An academic jotting to our beginners (I)-郑州大学计算理论与先进计算技术研究室

An academic jotting to our beginners (I)

2021-11-07 作者：点击：

An academic jotting to our beginners (I)

(draft)

W Zhu and M Deng

ZZU & HAUT

November 06, 2021

Welcome to the research lab. Considering that there is a fundamental difference between the study as a postgraduate, and the previous studies in primary school, middle school and university, we try to say something about it to the new kids or potential ones here.

(In the following conversation, S is a postgraduate, and T is a professor.)

S: What did you mean when you talked about the fundamental difference?

T: In a word, you will do some scientific researches as a postgraduate, and you just learned something as an undergraduate, a secondary school student, and/or a pupil.

S: Is there any difference between scientific research and learning?

T: They are totally different! Please see Fig.1. The outermost circle illustrates the boundary of human knowledges. The inside of this circle represents human known knowledges, and the outside of this circle represents human unknown knowledges. Colored areas portray what "I" learned. As shown in this figure, "I" gained more and more knowledges from a primary school to an university. However, my learning only enriches my knowledges and it does not increase the total amount of human knowledges. This process only makes me understand more and more knowledges that somebody knew but I didn't know. This is called “learning”.

So, what is scientific research? It is not learning knowledges, but creating knowledges. "I" will create some knowledges that nobody knows, instead of understanding some knowledges that someone has known. As shown in this figure, the process of learning makes the colored area is getting larger and larger. However, no matter how it is expanded, the colored area does not exceed the scope of the outermost circle, and the boundary of the outermost circle remains unchanged, indicating that “my” knowledges are only a small part of human knowledges. By contrast, scientific research aims to expand the boundary of the outermost circle, i.e., push forward the boundary of human knowledges. As a result, a tiny extension maybe occurs at a dot of the boundary of the outermost circle. In other words, the total amount of human knowledges has been increased, even a little, due to "my" research.

This is one of the key differences between learning and scientific research.

"I" learned more and more knowledges, before “I” become a postgraduate. Someone had already known these knowledges, but "I" didn't know them. And "I" knew them posterior to a process of learning. In contrast, "I" will try to create even a little knowledge, when “I” am a postgraduate. Nobody knows this knowledge until “I” create it one day.

In a word, the possible result of scientific research is knowledge innovation, and the result of learning has nothing to do with innovation. In our opinion, an incoming postgraduate should get used to this change as soon as possible, because he/she has learned some knowledges for the past sixteen years, and he/she will aim to create knowledges rather than pure learn them henceforth.

Table 1 summarizes one of the main differences between the postgraduate study and the previous ones.

Table 1. a key difference between postgraduates and other sorts of students

	“I” am a CS postgraduate (in some fields)	“I” am a CS undergraduate	“I” am a secondary school student or a pupil
does what? (“my” action)	research	learning	learning
status of knowledge prior to action	unknown to “me” (“I” don’t know) & unknown to human (because nobody knows)	unknown to “me” (“I” don’t know) & known to human (because somebody knows)	unknown to “me” (“I” don’t know) & known to human (because somebody knows)
how to deal with knowledge	create (“I” do it by “myself”)	gain (somebody tells “me” via textbooks and lectures)	gain (somebody tells “me” via textbooks and lectures)
possible status of knowledge posterior to action	known to “me” (because “I” have created them) & known to human (because “I” know and “I” can tell others via papers)	known to “me” (“I” have learned) & known to human	known to “me” (“I” have learned) & known to human

S: So, what’s your suggestion for me?

T: OK, see below for details.

(To be continued …)

(1) a circle containing all of human knowledges (2) by the time you finish elementary school, you know a little

(3) by the time you finish high school, you know a bit more (4) with a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty

(5) first year of postgraduate deepens that specialty (6) reading papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge

(7) once you’re at the boundary, you focus (8) you push at the boundary for a few years

(9) until one day, the boundary gives way (10) and, that dent you’ve made is called a master or Ph.D.

(11) of course, the world looks different to you now (12) so, don’t forget the bigger picture

Keep pushing.

Fig.1 Matt Might, a professor in computer science at the University of Utah, conceived this idea and created these pictures [1][2][3][4]. And the authors of this document have modified them slightly. This is a group of very vivid pictures, and it makes us feel our smallness, which is a very necessary reminder for us walking on the road of postgraduates: don't be complacent because you have pushed only a little boundary, and don't just immerse yourself in your own field and forget the vastness and richness of the world [2].

References

[1] https://innovation-village.com/the-illustrated-guide-to-a-ph-d-by-matt-might/

[2] https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1599338140253944748&wfr=spider&for=pc

[3] http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-662228-786760.html

[4] http://www.ruanyifeng.com/blog/2010/08/illustrated_guide_to_a_phd.html

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