Monday, May 10, 2010

Quote of the Week

From one of my anonymous heroines:
Kea, I used to think that they win if we leave. Now I think the only way we'll win is if we leave. In droves. Then they'll have to fund studies to find out why we're leaving. Then they'll overhaul the system. It won't happen fast enough to help people like us in general.

2 comments:

  1. The science funding situation down under seems to be improving slowly, but I guess my generation just missed that boat. Oh, well. Maybe in my next life I will be reborn as a respected human being, like maybe a tit flashing rock star or Osama Bin Laden.
    =====

    Judy Estrin is saying her son's generation will be missing out!!

    http://www.theinnovationgap.com/judy-estrin-bio

    "At the crack of dawn of my 21st birthday, I was sitting in a dark basement lab, working with researchers at the University College in London and BBN in Boston. We all knew we were working on something important. Little did we know, however, that the software we were developing would become the cornerstone of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Later that day, after a birthday lunch, I attended a computer communications seminar taught by Bob Metcalfe, a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), one of the country’s premier research labs. Bob's networking scheme, called Ethernet, is now used in computer networks throughout the world.

    To most people, getting up before dawn to test trans-Atlantic data transmission and then attending a computer science seminar may sound like a boring way to spend one's 21st birthday. But to me, being involved in the creation of something so new and significant was exciting and fun. The professors and researchers that I encountered at UCLA and Stanford inspired me to pursue a career of innovation. After graduating from Stanford in 1976, I spent 25 years as one of the leaders in the creation and growth of the computer networking industry. In 1998, when I became CTO at Cisco, the benefits of the Internet were finally available to a broad base of consumers.

    My life and career benefited from an environment of thriving innovation. I was fortunate to be born at a time when the nation understood the importance of science, technology and innovation, and encouraged taking risks. I'm convinced that my son's generation will not have the same opportunities that I enjoyed, as the country has become increasingly focused on short-term gains. This book was born from my need to try and do something about this shift."

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are right, Chimp. My generation is luckier than the next one. But I guess I was counting myself as a younger person here because I'm still looking for jobs.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.