Reason cannot handle everything

The statement seems to be simple and obvious, but it took me nearly twenty years to discover.

I was very good at maths in primary school, and then very good at physics and chemistry in middle school. I admired the power of deductive reasoning, and was fascinated by the beauty and elegance how Newton's law explain motions, and how thermodynamic laws explain thermal phenomenon. The elegance of how these fundamental laws explain physics phenomena gave me the impression that we may explain everything if we found those several laws that govern the nature. However, it is not true.

In my third year of college, I was exchanged to National University of Singapore and had a little break from usual hard science training. I was free to choose the course so I took a course in philosophy. In that course, I was asked to compose an essay on the question: under what condition it is acceptable to play favor to those closest to us. The question originates from a story in the Dialogue, in which a man named Euthyphro rushed to the court to prosecute his father, and was stopped by Socrates who ask him the question of why. In the essay assignment, I tried, very hard, to find a principle that can apply to all possible cases including the case of Euthyphro, but I cannot. And it turns out that this very one principle that governs all ethical questions has never been found; I was astonished when I was told so.

On reflection, I realized that I fell into the habitual deductive reasoning unknowingly, because I was good at it and used to it, as the proverb said, "when you are a hammer, every problem seems like a nail". As a result, I was more prone to look for principles that I can apply deductive reasoning to in order to understand facts. This realization subtly but profoundly changes the way I looked at the relationship between natural laws and the world. Before, I am more inclined to think that principles are absolute and governs the world; now I am more inclined to think that the principles are necessary to the extent of helping us to understand the world, but they are not absolute. This realization also enriched my life; I do not seek only principles and natural laws, but rather learn to appreciate facts as they are.

Image credit: www.mathworks.com

notes taken in Stanford ATI Entrepreneurial Conference

Opening Speech by John Bravman, Vice Provost, Stanford University

Stanford is "a wellspring of innovation": HP, Cisco, Sun, Yahoo!, MIPS, Atheros, DOLBY, Google, CHIRON.

How difficulty is to prodict the future: the prediction of the no. of computer the world needs.

Entrepreneur will play a key role in answering questions of future: nine times out of ten, they fail; but the ten percent of success will change the world.

ACM report on Globalization and Offshoring of software: the world will continue to shrink.

Welcome Speech by director of Pudong Zhangjiang High Tech Park

Pudong Zhangjiang is to be a centre of Microelectronics, Biopharmaceutics, Software design in China.

Alternative Energy Panel

What is alternative energy: the bottle neck in solar cells is cost; how much energy do you actually consume in manufactoring the device? The efficiency of energy use, energy storage, and energy supply.

What are the drivers for alternative energy and clean technology? Profit, short of conventional energy, environment, people's health, global warming.

Is ther hope in coal? Coal is the no. 1 source of energy in China. clean coal tech, energy efficiency.

Technology aside, what else is holding up clean technology? Policy setting, energy price (current mature industry in US and Europe is based on low-cost oil, with the price of oil soaring, much more opportunities in alternative energy will come up in the booming industry in China.) , entrepreneur, profit.

What's next? Lithium battery, coal, nuclear, solar, geothermo, hydros.

The current solar power company in China: 天威保电, 无锡尚德(Suntech), 航天机电, 江苏阳光. Company (upriver industry chain: polycrystaline silicon, downriver industry chain: product).

Keynote Speech by Jim Boettcher, General Partner, Focus Ventures

China: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here and now.

Private Equity Participation; pre-IPO.

Valuing Revenue-stage companies is different from valuing venture companies.

Value=P*S*E, P=size of the problem, S=solution, E=entrepreneur team;

Value=P*S*E*CPF; CPF=China Paradigm Factor, which include a strong government leadership, high GDP growth, reconstruction of capital market, risk-taking culture, genius people, innovation environment, cooperation with the west(investment flowing rapidly into China).

Web2.0 panel

ucool.com: personnel database, city8.com: city virtual tour,

Webcompany need to find a revenue module-->identify clients. Successful module includes ebay.com, qq;

Google is technology-based, easy to globalize. Yahoo! is culture-based, difficult to globalize.

web2.0: interactive, user-generated content.

IP panel

manufactory driven country-->innovation driven country.

Enforcement of the legal power in IP protection.

Business model ocean.

In China, 149 law firms that could provide patent protection. they are of different quality, and price.

One-product company VS. Platform technology (a series of patent--patent strategy)

In the beginning of the start-up, a law firm is needed to work hand-in-hand with entrepreneurs, not only in providing legal support, but also human network support.

Laywer selection: interview 3-4 law firms, find a particular laywer in the firm, also building network.

Stanford ATI Entrepreneurial Conference - Shanghai 2006

Stanford ATI Entrepreneurial Conference - Shanghai 2006. I really wish I could be there. Please give me a chance.

Observation of me

Multiculture society is a society that has people with different culture backgrounds. I was raised up in a single culture society, and never thought that people could be totally different, collectively, until I lived in Singapore for five months as an exchange student.

My most important discovery is that Singaporean students regard extracurricular activities (EA) as important as their studies. They could spend a whole summer preparing for the exhibition of the Flag Day, a university-wide competition among residential halls in the beginning of fall semester, and the committee member could have a meeting for ten hours coordinating this event. They put as much time in EA as in their studies or even more in school time also. Various activities, in block, in hall, in faculty and in university, requires commitment of time. They have a complicated points system to evaluate a student's performance in a hall in order to determine whether he or she could stay for the next year. And to stay in a hall for all four years is a honor, comparable to a faculty dean's list. The people, students as well as teachers, in my home university never think like that. Back home, study is always the first priority.

When I began to think about why the practice is so different in Singapore from that in my home university, the first answer seems to be that the systems are different. But then I realized it is people who make the system. So maybe it is the difference of people's attitudes towards EA and studies in a society leads to the different systems and, in turn, different practice. So further comes the question: how come the different attitudes? History, culture, or level of development? I am not sure.

As I am thinking about these questions, I am trying to find the reasons for my own practices, not only in my time arrangement, but also in other aspects of life, such as the way I talk, diet, and pace of life. It turns out that some of them are just imitation of people around me: I did as people around me all did. This finding strikes me: in a sense, I had been doing things unconsciously for about twenty years.

Luckily, now I begins to think about the reason for my daily practice, and if there could be any alternative. I began to be aware of many things which I had unconsciously ignored. In a word, I began to observe myself. And that is interesting. I found that when my pride is hurt, I might argue; I found I like to get things done as soon as I receive them, and if not, I began to worry. There is so much I learn just by pay attention to what I do and how I feel, and there are so many things that I realize I can improve by learning how bad I had done.

Updated 15 June 2007

Image credit: www.windows.ucar.edu

Health

When I was travelling in Hangzhou, I met two girls from Denmark in Youth Hostel. They once slept in the room for a whole day. Since I was used to believe when traveling, daytime should not be slept away. So It seems to me a bit surprising. When I asked them the next day, they told me that because they had done too many things in a too short time, they felt tired and needed more rests. Travel, for them, is not only for tourism, but also for knowing the limit of themselves.

We all have our limit: the longest distance we could run, or the heaviest weight we can lift. From the two Denish girls, I found a limit that I never thought about before: the limit of how many things one could do at one time. Without the knowledge of this limit in me, I foolishly piled up six tasks last year. Later when I found I may not be able to finish them, I began to feel worried and anxious. And that worry, together with the pressure of work, leads to a breakdown of my health.

This breakdown lasted for one year. In the worst time, I could not read, write or even think for more than half a hour. This breakdown forces me to change my diet, my living habit, and my attitude towards the body. I eat more fruits than before; I cook food with traditional Chinese medicine; I practice breathing exercises; and I learn how to monitor health through signs in the body, like tongue diagnose. Beside, I began to estimate how much time each task could cost before actually doing it, and I also began to learn how to manage my pressure and stop worrying. Most importantly, I learn that health is a dynamic state of body which, if I do not pay attention to maintain, will decline.

I am now in the process of recovery. Now and then I think about that, if I have not experienced such a breakdown, what will change in my life. Obviously, the tasks in last year could have been done better. But in the long run, say in a ten years, if I do not reconsider my attitude and practice towards my body, if I still do not know the limit of my body, I will surely have a breakdown of health. Comparing having it early with having it late, I prefer to have it early, when I still have the courage to cope with it.

Updated 15 June 2007

Image credit: www.healthshaper.com