转既然这么穷,为什么没去赚钱,却来搞科研?Sinceyouaresopoor,whydon’tyougomakemoney,whyareyoudoinggraduatework?

Question

【转】既然这么穷,为什么没去赚钱,却来搞科研?Since you are so poor,why don’t you go make money,why are you doing graduate work?

Answer 1

很老的一篇文章了,但是见解很独到.
留学的时候,我下飞机的第二天就去找我的指导教授,我的指导教授是John Hopkins 毕业的,在贝尔实验室作过科学家,后来来到大学任教,很年轻都当了正教授,后来又当了系主任,人到中年的时候,离开大学,自己创业,几年以后以失败告终,然后又回大学任教.
这回我反正铁定心了,我回答：没有,我是中国来的,中国很穷,我家里也没有钱.教授听完,说：你既然这么穷,为什么不去赚钱,来搞什么研究?研究是有钱,有闲,吃饱没事干的人干的事,只有有兴趣,又有钱的人,才能真正搞点研究.你说你对我的研究方向感兴趣,我看你根本没有兴趣,不过是你想为我打工赚钱而已,完全不是你想搞什么研究.
我听了满脸通红,说老实话,我更本不知道这个教授搞的研究方向,说感兴趣是因为不干这个廉价的劳工,教授不给我助研,我就没钱读书,所以为了钱,不得不说感兴趣.
教授见的学生多了,什么人对研究感兴趣,什么人对钱感兴趣,一看便知道.当然教授还是让我干了他的助研,我也很努力,虽然没有任何研究的天赋,还是任劳任怨的在实验室干苦力.教授的研究经费一直资助我拿到博士学位.毕业典礼以后,我又去见我的教授,我当然是非常感激,没有这么多年他的助研经费的资助,我不可能拿到我的学位.而且中国人讲究：一日为师,终生为父.所以我去看望他,想得到几句人生真谛得指点.他说：你现在已经拿到博士学位了,你来美国的第一天我就看出来,你来的目的是挣钱,现在你已经有了学位,是该出去挣钱的时候了.
——Go and make some real money! 这就是他给我的人生指南.
第一,要对这个东西感兴趣,非常感兴趣,（就象我没事写这个文章一样）没有任何钱,没有鲜花和美女,没有别人的赞赏,也要不停地钻研.
第二,要排开经济的压力,吃喝不愁,衣食无忧的人才能搞研究.美国的大学的终身教授系统,基本就是这个理论.首先一个新科博士要经过5年的磨练,然后评选终生教授,一旦通过,一辈子就可以无饭碗的忧虑,可以一心一意地搞研究,当然学校也知道：这些终身教授里面绝大多数人是没有什么研究的潜力的.也搞不出什么东西来,就是一些实验室的苦力.不过,只要千千万万终身教授中有几个真有天分的人,加上良好的经济条件,自然可以搞出些东西来.
再举一个例子.70年代的时候复印机行业的老大Xerox担心电脑的兴起,会使得复印机的市场变小,如果大家都用电脑交换信息,当然就没有人买复印机.所以Xerox在Polo Alto建立了一个实验室,请了50-60个世界顶级电脑科学家,排除一切外界的干扰,（包括财务的压力）,让他们自由的发挥自己的想象,创造未来能够领导人类的科技,当时的发明有：(1) 图形界面,(2) 以太网,(3) 基于对象的程序设计.这几个划时代的发明奠定了电脑未来的发展,影响到人类的文明的进程.
春天,是每年一度的美国大学录取通知书到达千万中国学子的时候,年复一年,大量的中国的学子盼望着美国大学的研究生院的录取通知书,很多学生为了得到助研的资助,就去申请博士学位,其中绝大部分的人对研究没有兴趣,只是希望去美国挣钱.他们读博士的逻辑是这样的：要去挣钱就得有美国文凭,要有美国文凭就得去美国读书,要去读书就得有奖学金,要有奖学金就得去读博士.所以要去美国就得去读博士.
This translated blog post below appeared somewhere around the beginning of the month of June and has been reduplicated all over the Chinese internet (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). It is an essay written by a Chinese PhD graduate who tries to dispel some myths over graduate study overseas and what certification means abroad as compared to what it means back home in China. Because certification has a much greater significance back home, the author advises students to try to look beyond the American PhD diploma as a stepping stone and to only get one if they are truly interested in study and research.
When I went abroad to study, I went to see my advising professor on the second day after I got off the plane. My advising professor graduated from from John Hopkins University, worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and afterwards joined the university to teach, becoming a full professor very young, then becoming dean. When he reached middle-age, he left the university to start his own business. Several years later, he had failed, and then again returned to the university to teach.
The first time I met the boss, a foreign professor, I was very deferential, saying, “Professor, I am a foreign exchange student from China and have come to get my PhD. I am very interested in your research methods. Can you please tell me which books I should read right now? I can go back and start reading them immediately, so that I can quickly start researching with you.”
After I was done speaking the professor eyed me over up and down, and then he calmly and smoothly said, “Are you rich? At the very least you must be a millionaire.”
To say the least, I was very surprised. I had to immediately refute those remarks; that is to say, if he thought I was wealthy he would not give me the position of assistant research fellow, and if that was the case I would not have the income required to continue to study. And if that was the case, I might as well pack up my things and go home. Therefore, I replied, “I am a foreign exchange student from China, I am poor but I really do want to learn— I am especially interested in your research.
The professor asked me again, “Is your family rich?”