Editor| Guo Liqi hu nannan
Head illustration | Xiao Li
Entrepreneurial insights
"Entrepreneur Insights" is a column regularly launched by China Entrepreneur every Sunday, scanning the cutting-edge business insights of outstanding entrepreneurs at home and abroad.
One dimension of whether an entrepreneur has entrepreneurial spirit is whether he/she can look up at the stars in addition to developing a down-to-earth business – caring for the future of society and mankind and making a difference. In this issue, we'll comb through the recent perspectives of six entrepreneurs who are active in education, population, and the environment to see how they understand these major issues that concern the future and destiny of humanity.
Cao Dewang: Education is a career, not an industry
Photo: Deng Pan
A few days ago, Cao Dewang, founder and chairman of Fuyao Glass Group, talked about education at the China Education Thirty Forum:
I am very concerned about many things in education and society, and I think that a country must rely on the joint efforts of everyone to pay attention to and care for everything to do a good job. I don't understand some of the current phenomena, let's talk about a few points to see if they resonate with everyone.
First, in recent years, society has paid great attention to the employment of college students, discussed the difficulty of college students' employment, and has always been worried that college students cannot find jobs, which is a very good thing. But as the boss of a private company, we do not feel how difficult it is to find employment, it is difficult for us to recruit good college students when we recruit, it is not my company, our company has factories in 11 countries, there are many factories abroad, there are a large number of delegates every year, but it is still impossible to recruit.
Second, university disciplines are now very strictly managed, but many disciplines cannot be adapted to the real needs of society, that is, the students we cultivate do not necessarily adapt to the needs of enterprises.
Third, college students tend to work as civil servants, and if they can't pass the civil service exam, they will deliver couriers, deliver takeaways, or simply lie at home and rely on their parents to help them find a job.
Fourth, the current investment career. Investment in education has two major components, the first is the national and local governments, and the second is the investment of private capital. One is the state's education for the purpose of popularizing education, and the other is to invest in making money and industrializing education. I think education should be a career, not an industry, and the entry of capital is a very unfair thing for the people.
I believe that everyone has seen these things. So what is the reason? My point is that there are these points:
First, poverty. For nearly 100 years, our country has been very poor. When Chairman Mao founded New China in 1949, China was in tatters, so we implemented a planned economy, which lasted until 1978, when Comrade Deng Xiaoping proposed reform and opening up. During this period, very few high school students went to college students.
This brings up the second problem, the very scarce quota for university students, which are needed by government-run state-run enterprises. First, this proposes that education serves politics. Second, whose child is admitted to college is equivalent to a title. Later, after the reform and opening up had a little money, whose children were admitted to college, relatives and friends celebrated each other, and held a banquet for a few days.
At that time, the synonym for college students was "the proud son of heaven". When a family has a college student, he raises his head and chest up, and he can show off in the city. This thing should still exist now. This is a very bad situation that has continued, but it has become the norm. In fact, this is a very backward concept. So now university enrollment, because there are private schools, the university enrollment rate can be 80%, but the management of all aspects of college students is still in the early stage of reform and opening up.
On these things, we have consulted some friends in the education sector in Japan, and if college students are not employed, is there a good way in Japan? Japan believes that Chinese college students are not employed, mainly because he does not have self-confidence, after graduating from college, in fact, he has not yet started professionally, the second is that he is afraid that he will be scolded if he leaves the school and cannot find a job, There is an adult school in Japan that is docked with college students' factories, and Japan is still relatively successful in this regard.
I think it's time to look at the way education is about changing.
I went to run a university, not to get one more university in China. We follow the example of Japan and Germany in training students, hoping to explore a path that Chinese can take.
I want to do a good job in the enterprise, but also to cultivate people well, to instill his technical knowledge at the same time to improve his realm, mind and height. This allows them to work with peace of mind. This is the educational reform I want to explore.
I have always insisted on opposing the entry of capital into education, and I believe that education should be done by enterprises and charitable organizations, and the state is auxiliary. The state should stipulate that enterprises are absolutely not allowed to make a profit. If education allows capital to come in, there is a problem for profit.
Yin Ye: Instead of canceling the extracurricular tutoring class, today's education is perfect
Source: Respondents
BGI CEO Yin Ye said in a recent interview about the education of the next generation:
I think that in the future, everyone can have the ability to discern the truth, which is a particularly important point of popular science education, especially for the next generation, they should identify what is common sense, and there should be no more anti-intellectual behavior, such as the new coronavirus caused by the recent 5G in the United Kingdom, such a story is almost unimaginable, but many people will believe it.
Human beings are always advancing in the struggle against ignorance, and in turn science is constantly denying science, and science naturally has to negate the former in order to progress. Professionals to abandon some of the previous one-sided, wrong or backward cognition, for the people, to know which cognition must be from a high probability is not right, and the higher your rank is actually less black and white, it is all gray, but how do you talk about this grayscale. Therefore, logic, speculation, induction and deduction, these most basic things are exactly what China lacks. Children should be given more opportunities to express their views, encourage everyone to respond to a problem, put forward their own independent opinions, I think this is the direction of many teaching reforms, not that I canceled the extracurricular tutoring class today's education is perfect.
Nothing can ruin the next generation, except the previous one. The essence of human social progress is that the next generation basically does not listen to the words of the previous generation. That's how scientific progress has gone. I love my teacher, and I love the truth even more.
Liang Jianzhang: Metaversity may bring population risk
Recently, Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of Ctrip Group, talked about meta-universe and tourism at the Ctrip Group Global Partner Summit:
The temptation of the meta-universe is very big, do not hide from everyone, now it is a robot that is talking to everyone, not the real Liang Jianzhang. Of course it's a joke, it's impossible, robots aren't so alive. But the technological progress of the metaverse is very fast, more and more able to simulate, chaos, and can create all kinds of fun at low cost.
If you look at people's psychological needs, such as safety, respect, socialization, and a sense of accomplishment, these needs can be met through the metaverse at low cost. At home through virtual reality climbing, running, skiing, this is very safe, do not have to go out of the room, and then constantly upgrade, get a variety of sense of achievement, you can socialize with robots, you can also fight monsters to upgrade, these can produce a variety of fun, even do not need the companionship of lovers, children.
But this creates a problem, if everyone doesn't need to be in love, doesn't need the company of lovers and family, what about the population? At least for now, the productive population still needs to be carried out. If we can get all kinds of fulfillment in the metaverse, do we still have the desire to explore the real world? For example, the difficulty of innovative scientific research is far greater than the discovery of the laws of the metacosm, and it is really much more difficult to do scientific research than the metacosm, will we lose the desire to explore the real world? This poses various risks, such as the risk of population, the risk of technological stagnation.
Although the tourism industry is very difficult, it must be adhered to, because we have a mission, tourism is a particularly socially responsible industry, tourism can promote common prosperity, promote peace, promote innovation, promote population, and today there is an additional responsibility that can balance the metacosm and avoid the metacosm replacing the true universe.
Of course, there is a premise, to do a good job of tourism, to make it more interesting and more immersive. If the world were not traveled, then only the metaverse would remain. My conclusion is that after the end of the epidemic, tourism must be restored, in the long run, the real universe must be able to defeat the metaverse, the real universe must be more interesting, more advanced, more logical, irreplaceable, as long as we work hard, not only so that the metaverse can not replace the real universe, but also let the metacosm promote the exploration of the real universe, the metacosm as a marketing tool to preview, simulate the real universe, enhance our desire to explore the real universe.
Elon Musk: Without more children, civilization will collapse
Photo: Shi Xiaobing
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently spoke in an interview about his views on population, death and the future world:
1. With regard to population
Over time, robots have the potential to become a universal alternative to the human workforce. The economy is based on labor. I think one of the biggest risks facing civilization is the low birth rate, the rapidly declining birth rate. However, many people (including smart people) think the world is too populated and think that population growth is out of control. But the reality is just the opposite, if people don't have more children, civilization will collapse. I'm trying to set a good example, and I have to live up to what I preach.
2. About death
We don't have to try to live a super long life. I think death is important to us. If we live forever, then we may become a very rigid society, and new ideas will not succeed.
But I'm not kidding age, I'm just saying that if some people are in very important positions and they have to make decisions that are critical to national security, then they need to have enough brains and cognitive abilities to make those decisions because the whole country depends on them.
3. About the future
I think we're at an interesting moment in history, where the United States has been the world's largest economy for the longest memory of anyone. I think the U.S. became the largest economy probably 120 to 130 years ago.
Now we're moving toward a situation where China's economy could be two or three times the size of the U.S.'s, and that's a different world.
I think Tesla has a good relationship with China, and I'm not endorsing everything That China does, just as no one would endorse everything that the United States or any other country does.
But overall, I think we're moving towards an interesting, different world. I hope we can remember that we are all human beings and let's try to build the most positive relationships possible and work for the common prosperity of all humanity.
Li Dongsheng: "Carbon neutrality" is the next place where technology companies must compete
Source: Medium Attempt Library
Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of TCL Group, recently attended the first annual meeting of the Enterprise Green Development (Haikou) Research Institute, talking about the challenges and opportunities brought by the "double carbon" goal to the development of enterprises:
Green and low-carbon development is not only the vision of future national development, but also the long-term way for sustainable development of enterprises. The "double carbon" goal has a profound background of development at home and abroad, and it will certainly have a profound impact on the future economy and society. For the development of national and enterprises in the context of "double carbon", I would like to share a few views with you today:
First of all, the "double carbon" action will affect the operation of every enterprise, and the "double carbon" goal is both a challenge and an opportunity. The "double carbon" goal is a process of "new industrialization" for the country, for enterprises, it will accelerate the innovation and improvement of enterprises in many subdivision technology fields, to achieve the requirements of "double carbon" and environmental protection, otherwise the competitiveness of enterprises will be greatly affected. At the same time, achieving the "double carbon" goal also brings opportunities in many areas, for example, the field of wind power and photovoltaic technology has developed rapidly. Since last year, photovoltaics have achieved parity in Inner Mongolia, and the reason behind this is the improvement of photoelectric conversion efficiency and the reduction of costs;
Secondly, through scientific and technological innovation, enterprises can achieve the improvement of their own competitiveness in the process of helping "double carbon";
Finally, enterprises should firmly take the road of green carbon reduction and achieve a win-win situation for enterprises and society.
In short, under the background of "carbon neutrality", the world has formed a new industrial pattern, which is a new outlet in the market and the next place for science and technology enterprises, which will bring new ideas and new business opportunities for the development of Chinese science and technology enterprises.
Bill Gates: To achieve zero emissions by 2050, we must put innovation first
On December 10, Bill Gates said about climate in his 2021 annual review:
The climate dialogue is often seen as an area that is hampered by disagreements. There has been a lot of debate in the past about whether we have all the means we need to solve the climate problem. Now we have reached a further consensus that we have some of the tools we need, but not all of them. If we are to avoid climate catastrophe, we need to prioritize closing this gap.
There is now a broad consensus that any plan to achieve zero emissions by 2050 should put innovation first. The private sector is playing a central and necessary role, along with Governments and non-profit organizations. Leaders from all industries that need to be involved in the transformation, including shipping, mining and financial services, are talking about their tangible plans to reduce carbon emissions and support innovation, which is very exciting.
If we're going to scale up innovation and achieve zero emissions, we need to narrow the cost difference between zero-emission fuels (or technologies) and traditional fossil fuels (or technologies), which I call the "Green Premium," and addressing this needs to be an important part of any climate plan.
I'm also pleased to see the widespread focus on climate adaptation. If we do not help the world's poorest people adapt to climate change – especially those farmers who feed their families on the food they grow and bear the greatest climate risks – the global fight against poverty will fail. Even if the world reaches the goal of zero emissions by 2050, we will still experience significant changes brought about by global warming. And that will pose a huge challenge for people in low- and middle-income countries – unless we take steps to help them now, such as developing new crops that are more productive and more resilient to climate change.
I am optimistic that we have the motivation we need to avoid climate catastrophe.
Comprehensive sources: Boss Simulcast, China Education Thirty Forum, Liaoshen Evening News, Financial Associated Press, Gates Foundation, China Entrepreneur Club, Yin Ge liao gene, etc