Producer’s Blog: Remembering Stanford professor Cliff Nass

There are some people you meet that you're instantly taken with. Even if it's just within minutes of meeting on the phone. And so it was with Clifford Nass, the Stanford University professor we interviewed for our autonomous car story.

We called him because he was running the only lab in the country that is studying how humans react in driverless cars. On paper it sounds a little dull and number crunchy. But his unbridled enthusiasm for his research, his excitement about the questions he wanted to ask and answer swept me up too.

How fast would you stop if you didn't pay attention? When would you zone out? Would the car be safer without a human? Would you get mad at the car if it was doing all the work? What if it made a decision you didn't like? What if you waved on a cyclist and the car didn't factor in your good manners? His concerns were voluminous. And so was his passion.  

He made you want to know whatever it was that he was intrigued by. And I wasn't the only one—and this wasn't his first time in the spotlight. Several years ago, Cliff Nass made headlines when he scientifically determined that multitasking makes you bad at everything. It seems like a no-brainer now. But it was groundbreaking. And that's what Professor Nass was known for. Figuring out the human condition. But not in a pessimistic way.

In this short period of time I spent with him in his rumpled jacket and Monet garden tie from his girlfriend, he giggled and laughed and made fun of us, himself, his research—but never without a valid point. He was thinking about stuff so we didn't need to, but ought to. I wished he'd been my professor. And when we parted I begged to sit in on a class and dine with him on my next trip there.

He was an extraordinary educator who'd lived at a Stanford dorm for seven years and routinely hung out with students. Perhaps it kept him young at heart. But I suspect more it kept his students engaged and happy.

Shortly after our interview I opened up “The New York Times” to see a long obituary for a man who had an extraordinary impact on his students and much of our connected society in his short life. Ours was his last interview. He spoke expansively about our plugged-in society and how man and machine, hardware and humanity can coexist. Even behind the wheel. I felt as sad as I would have if I had known him my whole life. I wished all my friends could have met him. It's not something that happens often in this business.

Sadly, Cliff Nass's heart had given out after a hike with his son. Ah, but what a heart.