The Passion of an Academic Rising Star

After wandering here for two days, Zou Sijiu suddenly said that he would take Han Shixiu to Silicon Valley the day after tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, that is, Saturday and Sunday.

Huh...Silicon Valley...

That was the place Han Shixiu had always wanted to visit.

Countless IT people chase their dreams there, closely integrate science and technology, apply the achievements of the academic circle to the industry, and then provide the academic circle with various problems discovered in practice, creating myths one after another, contributing to the progress of mankind Made an outstanding contribution.

Han Shixiu originally planned to go there to have a look.

But he didn't expect Zou Sijiu to propose this plan.

Go to Silicon Valley with Zou Sijiu, the most sacred place in his mind...

"Didn't you say that's where you want to go most?"

……Um?

Master Han thought: When did I say that?

It took a few seconds before I finally remembered - the questionnaire.

At that time, Zou Sijiu said that they were conducting a health survey and needed to collect some questionnaires, and asked Han Shixiu to do a favor and fill in a copy.

Naturally, Han Shixiu would not refuse such a request.

There was such a strange question in the questionnaire: "Is there any place you want to go?"

What Shixiu Han filled in is "Silicon Valley".

Later, Zou Sijiu also sent a supplementary survey, asking even more strangely, what season he would like to go to Silicon Valley, and Han Shixiu said it was fine.

It turns out that the other party has always remembered...

"I already booked the plane ticket before I came to you." Zou Sijiu said again: "You won't tell me you have something to do?"

"No……"

"I've already said hello to my friends who work at Google, Facebook and Apple," Zou Sijiu said. "They can show us into the company when we get there."

"what……!"

Han Shixiu was a little excited.

It turns out that you can enter the interior of these companies to visit...

Without Zou Sijiu, Han Shixiu probably would not have gotten this opportunity.

Although many of Han Shixiu's undergraduate students have gone abroad, I think it has been a while since I finished my master's degree, and there should be many of them who have settled in large companies.But Han Shixiu didn't want to be familiar with these people, and some of them didn't even say a few words. They didn't know how the other party was doing, and they didn't have any contact information, let alone asking directly, although this was not a big trouble.

……

——So Han Shixiu started to pack his luggage.

I went in with several books in my pocket, planning to sit on the plane and read them.

——Because the rest day was only two days, it was very rushed. As soon as Zou Sijiu and Han Shixiu arrived at Mountain View, Zou Sijiu called his classmates to take them to Google.

The dark and chubby classmate printed out the visitor's name sticker, and Han Shixiu carefully stuck it on his chest.

Zou Sijiu and Han Shixiu were led to visit the kitchen, dining room, gym, entertainment area, sports field and other places.

"Actually," the classmate said suddenly sadly, "I wasn't so fat before."

"..."

"It's all the company's fault."

"..."

"Feed me like this."

"..."

"My colleagues told me that people who came here gained twenty pounds after a year."

"..."

"For a while, the company felt that everyone was too fat, so they announced that they would go on a diet on Monday, and only provided small plates for everyone. As a result..." He said with emotion: "I only ate two plates..."

"..."

"People are all white and fat." He seemed to be even more sad: "Why am I black and fat?"

"..."

"Okay, now let's go to the main building."

There is a 360-degree googleearth machine in the main building.As long as the address is entered, a three-dimensional scene can be presented on the large screens at the front, back, left, and right.

In addition, there is an airplane hanging in the hall.

"What kind of plane is this?" The classmate explained: "There are only two of them, and the other one is in the military museum. The second floor was demolished."

"..."

"Where are you going after that?"

Zou Sijiu said: "Computer Museum."

"Huh?" The classmate was a little puzzled: "Why do you want to go there...? I haven't heard of anyone interested in this, and even I don't know what it looks like inside."

Zou Sijiu only said lightly: "Han Shixiu likes it."

"That's it." The classmate smiled innocently: "Your car is still at my house. Let's go back first, that place is quite close to my house, so you can drive it yourself."

"Huh?" Han Shixiu asked, "Car?"

"Zou Sijiu spent 1500 to buy a broken car back then, it was really a broken car..."

"..."

"It was given to me before returning to China. I didn't open it too much, and kept it there."

——The computer museum actually made Shixiu Han even more excited.

He was scurrying around inside, his entire face glowing red.

"Zou Sijiu!" As soon as he entered the gate, Han Shixiu yanked Zou Sijiu's arm: "The world's first punch card computer!"

"Look," Han Shixiu looked at it carefully, his face was almost stuck on it: "Did you see the numbers and the rotating shaft...it's amazing...this is the kinetic energy storage device...this is the transmission device...look at the structure Figure... um..."

Han Shixiu didn't say any more.

Because he can't understand.

He studied computer...

Zou Sijiu stood there watching for a while: "It's really a fantastic idea."

"Huh?" Han Shixiu was surprised: "Can you understand?"

Zou Sijiu gave Han Shixiu a strange look: "I major in physics."

"Oh……"

After two steps, Han Shixiu said excitedly again: "Microsoft's window 1.0! 1.0! 1.0!"

"..."

"Toshiba's T1000!"

"……Um?"

"This is the first time that humans have brought DOS to a portable machine."

"Cray-1 supercomputer!"

"..."

"This is the first supercomputer based on transistors. Seymour Cray designed all of Cray's hardware and operating system. Can you imagine, Cray-1 didn't make any mistakes. Cray... He was also fascinated by science since he was a child He seldom participates in social activities. He was once described as a "laboratory hermit". He once led more than 30 people deep into the jungle, refused all social contacts for four years, and devoted himself to drawing drawings and making parts. The aggressive IBM had previously launched a machine with a calculation speed of 300 million times per second. At that time, people did not understand at all, how could a group of only 30 people beat IBM?"

As he said that, Han Shixiu's eyes lit up: "He is a genius who works hard, and I want to be like him too."

Zou Sijiu looked at Han Shixiu and remained silent.

"There are also Cray-2 and Cray-3!"

Han Shixiu leaned over again: "The NASA space shuttle wind tunnel experiment used Cray-2. At that time, due to the gradual intensification of conflicts with the company's senior management, it had already set up its own business, and it was still in the dense forest. A simple factory building, and a few dedicated assistants, and in a difficult environment, developed a revolutionary product. Known as the 'Dense Forest Hermit'..."

"What about Cray-3?"

"Cray-3..." Han Shixiu's voice gradually became quieter: "In the 80s, the development of PCs was in full swing...Supercomputers received a cold reception...After Cray-3 was successfully developed, it suffered a disastrous commercial failure. Later, due to Due to differences of opinion, Cray withdrew sadly and set up another company to develop Cray-4. But... Cray-4 was not finally completed, and Cray declared bankruptcy in 95. In the second year, Cray, who was nearly 70 years old, wanted to launch the final He rushed forward, founded the company again, and then...had a serious car accident...In fact, there was a conflict between the two cars behind, and one of them crashed into Cray's car door in order to avoid...Shortly after Cray's death, the company was acquired by SGI. "

Han Shixiu was silent for a few seconds when he said this: "He is a genius in science, but because he is not good at communicating with others, he must have encountered more setbacks in his career."

Zou Sijiu looked at Han Shixiu, knew what he was thinking, and couldn't help but stroked his hair: "...you still have me.

Han Shixiu shook his head: "It's okay... I can do it on my own. I didn't want to enter the industry, and my interest is not there. If I stay in the academic world... I believe that as long as I work harder than others and pay several times the hard work, I will definitely be fine. questionable."

Zou Sijiu smiled: "Yes."

The sadness caused by the Cray-1 supercomputer gradually dissipated during the subsequent visits, because there were still waves of surprises after that.

"Apple I!" Seeing Apple I, Han Shixiu immediately flew over again.

"And Google's first generation web server!"

……

——From the beginning to the end, Zou Sijiu didn't say much, just looked at Han Shixiu, and looked at Han Shixiu's happy face.

After coming out of the gate of the computer museum, Han Shixiu was still immersed in the memories just now.

"It's a pity, I have to go back..." Han Shixiu couldn't stop thinking, "I really didn't expect that I could see these things that have created legends one after another."

Han Shixiu felt moved when he thought about it.

So many talented people have worked hard for it, exhausted the efforts of several generations, and finally pushed the world into the information age.This is a milestone change. The leap in the past few decades has never happened in the past tens of thousands of years, and countless people like myself are still in this wave.I don't know how many, many years later, future generations will evaluate this century that created computers and the Internet.

"I'm going to upload these photos on Weibo," Han Shixiu said, "Let other people who are interested in computers but can't come to this museum temporarily take a look..."

While talking, Han Shixiu suddenly heard a muffled "bang".

"Huh?" Han Shixiu asked, "What's wrong?"

"..." Zou Sijiu steered the steering wheel without speaking.

"What the hell happened?"

"Crash."

"……Um?"

"The butt of the car rubbed against the car behind."

"what!"

Han Shixiu hurriedly turned his head to look - sure enough, there was a car next to him.

Because it was very close, and on the side of Han Shixiu, Zou Sijiu parked on the side of a slope. As soon as the brake was released, he slid a little backwards and bumped into it.

A black man got out of the car and shouted something, in short, it meant to let Zou Sijiu get out of the car.

Zou Sijiu asked Han Shixiu to wait in the car.

Both cars got a little rubbing, nothing serious.

Han Shixiu heard the black man say, "I don't have time to call the police and the insurance company. I'm very busy right now. Give me $200 and settle it privately."

It's loud.

What Zou Sijiu said Han Shixiu couldn't hear clearly.

After a while, Zou Sijiu came back, sat in the driver's seat, opened the wallet, left 110, and gave the rest of the money to Han Shixiu: "Take it."

"what……"

Zou Sijiu didn't say any more, and opened the car door again to go out.

After 2 minutes, they went their separate ways with the black man.

"What happened in the end?" Han Shixiu asked.

"Give 110."

"Huh?" Han Shixiu asked, "I heard he asked you for 200...is it worth 200?"

"almost."

"Then why only 110 was given in the end?"

"The counter-offer is still 150."

"..."

"Then tell him the cash is only 110."

"..." That's why Zou Sijiu went out with a wallet with only 110, and put the rest to himself... Then, the other party simply agreed...

"He must want money." Zou Sijiu said: "I guess he will still call the insurance company in the future, counting it as a scratch from an unknown third party. , I still made money inside and out.”

"..."

"Actually, if we called the insurance company just now, we don't need to accompany the 110. But we also don't have time, and according to the rules of the United States, my classmate's insurance premium will be increased in the future, and it will be his responsibility."

"so……"

"He also wanted to leave my contact information, or take pictures of the scene. I didn't agree. Tell him it's a one-off deal, and that's it."

Han Shixiu looked at Zou Sijiu, as if he suddenly understood what a businessman should look like.

This, probably, is called "human essence".

……