张亚勤哥大毕业演讲：以技术创新人文精神引领未知时代(3)

Talking with you reminds me of my early years as a student and young engineer。 My first job after graduation in 1990 was developing algorithms to compress imagery and video for remote transmission， essentially to extract the maximum entropy。 The work eventually contributed in a small way to a set of international standards known as MPEG and H.26x， the base for today’s popular video applications used in Netflix， YouTube， Skype and Zoom。 Over last three decades， I had the distinct opportunity to work on some of the most exciting technologies such as HDTV， autonomous driving， AI， and cloud computing。 I have had the wildest ride with not only a great deal of fun， but also extraordinary hardship along the way。 Let me share with you three of my personal learnings：

1） Be an adaptive learner in the world of data explosion and constant change。 In today’s fast changing technology industry， most of what you learned five years ago is irrelevant。 The most valuable skill you’ve gained at Columbia is the ability to learn new things， to discern the signal from the noise， and to extract entropy from the ocean of data。 One routine I find particularly helpful is to commit just 10 minutes each morning and prioritize 3 things – anything new and important to me – to learn that day。

2） Have a unique point of view and perspective。 When you get into the real world， there is a natural tendency to become “polished”， to follow existing trends， and to blend in with the rest。

I ASK you to maintain your sharpness， your edge， and your differences。 When I interview people， particularly young engineers， I look for their point of view， their entropy， and their flash of ideas， which to me is far more important than being smooth， polished or “correct”。

3） Hold Ethics and humanity at the heart of what you do。 Over 2000 years ago， the great Greek thinker Sock-ruh-tease put ethics as the soul for the pursuit of truth。 Around the same time， the great Chinese philosopher Confucius placed “Renyi”， which essentially means humanity， as the foundation for social structure。 It is no coincidence that two of the greatest minds from vastly different cultures had the same idea。 This has become even more critical today as we all face more choices， confusion， and temptations。 Technology is neutral， but innovators have purpose。 Engineering is a tool， but engineers serve humanity。 “Engineering for Humanity”， the vision set by Dean Mary Boyce for Columbia engineering is the very core of engineering and what engineers are all about。

My young friends， this is the defining moment for you， for you to rise， to shine and answer the historic call of duty， with not only your talent， spark and innovations， but also compassion， courage and humanity。

Congratulations again， Class 2020 ！

（编辑：ASP站长网）