本帖最后由 TI-MulticoreMix 于 2011-5-13 12:37 编辑
山外有山
Tom Flanagan
2011 年 5 月 3 日上午 8:55
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我正在阅读 Tracy Kidder 写的《山外有山》(Mountains Beyond Mountains) 这本书。该书讲述的是 Paul Farmer 博士的故事,他用尽了毕生精力为最贫困的人们提供医疗服务。 Farmer 的主要工作地点是海地中部地区。我前几天跟负责 TI 无线基站业务的同事 Kathy Brown 提起过这本书。Kathy 说她也读过这本书而且非常喜欢,读过之后感觉自己非常渺小。她 的话让我深思,一开始我同意她的看法。作为科技狂人,我所研究的技术能够帮年轻人发送“lol”、“omg”等各种奇怪的网络语言给他们的“bff”,但跟 Farmer 博士及其小团队的成就 相比,我们还无法企及。但帮助年轻人发送短信只是我们工作的一部分。无线开发领域创造了特殊的功能,其发展已经影响到数十亿人的生活,无论他们是穷是富,生活在世界什么地方。 我无法想象还有什么行业能像我们这样给这么多人带来积极影响。
无线网络可提高我们的沟通能力。而沟通能力,这一最基本的人类特性,在我看来也是热之所以成为人的原因。当然,我们对无线网络的使用大部分是去做一些小事情,比方说玩玩游 戏,跟踪一下球队比分等。不过对许多人来说,拥有无线通信功能可改变他们的生活。设想小渔村里的村民能提前判断出什么市场的鱼货售价最高;或者救灾队员能现场沟通协调救灾工 作;再或者 Farmer 博士能够通过努力与全球其它地区的同事协作,改变我们对贫困和传染病的认识。毫无疑问的是,我们之中没有任何一个人的影响力可以与Farmer博士这样的人媲美。 从这个意义上说,Kathy是对的。不过很显然,我们大家共同努力也可为大多人带来重大影响。无论您是向我们业务不一样为基站开发多核 SoC,还是作为移动运营商为用户提供频带,无 线开发领域都有着让您自豪的成绩。
3 May 2011 8:55 AM
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I am reading the book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer who dedicated his life’s work to providing medical care to the poorest of the poor, working largely in central Haiti. I mentioned this the other day to my colleague, Kathy Brown, who runs TI’s wireless base station business. Kathy said she also had read the book and loved it but it really made her feel small. That got me thinking. Initially I agreed with Kathy. Being a tech geek working on technology that enables teenagers to text “lol” and “omg” to their “bff” is hardly in the same league as what Dr. Farmer and his small team accomplished. But enabling teens to text is only part of what we do. The wireless development community has created an exceptional capability that touches the lives of billions and billions of people, rich and poor around the world. I cannot think of another industry that touches so many people in such a positive way.
Wireless networks enhance what is arguably the most basic human characteristic, the thing that really makes us human in my mind, the ability to communicate. Certainly much of what we use wireless networks for is trivial, playing games, following sports teams, etc.But for many peple having access to wireless communications is life changing. Imagine a small village fisherman who can call
ahead to decide which fish market will pay the most for his catch, or a disaster recovery team being able to communicate and coordinate their efforts while on site or Dr. Farmer collaborating with colleagues across the globe in his efforts to change our view of poverty and infectious disease.
Individually I think it would be hard to argue that any of us has anywhere near the impact of someone like Dr. Farmer so in that sense Kathy is right. Despite this, it is clear that collectively what we do makes a difference to many people. Whether you’ve developing multicore SoCs for base stations, like our business does, or you’re a mobile operator delivering spectrum to millions of users, the wireless development community should be very proud.
Here is a link to Mountains Beyond Mountains at Amazon.com
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