Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“How was it, Brother Lei? Was my performance still okay?”
“Not bad, I give it an 8 out of 10.” Brother Lei nodded and gave him a big thumbs up. Chen Jin’s speech was more than good. “It would be perfect if you had half of Old Ma’s boasting skills. There were not enough ‘wows’ from the crowd.”
“Boasting?” Chen Jin shook his head. “I think that there’s really nothing to boast about. It’s just a few common products. My linguistic abilities are not good enough for me to boast about it for 20 or 30 minutes straight. Wait until I release the big thing, only then will I give it a good boast.”
Brother Lei stared at him with his eyes wide open. “I take back my words. Your boasting skills are definitely more than half of that of Old Ma!”
“Hahahaha!” Both of them laughed.
…
The 9th of November was the last day of the World Internet Conference. Chen Jin went to the exhibition hall showcasing the Internet’s top achievements in science and technology. He saw a group of the most advanced technological products in the world to date.
For example, Hua Yao’s 5G mobile phone with a foldable display. Its screen was like paper that could be folded at will. It provided the perfect solution towards having a big HD display and good portability.
Next, the latest generation of Google glasses launched by Google. It was able to display text, pictures, and stereoscopic figures in front of one’s eyes. It had fully and comprehensively met commercial standards. It gave Chen Jin almost the same experience as that of virtual glasses.
Another example would be the world’s first graphene CPU made by Intel. This product shocked Chen Jin. As of current technical conditions, it would require at least another 10 years to replace silicon with graphene. Did Intel come across technology from Robotech and created a graphene CPU out of it?
After understanding it thoroughly, Chen Jin discovered that it was because this ‘toothpaste factory’ finally realized that they had to make bigger changes to their product. Therefore, they added graphene into traditional monocrystalline silicon CPU to enhance its heat dissipation capabilities and improve the CPU’s frequency by a few gigahertz. In the end, they fabricated the concept of a “graphene CPU” to fudge users to purchase them. “Intel just added a little graphene and they dare call it a graphene CPU? Do you call your rice an egg fried rice after adding just a tiny amount of egg in it?” This was literally fraud! This large toothpaste factory had taken too big of a fall in this regard.
Aside from those, Chen Jin saw several versions of Intelligent Answering Robots. It was said that all of them passed the Turing test. The one with the highest intelligent level would be Baidu’s Xiao Du 3.0 robot. It passed the highest level in the Turing test. In a completely isolated environment, only 10% of the testers were able to tell that the one answering their questions was a robot.
Therefore, there would be a sensational impact after Xiao Du 3.0 was launched. Customer service personnel in banks, consulting companies, telecommunications companies, and many others would experience a large number of layoffs. It would affect at least a million job posts. The impact it would cause would not be less than that of Xing Hai Technologies’ Little Star learning machine.
But this was the future! An irreversible future that one could not defy, but only adapt.
“Mr. Chen, Mr. Chen.” A long-haired girl with an “8 out of 10” appearance came to him and said, “I am the translator of Mr. Larry Page, the founder of Google. Mr. Larry would like to meet you. Is it convenient for you to meet him?”
“Google’s founder?” Why would he want to meet me? Considering that the person was a mogul, Chen Jin nodded his head. “Please lead the way.”
“Thank you Mr. Chen!” The girl with long hair smiled brightly, as if she had accomplished a great mission.
…
There were some small round tables in the front hall of the exhibition hall with three or four sofa chairs placed around them.
There was a tall white man sitting at one of the round tables. The man had curly white hair, thick brows, a thick beard, deep eye sockets, and explicit facial features. He was wearing a white shirt paired with an unbuttoned grey suit that seemed untrimmed.
Larry Page!
He had been waiting for quite some time. Upon seeing Chen Jin walking towards him, he stood up and greeted him. He spread his arms, gave him a hug and spoke to him in Z country’s language, saying, “Hello friend, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” From that brief embrace, Chen Jin had a sniff of the body odor that most westerners had. He quickly distanced himself from him and shook hands with him instead. They sat down facing each other.
Via the long-haired girl who was his translator, Mr. Larry Page gave him some words of platitude. “Mr. Chen, your speech last night was very interesting. I really liked your company’s products. I have Wa-wah 2.0, which is very handy at home; my wife called it the ‘Magical oriental savior.’ The only thing is that Wa-wah 2.0 can’t speak English, so we are unable to use the ‘Family Protection’ function. I have to say that this is very regrettable.”
“I’m flattered, Mr. Page.” Chen Jin smiled modestly and asked, “So Mr. Page, are you implying that… you want to cooperate with Xing Hai Technologies in this regard?” He shook his head. “My apologies Mr. Page. I’m unaware of how you got your hands on the Wa-wah 2.0 in your premise. But it’s unlikely for this product to gain entry into your country. Your country’s security policy is very strict, in which it prioritizes the privacy of each and every citizen. Coincidently, Wa-wah 2.0 needs to monitor every corner of the house. I’m afraid that this product will never make it in your country.”
“No no no, Mr. Chen, you misunderstood what I meant.” Larry Page waved his hands. “What I’m interested in is your company’s Little Star learning machine. Google has intentions to cooperate with your company to develop an Intelligent learning machine which will be suitable for all of mankind to improve mankind’s overall intellect, thus creating a better world.”
Uhm…
Chen Jin sank into thought. Looking into Larry Page’s eyes, he sighed surreptitiously. The foreigners were no fools, there were plenty of smart people among them! In the end, they still uncovered the Little Star learning machine’s great value. However… He shook his head and refused. “Mr. Page, the education system is different in every country. The mode of education in your country, in particular, has a big contrast with that of Z country. The Little Star learning machine might not be suitable for your country.”
“It’s fine Mr. Chen, Xing Hai Technologies can provide Google with relevant technical information on intelligent learning and let us develop a learning machine suitable for the students in M. Of course, we will pay your company a satisfactory amount of technical patent fees.” Larry Page leaned his body forward. His words were ever so gentle as he finally revealed his fox tail. Indeed. Google had the deepest attainments in the field of deep learning. The AlphaGo and the Go program developed by Google’s subsidiary, DeepMind, was always the symbol of the pinnacle of intelligent learning in the world. A few years had passed and the AlphaGo was upgraded to version 3.0. It could put down any genius Go players, and was dominating the world of Go. However, the AlphaGo’s usage was too limited. Aside from playing Go, it could not do anything else. Its learning abilities were stagnant at stage one.
Xing Hai Technologies’ smart learning program, on the other hand, was way ahead of the AlphaGo. It could learn and understand the knowledge in textbooks and become proficient in each of them. Its learning ability was above 10 thousand. How did Xing Hai Technologies manage to accomplish this? Google’s team of engineers had dissassembled hundreds of Little Star learning machines and had gone through countless lines of the machine’s underlying code, but they still were unable to figure it out. The technical difference that lay between one and 10 thousand might be like a paper window or a vast canal. Google desperately needed to cross over the technical boundary to avoid losing its competitive advantage.
Since Xing Hai Technologies had yet revealed any specific technical details, the best and quickest way to uncover the fog and save development costs was to reach technical cooperation directly with Xing Hai Technologies. They needed to think of a way to get their hands on the technology!
But Chen Jin still shook his head. He frowned. “From my knowledge, your country’s mode of education is more towards ‘happy education’ for normal families and ‘elite education’ for wealthy families. Your country’s tuition fees at university levels are very high as well. Education is a big industry in your country. Without the government’s support, products like the Little Star learning machine might be unable to be promoted smoothly and will definitely encounter great resistance.”
Larry Page immediately said, “Be rest assured, Mr. Chen. Before I came to the Z nation, M nation’s Ministry of Education had already assured me that they are fully supportive towards intelligent learning machine products to be fully promoted in the country’s field of basic education. M will also implement education reformations similar to that of Z nation. The promotion of intelligent learning machines will not encounter any sorts of resistance.”
The heck?!
Chen Jin sat up straight as his body bounced up like a spring. M’s government actually informed Larry Page of their plans to introduce similar intelligent learning machines within the country?! It seemed that their governor, Mr. Chuan, who was in authority still had a very clear mind. Therefore, there were now even more reasons to decline any cooperative measures.
All of a sudden, Chen Jin’s expression became solemn. “My apologies Mr. Page, as your country’s government is involved in this, Xing Hai Technologies will not cooperate with your company in developing intelligent learning machines. Personally, I despise politicians and I will not like to have any affiliations with your country’s government. Companies from Z such as Hua Yao, ChinaSat, and Da Mi have all been subjected to extremely unfair treatments in your country. It is highly possible that it might happen to Xing Hai Technologies as well. Considering this, I have already established long ago that my business will not set foot in your country.” He stood up and turned to leave. “Mr. Page, please convey my words to your government, if the business environment of Z’s tech enterprises in M is not improved, Xing Hai Technologies will never expand our business to the M nation!”
What?
Looking at Chen Jin’s back as he moved away, Larry Page was stunned, his mouth wide open.