Chapter 150: Dehui, Let’s Cut To The Chase
I just want the 28 volumes of the MIT Radiation Laboratory Series, but you even included the radar design drawings with it.
If I had known you were so generous, I would have asked you directly instead of going through such a big detour with IBM.
Lin Ran remained calm on the surface, but in his heart, he had already flown to China, wondering how much time China could save by obtaining these technologies.
He felt he had somewhat underestimated McNamara’s favorability.
The other party’s favorability and trustworthiness probably far exceeded his imagination.
Lin Ran thought that knowing now was not too late; he needed to quickly recommend McNamara to Nixon.
As a member of the Elephant Party, if McNamara connected with Nixon from now on, he could stay in the Department of Defense from 1960 all the way to 1976.
Who knows what other good things he might produce.
This was like a walking treasure chest, with good drops and high drop rates.
Lin Ran was not unwilling to provide technology to China; rather, providing China with 2020s technology would have limited help due to the existing gap from the 1960s.
For China right now, radar technology was just starting out; to catch up to America’s 1950s level, it would take at least until the late 1980s or early 1990s.
In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union provided China with early radars like P-3, P-8, and P-10; these were radars, not technology; they were all microwave radars operating in the VHF band, tens to hundreds of megahertz, mainly for air defense warning.
The effect was similar to America’s SCR-270 from the 1940s, with a detection range of about 100-200 kilometers, but low precision and poor anti-interference capability.
By the mid-period, China began copying P-12 and P-15, until the self-assembled 522 radar was completed in 1956, which was only equivalent to America’s early 1940s level.
In the subsequent long period, China’s progress in radar technology was slow.
Next year, China would successfully trial-produce cavity magnetron technology, which was shared with America by the British Tizard Mission in 1940.
By the late 1960s, radar technology achieved a breakthrough in the microwave field, with some performance approaching America’s mid-1940s level.
Later into the 1970s, they began slowly introducing radar technology from France and Israel.
For China right now, the significance of obtaining this set of information went far beyond that.
“Good, I mainly want to catch up on some lessons; I still have too many gaps to fill in the electrical engineering field.
I always feel my understanding of computers is not deep enough.
I still have too many lessons to catch up on.” Lin Ran said.
McNamara quickly said: “Professor, you are too modest.
If you don’t understand computers, then no one does.
I know very well what the Georgetown Project was like before you participated and what it became after.
Professor, you are America’s most important scholar; even von Neumann is not as important as you.”
McNamara lavishly praised him.
Lin Ran nodded and said: “I hope to make the same contribution to the Federation as Director von Neumann, helping the Federation win the final victory in the Cold War.”
Chen Jingrun’s days in New York were quite good.
He had scholarships from New York City University and also passed the Fulbright Program, with another scholarship here.
He rented a room in the Randolph apartment; because he was a current PhD student in the mathematics department of Chinese descent, he got an extra discount; others paid 30 dollars a month, but he only needed 20 dollars.
New York City University’s mathematics department was in the mathematics and natural science faculty at Queens College, very close to the Randolph apartment in Flushing, about 4 to 5 kilometers walking distance.
Riding a bicycle would take at most twenty minutes.
Plus, Chen Jingrun himself was indifferent to fame and fortune, with not much pursuit of material things; his current salary was more than enough for life in New York.
Every few days, he attended various events held by New York mathematicians, following Harvey to number theory seminars.
His talent was gradually shining.
After coming to America, his paper on the Goldbach Conjecture had passed the editorial review of New Progress in Mathematics and was about to be published.
He would become another Chinese descent mathematician who could independently publish an article in one of the four major mathematics journals.
Although this Goldbach Conjecture was not the famous 1+2 he later became known for, it was still a not insignificant breakthrough in the number theory field.
Harvey said to refine the results a bit more and strive to give a one-hour report at the main venue of the International Congress of Mathematicians three years later.
The material world was not lacking; the spiritual world was greatly satisfied.
In the ocean of mathematics, from previous old-style number theory methods to now modern number theory, topology, and geometry, he had dabbled in all.
Chen Jingrun’s mathematical talent received full exercise.
It was not until April that he went with Zhou Yuanshen to the Deep Blue exhibition hall to visit.
This was because the news extensively reported IBM’s latest achievement—Babylon.
Now it was no longer called the Georgetown Translator; it had a new name: Babylon.
White House officials, in accepting external interviews, praised it to the skies, calling it America’s milestone moment toward the technological singularity in artificial intelligence technology.
Department of Defense staff responsible for translation, in accepting interviews, also claimed that it would greatly improve their work efficiency, letting them experience how convenient artificial intelligence assistance is, as the professor said.
After IBM brought Babylon to the Technology Ark for public exhibition, all New York City residents could spend five dollars to experience the Technology Ark’s translation ability, pushing Babylon and artificial intelligence to a climax.
Chen Jingrun finally couldn’t sit still; under Zhou Yuanshen’s strong invitation, the two went together to visit the Technology Ark at Times Square.
As young Chinese people in the New York mathematics community, the two had a good relationship. Lin Ran belonged to another dimension.
Of course, Chen Jingrun had another task: to write a detailed report after the visit.
“As the newspaper said, it’s eerily gorgeous.” Zhou Yuanshen sighed.
As mathematicians, Zhou Yuanshen and Chen Jingrun could better appreciate the beauty of geometry from the lines.
Chen Jingrun said helplessly: “The only regret is that there are too many people.”
Looking out, the queue was about the same as for popular pavilions at the World’s Fair, at least four loops inside and out.
The Technology Ark, whose heat was gradually fading, saw its popularity rise again with Babylon moving in.
“Don’t you feel it’s an icy futuristic sense from inside to outside?” Zhou Yuanshen complained.
In this spacetime, countless sci-fi movies’ big villains were IBM.
Although not named directly, they hinted at it in various ways.
Among them, the pairing of Klein blue and deep black became representative colors in sci-fi works.
Many sci-fi writers’ published novels chose such pairings to indicate their works were sci-fi.
On the 50th anniversary of the Technology Ark’s completion, Avon Books even used the design concept of the first batch of Technology Ark tickets to publish a series of fifty classic sci-fi works.
Except for different book names, everything else was uniformly deep blue with black lines.
This was the influence of design, enduring across decades.
But for Chen Jingrun and Zhou Yuanshen standing outside in the queue right now, it was a bit tough.
Because the line was really too long.
The outer wall of the “Technology Ark” was like a huge blue curtain, with deep Klein blue and intersecting black lines outlining geometric patterns; Chen Jingrun stared, always feeling it was like the circuitry of a giant machine.
Not because the newspaper reported it that way; even without seeing the report, he would feel that.
After waiting a full three hours, it was finally their turn to go in.
The two entered the hall, greeted by dim blue lights; the panels on the walls told the history of IBM’s technology development.
The air was cool, almost sterile.
Deep Blue was in the fan-shaped audience hall; Chen Jingrun and Zhou Yuanshen watched a chess match between a human and “Air”.
Zhou Yuanshen complained: “This person plays too poorly, pure stinker.
Daring to play against Deep Blue at this level?
Honestly, Deep Blue isn’t really that great.
The newspapers hype it up so much.
Actually, after watching, it’s at most amateur hobbyist level.
If I’d known, I would have bought a match ticket.”
Chen Jingrun asked: “I saw in the newspaper report that IBM’s goal is to erase all the human names on this wall.”
He pointed to the dense names on the wall to the right.
Now there were at least hundreds of people who had left their names on this wall.
This was also jokingly called the Deep Blue kill list by the media.
“Do you think it’s possible?” Chen Jingrun asked.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yuanshen answered: “From a statistics perspective, the machine will eventually beat all humans.
After all, chess can be exhausted by exhaustive method.
Machines get stronger, while humans fluctuate in calculation; machines don’t.
But whether it can be done, I think it’s hard.”
Chen Jingrun felt the other party’s words were a bit contradictory.
If the machine could beat all humans, why would it be hard to achieve.
Before Chen Jingrun could ask, Zhou Yuanshen saw the doubt in his eyes: “I mean these challengers will die.
I remember the New York Times report mentioned that the oldest human to leave a name on the Deep Blue kill list is already 63 years old.
If he dies at 70, IBM only has 7 years.
It’s probably impossible to build one that beats all humans in 7 years.
Of course, there’s another way: after people die, pull them back from heaven or hell to play one more game against Deep Blue.
But if IBM can do that, whether the kill list is completed doesn’t matter.”
Zhou Yuanshen joked.
Indeed, as he said, the biggest limit for IBM to achieve their goal was actually time.
In this visit, the machine beat the human.
This left the full audience with varied expressions: some happy, finding it interesting to see the machine beat the human; some disappointed.
All kinds of expressions.
The discussions were the same: some saying this person was too weak and they could do better, others not understanding chess but sighing at the loss.
Deep Blue’s existence made chess, already popular across America, even hotter.
Before computers were born, human entertainment options were limited, and board games were always one of the important entertainment activities.
At this time, chess’s popularity in the West was comparable to Go in China.
This year, nationwide in America, sales of chess tutorials and game collections grew over 2 times, and chess sets themselves nearly five times.
After watching this performance, Chen Jingrun felt lost: “Do you think machines could beat humans at Go?”
Zhou Yuanshen said: “Not possible now, possible in the future.
Go is much more complex than chess.”
Walking out of the fan-shaped hall, then it was the back hall and the Babylon exhibition area pieced together after dismantling the audience hall.
The machine was nothing special, similar to the one in the fan-shaped hall, all black boxes, but different from the fan-shaped hall, the core area here encased “Babylon” in a huge glass structure.
The machine was tall and majestic, lights flashing, low humming sounds incessant.
Next to it, on the deep blue wall, black text read: This is not only a display of technology, but also a dialogue between humanity and the future.
“Do you want to go in and try?” Zhou Yuanshen asked.
Chen Jingrun shook his head: “I don’t know Russian”; he didn’t want to expose that he knew Russian.
Lin Ran could expose it openly; he dared not.
His identity was sensitive to begin with.
Zhou Yuanshen said: “I don’t either.”
They could only crowd to the glass edge, watching audience members walk in, input Russian into the machine, and a translated note pop out.
After viewing it, the audience showed amazed expressions; from their lip movements, they were probably saying “amazing”.
Besides these two facilities, because the Technology Ark brought huge benefits to IBM, they modified the interior layout and added a new area.
In the depths of the exhibition hall, IBM rehired Kubrick for the design: a room of mirrors and Klein blue, with black lines infinitely reflecting in the mirrors, creating a maze-like visual effect.
All visitors, upon entering this room, would feel as if in an endless mechanical world, tiny and lost.
With such avant-garde design, such rich content, the world’s strongest chess program, all combined, IBM gained unprecedented technology prestige.
In the past, when Americans mentioned technology companies, it was either Bell Telephone or General Electric; for most of the public, they didn’t know what IBM was.
After all, IBM had always done business with the army or big companies.
The public was indifferent.
This rise in image had fed back to IBM’s market, with sales doubling compared to the same period last year.
Orders from large companies, universities, and government came like snowflakes.
From a demand perspective, current IBM was like Nvidia sixty years later.
Both in a state of supply not meeting demand.
Of course, many IBM machines, after being sold to Europe, mysteriously appeared in Moscow.
As if growing out of the ground.
Congress already had congressmen calling for, to prevent Moscow from getting IBM computers, also prohibiting IBM from selling to European companies.
Technology being too advanced was also a mistake.
Even Deep Blue, priced expensively at one million dollars a month in rental fees, had companies wanting to rent it.
Disney wanted to rent it.
Disneyland wanted to add a tech feel to the technology area.
At this time, Disney included both Tomorrowland and Monsanto’s Home of the Future, two technology areas.
Tomorrowland opened in 1955; this ride simulated space travel via a large circular screen.
Tourists sat in simulated rocket cabins, watching images of Earth receding and the Moon approaching.
Using multiple projectors to synchronously play movies, coordinated with seat vibrations and sound effects, creating an immersive experience.
The Home of the Future was a fully plastic modern residence, showcasing lots of automated home equipment.
After Disney executives saw the Technology Ark and the stark contrast with the rundown theaters around Times Square in New York, they felt they should introduce Deep Blue, even though IBM priced it at the astronomical figure of one million dollars a month.
This figure was rent; not for sale, only rent.
Disney felt it was worth it.
After today’s visit, Chen Jingrun was not very happy, because from Deep Blue and Babylon, he felt that perhaps the professor’s technological singularity was not a joke; the technological singularity might really come one day.
Even faster than everyone thought.
In such a situation, what would his homeland do?
Chen Jingrun was not the type to enjoy here and forget about Shu.
The more in an international metropolis like New York, the more he felt the gap between China and America, the more he worried for China.
Especially since the technological singularity concept was proposed by Lin Ran, and with Deep Blue and Babylon, a consensus formed among the American public that the technological singularity was possible.
Whoever reaches it first would form an unprecedented advantage, directly deciding the Cold War outcome.
That artificial intelligence was the decisive move in the Cold War had gained much agreement, and the higher the education, the more scholars believed it.
Of course, Chinese people were not without benefits; because of Lin Ran’s existence, Chinese people’s living space in America was much better than in history.
But benefits to Chinese people were not benefits to China; Chen Jingrun really couldn’t think of how China could win in this technological singularity race.
That is, he didn’t know that China had the world’s best computer, better than all the later ones combined.
If he knew, he wouldn’t worry so much.
Chen Jingrun even started thinking of engaging in computer research and then returning to China.
Number theory was good, geometry wonderful too; for the homeland, both could be abandoned.
Chen Jingrun, carrying worries for his homeland ten thousand miles away, fell asleep, until two o’clock, when the room’s telephone suddenly rang.
“Ring ring ring~ Ring ring ring~”
Chen Jingrun was startled awake; he quickly got up, not yet thinking who was calling, sleepily picked up and heard:
“Jingrun.”
He was instantly awake.
“This is White Horse.”
Chen Jingrun felt his whole body trembling.
“I’m waiting for you in your office at CUNY; come quietly, keep the noise down.”
Chen Jingrun was now fully awake.
Never so clear-headed.
This voice was so familiar; he didn’t even need the other to say; three years ago in Hong Kong, he had heard this voice imparting countless knowledge and bringing countless surprises, or shocks.
Today, in New York, the shock came again.
No time to think more, Chen Jingrun hurriedly put on his clothes, not minding that New York’s March night was still cold.
While going out, he thought that all the newspapers he saw said the professor was not in New York.
Nor was it any holiday now.
Shouldn’t the professor still be at Redstone Arsenal or Washington?
No time to think so much.
Entering the large office of New York City University’s mathematics department, a familiar figure was sitting at his workstation.
Chen Jingrun was momentarily excited, not knowing what to say.
But no need for him to speak; Lin Ran already opened:
“Dehui, sorry to call you over so late, but the situation is urgent; let’s keep it short.”
em don’t scold me for cliffhanger, it just reached here naturally, not intentional, don’t scold don’t scold~
