Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 623 The Dawn of Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces: N98
Zhiyun Group Headquarters, Building 11.

The building belongs to the Virtual Devices Division, but it is not used for the division's main commercial project, namely the VR omnidirectional treadmill virtual device project.

Instead, it was used for another core project of the Virtual Devices Business Unit: the Non-invasive Brain Interface Project.

This project embodies the future vision of the Virtual Devices Division: to create a non-invasive brain-computer interface device for the highly immersive virtual worlds depicted in science fiction novels!

The current combination of VR displays and omnidirectional treadmills has never been Zhiyun Group's goal in the virtual world field; it is at most a transitional device.

Back when Xu Shenxue was boasting to a group of top investors, the virtual world he described used virtual reality headsets and virtual pods to create a highly immersive virtual world... Back then, Xu Shenxue directly used virtual games and corresponding virtual devices from science fiction novels to brag.

Of course, back then no one would have believed it; everyone knew Xu Shenxue was just bragging… It's just that the investors didn't care about Xu Shenxue's boasting.

It's all just bragging. Ordinary people's bragging is nothing to brag about, but when Xu Shenxue brags, it becomes a new industrial concept... which can be very valuable in the capital market.

The reason why Zhiyun Group has such a high market value is not only because Zhiyun Group itself is very profitable, but also because of the many boasts that Xu Shenxue made... And more importantly, Xu Shenxue is gradually realizing the boasts he made back then!
This makes Xu Shenxue's boasts even more valuable.

Xu Shenxue once said he wanted to redefine smartphones, and he succeeded.

Xu Shenxue said he wanted to build a smart terminal ecosystem business chain centered on smartphones and an additional mobile internet ecosystem, and he succeeded.

Xu Shenxue once said he wanted to build a global low-orbit satellite network, along with a large number of unmanned vehicles and drones to form a future intelligent transportation network... This intelligent transportation network is not yet visible, but he has created the X14 drone and the L4 level autonomous driving of Hailan cars, as well as a low-orbit satellite network composed of tens of thousands of satellites in Zhiyun Satellite.

If all countries had the necessary laws, Xu Shenxue would have dared to create a fully unmanned intelligent transportation network right now. The problem is that no country dares to do it... This thing involves too many issues, and no country has dared to set this precedent yet.

Let alone intelligent transportation networks, even for Level 4 autonomous driving, no country has dared to fully open up and officially recognize Hailan Auto's Level 4 autonomous driving... Due to legal risks, as long as the relevant laws are not passed in various countries, Hailan Auto will not publicly acknowledge that its autonomous driving is Level 4 autonomous driving, and will forever remain "Advanced Intelligent Assisted Driving 4 System".

At worst, it's just a public acknowledgment of Level 3 advanced driver assistance!

As for Level 4 autonomous driving, the question remains: who is responsible if an accident occurs involving an unmanned vehicle?

Is it the vehicle owner? Or the passenger? Or the manufacturer, Hailan Auto?
Until this legal issue is resolved, it will be impossible to achieve legally defined autonomous driving, even though Hailan Auto already has Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities.

Back then, Xu Shenxue boasted that he would develop artificial intelligence... He actually did it. Not only did he develop it, but the related technologies of artificial intelligence have begun to penetrate into various industries, empowering many industries, reducing costs, and improving efficiency.

Xu Shenxue himself made a fortune selling APO graphics cards and other computing chips.

Beyond computing chips, Xu Shenxue has also used artificial intelligence technology to create intelligent robots and virtual devices.

And these are two more boasts that Xu Shenxue made back then... He said a long time ago that he wanted to develop intelligent robots and virtual devices.

And he actually succeeded.

Today, Zhiyun Group sells millions of intelligent robots a year, and many families around the world have purchased and used them, experiencing what it's like to be served by robots.

Although virtual reality devices are still just transitional products like VR omnidirectional treadmills, they still have immense playability, with annual sales of several million units, and have directly contributed to the rapid development of the global virtual content industry. Large-scale internet companies worldwide are now all venturing into the virtual content industry, and virtual games, the core of the virtual content industry, are now a fiercely contested area for major internet giants.

Xu Shenxue once said that he wanted to develop the aerospace industry, democratize space travel, build a space station, establish a lunar base, and explore other star systems... This is rather far-fetched, but it is gradually being promoted. His reusable rockets have reduced the launch cost of sending human supplies into space from tens of thousands of US dollars per kilogram to two or three hundred US dollars per kilogram. He has also developed very sci-fi things such as Earth-Moon interplanetary spacecraft and lunar bases.

Xu Shenxue made many boasts back then... but he has gradually realized them, or partially realized them!

In this context, Xu Shenxue said that to create a truly immersive virtual world that allows people to experience sight, hearing, and even smell and touch... Although it sounds absurd, most people think that with the current level of human technology, it is unlikely to be possible.

However... even those top investors at the top wouldn't dare say that Xu Shenxue definitely couldn't do it!

Although the possibility is very small, what if Xu Shenxue actually manages to do it?

This is also the mindset of many investors towards Xu Shenxue... If they believe Xu Shenxue, they feel that he is too good at bragging, and believing him feels like an insult to their intelligence.

However, while it's true that one shouldn't disbelieve Xu Shenxue, it's also true that Xu Shenxue can't be judged by common sense, and it's entirely possible that he could actually do it...

This is really a dilemma!
Many investors have been struggling with this question for years.

This has led to a group of people in the investment community who are deeply studying Xu Shenxue... studying his personality, behavioral logic, investment logic, business management logic, and so on.

The aim is to analyze the success and failure of the industries Xu Shenxue has been involved in by studying him as a person and his behavioral patterns, and then to assist in their own investment strategies.

Research reports on Xu Shenxue from top research institutions are very expensive... and the buyers are mostly large investment institutions.

These top investment institutions have all started researching Xu Shenxue himself, which shows the huge impact Xu Shenxue has had on the current investment world...

Xu Shenxue's achievements, the business models and logic of many of his companies... from a traditional business perspective, no matter what, could not have achieved such a high level of success!
For example, the core business strategy of Zhiyun Group, which has troubled the global business community for many years, is 'R&D-oriented'. Anyone who knows a little about Zhiyun Group knows that its business model is very special: Zhiyun Group's business model is centered on R&D.

The Zhiyun Group has not hidden its core business strategy. It has publicly promoted it on many occasions. When Xu Shenxue convened the Zhiyun Group President Meeting, the term "R&D-oriented" was frequently mentioned in some of the released meeting footage, content, and even the speech.

But that's really unreasonable!
The entire operation of Zhiyun Group seems to be less about making money or developing industries, and more about research and development itself...

The more money Zhiyun Group makes, the more research and development projects it undertakes, and the greater its investment in research and development.

By investing heavily in technological research and development, we acquire a large number of top-tier advanced technologies, and then commercialize these technologies to generate substantial revenue and profits.

If other companies did this, they would have gone bankrupt long ago... But Zhiyun Group is thriving, not only thriving but also growing stronger, and has now become a world-class high-tech giant.

This makes it incomprehensible to countless business people. The success of Zhiyun Group violates a large number of traditional business and economic theories, which makes its success seem very abnormal.

Xu Shenxue has the answers to all their troubles, but he can't tell them!

After all, Xu Shenxue couldn't very well tell them: "Actually, I have eyes that can see the future, and I also have a research system that can improve the research and development capabilities of a large number of researchers."

You can't learn my method!
Not only will those who imitate me die, but those who merely resemble me will also die!

One of the boasts Xu Shenxue made to many investors was about the virtual world!
Xu Shenxue had previously developed a transitional virtual device combining VR and an omnidirectional treadmill, but in his view, that was not enough, far from enough. What he wanted was a real virtual world!

Non-invasive brain-computer interface technology is the gateway to a truly virtual world!

In order to develop virtual reality headsets and create a truly virtual world, Zhiyun Group has invested heavily in the field of non-invasive brain-computer interface technology, with a cumulative R&D investment of over US$13 billion and a planned R&D budget of US$5 billion this year.

The entire project involves thousands of researchers engaged in a wide variety of studies.

The researchers located in Building 11 at headquarters are only part of the core research projects; there are also related research project teams in other branch offices.

Today, in a laboratory on the third floor of Building 11 at the headquarters of Zhiyun Group, several researchers were working hard when suddenly one of them stood up: "Brother Wang, come and take a look. There's something wrong with this data. The signal classification accuracy of experiment N98 has reached 99.998%!"

A young man immediately walked over, leaned over the computer screen and started looking at it. The screen was filled with all sorts of experimental data that would confuse an outsider, but he immediately noticed that several of the data were abnormal.

"We're using the same signal analysis algorithm. The best performance we've achieved so far was 93% with the third project team, who used the massive computing power of the group's central computing center to achieve that. We're only using a small computing server in the lab; the computing power isn't enough to support the data model to achieve that level of accuracy." "This is somewhat similar to our N78 experiment last time. The signal accuracy there was similar, but as you know… the signal depth acquisition had a problem. Without a depth signal, there was naturally no noise!"

"Come on, everyone, come and help! Let's see what's wrong!"

"I suspect there might have been some issues with the contact between the experimental subject and the electrodes during signal collection, resulting in insufficient brainwave signals being collected, which led to deviations in the algorithm's calculations!"

"Also, check the data input of the algorithm model to see if there are any problems with the data input, especially the data that needs to be manually input. Each set of data must be cross-checked by two people."

The experimenters in the project team got busy, with some checking the testing software, especially the algorithm, to see if there were any problems.

Some people started going to the back laboratory to inspect the electrode helmets worn by the experimental monkeys, checking for any problems with the hardware, especially focusing on the signal collection patches made of the new electrode material.

In many previous experiments, signal collection patches often had minor errors, which led to incorrect results. There were even cases where the collected EEG signals, after being processed by algorithms, achieved signal classification accuracy that was almost 100%. In such cases, the signal was not collected completely. Although the signal classification accuracy seemed to be 100%, it was actually meaningless.

The non-invasive brain-computer interface technology researched by Zhiyun Group focuses on two key technical indicators: signal acquisition and signal accuracy.

Signal collection involves using various methods to collect brainwave signals. The technical challenge here is how to improve temporal and spatial resolution... In short, it's about the timeliness of collection and conversion, which involves a signal delay problem; also, the brain is a 3D object, so you can't just collect surface signals, but you have to collect signals from the entire brain.

This presents extremely stringent technical challenges to signal acquisition technology!

Signal accuracy technology mainly utilizes big data models for intelligent analysis, which is a branch of artificial intelligence technology. It uses algorithms to eliminate useless noise in brainwaves, such as various physiological noises and the influence of external electromagnetic signals, and classifies the various useful brainwave signals in the brainwaves, converts them into various electronic signals, and then outputs them!

The project team in front of us is mainly engaged in the research and development of electrode materials in the field of signal collection... It's not quite accurate to say it's materials research and development. Their project team itself doesn't work on these materials. Instead, they select suitable materials from the huge material library of the group and its sister companies, then conduct theoretical analysis and actual testing to find the most suitable materials.

Zhiyun Group, Fairy Mountain Holdings, and even Hailan Auto, Nanmen Aerospace, Weiku Industry, and other companies under Xu Shenxue all have a large number of various material research and development centers, with countless researchers working on various materials at the same time.

Because their materials research and development uses artificial intelligence-based materials research, which directly derives results through materials research algorithms, they have achieved a great deal.

Every day, many new materials of all kinds are developed...

Of course, having many results does not mean that all of these materials and results are useful!
In reality, when using artificial intelligence algorithms to study materials, the model can only deduce a general technical route based on some theories and technical approaches of the researchers. Various experiments still need to be conducted manually to refine it. As for what the final product will look like and what its use will be, the big data algorithm has no idea. Everything is unknown.

This kind of artificial intelligence materials science is very different from traditional materials science research, which is very goal-oriented!

Traditional materials science is like finding a needle in a haystack... from countless possibilities, one eventually finds or synthesizes the desired material.

The AI ​​materials science research conducted by Zhiyun Group is more about erroneous conclusions than correct ones. They create a new theory and let a large model deduce it, then based on the derivation results, they create a whole bunch of messy materials... As for the use of these new materials, the researchers themselves don't know... To put it bluntly, it's materials science research without any purpose. Regardless of whether it's useful or not, they just want to create it first.

This results in the fact that, although many new materials seem to have been developed, over 99.99% of these new materials have little practical value after development, or rather, they have no practical application value that can be found in the short term...

The main reason is that there are simply too many new materials being developed, and researchers cannot possibly conduct comprehensive testing on every single one.

We don't have enough manpower, enough time, and enough funding for the experiment.

After researchers develop these new materials, they will at most conduct some routine tests. If they don't find anything special, they will simply record some common properties and then put them into the material storage library.

After these materials are developed, a very few lucky ones will be proven to have some practical value immediately. For example, the MMK34 superconducting material was discovered to have room temperature and pressure superconducting properties as soon as it was developed.

However... almost 99.99% of all new materials will be put into a new material storage warehouse as a technological reserve.

Xu Shenxue's various companies have a vast number of these so-called "sealed new materials," covering countless fields and including all sorts of things...

If nothing unexpected happens, most of them will remain sealed away indefinitely, without any value... Not all new materials have practical value; many are just so-called new materials that are meaningless.

A very small number of lucky individuals, due to certain characteristics, are discovered by researchers in a particular field one day, undergo more detailed and meticulous testing, and are eventually found to have some practical value, thus reappearing in people's sight.

The daily work of the brain-computer interface electrode material project team in Building 11 is to select some new materials that meet the basic characteristics from the vast number of new materials stored in the group and its sister companies, and then conduct in-depth testing to see if they can be used as new materials for collecting brain waves.

The project team checked a whole bunch of things, and the final conclusion was: there were no problems...

Since no obvious problems could be found, the project team conducted repeated and comparative experiments... There must have been some kind of problem, at least they hadn't discovered it yet. They tried to use repeated and comparative experiments to see if they could find any potential problems.

If a problem does arise and cannot be identified, subsequent experiments cannot be carried out.

However, more than half an hour later, the group of people in the project team looked at the data on the computer screen with varying expressions.

"The signal resolution value is too high. This is not normal data. The current 99.999% is even higher than our first experimental data. This is obviously abnormal. There must be some problem that we haven't found yet!"

Then someone else said, "But we have conducted repeated checks, and there are no problems with the signal collection equipment and the algorithm model!"

"Moreover, the results of our comparative experiment are also in. After analyzing the data collected using the previous material electrodes, the signal resolution is only 82%, which is the same as our previous experimental data!"

At this moment, a young member of the project team said, "Is it possible that the current data was actually correct?"

No sooner had these words been spoken than someone said, "How is that possible... This signal resolution data clearly exceeds the actual situation. With the current technology, especially since we are only using the computing power of a small computer in the laboratory, it is impossible to achieve a signal resolution of almost 100%."

"Why not? We've ruled out almost all the answers, so even if the remaining answer is outrageous, it's still highly likely to be the correct one!"

“We carefully analyzed the collected signals… We hadn’t done any raw analysis of the signals collected from the new electrode material before; we had just directly imported the signals into big data algorithms for analysis. What if we really did find a suitable new signal collection material…”

After this was said, everyone was silent for a moment, and then the project leader said, "We'll analyze the signal manually!"

Immediately afterwards, the group of people got busy again.

This time, instead of directly using the previous complete analysis scheme and importing the data directly into the system, they adopted a more primitive method to analyze and test the collected signals.

Just a few minutes later, someone said, "The spatial resolution of this signal collection is too high. We hadn't noticed it before, but this spatial resolution is already able to collect deep brainwave signals."

"The amount of data collected from the signal is far too large, at least twenty times more than we predicted!"

"And look at this, this deep brainwave data is something we haven't collected before!"

In no time, everyone in the lab made a number of discoveries, and the project leader stared at the screen for a long time before finally looking at the EEG collecting electrode patch used in the experiment, which had a clear label on it: N98!

This is a new material, N98, that they found in the reserve material warehouse of their sister company, Fairy Mountain Holdings, and then used it to make signal collection equipment.

They initially thought this was just another ordinary attempt among countless efforts by their project team, and that it wouldn't yield any results... After all, their project team had tried thousands of materials, and there were dozens of similar project teams dedicated to finding new electrode materials!

But now... all the data proves that they seem to have found a completely new electrode material, one that is even groundbreaking in performance and has great practical application value.

With this material, coupled with specialized big data model algorithms, the signal resolution can even approach 100%!
And this... will greatly solve the core technical challenge of the entire non-invasive brain-computer interface project team: how to collect more, better, and more accurate brainwave signals.

Non-invasive brain-computer interface technology is the core technology of Zhiyun Group's future virtual world project!
Their experiment may have opened a crack for the entire virtual world project, allowing it to see the dawn of true success!
(End of this chapter)