Chapter 777: Great ideas are often born by accident

Princeton University.
The cafe located on the second floor of the building on the side of the tree-lined road. Many professors usually choose to have a drink here, exchange academic questions with their colleagues, read a book quietly, or simply enjoy this afternoon peaceful.
Ever since settling in Princeton, Edward Witten has been a frequent visitor here.
Most of the students here who have won the Fields Prize physicist and are separated from the Nobel Prize are most sincerely respected. Many people will be enthusiastic when they meet him. Take the initiative to say hello, or ask some physical problems that are too obscure for beginners.
Whenever I encounter these things, the old gentleman is very happy to answer.
In Princeton, where he is strong, he and Professor Fefferman are rare and approachable. There are no masters of bullshit.
One day, after the class, Professor Witten came here as usual, ordered a cup of coffee and sat by the window, spread out the notes taken out of his pocket, but happened to see an unexpected person. Come up from the entrance of the stairs.
"Angus?" Opened his eyes slightly surprised, closed the slightly outdated note spread out on the table, and looked at Professor Angus coming towards himself, Witten said jokingly, "My friend, why are you back so soon?"
"Because I've got the answer I want," leaning the crutches he carried beside the table, Professor Angus sat down slowly across from Witten and paused for a while and said, "You're right , Although I talked to him for less than an hour, it really benefited me a lot. "
Professor Witten smiled, "Oh? Can you share your gains with me?"
"Their generation of scholars is more optimistic than us and has unique ideas. I used to be pessimistic that the world was probably finished, but now I have a new perspective."
"I'm glad you've gained something," said Witten, looking at the time on the watch. "I will have a physics class in a while and I won't be with you."
"Come on ... when did you start to be interested in undergraduates?" Professor Angus asked him with a strange look.
"Because life has an end ... I think you are right, we will inevitably fall asleep after all, but some things can be passed on," Witten smiled, drank the remaining coffee, and put the cup down , Softly continued, "Maybe one day in the future, one of my students can see for me the unification of the four basic forces and the string that forms our world."
Professor Angus laughed with discomfort: "Maybe they are farting."
Witten haha ​​smiled and said, "Ha ha, maybe! No matter the positive or negative, it is an answer to me ... Speaking of it, do you want to make a bet?"
Professor Angus: "No problem, but the question is what are you going to bet on? There is no guarantee that there is no money in heaven, even if I win, it is not good."
Witten joked: "I think there will be, after all, we sent so many economists up."
"Let's talk then!"
Witten is gone.
Professor Angus stayed in the cafe and continued to sit, except for one person who could accompany him.
Quietly looking at the campus outside the window, watching the students who walked down the tree-lined path downstairs, he was a little surprised.
After a long time, he slowly pulled out a crumpled notebook from his arms.
This is his memo, because he sometimes forgets things when he is old, so he often carries such a thing with him, and whenever he doubts whether he has forgotten something important, he will turn it out and take a look .
In addition to recording life chores like "paying bills" and "repairing faucets", he occasionally writes his usual inspirations on it to prevent it from slipping away from his thin silver hair ...
Staring at a blank page of the paper, Professor Angus pondered for a long time, the nib pinched in his hand was like a rusty dagger, and trembled slightly above the notes.
After a while, he seemed to have figured out something, his eyebrows were loose.
"... It is incorrect to speculate on the future with past methods. What is needed in the future is future methods and ... transcendence thinking."
He murmured to himself what he did not understand, and then scribbled a line on the blank note.
[Cosmic economics]
After a pause, he crossed it out with a pen, rewritten a line of words, and whispered to himself.
[Future sociology]
"The name sounds more interesting ..."
Great ideas are often born of casual thinking.
A doctrine with a great influence on future generations was born inadvertently ...
...
The second week after sending away Angus, Lu Zhou heard an interesting rumor.
An economics professor named Angus Deaton, Princeton opened a new course called "Sociology of the Future." This course does not teach any specific theoretical knowledge, it just teaches an idea about the future.
Although the name may sound strange, there are still many students signing up because the course sponsor is a Nobel Prize winner.
It is alleged that Professor Angus, who taught the course, is writing a book on the subject.
Although the specific content has not been made public, according to an old friend who has read the manuscript, this serious academic work is more like a science fiction without a protagonist than an academic monograph, and it is still read It's kind of boring.
However, the old friend also said that some of the points made in it are very interesting, and maybe it will really be useful in the future ...
All these interesting things were learned by Lu Zhou from the students who taught in Princeton.
For so many years, Qin Yue has become a professor from the lecturer. Hardy, who returned to teach at the University of São Paulo in Brazil early, has mixed well, and even became one of the several academic leaders of the local number theory school ... Of course, this may not It has something to do with the "major partial" Brazilian mathematics community who is not good at number theory research.
As for Vera, it is said that she is cooperating with Molina of the Advanced Research Institute to challenge the Riemann conjecture, the highest crown in mathematics. It doesn't matter if there is a result. The timid girl who can give up the courage to challenge the problems of this century is already a matter of comfort.
And Wei Wen, who is about to get his PhD from Princeton, and Jericho, who was recruited by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Institute of Computing Materials ...
Overall, several of his students have been doing quite well.
As their professor, Lu Zhou is also very pleased.
After returning an email to Qin Yue who sent the email, he raised a lazy waist in Lu Zhou, and was preparing to go to Arxiv to see if there were any interesting mathematical papers. The quietness of the office was suddenly knocked from the door. The door broke.
Clearing his throat, Lu Zhou began.
"Come in."
The door opened slightly, and Wang Peng, with a serious face, walked in quickly.
Seeing his expression, Lu Zhou hadn't had time to ask "what's wrong", so he started to speak.
"bad news!"
Lu Zhou frowned slightly.
"What happened?"
Wang Peng hesitated for half a second and said with a heavy tone.
"Biosphere a suffered an unknown armed attack. According to the news from the local troops ~ EbookFREE.me ~ the loss was heavy ..."
Unknown armed forces ... attack?
Lying down? !!
Upon hearing, Lu Zhou grasped the armrest subconsciously, and suddenly got up from the office chair.
"Is anyone okay?"
Wang Peng: "The militants have been killed in the exchange of fire. The researchers and foreign experts at the scene are all safe ... Now they have been transferred to a nearby city for resettlement. The local troops have dispatched urgently and blocked all roads in the nearby area. Investigating militant backgrounds and channels of entry, but ... "
Lu Zhou just let out a sigh of relief, but finally his heartbeat slowed down because of the word "but".
"but?"
Wang Peng continued in a heavy voice.
"... the loss of biosphere a is said to be serious."