Chapter 8: Core advantage

Cherry Springs State Park is known as the best stargazing spot in New York, but in fact, it is not in New York State, but in Pennsylvania, and it takes about four hours to drive back and forth.

On the way back, Lin Ran had already sorted out his thoughts quite clearly.

Whether it was 1960 or 2020, his biggest advantage was the information gap.

All kinds of information gaps.

From major events that shocked the world like the assassination of Kennedy, to technical details like the design scheme of the Apollo spacecraft escape tower being a solid-fuel rocket.

The Apollo spacecraft escape tower used small solid-fuel rockets loaded in bundles, somewhat similar to the "sky-piercing monkeys" played with in childhood, correcting the orbit at the moment of explosive ignition, simple and reliable but low precision.

Large and small information gaps constituted his core advantage.

A large amount of core secrets at that time, placed in 2020 today, had long been declassified and became materials that could be publicly consulted in the library, provided to historians for research.

And 1960 also had a large number of information gaps for 2020.

For example, the manned moon landing that America itself could not reproduce now. If he could participate in it from beginning to end, did it mean that he knew all the large and small technical details, and could reproduce the great cause of the manned moon landing in the 2020 time-space?

But the information gap was not something you could use just because you said so.

Especially the information gap on the surface, and the information to be used in actual operation, there would be a distance, which was the so-called historical distortion.

There were many reasons for historical distortion, such as people recording history might be influenced by personal prejudice, emotion, political stance, or cultural background, leading to their description of events not being objective enough or having deviations.

Or the historical recorder might only be able to rely on limited information sources, and this information might be incomplete, inaccurate, or already tampered with.

It also included that the historical recorder might not be able to experience the event personally and could only rely on second-hand materials or rumors to describe the event. These materials might have been passed on many times, leading to the distortion of information.

Digging history from the hands of those who experienced the event was the best handle to make good use of the information gap.

"Being a great scientist in 1960 and a porter of history in 2020, this might not be a shortcut at the starting stage," Lin Ran thought.

And the business he did in the past could provide him with help now, and could also provide him with help in the future.

So to speak, in the top 300 universities in the world, he could find people he knew from his WeChat address book.

In Lin Ran's view, these could all become part of his information gap, and in the future, if he wanted to start a business, a lot of talent could be selected from among them.

When the brain evolved, the characteristics shown by each person in the process of talking to him were vivid in his mind.

"However, if I return to 1960 again, the Fabian Society is a good entry point," Lin Ran thought. "It's just that this matter has to be discussed in the long run. I have to have a good chat with Sister Xiaoman later. If possible, it is best to borrow the Fabian Society badge left by her grandfather. I just don't know if it's easy to borrow."

The client on the other end of the video was the daughter of his mother's best friend, a client who couldn't be pushed away at all.

But acquaintance was acquaintance, business was business, and consulting fees still had to be charged.

By the time he sorted out his thoughts, the screen of the Zoom video conference on the computer screen showed the picture of a Word document:

"Basic information: Female, Chinese PhD supervisor, U. S. News Top 10 Assistant Professor

Undergraduate from a low-tier 211, US News Top 10 PhD + Postdoc.

Academic homepage: 30+ publications.

Research direction: New materials, composite materials

Hosted 2 NIH-funded projects"

The basic information was very little, and Lin Ran scanned it at a glance. He already had the answer in his mind.

NIH refers to the National Institutes of Health in America, similar to the Academy of Medical Sciences in Huaguo. For a newcomer, it is not an easy thing to get funding from the NIH, let alone two projects funded by the NIH.

"Except for the low-tier 211 undergraduate degree, it is an almost perfect resume. A female Chinese PhD supervisor may indeed be more inclined to favor Chinese women. The same background may lead the other party to be able to empathize with your situation and needs."

A few short sentences immediately gave the client on the other end of the video preliminary trust, because she also included this mentor in the first priority of her PhD application based on the same consideration, and she had just received an offer from the other party not long ago.

"But~" Lin Ran elongated his tone. Obviously, the client took the bait immediately: "But what?"

Having provided study abroad consulting for countless clients, Lin Ran had already explored a mature set of discourse frameworks. It was too normal for the other party to take the bait. Reading for a PhD was a long-distance race of time and energy for anyone, and in a sense, it could be counted as a big gamble.

Since it was a big gamble, it was not expensive at all to spend two thousand yuan to find off-field assistance.

This price rose from two hundred all the way to two thousand, relying on both the information gap and the grasp of the client's psychology.

"But she might be an 'academic Daji'.

She finished her PhD at a top 10 US university, then did a postdoc, and then stayed on to teach after leaving the station. She could go straight to a PhD at a top 10 US university from a low-tier 211 undergraduate degree. There are only two possibilities. The first is that her academic strength is really very strong. Relying on GPA alone is not enough; she must have made enough achievements at the undergraduate stage. The second possibility is that the teacher appreciates you very much.

Then look at her paper publication situation. With more than 30 publications, for an assistant professor at a top 10 North American university, and in the materials direction, this number of publications is obviously not enough.

Similarly, there are only two situations. The first is that she is relatively young, and the second is that her paper has a very high gold content.

So she needs to have very strong academic ability at the undergraduate stage, showing enough talent, and then made achievements with very high gold content during the PhD and postdoc stages. Both are indispensable.

Does such a possibility exist for someone with such talent who only took a 211 undergraduate degree? Yes, but it is relatively small.

So I guess it is more likely that she is an academic Daji."

The beautiful client in the video blinked her big eyes, her eyelashes seeming to ask what an academic Daji was.

"Simply put, it means relying on beauty to gain the appreciation of a big shot, and the big shot takes her to fly. It is a good thing to have beauty to feast the eyes in the laboratory.

If that's the case, then if you go, you will only be squeezed out and suppressed, and you won't be able to contact her biggest resource, which is the big shot who takes her.

Since the big shot can give her resources because of her beauty, he can also give you resources because of your beauty. In order to exclude this possibility, she will deliberately suppress you."

The other party was first shy because the other party praised her for being beautiful, and then felt worried because of the possibility Lin Ran proposed: "Then what should I do?"

The reason why the other party believed half of it was because Lin Ran had indeed made a small name for himself in this line of work in Jiao Tong University or the entire Shanghai university circle, and secondly, because she knew some hidden information, knowing that this female Chinese PhD supervisor's appearance was indeed worthy of being called charming at her age.

"Can you show me the specific information of the mentor?" Lin Ran asked.

The other party switched the interface to the mentor's academic homepage.

Looking at the mentor's personal homepage again, Lin Ran felt more than half settled in his heart. His guess was indeed correct: "em... This mentor started recruiting students from last year, and there are two students under her. If I remember correctly, a senior I guided before went to her to do a PhD.

How about I help you make a phone call and ask?"

"Don't mention it. We only had one day off for New Year's Day, it's a pit. This mentor only knows how to rub various academic conferences every day. When she sees others publishing top journals, she feels that this direction might be a new hot direction and asks us to track it.

The students under her are me and another guy. There are already more than ten hot spots for us to track. She can't guide the main job either. The hot spots are one after another, making me not even brush Weibo now. I get a headache when I see Weibo hot spots.

Every time I ask about the main job, she says 'I'll go ask her PhD supervisor'. Am I being guided by her or her PhD supervisor? If it's like this, why don't I communicate directly with her PhD supervisor?

Lin Ran, I can only say cherish life, stay away from female Chinese PhD supervisors. There is not one who doesn't complain among those I have come into contact with who followed a female Chinese PhD supervisor. You must be cautious when applying for a PhD. I had no choice, I was bewitched by the name of this top 10 in North America, knowing that there are tigers in the mountain, I still go to the tiger mountain..."

The complaints coming from the external speaker crossed the Pacific Ocean to the distant other shore, and the other party's face changed immediately. Fortunately, she spent money to find someone for consultation, otherwise she would have fallen into the pit without even reacting.

After the phone call, Lin Ran said: "So junior, I will push this senior's WeChat to you later, you can talk to him in detail about the specific situation."

This dispelled the other party's last concerns.

If he didn't push WeChat, there was still the possibility that the other party hired someone to fabricate it. If he pushed WeChat, the cost of this fraud was too high.

"Two thousand yuan in hand, it's just that how to talk to Sister Xiaoman next, it's really a headache." Lin Ran sighed after exiting the video conference. ===== CHAPTER 9 =====