei, what do I do?

00:34:56.090 --> 00:35:02.777
And Andy thought for a minute and he
said, you go back into class tomorrow,

00:35:02.860 --> 00:35:06.097
and you look them in the eye and you
say, guys, that was pretty good,

00:35:06.180 --> 00:35:08.320
but I know you can do better.

00:35:11.240 --> 00:35:14.507
And that was exactly the right
advice, because what he said was,

00:35:14.590 --> 00:35:17.977
you obviously don't know
where the bar should be,

00:35:18.060 --> 00:35:22.507
and you're only going to do them
a disservice by putting it anywhere.

00:35:22.590 --> 00:35:28.177
And boy, was that good advice,
because they just kept going.

00:35:28.260 --> 00:35:31.747
And during that semester,
it became this underground thing.

00:35:31.830 --> 00:35:38.107
I'd walk into a class with 50 students in
it, and there were 95 people in the room.

00:35:38.190 --> 00:35:41.317
Because it was the day
we were showing work and

00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:44.577
people's roommates
and friends and parents.

00:35:44.660 --> 00:35:47.657
I'd never had parents
come to class before.

00:35:47.740 --> 00:35:50.307
It was flattering and somewhat scary.

00:35:50.390 --> 00:35:54.877
And so it snowballed and we had this
bizarre thing of, we got to share this.

00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:57.597
If there's anything I've been
raised to do, it's to share.

00:35:57.680 --> 00:35:59.467
And I said, we got to show this semester.

00:35:59.550 --> 00:36:02.177
We got to have a big show.
And we booked this room, McConomy,

00:36:02.260 --> 00:36:04.627
I have a lot of good memories
in this room, And we booked it not

00:36:04.710 --> 00:36:06.487
because we thought we could
fill it, but because it had

00:36:06.570 --> 00:36:12.427
the only AV setup that would work, because
this was a zoo, computers and everything.

00:36:12.510 --> 00:36:16.057
And then we filled it.
And we more than filled it.

00:36:16.140 --> 00:36:17.707
We had people standing in the aisle.

00:36:17.790 --> 00:36:20.797
I will never forget the dean
at the time Jim Morris was sitting on

00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:25.467
the stage right about there.
We had to scoot him out of the way.

00:36:25.550 --> 00:36:29.467
And the energy in the room was like
nothing I had ever experienced before.

00:36:29.550 --> 00:36:34.327
And President Jerry Cohon,
was there and he sensed the same thing.

00:36:34.410 --> 00:36:37.477
He later described it as like
an Ohio State football pep rally,

00:36:37.560 --> 00:36:43.057
except for academics. And he came over
and he asked exactly the right question.

00:36:43.140 --> 00:36:47.047
He said before you start, he said, I
got to know, where are these people from?

00:36:47.130 --> 00:36:49.117
He said, the audience.
What departments are they from?

00:36:49.200 --> 00:36:51.717
And we polled them and it
was all the departments.

00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:54.697
And I felt very good because
I had just come to campus.

00:36:54.780 --> 00:36:58.687
He had just come to campus,
and my new boss had seen in

00:36:58.770 --> 00:37:03.157
a very corporeal way that this is the
university that puts everybody together.

00:37:03.240 --> 00:37:06.667
And that made me feel just tremendous.

00:37:06.750 --> 00:37:08.527
So we did this campus- wide exhibition.

00:37:08.610 --> 00:37:12.397
People performed down here. They were
in costume, and we project just like this,

00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:13.897
and you can see what's going on.

00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:16.077
You can see what they're
seeing in the head mount.

00:37:16.160 --> 00:37:20.867
There's a lot of big props,
so there's a guy whitewater rafting.

00:37:20.950 --> 00:37:27.727
This is then ET. And yes, I did tell them

00:37:27.810 --> 00:37:30.717
if they didn't do the shot of the kids
biking across the moon, I would fail him.

00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:37.800
That is a true story. So I

00:37:38.670 --> 00:37:39.907
thought I'd show you just one world.

00:37:39.990 --> 00:37:42.547
And if we get the lights down,
if that's at all possible?

00:37:42.630 --> 00:37:47.680
No. That means no.
We'll just do our best then.

00:37:49.970 --> 00:37:56.830
>> Hello, there. I'm lonely.
Make me a new world.

00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:26.987
>> Now, they're going
to turn this on its head.

00:39:27.070 --> 00:39:32.157
Watch closely. The world doesn't want
to go on to the next thing in the show.

00:39:32.240 --> 00:39:35.800
So she's ready to move on, and it's not.

00:39:40.700 --> 00:39:45.527
>> What are you doing? >> [BACKGROUND].

00:39:45.610 --> 00:39:48.817
>> But there are so many
other worlds that have to go.

00:39:48.900 --> 00:39:52.870
>> But our world is the best world.

00:40:00.170 --> 00:40:03.280
>> I'm going to shut you down.

00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:16.260
Control alt delete

00:40:51.050 --> 00:40:58.050
>> Don't

00:41:05.780 --> 00:41:11.107
control alt delete.

00:41:11.190 --> 00:41:13.570
>> We love you.

00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:36.307
>> It was an unusual course.
With some of the most brilliant,

00:41:36.390 --> 00:41:42.257
creative students from all across the
campus, it just was a joy to be involved.

00:41:42.340 --> 00:41:46.810
And they took the whole stage performance
aspect of this way too seriously.

00:41:48.680 --> 00:41:52.267
And it became this campus
phenomenon every year.

00:41:52.350 --> 00:41:56.057
People would line up for it.
It was very flattering.

00:41:56.140 --> 00:42:01.507
And it gave kids a chance of a sense
of excitement of putting on a show

00:42:01.590 --> 00:42:03.787
for people who were then excited about it.

00:42:03.870 --> 00:42:06.577
And I think that that's one of the
best things you can give somebody,

00:42:06.660 --> 00:42:10.747
the chance to show them what it
feels like to make other people get

00:42:10.830 --> 00:42:13.077
excited and happy,
that's a tremendous gift.

00:42:13.160 --> 00:42:16.447
We always tried to involve the audience,
whether it was people with glow sticks

00:42:16.530 --> 00:42:21.097
or batting a beach ball around
or driving. This is really cool.

00:42:21.180 --> 00:42:24.597
This technology actually got used
at the Spider Man 3 premiere in LA,

00:42:24.680 --> 00:42:28.737
so the audience was controlling
something on the screen, so that's nice.

00:42:28.820 --> 00:42:32.137
And I don't have a class
picture from every year,

00:42:32.220 --> 00:42:33.847
but I dredged all the ones that I do have.

00:42:33.930 --> 00:42:37.297
And all I can say is that what
a privilege and an honor it was to teach

00:42:37.380 --> 00:42:39.527
that course for something like 10 years.

00:42:39.610 --> 00:42:44.917
And all good things come to an end,
and I stopped teaching

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:48.397
that course about a year ago.
People always ask me,

00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:51.607
what was my favorite moment? I don't
know if you could have a favorite moment,

00:42:51.690 --> 00:42:54.367
but boy, there's one I'll never forget.

00:42:54.450 --> 00:42:58.777
This was a world with,
I believe, a rollerskating ninja.

00:42:58.860 --> 00:43:01.597
And one of the rules was that we
performed these things live,

00:43:01.680 --> 00:43:04.147
and they all had to really work,
and the moment it stopped working,

00:43:04.230 --> 00:43:05.807
we went to your backup videotape.

00:43:05.890 --> 00:43:08.047
And this was very embarrassing.

00:43:08.130 --> 00:43:10.007
So we have this ninja on stage.

00:43:10.090 --> 00:43:14.667
He's doing this rollerskating thing,
and the world it did not crash gently.

00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:18.397
And I come out and I believe
it was Steve Audio, wasn't it?

00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:21.597
Is it? Where is he? Here's Steve.

00:43:21.680 --> 00:43:26.027
My man, Steve Audio.
And talk about quick on your feet.

00:43:26.110 --> 00:43:29.227
I say, Steve, I'm sorry,
but your world has crashed,

00:43:29.310 --> 00:43:31.237
and we're going to go to videotape.

00:43:31.320 --> 00:43:35.137
And he pulls out his ninja sword and says,

00:43:35.220 --> 00:43:38.590
I am dishonored and just drops.

00:43:47.900 --> 00:43:51.397
And so I think it's very telling
that my favorite moment in

00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:55.097
10 years of this high technology
course was a brilliant ad lib,

00:43:55.180 --> 00:43:57.927
and then when the videotape
was done, and the lights come up,

00:43:58.010 --> 00:44:01.780
he's lying there lifeless,
and his teammates drag him off.

00:44:02.150 --> 00:44:06.520
It was really a fantastic moment.

00:44:07.220 --> 00:44:10.157
And the course was all about bonding.

00:44:10.240 --> 00:44:12.607
People used to say, what's
going to make for a good world?

00:44:12.690 --> 00:44:15.247
I said, I can't tell you beforehand,
but right before they present it,

00:44:15.330 --> 00:44:18.217
I can tell you if the world's
good just by the body language.

00:44:18.300 --> 00:44:21.727
If they're standing close
to each other, the world is good.

00:44:21.810 --> 00:44:25.037
And BVW was a pioneering course.

00:44:25.120 --> 00:44:32.120
And, I won't bore you
with all the details,

00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:38.617
but it wasn't easy to do. And I was given
this when I stepped down from the ETC,

00:44:38.700 --> 00:44:42.277
and I think it's emblematic. If you're
going to do anything that's pioneering,

00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:45.617
you will get those arrows in the back,
and you just have to put up with it.

00:44:45.700 --> 00:44:49.137
Everything that could go wrong did
go wrong, but at the end of the day,

00:44:49.220 --> 00:44:52.347
a whole lot of people
had a whole lot of fun.

00:44:52.430 --> 00:44:56.987
When you've had something for 10
years that you hold so precious,

00:44:57.070 --> 00:45:00.137
it's the toughest thing
in the world to hand it over.

00:45:00.220 --> 00:45:04.627
And the only advice I can give you is find
somebody better than you to hand it

00:45:04.710 --> 00:45:10.947
to, and that's what I did. There was
this kid at the VR studio way back when,

00:45:11.030 --> 00:45:14.697
and you didn't have to spend very
long in Jesse Schell's orbit to go,

00:45:14.780 --> 00:45:20.617
force is strong in this one. And one
of my two greatest accomplishments,

00:45:20.700 --> 00:45:24.037
I think for Carnegie Mellon were that I
got Jessica Hodgins and Jesse Schell

00:45:24.120 --> 00:45:26.617
to come here and join our faculty,
and I was thrilled when I could

00:45:26.700 --> 00:45:29.227
hand this over to Jesse,
and to no one's surprise,

00:45:29.310 --> 00:45:31.347
he has really taken it
up to the next notch.

00:45:31.430 --> 00:45:34.627
And the course is in more than good hands.

00:45:34.710 --> 00:45:39.457
It's in better hands.
But it was just one course.

00:45:39.540 --> 00:45:42.727
And then we really took it up a notch.

00:45:42.810 --> 00:45:46.957
And we created what I would call
the Dream Fulfillment Factory.

00:45:47.040 --> 00:45:51.127
Don Marinelli and I got together,
and with the university's

00:45:51.210 --> 00:45:54.397
blessing and encouragement,
we made this thing out of

00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:58.897
whole cloth that was absolutely insane,
should never have been tried.

00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:03.467
All the sane universities didn't
go near this kind of stuff,

00:46:03.550 --> 00:46:07.887
creating a tremendous opportunistic void.

00:46:07.970 --> 00:46:10.897
So the Entertainment Technology
Center was all about artists and

00:46:10.980 --> 00:46:13.297
technologists working
in small teams to make things.

00:46:13.380 --> 00:46:16.137
It was a two-year
professional master's degree,

00:46:16.220 --> 00:46:19.237
and Don and I were two kindred spirits.

00:46:19.320 --> 00:46:23.420
We're very different. Anybody who knows
us knows that we're very different people.

00:46:23.600 --> 00:46:26.617
And we like to do things in a new way.

00:46:26.700 --> 00:46:30.007
And the truth of the matter is that we're
both a little uncomfortable in academia.

00:46:30.090 --> 00:46:32.347
I used to say that I'm
uncomfortable as an academic because

00:46:32.430 --> 00:46:35.017
I come from a long line of people
who actually worked for a living.

00:46:35.100 --> 00:46:42.100
So, I detect nervous laughter.

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:47.347
And I want to stress Carnegie
Mellon is the only place in the world

00:46:47.430 --> 00:46:51.280
that the ETC could have happened,
by far, the only place.

00:46:54.260 --> 00:46:57.760
This picture was Don's idea.

00:46:58.850 --> 00:47:02.047
And we like to refer to this
picture as Don Marinelli on

00:47:02.130 --> 00:47:05.500
guitar and Randy Pausch on keyboard.

00:47:06.500 --> 00:47:09.157
But we really did play up
the left brain right brain,

00:47:09.240 --> 00:47:11.557
and it worked out really well that way.

00:47:11.640 --> 00:47:15.280
Don is an intense guy.

00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:24.197
And Don and I shared an office.

00:47:24.280 --> 00:47:26.537
And at first, it was a small office.

00:47:26.620 --> 00:47:30.447
We shared an office for six years.

00:47:30.530 --> 00:47:34.527
Now, those of you who know
Don know he's an intense guy.

00:47:34.610 --> 00:47:39.007
And, given my current condition, somebody
was asking me, this is a terrible joke,

00:47:39.090 --> 00:47:43.527
but I'm going to use it anyway
because I know Don will forgive me.

00:47:43.610 --> 00:47:46.027
Somebody said, given your current
condition, have you thought about

00:47:46.110 --> 00:47:48.347
whether you're going
to go to heaven or hell?

00:47:48.430 --> 00:47:51.037
And I said, I don't know,
but if I'm going to hell,

00:47:51.120 --> 00:47:53.770
I'll do six years for time served.

00:47:54.260 --> 00:47:58.927
I kid. Sharing an office
with Don was really like sharing

00:47:59.010 --> 00:48:02.647
an office with a tornado.
There was just so much energy,

00:48:02.730 --> 00:48:05.677
and you never knew which trailer was next.

00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:09.487
But you knew something
exciting was going to happen.

00:48:09.570 --> 00:48:13.687
And there was so much energy.
And I do believe in

00:48:13.770 --> 00:48:15.117
giving credit where credit is due.

00:48:15.200 --> 00:48:20.597
So in my typically visual way, if Don and
I were to split the success for the ETC,

00:48:20.680 --> 00:48:22.087
he clearly gets the lion's share of it.

00:48:22.170 --> 00:48:24.077
He did the lion's share of the work.

00:48:24.160 --> 00:48:25.897
He had the lion's share of the ideas.

00:48:25.980 --> 00:48:28.657
It was a great teamwork.
I think it was a great yin and yang,

00:48:28.740 --> 00:48:31.037
but it was more like Ying and Yang.

00:48:31.120 --> 00:48:33.877
And he deserves that credit,
and I give it to him

00:48:33.960 --> 00:48:36.017
because the ETC is a wonderful place.

00:48:36.100 --> 00:48:39.147
And, he's now running it,
and he's taking it global,

00:48:39.230 --> 00:48:40.447
we'll talk about that in a second.

00:48:40.530 --> 00:48:44.257
Describing the ETC is really hard,
and I finally found a metaphor.

00:48:44.340 --> 00:48:47.877
Telling people about the ETC,
is it like describing Cirque Du

00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:49.487
Soleil if they'd never seen it.

00:48:49.570 --> 00:48:51.157
Sooner orlater, you're
going to make the mistake.

00:48:51.240 --> 00:48:52.687
You're going to say,
Well, it's like a circus.

00:48:52.770 --> 00:48:55.177
And then you're dragged into this
conversation about, Oh, how many tigers?

00:48:55.260 --> 00:48:57.907
How many lions? How many trapeze acts?

00:48:57.990 --> 00:48:59.097
And that misses the whole point.

00:48:59.180 --> 00:49:01.537
So when we say we're a master's
degree, we're really not like

00:49:01.620 --> 00:49:03.157
any master's degree you've ever seen.

00:49:03.240 --> 00:49:05.470
Here's the curriculum.

00:49:10.820 --> 00:49:13.237
The curriculum ended up looking like this.

00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:15.187
All I want to do is visually
communicate to you that you do

00:49:15.270 --> 00:49:18.067
five projects in building virtual
words, then you do three more.

00:49:18.150 --> 00:49:21.607
All of your time is spent
in small teams making stuff.

00:49:21.690 --> 00:49:23.047
None of that book learning thing.

00:49:23.130 --> 00:49:25.347
Don and I had no patience
for the book learning thing.

00:49:25.430 --> 00:49:28.447
It's a master's degree. They already
spent four years doing book learning,

00:49:28.530 --> 00:49:31.390
by now, they should
have read all the books.

00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:38.217
The keys to success were that
Carnegie Mellon gave us the reins.

00:49:38.300 --> 00:49:41.757
Completely gave us the reins.
We had no deans to report to,

00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:44.287
we reported directly to the provost,
which is great because the provost is way

00:49:44.370 --> 00:49:46.780
too busy to watch you carefully.

00:49:47.030 --> 00:49:50.347
We were given explicit
license to break the mold.

00:49:50.430 --> 00:49:52.037
It was all project based. It was intense.

00:49:52.120 --> 00:49:54.187
It was fun, and we took field trips.

00:49:54.270 --> 00:49:57.607
Every spring semester
in January, we'd take all 50

00:49:57.690 --> 00:50:00.667
students in the first-year class, and we'd
take them out the shops like Pixar,

00:50:00.750 --> 00:50:02.597
we'd take them to Pixar
Industrial Lite Magic.

00:50:02.680 --> 00:50:06.127
And, of course, when you got guys
like Tommy there acting as host,

00:50:06.210 --> 00:50:08.847
it's pretty easy to get
entree to these places.

00:50:08.930 --> 00:50:11.827
So we did things very differently.

00:50:11.910 --> 00:50:16.027
The kind of project students would do we
did a lot of what we'd call edutainment.

00:50:16.110 --> 00:50:19.387
We developed a bunch of things
with the Fire Department of New York,

00:50:19.470 --> 00:50:21.237
a network simulator
for training firefighters,

00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:23.617
using video gamish type technology to

00:50:23.700 --> 00:50:26.847
teach people useful things.
That's not bad.

00:50:26.930 --> 00:50:28.987
Companies did this strange thing.

00:50:29.070 --> 00:50:32.767
They put in writing.
We promise to hire your students.

00:50:32.850 --> 00:50:35.257
I've got the EA and Activision ones here.

00:50:35.340 --> 00:50:38.057
I think there are now how many five?

00:50:38.140 --> 00:50:42.517
Drew knows, I bet. So there
are five written agreements.

00:50:42.600 --> 00:50:44.317
I don't know of any other
school that has this kind of

00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:45.927
written agreement with any company.

00:50:46.010 --> 00:50:47.677
And so that's a real statement.

00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:48.757
And these are multiple year things.

00:50:48.840 --> 00:50:50.287
So they're agreeing
to hire people for summer

00:50:50.370 --> 00:50:52.827
internships that we have not admitted yet.

00:50:52.910 --> 00:50:55.827
That's a pretty strong statement
about the quality of the program.

00:50:55.910 --> 00:50:59.057
And Don, as I said, he's crazy.

00:50:59.140 --> 00:51:01.717
I mean, in a wonderful complimentary way.

00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:04.677
He's doing these things
where I'm like, Oh, my god.

00:51:04.760 --> 00:51:08.647
He's not here tonight because he's
in Singapore because there's going to

00:51:08.730 --> 00:51:10.637
be an ETC campus in Singapore.

00:51:10.720 --> 00:51:12.937
There's already one in Australia,
and there's going to be one in Korea.

00:51:13.020 --> 00:51:15.017
So this is becoming a global phenomenon.

00:51:15.100 --> 00:51:17.827
So I think this really speaks volumes
about all the other universities.

00:51:17.910 --> 00:51:20.607
It's really true that Carnegie Mellon
is the only university can do this.

00:51:20.690 --> 00:51:24.210
We just have to do it
all over the world now.

00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:29.597
One of the big successes about
the ETC is teaching people about focus.

00:51:29.680 --> 00:51:32.560
Oh, no, I hear the nervous
laughter from the students.

00:51:33.590 --> 00:51:37.967
I had forgotten the delayed shock
therapy effect of these bar charts.

00:51:38.050 --> 00:51:41.077
When you're taking Building
Virtual Worlds, every two weeks,

00:51:41.160 --> 00:51:43.687
we get peer feedback, we put
that all into a big spreadsheet.

00:51:43.770 --> 00:51:47.317
And at the end of the semester, you've had
three teammates per project five projects,

00:51:47.400 --> 00:51:49.687
that's 15 data points
that's statistically valid.

00:51:49.770 --> 00:51:52.627
And you get a bar chart
telling you on a ranking of

00:51:52.710 --> 00:51:56.217
how easy you are to work with where
you stack up against your peers.

00:51:56.300 --> 00:51:59.617
Boy, that's hard feedback to ignore.

00:51:59.700 --> 00:52:06.307
Some still managed but for the most part,

00:52:06.390 --> 00:52:10.207
people looked at that and went,
Wow, I got to pick it up a notch.

00:52:10.290 --> 00:52:12.727
I better start thinking about what
I'm saying to people in these meetings.

00:52:12.810 --> 00:52:15.817
And that is the best gift
an educator can give is to get

00:52:15.900 --> 00:52:18.057
somebody to become self reflective.

00:52:18.140 --> 00:52:21.007
So the ETC was wonderful,
but even the ETC,

00:52:21.090 --> 00:52:26.707
and even as Don scales it around the
globe, it's still very labor intensive.

00:52:26.790 --> 00:52:30.407
It's not Tommy one at a time.
It's not a research group, 10 at a time.

00:52:30.490 --> 00:52:34.677
It's 50 or 100 at a time per
campus times four campuses.

00:52:34.760 --> 00:52:38.327
But I wanted something
infinitely scalable.

00:52:38.410 --> 00:52:43.027
Scalable to the point where millions
or tens of millions of people could chase

00:52:43.110 --> 00:52:46.837
their dreams with something.
And I guess that kind of

00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:49.687
a goal really does make me the Mad Hatter.

00:52:49.770 --> 00:52:55.737
So, Alice is a project that we've
worked on for a long, long time.

00:52:55.820 --> 00:52:58.477
It's a novel way to teach
computer programming.

00:52:58.560 --> 00:53:02.637
Kids make movies and games. The head fake.
Again, we're back to the head fakes.

00:53:02.720 --> 00:53:05.647
Best way to teach somebody something
is to have them think they're

00:53:05.730 --> 00:53:09.177
learning something else.
I've done it my whole career.

00:53:09.260 --> 00:53:11.077
And the head fake here is that
they're learning to program,

00:53:11.160 --> 00:53:13.177
but they just think they're
making movies and video games.

00:53:13.260 --> 00:53:15.697
This thing has already been
downloaded well over a million times.

00:53:15.780 --> 00:53:17.197
There are eight textbooks
written about it.

00:53:17.280 --> 00:53:20.117
10% of U.S. colleges are using it now.

00:53:20.200 --> 00:53:22.407
And it's not the good stuff yet.

00:53:22.490 --> 00:53:25.540
The good stuff is coming
in the next version.

00:53:26.630 --> 00:53:32.077
I, like Moses, get to see the Promised
Land, but I won't get to set foot in it.

00:53:32.160 --> 00:53:37.887
And that's okay, because I can
see it, and the vision is clear.

00:53:37.970 --> 00:53:43.137
Millions of kids having fun
while learning something hard.

00:53:43.220 --> 00:53:46.907
That's pretty cool.
I can deal with that as a legacy.

00:53:46.990 --> 00:53:48.907
The next version is going
to come out in 2008,

00:53:48.990 --> 00:53:50.977
it's going to be teaching the Java
language, if you want them to

00:53:51.060 --> 00:53:53.227
know they're learning Java?
Otherwise, they'll just think

00:53:53.310 --> 00:53:55.177
that they're writing movie scripts.

00:53:55.260 --> 00:54:02.167
And we're getting the characters from the
best selling PC game in history, the Sims.

00:54:02.250 --> 00:54:04.177
And this is all already
working in the lab.

00:54:04.260 --> 00:54:06.697
So there's no real technological risk.

00:54:06.780 --> 00:54:09.597
I don't have time to thank and mention
everybody in the Alice team,

00:54:09.680 --> 00:54:12.907
but I just want to say that Dennis
Cosgrove is going to be building this,

00:54:12.990 --> 00:54:15.577
has been building this.
He is the designer. It's his baby.

00:54:15.660 --> 00:54:21.097
And for those here are wondering, well,
in some number of months, who should I be

00:54:21.180 --> 00:54:22.267
emailing about the Alice project?

00:54:22.350 --> 00:54:25.347
Where's Wanda Dann? There you are.

00:54:25.430 --> 00:54:27.367
Stand up. Let them all see you.

00:54:27.450 --> 00:54:31.447
Everybody say, Hi, Wanda. >> Hi Wanda.

00:54:31.530 --> 00:54:36.517
>> Send her the email. And I'll talk
a little bit more about Caitlin Kelleher,

00:54:36.600 --> 00:54:39.997
but she's graduated with her Ph.D.
and is at Washington University,

00:54:40.080 --> 00:54:43.137
and she's going to be taking this up a
notch and going to middle schools with it.

00:54:43.220 --> 00:54:48.617
So grand vision, and, to the extent
that you can live on in something,

00:54:48.700 --> 00:54:53.907
I will live on in Alice. So now the third
part of the talk, lessons learned.

00:54:53.990 --> 00:54:55.567
And we've talked about my dreams.

00:54:55.650 --> 00:54:58.267
We've talked about helping other
people in living their dreams.

00:54:58.350 --> 00:55:00.697
Somewhere along the way,
there's got to be some aspect of

00:55:00.780 --> 00:55:04.097
what lets you get to achieve your dreams.

00:55:04.180 --> 00:55:08.347
First one is the role of parents,
mentors and students.

00:55:08.430 --> 00:55:13.147
I was blessed to have been
born to two incredible people.

00:55:13.230 --> 00:55:16.657
This is my mother on her 70th birthday.

00:55:16.740 --> 00:55:23.407
I am back here.
I have just been lapped. This is

00:55:23.490 --> 00:55:26.857
my dad riding a roller
coaster on his 80th birthday.

00:55:26.940 --> 00:55:32.017
And he points out that, you know, he's not
only brave, he's talented because he did

00:55:32.100 --> 00:55:34.480
win that big bear the same day.

00:55:34.970 --> 00:55:40.537
My dad was so full of life.
Anything with him was an adventure.

00:55:40.620 --> 00:55:43.690
I don't know what's in that bag,
but I know it's cool.

00:55:44.420 --> 00:55:49.057
My dad dressed up as Santa
Claus, but he also did

00:55:49.140 --> 00:55:53.577
very significant things
to help lots of people.

00:55:53.660 --> 00:55:57.307
This is a dormitory in Thailand
that my mom and dad underwrote,

00:55:57.390 --> 00:56:02.467
and every year, about 30 students get to
go to school who wouldn't have otherwise.

00:56:02.550 --> 00:56:04.847
So my wife and I have also
been involved in heavily.

00:56:04.930 --> 00:56:08.227
And these are the kind of things
that I think everybody ought to

00:56:08.310 --> 00:56:12.517
be doing helping others.
But the best story about my dad is

00:56:12.600 --> 00:56:14.847
unfortunately my dad passed
away a little over a year ago.

00:56:14.930 --> 00:56:17.407
And when we were going through
his things, he had fought in

00:56:17.490 --> 00:56:18.937
World War II in the Battle of the Bulge.

00:56:19.020 --> 00:56:21.487
And when we were going through his things,
we found out he had been awarded

00:56:21.570 --> 00:56:26.407
the Bronze Star for Valor.
My mom didn't know it.

00:56:26.490 --> 00:56:30.790
In 50 years of marriage,
it had just never come up.

00:56:32.240 --> 00:56:37.630
My mom. Mothers are people who love
you even when you pull their hair.

00:56:38.480 --> 00:56:41.407
And I have two great mom stories.

00:56:41.490 --> 00:56:44.287
When I was here studying to get
my Ph.D., and I was taking something

00:56:44.370 --> 00:56:49.447
called the theory qualifier, which I can
definitively say is the second worst thing

00:56:49.530 --> 00:56:51.820
in my life after chemotherapy.

00:56:53.990 --> 00:56:57.097
And I was complaining
to my mother about how

00:56:57.180 --> 00:57:00.007
hard this test was and how awful it was.

00:57:00.090 --> 00:57:01.987
And she just leaned over
and she patted me on the arm,

00:57:02.070 --> 00:57:04.537
and she said, we know how
you feel, honey, and remember,

00:57:04.620 --> 00:57:08.110
when your father was your age,
he was fighting the Germans.

00:57:13.970 --> 00:57:17.467
After I got my Ph.D.,
my mother took great relish in

00:57:17.550 --> 00:57:19.087
introducing me as, this is my son.

00:57:19.170 --> 00:57:22.510
He's a doctor, but not
the kind who helps people.

00:57:26.660 --> 00:57:29.827
These slides are a little bit dark,
but when I was in high school,

00:57:29.910 --> 00:57:31.657
I decided to paint my bedroom.

00:57:31.740 --> 00:57:35.137
I'd always wanted
a submarine and an elevator.

00:57:35.220 --> 00:57:36.607
And the great thing about

00:57:36.690 --> 00:57:43.690
this, What can I say?

00:57:44.530 --> 00:57:47.857
And the great thing about
this is they let me do it.

00:57:47.940 --> 00:57:51.027
And they didn't get upset
about it, and it's still there.

00:57:51.110 --> 00:57:53.587
If you go to my parents'
house, it's still there.

00:57:53.670 --> 00:57:56.707
And anybody who's out there who is a
parent, if your kids want to paint their

00:57:56.790 --> 00:58:01.747
bedroom, as a favor to me,
let them do it. It'll be okay.

00:58:01.830 --> 00:58:04.720
Don't worry about resale
value on the house.

00:58:05.060 --> 00:58:08.017
Other people who helped
us besides our parents.

00:58:08.100 --> 00:58:11.057
Our teachers, our mentors,
our friends, our colleagues.

00:58:11.140 --> 00:58:15.077
God. What is there
to say about Andy Van Dam?

00:58:15.160 --> 00:58:17.847
When I was a freshman
at Brown, he was on leave.

00:58:17.930 --> 00:58:20.007
And all I heard about
was this Andy Van Dam.

00:58:20.090 --> 00:58:23.407
He was like a mythical creature,
like a centaur, but, like,

00:58:23.490 --> 00:58:29.407
a really pissed off centaur. And everybody
was like, really sad that he was gone,

00:58:29.490 --> 00:58:35.587
but kind of more relaxed.
And I found out why because

00:58:35.670 --> 00:58:38.707
I started working for Andy. I was a
teaching assistant for him as a sophomore.

00:58:38.790 --> 00:58:40.747
And I was quite an arrogant young man.

00:58:40.830 --> 00:58:45.067
And I came in to some office hours, and,
of course, it was nine o'clock at night,

00:58:45.150 --> 00:58:47.797
and Andy was there at office hours,
which is your first clue as to

00:58:47.880 --> 00:58:49.567
what kind of professor he was.

00:58:49.650 --> 00:58:53.227
And I come bounding in, and I'm
just I'm going to save the world.

00:58:53.310 --> 00:58:55.117
There are all these kids waiting for help.

00:58:55.200 --> 00:58:58.257
And afterwards,
Andy literally Dutch uncle.

00:58:58.340 --> 00:59:00.177
He is Dutch. He Dutch uncled me.

00:59:00.260 --> 00:59:01.567
And he put his arm around my shoulders.

00:59:01.650 --> 00:59:06.077
We went for a little walk,
and he said, Randy, it's such a shame

00:59:06.160 --> 00:59:10.240
that people perceive you as so arrogant.

00:59:10.820 --> 00:59:16.947
Because it's going to limit what you're
going to be able to accomplish in life.

00:59:17.030 --> 00:59:22.387
What a hell of a good way
to word you're being a jerk.

00:59:22.470 --> 00:59:25.387
He doesn't say you're a jerk.
He says, People are perceiving you

00:59:25.470 --> 00:59:27.327
this way and he says,
the downside is it's going to limit what

00:59:27.410 --> 00:59:30.277
you're going to be able to accomplish.

00:59:30.360 --> 00:59:33.777
When I got to know Andy better,
the beatings became more direct.

00:59:33.860 --> 00:59:39.937
But I could tell you
Andy stories for a month.

00:59:40.020 --> 00:59:42.037
But the one I will tell you
is that when it came time to

00:59:42.120 --> 00:59:44.557
start thinking about what to do
after graduating from Brown,

00:59:44.640 --> 00:59:47.097
it had never occurred to me in a million
years to go to graduate school,

00:59:47.180 --> 00:59:51.097
just out of my imagination. Wasn't the
kind of thing people from my family did.

00:59:51.180 --> 00:59:53.827
We got, say what do you call them... jobs.

00:59:53.910 --> 00:59:58.627
So Andy said, No, don't
go do that. Go get a Ph.D.

00:59:58.710 --> 01:00:00.597
Become a professor. I said, Why?

01:00:00.680 --> 01:00:06.097
He said, Because you're such
a good salesman that any company

01:00:06.180 --> 01:00:10.507
who gets you is going to use you
as a salesman, and you might as well be

01:00:10.590 --> 01:00:14.710
selling something worthwhile,
like education.

01:00:18.470 --> 01:00:25.077
Thanks. Andy was my first
boss, so to speak.

01:00:25.160 --> 01:00:28.097
I was lucky enough
to have a lot of bosses.

01:00:28.180 --> 01:00:31.827
That red circle was way off.
Als over here.

01:00:31.910 --> 01:00:34.977
I don't know what the hell happened there.

01:00:35.060 --> 01:00:38.347
He's probably watching us on the webcast
going, My god, he's targeting.

01:00:38.430 --> 01:00:44.527
And he still can't aim. I don't want
to say much about the great bosses

01:00:44.610 --> 01:00:46.277
I've had, except that they were great.

01:00:46.360 --> 01:00:49.197
And I know a lot of people
in the world have had bad bosses,

01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:51.157
and I haven't had
to endure that experience,

01:00:51.240 --> 01:00:54.127
and I'm very grateful to all of the
people that I ever had to report to.

01:00:54.210 --> 01:00:57.547
They've just been incredible.
But it's not just our bosses.

01:00:57.630 --> 01:01:00.187
We learn from our students.
I think the best head fake of

01:01:00.270 --> 01:01:03.310
all time come from Dr. Caitlin Kelleher.

01:01:04.400 --> 01:01:08.047
Who just finished up here,
starting at Washington University.

01:01:08.130 --> 01:01:11.407
And she looked at Alice when it
was an easier way to learn the program.

01:01:11.490 --> 01:01:13.487
And she said, Yeah, but, why is that fun?

01:01:13.570 --> 01:01:17.407
I was like, because I'm
a compulsive male, like to make

01:01:17.490 --> 01:01:23.277
the little toy soldiers move around by my
command and that's fun. She was like, Hmm.

01:01:23.360 --> 01:01:25.957
And she was the one who said,
No, we'll just approach it all

01:01:26.040 --> 01:01:30.557
as a storytelling activity. And she's
done wonderful work showing that,

01:01:30.640 --> 01:01:33.847
particularly with middle school girls, if
you present it as a storytelling activity,

01:01:33.930 --> 01:01:36.717
they're perfectly willing to learn
how to write computer software.

01:01:36.800 --> 01:01:42.850
So all time best head fake award goes
to Caitlin Kelleher's dissertation.

01:01:43.540 --> 01:01:47.547
President Cohon, when I told him I
was going to do this talk, he said,

01:01:47.630 --> 01:01:54.277
"Please tell them about having fun
because that's what I remember you for."

01:01:54.360 --> 01:01:57.087
And I said, "I can do that,
but it's like a fish talking about

01:01:57.170 --> 01:02:01.797
the importance of water."
I don't know how to not have fun.

01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:08.367
I'm dying and I'm having fun.
And I'm going to keep having fun every

01:02:08.450 --> 01:02:12.657
day I have left because
there's no other way to play it.

01:02:12.740 --> 01:02:17.177
So my next piece of advice is,
you just have to decide

01:02:17.260 --> 01:02:19.407
if you're a Tigger or you're an Eeyore.

01:02:19.490 --> 01:02:24.870
I think I'm clear where I stand
on the great Tigger or Eeyore debate.

01:02:26.380 --> 01:02:29.597
Never lose the child-like wonder.

01:02:29.680 --> 01:02:33.467
It's just too important.
It's what drives us.

01:02:33.550 --> 01:02:38.517
Help others. Denny Proffitt knows
more about helping other people.

01:02:38.600 --> 01:02:40.527
He's forgotten more than I'll ever know.

01:02:40.610 --> 01:02:44.717
He's taught me by example how to run
a group, how to care about people.

01:02:44.800 --> 01:02:48.367
MK Haley, I have a theory that people who
come from large families are better people

01:02:48.450 --> 01:02:50.077
because they've just had
to learn how to get along.

01:02:50.160 --> 01:02:54.090
MK Haley comes from a family with 20 kids.

01:02:55.060 --> 01:02:59.847
Unbelievable. And she always says,
it's fun to do the impossible.

01:02:59.930 --> 01:03:03.147
When I first got to Imagineering, she
was one of the people who dressed me down.

01:03:03.230 --> 01:03:07.307
And she said, "I understand you've joined
the Aladdin project, what can you do?"

01:03:07.390 --> 01:03:10.597
And I said, "Well, I'm a tenured
professor of computer science."

01:03:10.680 --> 01:03:11.937
And she said, "Well, that's very nice,

01:03:12.020 --> 01:03:14.277
Professor Boy,
but that's not what I asked.

01:03:14.360 --> 01:03:15.507
I said, what can you do?"

01:03:15.590 --> 01:03:22.590
[LAUGHTER] And I mentioned

01:03:24.740 --> 01:03:29.637
my working class roots.
We keep what is valuable to us,

01:03:29.720 --> 01:03:32.727
what we cherish, and I've kept
my letterman's jacket all these years.

01:03:32.810 --> 01:03:35.057
I used to like wearing it in grad school.

01:03:35.140 --> 01:03:38.407
And one of my friends,
Jessica Hodgins would say,

01:03:38.490 --> 01:03:40.797
"Why do you wear this letterman's jacket?"

01:03:40.880 --> 01:03:43.767
And I looked around at all
the non-athletic guys around me,

01:03:43.850 --> 01:03:46.347
who were much smarter than me,
and I said, "Because I can."

01:03:46.430 --> 01:03:51.207
[LAUGHTER] And so she thought
that was the real hoot.

01:03:51.290 --> 01:03:54.627
So one year she made for me
this little Raggedy Randy doll.

01:03:54.710 --> 01:03:57.617
He's got a little letterman's jacket, too.

01:03:57.700 --> 01:04:00.147
That's my all- time favorite.
It's the perfect gift for

01:04:00.230 --> 01:04:02.400
the egomaniac in your life.

01:04:03.580 --> 01:04:08.217
I've met so many wonderful
people along the way.

01:04:08.300 --> 01:04:12.357
Loyalty is a two-way street. There
was a young man named Dennis Cosgrove

01:04:12.440 --> 01:04:14.237
at the University of Virginia.

01:04:14.320 --> 01:04:17.000
When he was a young man,

01:04:17.410 --> 01:04:21.697
let's just say things happened.

01:04:21.780 --> 01:04:25.287
And I found myself talking to a dean.

01:04:25.370 --> 01:04:32.157
And the dean, no, not that dean, anyway,
this dean really had it in for Dennis,

01:04:32.240 --> 01:04:34.027
and I can never figure why
because Dennis was a fine fellow.

01:04:34.110 --> 01:04:36.037
But for some reason,
this dean really had it in for him.

01:04:36.120 --> 01:04:38.517
And I ended up basically saying,
"No, I vouch for Dennis."

01:04:38.600 --> 01:04:42.477
And the guy says, "You're not even tenured
yet, and you're telling me you're going to

01:04:42.560 --> 01:04:45.357
vouch for this sophomore
or junior or whatever."

01:04:45.440 --> 01:04:47.637
I think he was a junior at the time.
I said, " Yeah, I'm going to vouch for him

01:04:47.720 --> 01:04:50.697
because I believe in him."
And the dean said, " And I'm going to

01:04:50.780 --> 01:04:52.797
remember this when
your tenure case comes up."

01:04:52.880 --> 01:04:56.447
And I said, "Deal." I went back
to talked to Dennis and I said,

01:04:56.530 --> 01:04:58.860
"I would really appreciate you.

01:04:59.140 --> 01:05:03.777
That would be good."
But loyalty is a two-way street. That was

01:05:03.860 --> 01:05:08.037
god knows how many years ago,
but that's the same Dennis Cosgrove

01:05:08.120 --> 01:05:12.137
who's carrying Alice forward.
He's been with me all these years.

01:05:12.220 --> 01:05:16.317
And if we only had one person
to send in a space probe to meet

01:05:16.400 --> 01:05:18.930
an alien species, I'm picking Dennis.

01:05:21.010 --> 01:05:23.637
You can't give a talk
at Carnegie Mellon without

01:05:23.720 --> 01:05:28.317
acknowledging one very special person,
and that would be Sharon Burks.

01:05:28.400 --> 01:05:31.597
And I joked with her. I said,
"Well look, if you're retiring,

01:05:31.680 --> 01:05:33.057
it's just not worth living anymore."

01:05:33.140 --> 01:05:39.867
[LAUGHTER] Sharon is so wonderful,
it's beyond description.

01:05:39.950 --> 01:05:43.537
And for all of us who've been helped
by her, it's just indescribable.

01:05:43.620 --> 01:05:46.017
I love this picture because
it puts her together with Syl.

01:05:46.100 --> 01:05:50.607
And Syl is great because Syl
gave the best piece of advice,

01:05:50.690 --> 01:05:52.387
pound for pound that I have ever heard.

01:05:52.470 --> 01:05:55.427
And I think all young
ladies should hear this.

01:05:55.510 --> 01:05:58.907
Syl said, "It took me a long time,
but I finally figured it out.

01:05:58.990 --> 01:06:03.217
When it comes to men that are
romantically interested in you,

01:06:03.300 --> 01:06:06.657
it's really simple,
just ignore everything they

01:06:06.740 --> 01:06:10.677
say and only pay
attention to what they do.

01:06:10.760 --> 01:06:14.137
It's that simple. It's that easy."

01:06:14.220 --> 01:06:19.010
And I thought back to my bachelor
days, and I said, "Damn."

01:06:21.900 --> 01:06:25.907
Never give up. I didn't
get into Brown University.

01:06:25.990 --> 01:06:30.477
I was on the wait list.
I called them up, and they eventually

01:06:30.560 --> 01:06:33.807
decided that it was getting
really annoying to have me call

01:06:33.890 --> 01:06:38.667
every day, so they let me in. At Carnegie
Mellon, I didn't get into graduate school.

01:06:38.750 --> 01:06:40.407
Andy, he had mentored me.
He said, "Go to graduate school.

01:06:40.490 --> 01:06:41.487
You're going to go to Carnegie Mellon.

01:06:41.570 --> 01:06:46.647
All my good students go to Carnegie
Mellon, and you know what's coming."

01:06:46.730 --> 01:06:49.537
And so he said, "You're going to go
to Carnegie Mellon, no problem."

01:06:49.620 --> 01:06:52.557
What he had forgotten
was that the difficulty of getting

01:06:52.640 --> 01:06:56.097
into the top Ph.D.
program in the country had freely gone up,

01:06:56.180 --> 01:07:01.157
and he also didn't know I was going
to tank my GREs because he believed in me,

01:07:01.240 --> 01:07:04.307
which based on my board scores
was a really stupid idea.

01:07:04.390 --> 01:07:06.357
And so I didn't get into Carnegie Mellon.

01:07:06.440 --> 01:07:08.137
No one knows this till
today I'm telling the story,

01:07:08.220 --> 01:07:10.557
I was declined admission
to Carnegie Mellon.

01:07:10.640 --> 01:07:15.677
And I was a bit of an
obnoxious little kid.

01:07:15.760 --> 01:07:19.557
I went into Andy's office and I dropped
the rejection letter on his desk.

01:07:19.640 --> 01:07:22.447
And I said, "I just want you to know
what your letter of recommendation

01:07:22.530 --> 01:07:23.637
goes for at Carnegie Mellon."

01:07:23.720 --> 01:07:30.720
[LAUGHTER] And before the letter

01:07:33.650 --> 01:07:40.200
had hit his desk, his hand was on the
phone, and he said, "I will fix this."

01:07:42.250 --> 01:07:44.967
And I said, "No.
I don't want to do it that way.

01:07:45.050 --> 01:07:46.927
That's not the way I was raised.

01:07:47.010 --> 01:07:50.987
Maybe some other graduate schools
we'll see fit to admit me."

01:07:51.070 --> 01:07:53.307
And he said, "Look, Carnegie Mellon
is where you are going to be."

01:07:53.390 --> 01:07:55.737
He said, "I tell you what, I'll make
you a deal, go visit the other schools."

01:07:55.820 --> 01:07:56.907
Because I did get into the other schools.

01:07:56.990 --> 01:07:59.397
He said, "Go visit the other
schools, and if you really don't

01:07:59.480 --> 01:08:02.527
feel comfortable at any of them,
then well you will let me call Nico."

01:08:02.610 --> 01:08:05.027
Nico being Nico Habermann.
And I said, "Okay, deal."

01:08:05.110 --> 01:08:10.410
I went to the other schools without
naming them by name; Berkeley, Cornell.

01:08:10.510 --> 01:08:15.087
They managed to be so unwelcoming
that I found myself saying to Andy,

01:08:15.170 --> 01:08:18.027
"I'm going to go get a job."
And he said, "No, you're not."

01:08:18.110 --> 01:08:21.840
And he picked up the phone,
and he talked in Dutch.

01:08:23.710 --> 01:08:27.957
And he hung up the phone and he said,
"Nico says if you're serious

01:08:28.040 --> 01:08:29.427
be in his office tomorrow morning at 8:00

01:08:29.510 --> 01:08:35.267
A.M." And for those of you know Nico,

01:08:35.350 --> 01:08:38.787
this is really scary.
So I'm in Nico Habermann's office

01:08:38.870 --> 01:08:41.487
the next morning at 8:00 A.M,
and he's talking with me.

01:08:41.570 --> 01:08:43.707
And frankly, I don't think
he's that keen on this meeting

01:08:43.790 --> 01:08:46.017
again. I don't think
he's that keen at all.

01:08:46.100 --> 01:08:50.970
And he says, "Randy, why are we here?"

01:08:51.580 --> 01:08:56.010
And I said, "Because Andy phoned you."

01:08:56.560 --> 01:09:02.877
And I said, "Well, since you admitted me,
I have won a fellowship."

01:09:02.960 --> 01:09:06.357
The Office of Naval Research
is a very prestigious fellowship.

01:09:06.440 --> 01:09:09.387
I've won this fellowship,
and that wasn't in my file when I applied.

01:09:09.470 --> 01:09:15.810
And Nico said, "Fellowship money, we
have plenty of money." That was back then.

01:09:16.810 --> 01:09:19.077
And he said, "We have plenty of money.

01:09:19.160 --> 01:09:22.897
Why do you think having a fellowship
makes any difference to us?"

01:09:22.980 --> 01:09:27.597
And he looked at me, there are moments
that change your life, and 10 years later,

01:09:27.680 --> 01:09:30.517
if you know in retrospect,
it was one of those moments,

01:09:30.600 --> 01:09:36.487
you're blessed, but to know
it at the moment with Nico

01:09:36.570 --> 01:09:41.517
staring through your soul.
And I said, "I didn't mean to

01:09:41.600 --> 01:09:42.837
imply anything about the money.

01:09:42.920 --> 01:09:44.157
It's just that it was an honor.

01:09:44.240 --> 01:09:45.987
There were only 15 given nationwide.

01:09:46.070 --> 01:09:49.777
And I did think it was an honor that would
be something that would be meritorious.

01:09:49.860 --> 01:09:53.070
And I apologize if that was presumptuous."

01:09:53.170 --> 01:09:57.677
And he smiled. And that was good.

01:09:57.760 --> 01:10:00.317
So how do you get people to help you?

01:10:00.400 --> 01:10:03.677
You can't get there alone.
People have to help you and

01:10:03.760 --> 01:10:05.767
I do believe in Karma.
I believe in paybacks.

01:10:05.850 --> 01:10:08.927
You get people to help you
by telling the truth, being earnest.

01:10:09.010 --> 01:10:12.147
I'll take an earnest person
over a hip person every day.

01:10:12.230 --> 01:10:15.447
Because hip is short term,
earnest is long term.

01:10:15.530 --> 01:10:21.297
Apologize when you screw up and focus
on other people, not on yourself.

01:10:21.380 --> 01:10:26.227
And I thought, How do I possibly
make a concrete example of that?

01:10:26.310 --> 01:10:28.827
Do we have a concrete example
of focusing on somebody else over there?

01:10:28.910 --> 01:10:33.897
Can we bring it out?
See yesterday was my wife's birthday.

01:10:33.980 --> 01:10:38.227
If there was ever a time I might
be entitled to have the focus on me,

01:10:38.310 --> 01:10:42.417
it might be the last lecture,
but no, I feel very badly that

01:10:42.500 --> 01:10:44.407
my wife didn't really
get a proper birthday,

01:10:44.490 --> 01:10:47.007
and I thought it'd be
very nice if 500 people

01:10:47.090 --> 01:10:54.090
[APPLAUSE]

01:11:06.680 --> 01:11:09.507
Happy birthday to you.

01:11:09.590 --> 01:11:14.007
Her name is Jay. Happy birthday to you.

01:11:14.090 --> 01:11:18.107
Happy birthday dear Jay.

01:11:18.190 --> 01:11:23.340
Happy birthday to you. [APPLAUSE] You

01:11:30.970 --> 01:11:33.450
got to blow it out.

01:11:39.910 --> 01:11:41.157
All right.

01:11:41.240 --> 01:11:48.240
[APPLAUSE]

01:11:51.290 --> 01:11:54.690
And now y'all have an extra
reason to come to the reception.

01:11:55.960 --> 01:11:59.617
Remember brick walls let
us show our dedication.

01:11:59.700 --> 01:12:03.027
They are there to separate us
from the people who don't really

01:12:03.110 --> 01:12:05.247
want to achieve their childhood dreams.

01:12:05.330 --> 01:12:08.757
Don't bail; the best of the gold
is at the bottom of barrels of crap.

01:12:08.840 --> 01:12:15.840
[LAUGHTER] What Steve didn't

01:12:18.270 --> 01:12:20.877
tell you was the big sabbatical at EA.

01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:24.957
I'd been there for 48 hours
and they loved the ETC.

01:12:25.040 --> 01:12:26.547
We were the best, we were the favorites.

01:12:26.630 --> 01:12:30.657
And then somebody else pulled me aside and
said, "Oh, by the way, we're about to give

01:12:30.740 --> 01:12:33.117
$8 million to USC to build
a program just like yours.

01:12:33.200 --> 01:12:36.200
And we're hoping you could help
them get it off the ground."

01:12:39.490 --> 01:12:44.337
And then Steve came along and said,
"They said what? Oh, god."

01:12:44.420 --> 01:12:50.077
And to quote a famous man,
"I will fix this." And he did.

01:12:50.160 --> 01:12:53.757
Steve has been an incredible partner,
and we have a great relationship

01:12:53.840 --> 01:12:58.047
personal and professional,
and he has certainly been point man on

01:12:58.130 --> 01:13:01.967
getting a gaming asset
to help teach millions of kids,

01:13:02.050 --> 01:13:06.777
and that's just incredible.
But it certainly would have been

01:13:06.860 --> 01:13:11.727
reasonable for me to leave 48 hours into
that sabbatical, but it wouldn't have

01:13:11.810 --> 01:13:14.487
been the right thing to do.
And when you do the right thing,

01:13:14.570 --> 01:13:16.980
good stuff has a way of happening.

01:13:18.040 --> 01:13:20.947
Get a feedback loop and listen to it.

01:13:21.030 --> 01:13:23.667
Your feedback loop can be
this dorky spreadsheet thing I did

01:13:23.750 --> 01:13:27.027
or it can just be one great man
who tells you what you need to hear.

01:13:27.110 --> 01:13:29.307
The hard part is the listening to it.

01:13:29.390 --> 01:13:33.177
Anybody can get chewed out.
It's the rare person who says, "Oh,

01:13:33.260 --> 01:13:35.567
my god, you were right."
As opposed to, "No, wait.

01:13:35.650 --> 01:13:38.297
The real reason is." We've all heard that.

01:13:38.380 --> 01:13:43.137
When people give you feedback,
cherish it and use it. Show gratitude.

01:13:43.220 --> 01:13:46.587
When I got tenure, I took
all of my research team down

01:13:46.670 --> 01:13:50.307
to Disney World for a week. And one
of the other professors at Virginia said,

01:13:50.390 --> 01:13:54.147
"How can you do that?" And he said,
"These people just busted their a***s and

01:13:54.230 --> 01:13:55.647
got me the best job in the world for life.

01:13:55.730 --> 01:13:58.170
How could I not do that?"

01:13:58.840 --> 01:14:02.107
Don't complain; just work harder.

01:14:02.190 --> 01:14:05.787
Here's a picture of Jackie Robinson
who was in his contract not to complain,

01:14:05.870 --> 01:14:08.250
even when the fans spit on him.

01:14:09.670 --> 01:14:15.087
Be good at something;
it makes you valuable. Work hard.

01:14:15.170 --> 01:14:17.227
I got tenure a year
earlier as Steve mentioned,

01:14:17.310 --> 01:14:20.157
Junior faculty members used to say
to me, "Wow, you got tenure early,

01:14:20.240 --> 01:14:23.637
what's your secret?"
And I said, "It's pretty simple.

01:14:23.720 --> 01:14:27.270
Call me any Friday night in my office
at 10 o'clock and I'll tell you."

01:14:27.550 --> 01:14:31.107
Find the best in everybody. One
of the things that Jon Snoddy, as I said,

01:14:31.190 --> 01:14:36.447
told me is that you might have to wait
a long time, sometimes years, but people

01:14:36.530 --> 01:14:38.457
will show you their good side.

01:14:38.540 --> 01:14:43.197
Just keep waiting no
matter how long it takes.

01:14:43.280 --> 01:14:45.957
No one is all evil.
Everybody has a good side.

01:14:46.040 --> 01:14:47.757
Just keep waiting, it will come out.

01:14:47.840 --> 01:14:52.307
And be prepared. Luck is truly
where preparation meets opportunity.

01:14:52.390 --> 01:14:58.167
So today's talk was about my childhood
dreams, enabling the dreams of others,

01:14:58.250 --> 01:15:00.840
and some lessons learned.

01:15:01.540 --> 01:15:04.710
But did you figure out the head fake?

01:15:06.010 --> 01:15:11.077
It's not about how to achieve your dreams,
it's about how to lead your life.

01:15:11.160 --> 01:15:15.677
If you lead your life the right way,
the karma will take care of itself.

01:15:15.760 --> 01:15:19.947
The dreams will come to you.
Have you figured out the second head fake?

01:15:20.030 --> 01:15:26.037
This talk's not for you; it's for my kids.

01:15:26.120 --> 01:15:33.120
Thank you all. Good night. [APPLAUSE]