两年前,我载着一位中国来的访客在硅谷高速上奔驰。当时,我和他讲了一个故事:
GV是谷歌旗下投资机构。有一次,它生命科学的头——Krishna Yeshwant被问到一个问题:“请问:GV如何平衡投资回报与找到治疗人类癌症方法间的关系?”
生命科学领域的投资需要大量钱,而且不一定出结果。
Krishna举了一个例子说:GV曾投资一家公司,因为这家公司有数据表明,在早期诊断自闭症儿童方面,有些“信号”值得追踪。GV因此投了大量钱让他们去做研究。但研究着研究着,这些“信号”不见了,GV的投资,血本无归。
那一天,Krishna的回答是这样的:“That is the hard thing about this job—to make sure the right questions are being asked and that they are being asked in the right way. If it just turns out we asked the right questions and we were wrong, that’s the game we are playing. We are OK with nature disagreeing with us because when it agrees with you, you change the world."大概意思是:“如果我们向大自然‘问对’了问题,但研究方法有误,那大把的钱打水漂了也没关系,因为一旦把这两者都做对了,你就改变了世界。”