Transcriber: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
The infamous Rubik's cube.
The toy you, at one point, probably tried to solve when you were younger,
and just as you were somewhat getting it,
you gave up.
Maybe it was out of frustration or maybe you just didn't have the time.
[Solved cube]
This might sound a lot like your life.
The challenges you happen to encounter in your life
and never really feel like dealing with,
so you push them off.
This is what we will try to overcome together today
by comparing your life to a children's toy.
Before I start, there are some terms I would like to familiarize you all with.
An algorithm is a specific set of moves you perform to the cube
to manipulate the pieces to be in the right place.
In the algorithms I will be presenting later,
each letter corresponds with the side I will be turning.
For example, if it says "R,"
I will be turning the right side of the cube clockwise,
and if it says "RI,"
I will be turning the right side of the cube counterclockwise.
Now we can begin.
The first thing you need to do is actually scramble the cube.
This can be one of the most daunting things to do,
especially when you first buy one,
because you'll never know if you'll ever be able to solve it again.
(Laughter)
[Scrambled cube]
But once you finally muster up the guts to do it,
the cube is completely random.
In a person's life, I see this as when they are first born -
new to everything and completely unique.
There are approximately 43 quintillion ways to arrange the cube.
So, I think it's safe to say
that no two cubes will ever be scrambled the same way
just like no two people in this world will ever be completely the same.
The first step to actually start solving the cube
is by making a white cross on top.
This can be a difficult step for beginners
considering it's the first thing you have to do.
But it gets you started, and it's a necessary step.
So,
I see this, in a person's life, as being their foundation,
what a person chooses to build everything else in their life upon
whether it's a religion
[Cross on top]
or a more individual set of beliefs.
It can be anything that person chooses to center their life on.
The next step is solving the corner pieces on top.
In a person's life, I see this as being the people they turn to
when they can't just rely on themselves anymore.
On the cube, there are four.
And in my life, I personally also have four:
my mom, dad, sister, and friends.
These people get you through everything in your life
and encourage you to be a better person.
The corner pieces set you up for success and complete the first layer.
[Top corner pieces]
The next step is solving the middle-layer edge pieces.
This can be a tricky step
considering you mess up half the cube in placing new pieces.
(Laughter)
I see this, in a person's life, as when a problem arises,
they try to fix it,
but ultimately end up creating another problem
and are stuck trying to fix that as well.
But eventually everything will fall into place.
[Middle edge pieces]
Now the middle layer is solved.
This last thing you need to do is solve the third side.
Now usually what would happen
is there would be a yellow dot in the middle,
a yellow L that'll be placed in the left-hand corner,
or a yellow horizontal line.
Now, in this case, just like life,
things can get messed up or even get advanced.
So, I already have the cross and the whole yellow side solved.
But I see the cross as being the tedious task you have to do in your life,
whether it's job work,
homework if you're still in school,
or anything that you see as completely unnecessary,
but you need to do it to be successful,
because usually the algorithm doesn't work the first time.
Then you would have to solve for the whole top side to be yellow.
I see this as when, in your life, you have to work with what you have got
and roll with the punches.
You never know what's going to come up in your life,
and you always have to work around challenges.
The last step of solving the cube
is placing the yellow edge pieces.
Now usually there will be three back here,
and you place that in the back,
and then you have three different colors around here.
Then you decide whether the cubes need to turn
clockwise or counterclockwise
and pick the algorithm.
So, in this one, it needs to turn clockwise.
So we do: front, front,
up,
left, right inverted,
front, front,
left inverted,
right,
front,
up, front, front.
Now the cube is completely solved.
(Cheers) (Applause)
[The cube is solved!]
(Applause)
All your efforts are completely seen with the finished product.
It took hard work and determination to get here,
but it was a success.
Now that we are finished with the cube,
I would like to leave you with three lessons we can learn from it.
One,
always try to have a strong foundation of friends, family, and ideas.
It makes conquering future endeavors so much easier.
Two,
sometimes solving a problem may create other problems
and seem like you are moving backwards,
but you'll get to moving forward eventually
with hard work and determination.
And three,
push forward in the face of adversity.
Challenge makes you stronger, while giving up gets you nothing.
Thank you.
(Cheers) (Applause)