As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 256 Try
It is very difficult to write economic reviews in China. First of all, you cannot write too bluntly.

Because there is obviously an invisible big hand behind China's economic policies, and this invisible big hand does not want everyone to know what it is going to do or where the future opportunities will be.

If you write too professionally, your writing will be too highbrow and no one will read it.

For example, the macroeconomic framework research done by a certain securities company produces various global macroeconomic indexes and certain analytical content every week, but it has few followers.

Frankly speaking, there is no market for serious economic commentary. The information sources of many domestic financial media are just plagiarism. The data sources of research reports of many domestic securities firms are even marketing accounts.

The economic commentators mentioned above can only have a place in the era of self-media by developing into the field of popular literature.

The discussion about life-extending drugs has spread to all levels of society.

Human beings' desire to live is unimaginable to young people.

The idea that people should not have offspring and should resolve the issue themselves when they reach a certain age has become popular in recent years. Such remarks are one-sided and come from people who have not experienced real life and death.

Even among the elderly who are in very difficult situations, only a few have the courage to die peacefully.

Not to mention the young people who have caught up with China's rapid economic development over the past 40 years and have a rich material life and relatively rich spiritual life.

The so-called "you will solve it yourself when you reach a certain age" is nothing more than subjective evidence used to support one's own arguments on social media.

Most of the discussions in the economic media focused on the revenue and profits of life-extending drugs, but few combined this with the restructuring of the global supply chain.

Everyone's perception of Blue Star's technological development re-entering a fast lane has not been clearly perceived at the level of brain consciousness. After all, only a few people can see this.

Subconsciously, the confidence in investment brought to the people of Blue Star does exist.

The development of science and technology can truly bring about the advancement of productivity and liberate production relations. The potential for good expectations of technological progress will make people optimistic about the future, which will further lead to everyone's courage to consume, invest and start businesses.

If the future is pessimistic, the economy will fall into stagflation and then depression. But now the changes brought about by magic have created a virtuous cycle, delaying the stagflation that was supposed to happen on Blue Star.

The arrival of Zheng Li or Merlin, the image of a wizard who is at least lawful, made people accept the arrival of magic quickly.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Hollywood culture has swept the world in recent years. People are eager for superpowers and are tired of the unchanging daily life, even if magic is far away from them.

Just like Luo Shu who was trapped in the apple, even though it was almost impossible for him to become a magician, he still felt that the Blue Star with magic was much better than before magic appeared.

At least there is hope.

The academic community is more concerned about life-extending drugs.

The next issue of The Lancet to be published is hailed by the academic community as the most anticipated issue of The Lancet.

The question that scientists are most concerned about is how clinical trials are designed.

Extending lifespan is a very difficult concept to prove.

Most of the methods previously developed by humans to extend lifespan were based on a certain indicator and they were considered to extend lifespan.

Or simply just improve your physical health.

For example, scientists have discovered that telomeres shorten during cell division. But does slowing down or even stopping the shortening of telomeres mean extending lifespan?

This is not the case, because telomeres are not the only factor determining life expectancy, and even shortened telomeres do not necessarily mean that your life expectancy will be shortened.

In the Internet age, researchers have traced back hundreds of years and established a database with a history of hundreds of years. They have found that advances in medical methods, changes in behavior and improvements in the environment can effectively prolong life.

The discovery dates back to a 1996 study funded by the American Institute on Aging.

It has been almost thirty years since then.

Progress in this area has been much slower than expected.

And the life extension in that study was, in a sense, just the fulfillment of life expectancy.

Therefore, countless biology researchers are looking forward to a new definition of the basic concepts behind life-extending drugs.

As the scientific community around the world was eagerly waiting, Li Wanqing contacted Zheng Li through remote VR video conferencing.

When Zheng Li was in Singapore, he could see Zheng Li every day and ask Zheng Li questions directly about scientific research.

Every time, Zheng Li can give just the right answer or idea.

From Li Wanqing's perspective, the time when he worked with Zheng Li in the same place was the time when he made the fastest progress in scientific research.

After Zheng Li left, although I could still ask for advice via email, the efficiency and level of understanding of email were ultimately inferior to offline communication.

As for remote video communication or VR communication via brain-computer connection, Zheng Li almost does not have the time to answer his questions one by one.

Therefore, since Zheng Li left Lion City and returned to China, Li Wanqing has been quite bored.

He has always been the R&D director of CS Bio in Singapore. After Zheng Li returned to China, Li Miaomiao asked Li Wanqing whether he wanted to serve as the president of CS Bio's Singapore branch.

It is equivalent to switching from the research line to the management level.

But he was rejected by Li Wanqing.

Because Lion City not only has the R&D center of Kechuang Bio, but also a branch of Kechuang Future.

The branch of CS Future in Singapore is mainly responsible for sales and promotion in Southeast Asia and even further afield in the Land of Kangaroos.

Li Wanqing still prefers to stay in the laboratory. He doesn't want to and is not prepared for the identity change.

"Mr. Zheng, I have an idea about the future research direction of brain-computer interface VR."

Currently, the Lion City R&D Center is still mainly engaged in research in the field of brain-computer connection.

Many of Zheng Li's research ideas on brain-computer connections were ultimately implemented in Singapore.

To the extent that researchers in Singapore are being watched by the entire industry.

Any company that still has ambitions in the field of brain-computer connection is willing to pay two to three times the premium to poach researchers from the Suzhou R&D Center of Ke Chuang Biotechnology.

In addition to Neuralink, Samsung and Sony are also the most enthusiastic in poaching talents.

The popularity of FutureVerse is actually squeezing out the space for other entertainment devices.

A gaming magazine jokingly said that Sony's PS series of desktop entertainment devices faced a dimensionality reduction attack from Chinese companies.

Zheng Li nodded and said, "You go ahead."

Zheng Li was still somewhat interested in Li Wanqing's ideas.

In his opinion, if it wasn't something particularly important, Li Wanqing wouldn't have requested to meet in VR on his own.

In the brain-computer connected VR system, Tencent has specially developed a new social app called Troom.

It is a reception room. Others can visit your reception room, and you can also visit other people’s reception rooms.

Everyone can have a basic 50-square-meter living room for free.

As for whether you need to buy furniture, expand the living room, or even turn it into your real home, you can do that.

The only thing you need to do is to spend money. If you spend money, Tencent can meet all your needs.

There is no limit to the area of ​​Zheng Li’s Troom, but it is also empty.

In the space with invisible boundaries, the virtual images of Zheng Li and Li Wanqing are the only colors in this white space.

Li Wanqing explained in detail: “We all know that VR is the precursor of virtual reality.

The metaverse is just an artificially defined concept because people cannot achieve virtual reality in a short period of time, but at the same time want to distinguish it from the VR concept of many years ago.

But the Metaverse has indeed achieved technological progress compared to traditional VR.

There is no doubt that our brain-computer interface VR has met or even far exceeded the industry's requirements in the first year of the Metaverse.

But this is still not enough. Essentially, we are still only solving two of the five senses, vision and hearing.

The other three senses have not yet been solved with Blue Star’s current level of technology.

Currently, only one-way transmission of neural signals is achieved.

I've been thinking about how neural signals are transferred from VR devices into human sensations.

I thought of a starting point, which is the feeling of dizziness.

During simulation training, pilots can simulate a high degree of realism by relying only on videos and slight shaking.

We can start from here.

There are many causes of vertigo, such as benign positional vertigo, vertigo caused by peripheral vestibular lesions, central vestibular lesions, etc.

It sounds like a lot, but in fact, compared with other sensations, vertigo involves too few nerve signals.

And a very important point is that the feeling of dizziness can cause the human brain to produce similar neural signals to dizziness through the coordination of vision.

So what we need to do is to improve the realism of simulated dizziness.

We can start with flight simulation to simulate the real vertigo effect as much as possible.”

The second generation of brain-computer connection VR has only been on the market recently, but subsequent research on brain-computer connection has already begun.

The products that consumers can see are at least one generation behind the products in the company's laboratories.

There is no doubt that Ke Chuang Bio's goal is virtual reality. On the path to virtual reality, there are too many technologies to overcome.

The Mage Alliance that Zheng Li previously belonged to did master virtual reality technology, and it was virtual reality technology with a very high degree of realism.

However, the virtual reality technology of the Mage Alliance is based on biological computers, while the computer technology of the entire Blue Star is silicon-based.

How to realize virtual reality technology through silicon-based chips is also a topic that Zheng Li needs to study.

Of course, Zheng Li's vision and insights can help Ke Chuang Bio avoid detours.

After listening to this, Zheng Li felt that Li Wanqing’s choice of direction was correct and the feeling of dizziness was a good entry point.

In the past, Blue Star simulated sensations by causing sensory deception to users through changes in the external environment, rather than directly transmitting nerve signals in reverse.

The simulated racing schedule has been around for many years. It uses professional equipment to simulate the bumps of racing, and then uses a huge high-definition screen to simulate the driving field of view.

Professional equipment deceives your body, and the screen effects deceive your vision. The combination of the two gives you a feeling close to a real racing car.

Li Wanqing's idea is to combine visual deception and reverse transmission of neural signals to allow humans to feel dizzy using brain-computer connection VR.

"The technological breakthrough in dizziness will provide unprecedented realism for flight software," Li Wanqing continued.

From the very beginning, when VR devices were launched on the market on a large scale, the main application was simulated flight driving.

VR equipment is also used in some pilot training, but the effect of pure visual deception is limited.

After all, there is a big difference between vertigo caused by visual effects alone and vertigo caused by the combined effects of vision, sensation and vestibular function.

After listening to this, Zheng Li nodded and said, "I think there is nothing wrong with your idea. We can use this as a starting point.

However, the feeling of dizziness alone, as a technological innovation, cannot support the third-generation brain-computer-connected VR devices next year.

But there is no rush, the brain-computer connection VR can be updated in two or even three years."

Li Wanqing added: “After all, there is no one chasing us now, and my former employer’s technology is still at the stage of connecting brain-computer to mobile phone.

We don't have such a strong sense of urgency in time.

Of course, Mr. Zheng, don't worry, I will never slack off on the progress.

As for the point you mentioned, I think it can be solved in this way: the feeling of dizziness can be provided to users as a hardware plug-in.

For example, only users who need to use flight simulation software will purchase this second-generation brain-computer link VR supplementary hardware.

This is based on the premise that our technology has not achieved major innovation this year.”

Zheng Li nodded and said, "Okay."

Li Wanqing continued: "In addition, I would like to ask, is it possible for us to take the biochip technology route?
I have recently read a lot of literature on biochips, including the Beiming-2 biological storage server of the Lion City R&D Center, which I also studied.

I think biochips can better identify and even judge the user’s true intentions.”

Zheng Li knew in his heart that he actually had more technical reserves and a greater say in the field of biochips.

The technology currently demonstrated by Ke Chuang Biotechnology is already amazing enough, but it is still within the Blue Star technology framework, so the degree of deviation is not that high.

If they develop a biochip later, will it lead to a more thorough investigation?

But on second thought, his real body was not in Gusu anyway, and the research on biochips was handed over to the R&D center in Lion City. He would only provide guidance on the technical path.

It's not impossible to do this.

Li Wanqing saw Zheng Li was thinking, so he remained quiet.

Zheng Li replied: "We can prepare a team to make biological storage chips.

Because the AI ​​chip team in Cambridge has been working on brain-computer connection chips, you will receive the same budget support in the early stages.

Finally, we will decide whether to continue investing in this technology route based on the results.

If you can demonstrate value, you can merge the R&D team in Cambridge with us.”

Zheng Li was just painting a big rosy picture for Li Wanqing.

But the goal is also daunting.

The AI ​​chip team in Cambridge is working on both AI chips and algorithms. AI chips have been used in the latest generation of brain-computer connected VR.

(End of this chapter)