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Speech at the 2015 Commencement of Xian Jiaotong University
与中国一起走向世界,与世界一起走向未来
锁志刚
西安交通大学毕业典礼,2015.6.27
尊敬的张迈曾书记,尊敬的王树国校长,
各位嘉宾,各位老师,各位同学,各位家长,
大家上午好!
感谢学校让我作为校友在毕业典礼上致辞。年轻的同学们,我想和你们谈一个大家都关心的话题:机会。
三十年前,也就是一九八五年,我从西安交通大学本科毕业。毕业典礼上,汪应洛副校长讲话。主题是技术革命与中国振兴。当时技术革命的热点是光纤维。当时普遍认为中国比发达国家落后几十年,赶超世界是一个遥远的梦想。汪应洛教授指出,中国不需要走西方的老路,不需要先普及电话,再建设互联网。在光纤维的时代,中国与世界站在同一个起跑线上。光纤维是中国振兴的一个机会。
那时,我几乎没用过电话,也没见过电子邮件,更没见过手机。
三十年弹指一挥间。今天,阿里巴巴位居世界电子商务之首。今天,中国是手机第一大国。很多这样的例子表明,中国可以抓住机会,跳跃发展,领先世界。
本科毕业后,我在西安交大读了一年硕士,然后去美国哈佛大学读博士。那是一九八六年。中国同学里有学各种科目的:工程,科学,艺术,历史,经济,医学,管理,法律。我们经常聚会聊天。我们忧国忧民忧世界忧自己。大家说得海阔天空,也算是学科交叉。 两个话题至今记忆犹新。第一个话题:中国人多,如何解决吃饭问题?第二个话题:信息多,如何解决信息爆炸问题?
历史解决问题的方式令人惊异,远远超越哈佛博士生们的想象力。
现在大家都知道,中国人多不是问题,而是机会。人多人气高。人是劳动力:中国成了世界大工厂。人是消费者:中国成了世界大市场。 在过去的三十年中,中国融入世界经济大周转,解决了吃饭问题。全球化是一个大机会。
对于年轻的同学们,“信息爆炸“ 也许是一个陌生的概念。你们的家长是我的同龄人。在他们和我年轻的时候有一种说法。每年人类新获得的信息超过已有信息的总量。信息太多,没用。 现在大家都知道,信息多不是问题,而是机会。互联网创造了很多使用信息的新途径。信息多就是大数据。大数据就是大机会。
我在西安交大学的是力学,在哈佛学的也是力学。两个学校都有很强的老师,引导我学习力学,使用力学,创造力学。力学是老学科,研究对象很多:车辆跑动,船舶航海,飞机升空,卫星上天。这些陆海空天的大机会,我都没赶上。
但是,时代让我赶上另一个机会:电脑中的力学。电脑的芯片里有许多材料,如半导体,金属,陶瓷,塑料。芯片是一个复杂结构,放大了看象一座城市,有高楼,有大桥。在制造和使用芯片的过程中,温度有变化,各种材料热涨冷缩, 经常导致芯片内部损伤。有的材料生长裂纹,有的材料生长孔洞,不同材料之间还会脱层。电脑产业不断更换材料,缩小结构。一个明确的挑战是如何确保下一代芯片的可靠性。九十年代我与电脑公司合作,让力学进入电子产业,协助电脑制造。现在,我有几个过去的博士生和博士后在微软,IBM,Intel,苹果工作。
电脑是应用力学的机会,也是创造力学的机会。电脑用的是硬材料,人脑用的是软材料。软材料也用于人的许多其他器官,如心脏,皮肤,肌肉。一个新的机会正在形成:创造象人体器官一样柔软的电子器件。柔软机器人可以料理我们的生活琐事,而不伤害我们。柔软电子器件可以穿在身上,可以折叠。柔软电子器件可与人体器官接触,测量生理信息,还可以把生理信息上传互联网。这样,互联网不仅联络电脑手机,也联络人脑心脏。我有几个过去的博士生和博士后在世界著名大学任教,发展软材料和软器件。我和几位同事还在西安交大成立了软机器实验室。
年轻的同学们,或许你们会问,什么是未来三十年的新机会? 谁知道呢?新机会可能就在老问题里:中东战乱,非洲贫穷,能源危机,环境污染,人口老化,开车难,上学难,看病难。 这些问题今天看来很难解决。但是,历史一定会给出令人惊异的解决办法。 每个难题都是你们施展才华的机会。在全球化的时代,许多难题是世界难题,也是世界机会。
年轻的同学们,你们有很多时间,你们是早上八九点钟的太阳。愿你们抓住机会,创造历史。 愿你们与中国一起走向世界,与世界一起走向未来。愿中国梦融入世界梦,一个幸福,美好,平凡的世界梦。
谢谢大家。
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Comments
Re: Commencement speech
Dear Zhigang,
1. Yes, I agree, "more information is not a problem, but a chance. Internet has created many new ways to use the information." I used Google Translate here. That's yet another fallout of the technological advancement which has occurred over only the last 30 years! (It really is impossible to convey to the present generation the sense of the world in which most didn't have any phone or even radio, let alone a mobile phone with camera, music and whatnot.)
2. I am one of those who appreciate and applaud the fact that China has become not just the world's factory but also itself a great marketplace, though I didn't know that it had already become the biggest market in the world. It came as a surprise. And yes, "Each puzzle is your chance to display talent." Quite true.
3. Just one more remark: Chinese seems to be not just a cryptic language but also a very economic means of expression, may be because it uses a logographic system. (I didn't believe this was a commencement speech. I thought may be it was just an abstract, and so, out of curiosity tried the Google Translate. Of course, you must have expanded on it extemporaneously.)
Anyway, thanks for sharing. As is usual for your writing, it is pretty much direct to the point, and also, expressed in a generally agreeable manner.
Best,
--Ajit
[E&OE]
Re: Re: Commencement speech
Dear Ajit: Thank you very much for your kind words. At the commencement, I read this version aloud, adding no more than 20 words. To help me prepare, the University gave me texts of commencement speeches from previous years. Each previous speech has between 1000-2200 Chinese characters. Mine has about 1600 characters. When I practiced, it took about 8 minutes.
A straight talk!
Very nice, and very straight talk to the young students. I remembered that when Prof. Wei Yang gave the welcome speech to all the incoming students at Tsinghua University in 1994, he projected the great opportunities by which China and World will excel. It took one generation to have all to take place.
Opportunities go to multi-dimensions
Zhigang, thanks for sharing this inspiring talk! It's not long but very direct to the points. Yes, at the age of big data, opportunities go to multi-dimensions; at the age of Internet, solutions to problems come with a form out of people's imagination. A lot of time, we are shocked by new opportunities when they grow to a big shape, but startups give ideas a trial with relatively low cost.