CVPR Daily - Tuesday

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about the basic skills that we really
need to master. Things like language
will always be there. That is the
foundation of what our kids should
have to learn, in high school and
middle school. Beyond that there is a
very clear trend that is already there.
Many of the great minds are already
talking about what they call
“computational thinking”. I think
computational thinking is what we
need to learn. You can argue that
computational thinking is also a
language skill. Instead of English or
Chinese, we are talking about
programming languages. It looks at the
way you think, the numbers coming
together, systems working together.
That is something that the next
generation will have, much like
mathematics 50 years or 100 years
ago. I’m not talking about necessarily
anything beyond calculus, but even
writing Python programs is not
something that every kid can do. That
is something that we, as a society,
need to make more explicit. I’m glad to
see more American children in high
school learning programming. I think
that is the right thing to do.
I moderated a panel yesterday about
the shortage in STEM workforce. I
know that you in the big corporations
are fighting to get the best talents. As
a result, Microsoft, Google, Facebook,
Apple and Amazon recruit many of
them. The problem that I see is that
there are huge pools of talent that
have no access to education or these
opportunities. I think about how
many women or people living in some
regions of the world might have the
same opportunities. How can you as a
corporation help reach out to those
who do not have the opportunities to
showcase their talents?
We are just as passionate as you are.
We think about these important
issues. One thing I mentioned in my
speech and in the Microsoft Mission
Statement is that we want to
empower every person and
organization on the planet, and not
just here in Hawaii. We say that, and
we mean that. That actually reflects in
what kind of products we make and
the kind of features that we build. That
can include taking care of people with
learning disabilities or dyslexia. We are
talking about people in different
continents. Our CEO travels frequently
and regularly around the world. A
good example of this is what we
recently announced about making Wi-
Fi available in the United States. We
have been engaging with many others
in many other countries too. We have
to democratize technology. Microsoft
has been on that path forever, ever
since Bill Gates said to put Microsoft
Software on every desktop. This is
democratizing technology. I think we
have this responsibility to help
everyone on earth to do that, I
completely agree with you.
24 Harry Shum
Steve Cruz, Harry Shum and Terrance
Boult yesterday at CVPR2017 (photo
courtesy of Steve Cruz, Vision and
Security Technology Lab)