‘Last Lecture’ with John D. Liu

Next Thursday, March 10, Extra Muros organizes a so called ‘Last Lecture’ in Dante Building. This time John D. Liu, an environmental activist from China, will give his thoughts on our world of today and tomorrow.Tilburg University hosts the Last Lecture several times a year. The event is inspired by the last lecture given by Professor Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University upon his diagnosis with terminal cancer. In his wonderful speech ‘Achieving Your Childhood Dreams’ Pausch alternated between insights on his academic field, valuable encounters he made in life, personal choices and experiences, inspirational life lessons, and important events that guided him on his path of life: “We’re not gonna talk about spirituality and religion. Although I will tell you I had a death bed conversion: I just bought a MacIntosh.”

Special focus
Samantha Lonsdale, head of the Last Lecture Committee of Extra Muros, stresses: “It is the idea of Randy Pausch’s last lecture that we wish to evoke with our event, inviting interesting and inspiring guests to speak to an audience as if it was their ‘final talk’. What wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?” The event also honors the memory of Willem Witteveen, dean at Liberal Arts and Sciences, who died in the MH17-crash (July 2014). In fact, in 2009 Witteveen was the first one to give a Last Lecture at Tilburg University.

What wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?

John D. Liu on ‘The Great Work of Our Time’

Fortunately, John D. Liu is in very good health. He is an international television producer and cameraman with CBS News, RAI and ZDF, covering geopolitical events like the rise of China from poverty. Twenty years ago John founded the Environmental Education Media Project, and up until this day he is still Director of EEMP. The organization helps to educate the public about environmental and ecological issues, first in China and then worldwide. Liu also is a visiting research fellow at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Liu’s Last Lecture is called ‘The Great Work of Our Time’. It deals with the exceptional growth of the human population on Earth, and all the problems that come with it. ‘We are aware that the materialistic mainstream culture is corrupt and corrupting’, Liu states. ‘It does not satisfy and is not sustainable. Everyone feels the tension as the violent fringe strikes at the heart of civilization.’ In his opinion ‘the conditions are ripe for humanity to move to a new level of consciousness. As we realize that knowledge and generosity yield much better outcomes than ignorance and greed, we can work together for mutual benefit. (…) We are called to restore the Earth and the Human Spirit. This is the Great Work of our Time.’

The Last Lecture with John D. Liu is on Thursday, March 10 in Dz02. The event starts at 15.00 (till 16.30).

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