Chapter 1009: The atmosphere suddenly became philosophical

"……Fortune-telling?"
Touching the beard full of chins, Perelman frowned and said, "Does this have anything to do with mathematics?"
Schultz nodded, looking at Albert standing up on the couch with confusion, "IMHO, this sounds more like a concept that only appears in Hollywood blockbusters."
"Of course it matters!" Albert replied in an excited tone. "Predicting the future by mathematical methods, this is what we are doing!"
The apartment was quiet again.
Krugman stretched out Albert with a headache, but instead of heeding his reminder, the latter shook his hand away and kept staring at Perelman, Hope to get his approval.
however……
His hopes were clearly lost.
This time it was not only Perelman, but even Schultz's face showed a weird expression.
It's like looking at a fool ...
"I think you think too much."
A slight cough broke the silent Schultz in the room and continued to speak his mind.
"Predicting the future is no longer a mathematical category. I do n’t think it ’s even physics. I think it ’s already a field of philosopher thinking. After all, you see, there are so many uncertain factors that will affect our thinking, and we ourselves The times are also erratic. For example, if it rains today, maybe I won't show up here— "
"But the weather is predictable! It is difficult to predict a person's itinerary, but the itinerary of a group of people is predictable. The traffic data and weather forecast of New York City for the past 5 years can support my opinion!"
The wording interrupted Schultz's words, and Albert continued in a firm and excited tone, "Humans are actually no different from dust suspended in water. Most of our time is also more than movement, the difference is just us The perturbations are not small tiny invisible atomic collisions and interference of positions, but are driven by the shaking of invisible neurons transformed into a series of tasks, responsibilities and motivations! "
"We have a lot of tools that can track human activities, such as the Internet, such as our mobile devices ... statistics on all the data we can predict, as long as we can analyze it, we can do more than just point them We can even predict the boring thing of ten minutes, ten days, or even longer!
"Don't you think this sounds exciting?"
The words fell, Professor Krugman applauded.
However, he seemed to be applauded alone ...
Whether it was Perelman or Schultz, the thought in his heart was almost written on his face.
However, although Lu Zhou's ideas were similar to them, he also thought that this idea was a bit ridiculous, but at this time he suddenly remembered it. When he was in Shanghai last time, it seemed that Professor Krugman had discussed this with himself.
By establishing a mathematical model, large-scale human social behavior and production life are modeled, so as to achieve the purpose of predicting the future.
"It sounds very interesting," Lu Zhou said with interest, although he didn't applaud. "What you said reminds me of Asimov's" psychohistory "... This theory is from Al Qaeda. Did you copy it? "
"No! I'm explaining my theory from a scientific point of view ... well, I admit that Asimov inspired me a bit, but what I'm discussing here is not the perspective of an undergraduate fantasy novel. , But a serious academic issue! "
"Well, we assume that human collective behavior is indeed predictable, but ... how can this be?" Schultz frowned, and said, "any of your behavior, or even the observation itself, will affect the experiment. The effect is unpredictable. It's not only meaningless, it's hard to do. "
"Everything is good! God, do we study the wave-particle duality of light to direct the photon to do? Don't you think my prediction of the future is an exciting subject in itself? Even if we just prove it It works, and our name is enough to go down in history! "
Apparently, Professor Albert and Krugman chose to come to St. Petersburg in order to persuade Perelman to join their plan.
In the first place, only scholars at the level of Perelman were able to complete their huge plan. The most important thing is that from the perspective of academic circles, Perelman is also a kind of more talkative Types of.
Even the cause of solving Poincaré's conjecture was because he talked to Hamilton during his visit to the United States, and heard the latter talk about a singularity called "cigar" and complained that this problem troubled many Started in the year ...
However, because of successive rebuttals, Albert's mood became more and more exciting, and persuasion had begun to change into a quarrel.
Krugman tried to remind his friends to pay attention, but it was useless.
The final result was also predictable, and Perelman rejected them on the spot.
Although he didn't look at them with the same idiot's eyes, he said in a firm word that he neither saw anything interesting, nor thought that mathematics was used for such boring things.
As for Schultz, who is committed to achieving higher achievements in mathematics, of course, he will not be interested in such a side-track subject, so it is only a polite expression, and when he has time, he may consider research.
As for when it will be on that day, he may only know it.
As for Lu Zhou ...
To be honest, he is still a bit interested in such novel ideas.
Unlike Schultz and Perelman, he is in favor of actively radiating the influence of mathematics to other disciplines, and using mathematics to change other sciences.
And, as Professor Krugman said, predicting the future is a romantic topic in itself.
Although he has no interest in economics and has no cold at all in the research of social sciences, he is surprised that there is not much rejection in this kind of project that looks like it is built in the sky loft?
But he did not immediately agree to the two.
"I need a little time to think about it. At least until I solve the Riemann conjecture, I don't plan to study other issues."
However, after hearing this, Albert's shoulders dropped, and the expression on his face had become deeply disappointed.
In his opinion, this sentence is probably the same as Schultz's rhetoric, and it can be said that it is not euphemistic to reject ...
"After solving the Riemann conjecture ... God, I have never heard a more euphemistic rejection!"
The expression on Krugman's face was also full of regret, glanced at Perelman, and then at the land boat, and sighed.
"Anyway, I still hope you can think it over."
Lu Zhou: "Actually I have always been confused."
Krugman: "... what's wrong?"
After thinking about it, Lu Zhou continued: "If the future is really predictable, is this really a good thing for us?"
Krugman was silent for a while and said, "I can hardly answer you this way. This is a question outside of academics. Like Mr. Albert, I believe that when he wrote the book" Link ", he did not I think my theory will be used by Silicon Valley internet giants and advertisers to squeeze consumer wallets ... "
When he heard this, Albert suddenly reluctantly shouted.

Hey, do n’t you say that? The usefulness of big data is not just in advertising! We have enjoyed the benefits of this technology in various issues such as counter-terrorism, medical care, urban planning, etc. Why do you always do this? Don't let it go? "
Ignoring Albert's call, Professor Krugman continued.
"... One day he suddenly found me, saying that he intended to make the theory in the book" Eruption "a reality ~ EbookFREE.me ~ My first reaction was that this guy definitely didn't plan to do anything good, but I finally accepted his invitation. "
Lu Zhou: "Why?"
"Because whether it is theoretical research or applied scientific research, it is not the scholars who should characterize whether a technology is evil. Is nuclear fission technology evil? Thinking at this point in 1945, maybe Most people would think so, but standing back today, maybe it is precisely because we have such a super weapon that our world can maintain peace in the extreme situation that a superpower is going to collapse. It was put half a century ago. I dare not imagine. "
"So I think we are only talking about academic issues. We are only studying the possibility of theoretically predicting the future, not using it to do anything."
"As for whether to use this technology or even to characterize this technology, our civilization will naturally choose."
After listening to this, looking at Professor Krugman's sincere gaze, Lu Zhou nodded slightly after being silent for a while.
"I understand what you mean."
"If we have a chance in the future, let's talk about this problem."
Krugman nodded, and Albert next to him made a helpless expression, shrugging his shoulders and said, "Hopefully there is this opportunity, and I hope I can wait until that day."
Even though he studied physics, he had heard about the difficulties of Riemann's conjecture.
Other mathematical conjectures are hard to come by, but at least you can see the way to solve the problem.
The Riemann conjecture, like a lonely mountain, stood there alone.
No one knows, it will stand for centuries ...
He wasn't there at the time, it was all a problem.