Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 381 Changes
Big T was elected.

Jonathan understood; the White House indeed had the most accurate data.

While the media was touting Kamala's approval rating as surpassing that of T, Scharvin had already made the accurate prediction that T would soon take office and that NASA's power would soon be handed over to Musk.

Or rather, this isn't a prediction, but rather the confidence to place a bet after seeing the cards in the hole.

Outside the window, the cold wind of November swept across Washington. Could the rise of the Great T really bring a fresh start to this empire and turn the tide in this new century's space race?
America's voters made their judgment and gave their choice.

Jonathan didn't know the answer, and nobody could know the answer.

Countless sums of money were settled at this moment, and countless future benefits were just beginning.

The news of Big T's victory swept the globe. From Washington to Beijing, from New York to London, all those with a keen sense of the situation realized that this would be the beginning of turmoil.

"Oh no!"

In the Sanders Theatre at Harvard, Ingmar was wailing softly, and the young students present were immersed in grief, their faces filled with disbelief.

Wang Jiarui heard a girl whisper behind him: "No, don't people want a female president? It was the same in 2016, and it will be the same in 2024."

He also saw a gray-haired professor sitting on the podium with a half-smile on his face, an expression he had seen before when attending lectures at Fudan University.

You can often see it on Bilibili and in various groups, but in the simplified Chinese internet, it's not called a half-smile, it's called a tense expression, Zhang VV's signature expression.

Wait, so there are also supporters of T at Sanders Theatre? If so, why not go to Queen's Bar in Cambridge and celebrate in the stratosphere? Do you think watching Kamala supporters wail here would be doubly satisfying? But if Kamala wins, you'll suffer double the pain too.

Wang Jiarui shook his head, taking it as just the old professor's quirk.

He stood up and patted Ingmar on the shoulder: "Alright, we can come back in four years."

Ingmar shook his head and said, "No, I might not be able to come back in four years."

Wang Jiarui asked doubtfully, "Will America not have a general election in four years? That can't be true."

Ingmar said, "What era are we living in now? We are living in a truly transformative era, an era of rapid technological advancement."

In the past, I felt that technology had stagnated, that this was an era after smartphones where nothing could truly change the world or drive rapid productivity growth.

But things are different now. China has entered the space age, an era that will bring another technological boom.

Wang Jiarui asked, "Do you really believe we will live to see the space age?"

Why do I feel that the space age is still too far away?
"Humans can't possibly colonize the moon, can they?"

Ingmar shook his head and said, "No."

He had regained his composure and sat on a sofa with Wang Jiarui. "It's not that the space age is defined by large-scale human migration to other planets."

China has proven the value of the moon; the lunar south pole can serve as a permanent laboratory for new materials. But what about other places?

What about other planets?
Can the resources on the moon be utilized?
Can asteroid mining begin?
Could a small human base on Mars be established?
We work in applied mathematics, so we should be well aware that once China's nuclear fission miniature power plants, rocket technology, and navigation systems mature, it will be very easy for China to create another copy of Mars.

There are almost no barriers to entry.

While they may not necessarily send people up there, they can send unmanned rovers and small power stations to Mars in batches.

First, we need to explore the Martian environment.

Humanity must begin to truly utilize space resources on a large scale, systematically, and in batches, and use these space resources to support scientific research and production on Earth.

This is my understanding of the early space age.

After listening, Wang Jiarui agreed wholeheartedly: "I agree with your point of view. Indeed, I can clearly feel this from the growth of space budgets in various countries."

NASA isn't the only one taking action.

Other countries are also taking action.

They chose to cling to the coattails of the Americans. Previously, Scharvin Global Fund raised hundreds of billions of dollars in one round of financing. Everyone was betting their money on NASA.

“But I still don’t quite understand, what does this have to do with the presidential election?” Wang Jiarui asked.

Ingmar said quietly, "When Musk demonstrates unprecedented execution capabilities, enabling NASA to accomplish in four years what it couldn't do in the previous forty years, you'll find that the previously more diversity-oriented white people will quickly wake up."

They will not be satisfied with the victory touted by the Democratic Party, they will not empathize with the Black female astronauts who landed on the moon, and the Democratic Party's narrative logic will also fail among white people and even Latinos.

The Donald Party has lost not just four years, but very likely twelve years, or even longer.

For us, this means an entire generation.

After listening, Wang Jiarui felt it made a lot of sense. Using the "winning theory" that is currently popular on the Simplified Chinese Internet, America's core supporters would not be satisfied with winning based on narrative logic. In other words, the Indian version of the "winning theory" could not move them. The "winning theory" based on Musk's performance after taking over NASA was more appealing.

"But the premise is that Musk can really transform NASA, can really do what you mean by doing in four years what couldn't be done in the previous forty years," Wang Jiarui said.

Ingmar said earnestly, "Of course, he can do it."

Wang Jiarui complained, "Wait, didn't you just say Musk was too bad? Now you have so much confidence in him!"

Musk accomplished this in four years, something NASA couldn't do in forty years—it's incredible.

It's worth noting that between 2016 and 2020, Big T also considered transforming Washington, D.C., and he frequently mentioned the concept of a "deep state." But did he actually achieve it?
He stayed for four years, and nothing changed.

Musk's first term was only four years. It would probably be very difficult for him to completely transform NASA and turn it into a combat-ready organization like it was in the 60s.

Besides, it's uncertain whether he'll be able to stay at NASA four years from now when a new president takes office.

On the Chinese internet, there's a persistent view that Musk and T will have a falling out during their four-year term.

Ingmar downed his beer in one gulp, then turned to look at Wang Jiarui and shook his finger:
"No, Wang, if General Aerospace can do business with China, why can't Musk?"
All John Morgan Jr. could offer was money, but now that T. Musk has become President America, his bargaining chips are far more than just money.

Elon Musk, whose Tesla Gigafactory was built in Shanghai, can be said to have saved Tesla.

Every time he went to China in the past, he was able to meet with Chinese officials in Yanjing (Beijing).

Before Ingemar could finish speaking, Wang Jiarui knew who she was referring to.

"Therefore, if Musk wants to make a deal, he can buy more and offer more than John Morgan Jr.."

Why can't NASA produce results?

Can't China hand over the lunar north pole to NASA, provide navigation algorithms, and provide specific data?
China occupies Antarctica, while America occupies the Arctic.

The two sides are unrelated. The Arctic environment is worse than that of the Antarctic, but do the rednecks know that?
They'll just think NASA won! Musk won! America is on the road to making America great again.

As for the next term, and the one after that, you should know that Musk is rich; he's a super-rich financial backer for the Democratic Party's candidates.

He is a capable and willing financial backer who is willing to work for America and only wants a position like the NASA administrator.

Future presidents will also be unable to refuse him.

Therefore, in my view, the future is bleak.

Having lost Washington for twelve consecutive years, the Democratic Party will likely make some adjustments to its path toward diversity and equality.

This is a disaster for people of Indian descent, a disaster for people of Chinese descent, and a disaster for all ethnic minorities.

The golden age of "once you arrive in America, you are an American, and you can pursue your American dream" is over.

In the Sanders Theatre, Ingmar's voice was deep and somber. The entire venue was noisy, with girls sobbing, glass bottles being smashed, and boys wailing all mixed together. Despite their close proximity, in such a noisy environment, Wang Jiarui felt that Ingmar's pronouncements on the future of the empire seemed to drift into his ears, appearing almost imperceptibly, and sounding particularly unreal.

Why was Big T elected?

From a historical philosophical perspective, this is about reincarnation and counter-reaction.

Hegel believed that history has its inevitability, but it often unfolds in the form of 'negation of negation'.

The election of the Big T in 2016 represented a rejection of globalization and elite governance.

The election of James Harden in 2020 was a rejection of the Big T style.

The re-election of the Big T in 2024 can be understood as a negation of negation, with American society attempting to find a stable point amidst its oscillations.

This is not simply a matter of personal charisma, but a cyclical manifestation of deep-seated social contradictions.

Existentialist perspective: This is a reflection of anxiety and choice

Sartre believed that humans are fundamentally thrown into the world and make choices amidst uncertainty.

Ordinary people in America experience existential anxiety when faced with economic downturns, international instability, and uncertainties brought about by new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

This anxiety drives them to seek a leader who can 'provide a sense of certainty'.

Big T's language was simple, direct, and carried a certain strongman's air, which was more psychologically reassuring to anxious people than the complex policies presented in Kamala's speeches.

DeepRed Search has been launched. Tencent acquired Sogou back in 2021, and after DeepRed's launch, Tencent quickly merged Sogou and DeepRed to create a search engine based on DeepRed's artificial intelligence. The name and interface have been changed to DeepRed, and the DeepRed domain name has also been acquired. The original Sogou search URL will now redirect to the DeepRed search page.

Now, there's only Crimson Red, no Sogou.

The assignment Lin Ran gave to his interns last year, an application called Crimson Thinking, was also embedded in the right sidebar of Crimson Search.

It will provide an analysis from the perspective of humanities and social sciences.

Like the answer above, if you enter "why was Big T elected?" into the Crimson Search, it will give you a reference from the perspectives of humanities and social sciences, philosophy, sociology, or other disciplines.

Crimson Thoughts appears as a separate module on the side, somewhat like a magazine sidebar, but you can click into it to discuss the questions you want to ask.

According to backend data, in a single search, more than 20% of users will click on Crimson Thinking to chat with this artificial intelligence that is derived from Crimson but is also different.

A figure of 20% is already quite exaggerated. After all, not every search involves researching important issues; you might just be asking a simple question like your zodiac sign's time.

With such strong data performance, Weibo now wants to integrate DeepRed Thinking into its platform, while Tencent, for application promotion purposes, wants DeepRed to be the exclusive entry point for DeepRed Thinking.

"I feel that Crimson is much better than the original!" Li Xiaoman was Lin Ran's secretary at the time, but of course, this secretary was not the same as the one in the original.

With Apollo Technology, Deep Red Technology, and Jiaotong University's Frontier Technology Research Center under his command, one secretary is definitely not enough. Lin Ran has an entire secretarial team of five people serving him, with Li Xiaoman as the manager of this team.

He also served as the Vice President of Apollo Technology, in charge of legal and human resources.

He was considered by insiders to be Lin Ran's most trusted confidant.

Therefore, she has her own workstation in Lin Ran's office.

If Lin Ran is in the office, Li Xiaoman will chat with him for a bit when he has nothing to do.

Lin Ran was getting water when she spoke up.

Lin Ran said without looking up, "Of course."

After all, Crimson has gone through many iterations, and the current Crimson is definitely a significant improvement in capabilities compared to the original Crimson.

This includes our first professional assistant, which is also a brand-new application based on the new framework.

Professional assistants refer to software specifically designed for programmers that enables them to write code. They can not only write code, but also test and run the code to find and fix bugs.

It can basically be viewed as a complete workflow.

Compared to writing code for GPT, it's more like human working logic.

Of course, this professional assistant is not cheap, costing 300 yuan a month. Because it is only available to Chinese IP addresses and is IP-locked, its monthly active users are around 200,000, which is not many.

Rather than saying it's about making money, it's more of an attempt to generate revenue.

"Then why not do things like GPT, constantly holding press conferences to iterate?" Li Xiaoman asked, puzzled.

Lin Ran said, "We and OpenAI have taken completely different paths in terms of business models. Don't you think so?"
OpenAI sells services, and GPT has four or five membership models. Except for the most basic version, all other versions require payment.

We have never expected Crimson to become profitable in the short term.

Apart from raising funds within the state-owned assets system, Shenhong Technology has not sought external financing.

OpenAI's valuation in its funding round is $1500 billion. The investors behind it have huge profit needs and require it to have impressive financial data so that they can recoup their investment when it goes public.

This bubble needs to be blown up.

Therefore, they need to constantly hold press conferences to announce the release of new versions, attract users, attract new users, and attract old users who have stopped using GPT to continue using it.

No, Crimson is not. Crimson will not even go public, so we have no pressure to make a profit.

Crimson needs two things. First, it needs a usable and easy-to-use artificial intelligence application for Chinese people.

Actually, there's only this one thing. The second thing is for Tencent, as the actual operator of Crimson.

They need to leverage Crimson, embedding it into their own ecosystem, to compete with other manufacturers for users' time.

Therefore, their strategy is to give users a subtle and delightful surprise.

Xiaoman, think about it, if we hold regular press conferences, does that mean that there will only be a major redesign when it's time for the press conference?
For users that Tencent wants to win over from apps like Baidu, Quark, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, they can try it out after the launch event. If it doesn't meet their expectations, they'll just go back to using the apps they're already familiar with.

Their use of DeepRed after the press conference was even very superficial. Compared with the apps they were familiar with, DeepRed must have significant advantages that they could experience even with a brief trial before they would switch to DeepRed.

But this kind of gradual, subtle update keeps users constantly looking forward to it. Once you're familiar with it, you'll find yourself inseparable from it.

The biggest advantage of Pony working at Apollo Technology is that Lin Ran can learn a lot about internet thinking from him.

How should products be made in the Internet age?

Pony is absolutely a master in this regard.

Lin Ran had a lot of inspiration about how to promote Crimson in the 1960s.

After listening, Li Xiaoman understood: "I understand. Tencent is still using an ecosystem strategy, cultivating deep users within the entire Tencent ecosystem after the support of the deep red."

It doesn't require eliminating competitors all at once, but rather a slow, insidious process; when your users churn, they churn permanently.

Lin Ran nodded: "That's right. Tencent is even considering whether to bring Tencent Weibo back into the market."

With the support of DeepRed, applications such as QQ Browser, WeChat, search engines, and WeChat Work are rapidly eroding the original players with unique advantages in these fields.

That's why there are now voices online saying that Tencent is trying to monopolize things again.

Li Xiaoman added, "Because the advantages of deep red are really obvious."

Lin Ran: "Yes."

After he finished speaking, he took his water glass and sat back down at his desk.

Li Xiaoman walked up to him: "Your three doctoral students will come to see you this morning. Which one would you like to see first?"

"Let's go in the order of pure mathematics, aerospace, and artificial intelligence," Lin Ran said.

From Lin Ran's perspective, Li Xiaoman rolled her eyes. Wasn't this also a form of discrimination based on numbers?
"Okay, I'll have someone inform them right away. Should we proceed according to the original schedule, starting at 9:30?"

"it is good."

Although it was supposed to start at 9:30, Lin Ran's three PhDs had already been waiting in the Apollo Technology meeting room since 8:00.

The three are named Wang Yuefeng, Zhang Yuxuan, and Li Tianzhong, which correspond to pure mathematics, aerospace, and artificial intelligence, respectively.

Only Li Tianzhong was a graduate of Jiaotong University.

Lin Ran's PhD was so popular that his work email inbox at Jiaotong University was flooded with emails from all over the world.

These are self-recommendation letters from countries all over the world.

Without AI to filter emails, the staff at Shanghai Jiao Tong University would be exhausted just from reading them.

If it weren't for the strong insistence from Jiaotong University that there must be one from Jiaotong University, all of your PhD students would have been snatched up by the top two universities. How could we then claim to be on par with or even surpass the top two universities?
Therefore, the three finalists came from Yenching University, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, respectively.

On the simplified Chinese internet, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has won again, boasting the only PhD with two academicians from the top three universities.
Jiaotong University has once again secured its position in the top 3.

The three of them sat in the conference room and usually chatted for a bit.

However, all three of them are socially awkward and would rather say as little as possible.

Unlike other professors, Lin Ran doesn't take doctoral students out to dinner or organize meetings for them to get to know each other when they enroll.

They rarely get to see Lin Ran, and every time they do, it's the same routine: they take turns visiting him at Apollo Technology.

As a result, everyone only knew who the other was, but they weren't familiar with each other at all.

The overall atmosphere was awkward.

"Wang Yuefeng, Zhang Yuxuan, and Li Tianzhong, the three of you will go to see President Lin in this order later. Wang Yuefeng will go with me first."

"Okay," the three said in unison.

A moment later, the male secretary came in again: "I'm so sorry, Mr. Lin has something come up. You may have to wait a while. I will let you know as soon as Mr. Lin is done."

In Lin Ran's office, Song Nanping's face was somewhat grim, and he said in a deep voice:

"Professor, breaking news: a serious leak has occurred at Huawei's latest production line, with a large amount of data related to lunar technology being leaked. The investigation is still ongoing."

Lin Ran thought it was just a minor matter; wouldn't things change just like that?

"Was it America who did it?"

(End of this chapter)