美國某大學2018年博士生畢業典禮請了一個校友做演講，演講者2015年獲得該校生物化學專業博士，現為某T公司聯合創始人兼首席運營官（COO）。
演講題目是："How can we maximize our impact in the world?"（如何能最大化我們對世界的影響力/貢獻）
下面我摘出其中一段。
For about 5 years ago now, I was still a PhD student and I was at a crossroads in my life. I had started this company teaching kids how to code, but I was also a PhD student in biochemistry. At the time, I believed that if I continue down the road of being a biochemistry PhD graduate, then my next step would be to secure a postdoc position and do scientific research in the lab. I know that's not the only option for someone with a PhD in biochemistry, but at the time it was the primary option I was considering. So I knew that the scientific research that I would produce would be valuable to society, but I didn't know if it was the most impactful use of my time. How many years would it take me to produce a paper? How many years until I was a professor, training my own team of research scientist so that they could help me make a bigger impact on medicine and human health?
But my crossroads was this: at the time, my company was growing pretty quickly. We were teaching at several schools, and at T company I could see tangible evidence that I was making a real impact on children. I could see that the students that left our workshops and our classes were leaving bright-eyed and excited to keep learning about computers and technology. And I knew, even if I didn't have all the skills yet, that I could figure out how to grow T company to inspire more kids to pursue careers in computer science.
So I made the decision back then to pursue a career that I thought would have a greater impact in the world. Now who knows what would've happened if I was a postdoc right now. Maybe I would've found the cure to cancer or something. We'll really never know, but what I do know is that what I'm doing right now is having a big impact on people's lives, and that makes me really happy.
中文翻譯：
“五年前，在我還是個博士生的時候，我走到了人生的十字路口。我開了個教孩子們編程的公司，同時我還是生物化學專業的一名博士生。在那時候，我知道如果我繼續生物化學博士的道路，我的下一步將是找一個博後職位，繼續在實驗室做科研。我知道這並不是生物化學博士的唯一出路，但是那時候我覺得這是第一選擇。我知道我做的科研也是對社會有用的，但是我不確定這是否能最有價值地利用我的時間。我需要
幾年才能發一篇文章？我需要幾年才能變成一名教授，培訓我自己的科研團隊，讓他們幫助我在藥學和人類健康領域做出有影響力的貢獻？“但是留給我的另一個岔路是這樣的：在那個時候，我的公司正在飛速發展壯大。我們在好幾個學校教學生，在這裡我可以明確看到我在為孩子們做出有真實影響力的貢獻。我可以看到上過我們課程的學生們在結課時眼界開闊，對於繼續學習計算機技術非常有熱情。而且我知道，儘管那時我並沒有具備所有所需技能，我還是能夠想辦法讓我的公司T繼續擴張，啟發更多的孩子們去進入計算機科學行業。
“所以我做出了決定，去追尋那條能讓我對世界做出更大影響力的貢獻的道路。誰能知道如果我現在是個博士後的話會發生什麼呢？說不定我已經治癒了癌症。我們永遠沒法知道。但是我確切知道的是，我現在在做的事對人們的生活有著巨大的影響力，這讓我很開心。”
演講人從biochemistry轉行創業教小孩編程，並且講話中說到她的公司要"inspire more kids to pursue careers in computer science"，學過她的課程的孩子們是"bright-eyed"。這在某些國內學校屬於政治不正確。知乎上也有相關評論說如果所有精英都去CS金融，我們郭嘉藥丸。11G院士曾多次告訴我們要投身科研，很多人都曾被這種科研至上的理念洗腦。我猜這樣背景的校友在國內某些學校是不會被邀請為畢業典禮演講人的，不管ta做出了什麼成就。
演講中提出了做科研非常明顯的一個特徵：正反饋慢。即使是在相信"the scientific research that I would produce would be valuable to society"的前提下，做科研仍然需要投入很多年的時間才有可能給社會帶來影響力。這對於一個希望對社會做出貢獻的人來說是很難接受的。而不幸的是，在更多的情形下，就算科研做出了成果，也未必能對社會有用。
這種實現概率低、響應時間短的正反饋是讓很多博士生很沮喪的重要原因。讀博士多多少少還是有一定情懷的，可是讀著讀著發現自己花了這麼多年做的科研其實根本沒用，寶貴的青春被浪費，個人價值無法得到實現，實在讓人很失望。這在四大天坑專業以及其他專業的納米領域更為顯著。而這位演講人轉行所做的事，不管是其真實價值（"real impact"）還是收益的可實現概率（"tangible"）都顯著優於科研。所以，演講人在最後勸所有在坐的博士畢業生"keep an open mind"並選擇讓自己的個人影響力最大化的道路。
對於沒有情懷，家裡沒礦，戴不上帽子，還希望過上好日子的人，選擇離開科研遠遠優於在學術圈掙扎。但是本文告訴大家：對於有情懷的人，選擇離開科研也未必是選擇放棄自己的情懷，說不定反而能更好地實現自己的追求。
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