Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 291 The Rise of Stanford
Stanford University may be more eager for their students to succeed than the students themselves, because it understands that this may be the best opportunity for the century-old Stanford University to take advantage of emerging industries to overtake others and leap from a well-known regional university to a world-class university.
Yale University is an academic clique that almost monopolizes the American political and academic circles, Harvard University is an academic clique that controls America's traditional business and related academic circles, and the University of Chicago is an academic clique that has dominance over the American legal community.
In order to keep pace with these established and powerful universities, Stanford University chose to go all in on the emerging computer and Internet industries.
At present, Stanford University is about to achieve its goal of overtaking others. Nearly two decades of unsparing investment and various support policies formulated around related industries have made Stanford University rank far ahead in computer-related majors among American universities. Stanford Industrial Park, also known as the famous Silicon Valley, has now produced 90 listed companies related to the computer industry, of which 60% of the company founders are Stanford alumni.
These companies can also provide jobs for a large number of Stanford graduates every year and make irregular donations to their alma mater, allowing Stanford to have sufficient funds to increase its investment in education in related majors.
The consequence of this virtuous cycle is that the top scholars in the entire American computer industry have been brought to Stanford University. For example, a professor who is a member of the National Academy of Engineering may have only $100 in funding to conduct . If an alumnus of Stanford University who graduated and started a business in Silicon Valley realized that this kind of research might be of great help to the future development of his company, he would not poach the professor to his company at a high price, but would donate a large sum of money to his alma mater, Stanford University. Then Stanford would bring the professor back to Stanford University with a checkbook of far more than $100 and promises of a freer scientific research environment, and then squeeze the professor's nutrition at Stanford University, nourish him with nutrients, and cultivate more related professional talents with the Stanford University imprint.
Let me put it this way, as long as the other party agrees to work at Stanford University, any demanding conditions can be met.
The old guy in the eyes of students such as Tommy and Quinn, Vinton Cerf, was retained by his alma mater in this way.
Although he is privately called an old guy by his students, Winton is actually just forty-five years old. He suffers from severe hearing loss, so when he was a child he always had to talk loudly to his family at home in order to hear clearly. Even though he now wears hearing aids, he has not corrected this habit. When speaking to students, he always shouts like an old man who is deaf and thinks that everyone is deaf as well.
Every time Tommy heard him in his office calling the students in the hall to help him with chores, he had the illusion that it was Howard's mother calling Howard in "The Big Bang Theory".
The amazing thing is that this guy only spoke at such a loud volume in his office. As soon as he walked out of the room, he immediately became gentle and refined, looking like an English gentleman. His sanctimonious and completely different behavior made students discuss it privately countless times, wondering if there was some kind of radiation in his office that could cause schizophrenia.
This guy, who has more than ten times more titles, positions, and identities than the Mother of Dragons in "Game of Thrones", is willing to spend most of his time working at Stanford University. In addition to the fact that he graduated from Stanford and is a genuine Stanford alumnus, the most important thing is that Stanford University has shown more sincerity than the University of California, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois and other universities.
They managed to buy back from NASA the old PDP-1 computer that Vinton Cerf had used to write software for the Apollo program. The computer contained a "Space War" game that Vinton Cerf had secretly installed to kill time while working for NASA.
It cost less than 20,000 dollars to move this obsolete giant from NASA back to Stanford University, but sincerity is priceless. After all, no other university paid such attentive attention to Vinton Cerf's little hobby, so Professor Vinton Cerf was moved and chose to stay at Stanford University to teach and do research.
For Vinton Cerf, it doesn't really matter where he works, but for Stanford University, the choice is completely different because Professor Vinton Cerf has too many identities. His permanent presence at Stanford means that the institutions of his other identities must also tilt resources toward Stanford University.
For example, he is the chief scientist of the Information Processing Technology Center of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an advanced research and development agency established by the U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for developing various emerging technologies that can be used by the military.
The original plan of the Department of Defense was to rent land in the MIT Research Park for the Information Processing Technology Center headed by Professor Cerf and cooperate with MIT. However, because the chief scientist Vinton Cerf chose to stay at Stanford to teach, the technology center was eventually settled in the Stanford Industrial Park, which is Silicon Valley.
You have to know that it is an agency directly under the Pentagon, not a stingy agency like the National Science Foundation that has to follow a strict annual budget for all its funds. In the minds of those bigwigs in the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, they may not even know the concept of spending money and having a budget.
Back then, Ohio University, with funding from this department, spent tens of millions just researching how to build a four-wheeled military truck. This research made the presidents of all universities in the United States go to see how many wheels the trucks on the road have, to find out why there was a need to study this thing.
Later, after the incident of the sky-high priced truck was exposed, some righteous members of Congress stood up to get to the bottom of the matter. As a result, the investigator arranged suddenly suffered from severe depression and committed suicide. The congressman who took the lead in setting up the investigation committee resigned after the scandal broke out. The Department of Defense said to Ohio University, "Continue to help me research and build a four-wheel truck, I am willing to see it."
Which university does not worship the Pentagon like a god? Now, this tremendous wealth has been given to Stanford University. Regardless of whether there is an exaggerated demand for gigabit network transmission, it can be installed according to the gigabit standard. There is no need to consider the price of various hardware equipment. Just move it back like it's Black Friday.
In addition to the equipment, hundreds of related scientists and engineers flocked to Stanford University to conduct research under the leadership of Vinton Cerf. If these researchers needed interns or assistants, the best choice was of course to choose students from Stanford University nearby.
Comparison based on funding figures is more direct. Last year, the National Science Foundation's total annual budget for research grants to all American universities was $1.2 billion. This means that dozens or hundreds of universities have to find ways to attract each other with various research topics and try to get as much of the $1.2 billion in research funding as possible.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency provided $42.75 million in funding to Stanford University when it established the Information Processing Technology Center that year. This means that even if the military embezzled half of it using the excuse of expensive coffee cups, expensive chairs, and expensive desks, it would still cost Stanford University more than $20 million in cash every year for it to squander.
This is also the reason why MIT would wake up crying every time it thinks about how it missed the opportunity to make peace with the military because it didn't send one game console enough.
"Hi! Tommy! You're back from Los Angeles!" Walking into the Internet project hall of the supercomputing center, a dozen people who were busy and chatting in front of the monitors looked up when they heard the footsteps, and when they saw who was coming, they immediately greeted Tommy in a familiar manner.
"I was watching the show where you fed pigeons laxatives! You are a Stanford graduate. Stanford taught you for four years, and your reward to the university is to tarnish its image by raining pigeon shit on tourists!"
"I think Tommy is better than Jason. Jason, that bastard, vowed on the show that he would donate money to Stanford so that his girlfriend could go to Stanford to get a degree! I hate bastards like this who don't keep their promises the most!"
"That's right, I made more than 20 calls to the admissions office in one day, but I didn't receive any news about his pretty girlfriend being admitted!"
Sophia looked curiously at the men and women sitting in front of the monitors in the hall. Some of them were dressed very casually like Tommy and Quinn, while a few were wearing military uniforms without ranks. The oldest of these people were in their thirties, and the younger ones looked like high school students.
"Is the Internet cult preacher willing to come back?" A voice sounded from behind Sophia. She turned her head and saw a middle-aged man standing outside an office door with a stern face, speaking to Tommy.
The other person was tall, and wore a British-style three-piece suit that did not fit in with the other people in the hall. Every hair on his beard was carefully trimmed, and there was even a pocket handkerchief in the same color as his tie pinned to the left chest pocket of his suit. He looked like a British gentleman who was suddenly dropped from London to California.
Tommy smiled and said, "Good morning, Professor Cerf."
The other party was the famous Winton Cerf, a pure Anglo-Saxon who was a member of the VSA Phoenix Order when he was studying at Stanford University.
"Not very good, especially after learning that you got what you wanted and Congress passed the Communications Act Amendment." Vinton Cerf said to Tommy, then looked at Quinn: "I need a cup of hot coffee."
Quinn immediately walked quickly towards the tea room. After Professor Sef gave his instructions, he turned around and returned to his office.
Tommy followed in, looking at the layout of the office, and said:
"Professor, I haven't had time to inform you of this good news. I wanted to give you a surprise in person. I mean, how did you know?"
"MCI held a board meeting for you. As the vice president of MCI and your professor, I also attended. They congratulated me on teaching a good student. The definition of Internet information that you insisted on and the non-discriminatory regulatory provisions of the FCC have led to a significant increase in MCI's stock price and paid business. They are also preparing to donate 10 million to Stanford University to thank Stanford for cultivating talents like you." Professor Cerf said as he sat back in front of his computer.
Tommy nodded as a matter of course: "The free and open Internet information transmission environment is something that everyone should be happy about."
"Not being subject to discriminatory regulation by the FFC means that spam providers can unscrupulously send large amounts of spam to other people's mailboxes through MCI-Mail, such as campaign ads for canvassing votes, charity ads for fundraising, Wall Street junk stock recommendation ads, and even discount messages for goods. MCI earns high service fees from spam providers, and spam providers earn high advertising fees from large supermarket chains, securities companies, and various organizations. Indeed, everyone is happy about this, except for the people who receive the spam." Vinton Cerf sighed:
"The openness and freedom of the Internet should not be like this, Tommy. The definition of Internet freedom is not to allow capital to make ."
"It's a good thing that people can learn where to buy discounted items through those emails," Tommy defended his behavior with a smile.
Quinn came in with coffee and placed it next to Joseph. Then he stayed beside them blatantly and eavesdropped on their conversation.
Vinton Cerf was too lazy to look at Tommy again. He picked up his coffee and sniffed the aroma. "Politicians will also know how to increase their propaganda channels through email and future Internet interactions. The battlefield of public opinion used to be newspapers, now it is television, and in the future it will be the Internet. So, what are you doing back here? There is nothing worth exploiting here. You have already got involved in all the information technology that you think can be used for profit."
"Do you want me to kick him out, Professor?" Quinn asked with a stern face.
Vinton Cerf smiled and shook his head when he heard Quinn's words. "Forget it. At least half of the dozens of Internet research projects in these buildings have received his donations, just like the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is always open to McGowan, the chairman of the board of directors of MCI. The same is true for Tommy Hawke here. He donated enough money."
"It's different. McGowan wanted a suitable heart. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center performed more than one heart transplant on him." Tommy defended, "I'm different. I'm for the free development of the Internet industry."
The McGowan mentioned by the two is the boss of MCI, an American telecommunications service provider. He is 62 years old this year, smokes three packs of cigarettes, drinks more than 20 cups of coffee, and works 15 hours a day. The reason why he is not afraid of sudden death is that his financial resources allow him to replace his heart with a new one after it is scrapped. In order to ensure that there is always a suitable heart source, this guy directly spent a huge amount of money to donate a regenerative medicine institute at the University of Pittsburgh.
MCI is the second largest telecommunications fiber optic network service provider in the United States today. Its network covers 46,000 miles and has a 16% market share. It provides paid voice calls, faxes, data transmission and email services in nearly 100 countries. John Krueger's family holds a 20% stake in MCI.
As for the fact that the master and apprentice were completely familiar with the inside information of MCI, it was because Tommy's own WinStar company held 9% of MCI's shares, and Vinton Cerf was the vice president of digital information technology at MCI. As early as 1984, he helped MCI design and launch the MCI-Mail commercial email service, and he is considered the father of commercial email.
"Why are you here if you don't go meet Jason and learn about the status of your business companies?" Vinton Cerf took a sip of coffee and asked Tommy, "Don't tell me you missed me. I won't believe it."
Tommy shrugged and said what he wanted to do. "Actually, I want to ask you to design an advertisement for me. I've always felt that even if you weren't working on Internet research, you would be a talented advertising designer. The MCI TV advertisement you led was selected by a magazine as one of the 50 best American commercials of all time. It was said to be comparable to the classic advertisements during the war between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. It helped MCI take 6% of the market share from AT&T and became the third largest telecommunications service provider in the United States."
Seeing the old man was startled at first, and then his eyes flashed with excitement, Quinn beside him stroked his forehead and lowered his voice to Tommy: "Can't you change the way to exploit the professor? First it's the game console, and now it's a commercial?"
"As long as it works," Tommy responded, "and if you can get the professor to finally agree to help me, I'll have no problem sending Susan, Sophia, and Jason's girlfriend Susie to bed with you."
"Deal." Quinn said indifferently, then he slightly distanced himself from Tommy with an annoyed look on his face, and loudly accused him in dissatisfaction: "The professor doesn't have time to help you think of those messed up ideas now! Do you know how important his work is now? He just represented the United States and won the Internet Protocol war with Europe, and is now busy perfecting the Internet Protocol suite..."
"Which advertising magazine selected the advertisement I designed as a classic?" Before Quinn could finish her sentence, Winton Cerf interrupted her and asked Tommy curiously.
"Would you like to take a look at the latest issue of Billboard magazine published by Washington Ted Newspapers? I bought one specially for this purpose." Tommy walked out of the office quickly, took out the magazine that had been prepared long ago from Sophia's bag, ran back to find the page about the selection, and handed it to Vinton Cerf.
The classic advertising selection above was a fake selection that he asked Ted to help him make. Anyway, the sales of his magazine were average, and professionals probably wouldn't bother to waste their time and effort questioning the professionalism of such a selection. But it should be enough to fool laymen like himself and his professor.
"Professor, I remind you not to be fooled by this bastard. He just wants you to help him achieve some unknown dark purpose. Tommy is a fly attracted by the smell of money. The best way to deal with such a person is to spray a large bottle of insecticide at his brain..." Quinn is still trying to carry out reverse persuasion.
Vinton Cerf smiled happily when he saw that his advertising work was ranked 21st. He had won numerous first-place awards in computer-related fields, but none of them made him as happy as this unexpected 21st place.
"It's not a bad thing to change your mind occasionally, Quinn. Go and get on with your work. Tommy is not as bad as you said. He is a good student. You said too much. I think you should apologize to him." He kept his eyes on the magazine and spoke to Quinn who was criticizing Tommy.
Quinn walked out, and before leaving, he whispered in Tommy's ear, "Let them get ready, if you dare to default on your debt..."
"Honesty and trustworthiness are my most precious virtues. I will do what I say. If any of them refuse, I will lie on the bed for them myself." Tommy said seriously.
