The End of Technology

On February 3, 2019, Chinese New Year’s Eve arrived as scheduled. It's time for China to welcome the New Year again. This is also the second New Year that the Ning family has spent in the capital, which is far more lively than the first New Year. The main thing is that this is Ning Jie's first New Year after her marriage.

The entire Ning family and three members of the Lu family came to TiDa early in the morning. Ning Zi's aunt started preparing the New Year's Eve dinner early in the morning according to the Ning family tradition. Fortunately, there are many people who can help now, so it won’t be too tiring by then. Moreover, Ningyuan Canteen delivered a lot of pre-cooked ingredients early in the morning, which can be used simply by heating them.

Although there are large-scale activities in Ningyuan on the third day of junior high school. But most people still have to take a day off on New Year's Eve. Although some invited scientists have already come to China, most of them live in nearby hotels and are taken care of in their daily lives.

Of course, there are some special people today, such as Tim Cook.

Although Ning Zi invited Tim Cook to attend the dinner, the Apple CEO rushed to Ning's house at noon, and his arrival made the Ning's house more lively.

He didn’t come empty-handed. This time Tim Cook brought two sets of all Apple products as gifts. Although there is no shortage of electronic products here in Ningji, this old man is still very popular. Especially Ning Yulin, after receiving the gift happily, she directly regarded the Apple CEO as her target to practice speaking.

I have to say that Ning Yulin's language skills have indeed improved very quickly in the two years since he came to the capital. Now in junior high school, I can already have a normal conversation with Tim Cook, a pure American.

Ning Zi thinks this is pretty good.

Although the intelligent translation system in the future will be very advanced, it will greatly reduce communication barriers between different languages. But it is also more convenient to master a language rather than through a machine.

The most important thing is to cultivate her sister's self-confidence. Now Ning Yulin, who was already cheerful, is even more cheerful.

Of course, Ning Zi knew the reason why Tim Cook came so early. After Ning Yulin annoyed the big boss for a while, Ning Zi took the time to invite him to the study.

The second time he came to Ning She's study, Tim Cook sat on the sofa and said with emotion: "You have a very cute sister."

Ning Zi sat at his desk and said with a smile, "What about you?"

"I only have two brothers, and although they are nice people, I actually want to have a sister." Tim Cook expressed his opinion with a shrug.

Ning Zi smiled and did not continue the topic. After all, neither of them actually cared that much about each other's family. He just asked straight to the point: "Okay, Mr. Cook, let's not talk about things that cannot be changed. What do you want?" What?"

When it came to business, Tim Cook also became serious, looked at Ning Zie and asked: "I came this time because of the new chip technology and intelligent programmable software, which is the Faster software now launched by Cisco. Ning, If you have a choice, I think maybe Apple can cooperate with you more deeply."

Faster is the name Cisco gave to its artificial intelligence programming software. It is both simple and crude, and it probably means it is faster than humans.

"If it's about chips, we can talk, including giving Apple better conditions. As I said before, you have supported our chip research center, and we will launch more advanced processes in the future. It can continue Moore's Law. The three-dimensional configuration and the main structure of the carbon tube can make Moore's Law effective for at least another twenty years. But Faster has been fully authorized to Cisco. If Apple needs related products, it can only follow Cisco talks about cooperation.”

Tim Cook shook his head slightly and said: "Actually, this is what I am worried about. To be honest, Apple has not purchased Faster so far, and I am still waiting to see. Although this software can indeed save costs to a great extent. , but to be honest, I'm worried. I don't even recommend that Apple developers switch to using this software on a large scale to provide software for Apple."

Ning Zi nodded and asked: "Why? Many companies in Silicon Valley have started to use this software, and it has proven to be very effective."

Tim Cook looked at Ning Zi seriously and said: "But no one can guarantee that it will always be good. When people start to rely on a tool and lose a certain ability, they always hope that it can give them everything they want, but in fact many people Hope and reality always run counter to each other.”

These words were very tactful, and they almost didn't point their finger at Ning Zi and ask whether there would be any trouble here if everyone relied on this product.

However, Ning Zi was not angry. He just smiled and said, "Tim, many big companies don't think so. You are not the only smart person in Silicon Valley."

Tim Cook shrugged again and replied: "There are reasons. They want to participate in the formulation of new standards and need to show goodwill. I have talked to many people, but they feel there is no need to worry. , because they believe that people’s skills will not disappear quickly over time. If there are any problems, they can always recruit back those who have been laid off.

Of course, they must also be responsible to shareholders. After all, faster can indeed save a lot of expenses. Obviously most people are optimists, but I am different. To be honest, I am actually a pessimistic person many times. I like to think about a problem for as long as possible. "

Well, Ning Zi could feel that although this boss was very strong, he was also very cautious, but obviously this caution was misguided, or the worry was in the wrong direction.

In fact, Ning Zi really has no plans to use this software to do anything in the future, because it is not necessary.

Ever since it reached an agreement with Apple to help upgrade Siri in exchange for a chip R\u0026D center, some people felt that Ning was selling technology at a low price.

But the reality is that neither March nor Ningji bother to rely on these technologies to make money.

Doing these things is just to save resources.

Including letting Cisco proxy faster, the ultimate goal is also to save resources. Because from a kitten's perspective, all these saved resources will eventually be used for humans to conquer space.

In other words, everything will eventually flow into its intended development direction.

As for where to keep the money that is not used for the time being?

So regarding Tim Cook's worries, Ning Zi just shook his head and smiled, and then said: "Actually, this suspicion is normal, and I don't think you will believe anything you say now. But after attending the third grade of junior high school, After reading the forum, I believe you can understand how ridiculous this idea is.

It is better to boldly embrace the future. Faster will only become smarter in the future. I will allow it to be used in China in three years at most. It is meaningless for Apple to insist on these three years. So I still sincerely suggest that we don’t talk about chips or faster for now, and we can formally talk about cooperation after the forum. How about that? "

The topic was once again brought to the upcoming large-scale academic forum. Tim Cook looked at Ning Zi's confident look and didn't know what to say for a while.

To be honest, he didn't really want to know what kind of discovery would give Ning Zi such confidence at the moment. He thought that after seeing it, it would shake his current thoughts. But it also made him more curious.

So after a moment of silence, Tim Cook asked with a wry smile: "This makes me even more confused. Ning, do you want me to have trouble sleeping these two days? Maybe you can reveal some information to me first." , Really, I don’t want to have insomnia continuously.”

This sentence made Ning Zi smile happily and said: "Haha, Tim, insomnia? It doesn't exist. You definitely don't know how lively the New Year's Eve dinner is during the Chinese Spring Festival. Have you heard that song? My friend is here. There is fine wine. My dad specially prepared our national wine to entertain you today. Of course, for the sake of friendship, I can still tell you a little bit about it. You see, this is the first time that Ningyuan has held such a large-scale academic event, just like astronomy. Strong correlation, so you can imagine my goal, right?”

…

In fact, Ning Zi really likes chatting with Tim Cook, although their interests have never been consistent.

It's probably that kind of frankness that puts people at ease.

The following family dinner also proved that Ning Zi's prediction was correct. Although Ning Jian and Ning Kang were not good at English, Ning Yulin volunteered as a translator, which was enough for Tim Cook to see. The toasting culture of the older generation in China is so extensive and profound.

Especially the happy Ning Yulin loves to be funny and can always translate what his father said into messy words: "Drinking is not fish farming, Uncle, you should DUNDUNDUN..."

While talking, he would pick up his drink and make gestures...

At first, Old Cook was very reserved, but after enthusiastically toasting and drinking two glasses of Moutai, which was obviously not to his liking, he was finally taken over.

Not so drunk that he lost his composure, but Ning Zi felt that it wouldn't be a big problem if he had a good sleep. As for how to spend the next two days, that's none of Ning Zi's business.

However, the reception work was still well prepared.

For example, the hotel that Tim Cook stayed in was originally the hotel designated to receive this forum, and he could stay in a hotel in Ningyuan on the second day of the new year. Several former Nobel Prize winners also arrived in China on this day. Everyone We all live on the same floor, so you won’t have a hard time chatting with anyone.

At least that's what Ning Zi thinks, and that seems to be the case.

In fact, from the first day of junior high school, Ning Zi has been so busy that her feet have never touched the ground.

The family members stayed at home to entertain the New Year visitors, while he entertained the scholars who had arrived in advance in Ningyuan.

This forum was held during the Chinese New Year, and Ning Yuan followed Ning Zi’s instructions and did not arrange too many pick-ups and drop-offs. Basically, all the invited scholars received a very considerate piece of software from Ning Yuan. After getting off the plane, As long as you open the software, you can automatically locate and guide these scholars to the subway station or taxi location according to their requirements.

Full intelligent service.

This is also the cheapest guidance method. For Ningyuan, it costs almost nothing to develop such a simple route guidance applet. It was nothing more than saying hello to a well-known map company in China in advance and borrowing their backend data.

Moreover, Ning Zi feels that this kind of reception is perfect. Anyway, the safety factor of the Chinese capital is extremely high, and it can also allow these scholars to see the scenery of the Chinese capital along the way. If most people choose to take a taxi, it can also promote taxi travel during the Chinese New Year. The income of online ride-hailing drivers is a complete win-win situation.

Of course, there are tricks when it comes to picking up people, but there is no trick Ning Zi can do when receiving people after they arrive.

In particular, many university scholars only took the time to attend this forum because of his reputation. They also notified the arrival time by email in advance. Ning Jibian could only stay in Ningyuan's office and follow the visiting scholars. Say hello and have a quick chat.

Fortunately, the vast majority of them are ordinary people after all. They have been on a plane for more than ten hours and are jet-lagged. They basically talk for dozens of minutes before they are tired and need to take a rest.

For Ning Zi, this matter is not onerous. But people came here and there, and Ning Zi could only receive them sporadically. I spent a whole day in the office, and my work felt more tedious than usual. Probably because there was too much fragmented time.

For the first time, Ning Zi felt that arranging the forum on the third day of the Lunar New Year in March was a bit anti-human.

Originally, he could use this time to spend time with family and friends, which would definitely be much more pleasant than exchanging pleasantries with many strangers in the office.

Fortunately, it's only this time.

No matter what academic forum is held next time, Ning Zi does not intend to have his name on Ning Yuan's invitation letter. The mentality is probably that when love comes, it will come, and if it doesn't come, I will pull you down. After all, everything is difficult at the beginning.

Of course, meetings with many top scholars are not all uninteresting. There were also some brief discussions that gave Ning Zi a lot of inspiration. For example, when talking with Colin Drost, the former Nobel Prize winner in physics, the two exchanged some knowledge about the universe, which made Ning Zi feel that he gained a lot.

Especially regarding the use of Doppler spectrometer technology to measure the tiny wobbles of stars when planets and stars move around a common center of gravity, and the possible blue shifts and red shifts of the light emitted by stars caused by these wobbles. It is possible to discover extraterrestrial information in the future. The traces of civilization that exist are extremely useful.

It just so happens that in this direction, Ning Zi trusts his own judgment more. For example, he always believes that there are other civilizations in the universe. It’s just that there are too many constraints and there is no intersection between civilizations. Where are these constraints? Why have we not invented other extraterrestrial civilizations even though we have mastered the medium space crossing technology? It is most likely that the cause of this constraint has not yet been found.

In short, Ning Zi spent the first and second days of junior high school meeting many scholars.

On the night of the second grade of junior high school, the entire campus was brightly lit.

This is not only to celebrate the New Year, but there are not many people on duty in the school that is celebrating the New Year. The main thing is to arrange the forum for tomorrow.

Because the display session is not indoors, but on the playground around Ningyuan.

The Second Stadium next to Ningyuan was completely sealed off in the afternoon of the second day of junior high school, and a huge shed was erected.

Some scholars who had already lived in Ningyuan saw this scene and wanted to find out what was going on, but they were politely persuaded to leave by the staff.

At around midnight, a sealed van drove into the stadium under the escort of a motorcade, and left quietly after three in the morning.

Then everything returned to calm, the calm before the storm.

…

Morning, February 6, China time.

I have to say that the days chosen in March were actually very good, and there was a high probability that the weather was predicted more accurately.

It can be seen early in the morning that today is a rare good weather in early spring in Beijing, and the temperature has broken through from below zero to three degrees above zero early.

Ningyuan Restaurant also became lively early in the morning.

According to the meeting schedule, breakfast time is from 6 to 9 in the morning, and formal sign-in begins at 8:00. The sign-in time lasts until 9:30, and then the meeting officially begins.

It's just different from ordinary meetings. After signing in, the visiting scholars were not directly told which lecture hall to go to. Instead, after verifying the invitation letter, they were taken to the large lounge on the first floor of Ningyuan to rest first.

When someone inquires, the staff will also inform the scholars thoughtfully that before the meeting officially begins, in order to facilitate smooth communication, some of the latest research results from the Basic Physics Laboratory of the University of Physical Science and Technology will be shown to the scholars.

There is no doubt that this answer also piqued the interest of many people.

After all, the most important reason why everyone is willing to attend this meeting is that Ning Zi discovered the clustering of multiple star systems in the center of the Milky Way through mathematical theory, which made everyone very interested in Ning Zi's theory. After all, this conclusion is counter-intuitive, but it has been successfully verified. This has also made many astrophysicists very interested in Ning Ji's theory.

However, the paper Ning Zi published in Science did not explain much about the theory itself. This was the initial motivation for many well-known scholars to decide to be invited to participate in this forum.

It is definitely an unexpected surprise to see the latest results displayed.

As a result, the staff responsible for explaining to everyone became the most popular among the scholars, and many people guessed that the so-called new results must be related to the fenced-off playground. But their curiosity still makes them hope to know some details sooner.

It's a pity that I am destined to be disappointed, because the staff responsible for explanations really don't know much.

Fortunately, they were all high-tech people, and most people behaved in a gentlemanly manner on such occasions. Seeing that they couldn't get the information they wanted from the staff, everyone quickly dispersed in twos and threes and began to talk and discuss with people they knew well.

After all, any high-end academic forum is a good time for communication.

Of course, in addition to these scholars, there are also photojournalists responsible for recording this forum.

Luo Kezhang of the Science and Technology Channel received the task of recording the astronomy forum two years ago. In fact, as the most experienced senior reporter of the Science and Technology Channel, he really didn’t want to come to the University of Sports and Medicine to shoot during the Chinese New Year. task.

Taking over the task meant that his New Year plans were completely disrupted, and he could only stay in the capital and not be able to return to his hometown.

But the station director personally called him and chatted for half an hour to explain the importance of this mission, so he had no choice but to accept it. After all, the director of the station talked in person, and if he still doesn't agree, he really doesn't know the current affairs. There is still some slander in my heart. Who is a serious person who would hold such an important forum on the third day of the Lunar New Year?

What’s even more annoying is that even the photojournalists who were responsible for recording the entire process had no idea what was on display before the meeting officially started after they got the agenda of the meeting.

In Luo Kezhang's opinion, this was somewhat excessive.

After all, if you don’t even know what to record, your work will not be easy to do, and it may seem unfocused.

As a result, I called the station, and the answer I received was that if the job was easy to do, they would not hire him, the most experienced photojournalist, to lead the team. Their filming team must unconditionally cooperate with all the requirements of the forum organizer.

Well, when it comes to this, Luo Kezhang really has nothing to say.

Fortunately, he received the notice soon, and under the guidance of the staff, he entered the playground enclosed by a large shed half an hour in advance to arrange the camera positions.

Then I saw a covered black curtain, and a young man standing in the middle of the playground chatting with a few familiar scientists. After subconsciously taking a few photos, I realized that they didn't need to enter in advance. reason.

Many cameras inside have been set up with fixed positions, and their job is actually to check for leaks and fill in the gaps...

But these are not important anymore. The professionalism of the old reporter made him immediately realize after seeing the big guys around Ning Zi that there was a high probability that there would be big news today. After all, everyone there was the one in their station. It was difficult to invite him, but at this moment, he was surrounded by the young man like stars holding the moon.

Oh, big news on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

Too bad!