94: From Technological Warfare to Space Empire

Chapter 131 The Internet is finally open... Even if I can only speak English, I still want to go online!

"Now that we've taken the first step, let's turn that advantage into an advantage that extends to ten or even a hundred steps!"

"Tell me your suggestions."

Deputy Secretary-General Liu opened his notebook: "Sir, we have drafted several preliminary plans."

"First, establish a dedicated BEC Research Center, with Comrade Lin Yu as its director, directly under the State Council, with funding..."

The equipment and facilities are guaranteed to the highest standards.

"Second, we will launch a quantum technology innovation plan, starting with BEC, and develop applications in atomic clocks, quantum sensing, quantum computing, etc., striving to achieve industrialization capabilities within ten years."

"Third, talent cultivation. We select outstanding undergraduates and graduate students from universities across the country and send them to Comrade Lin Yu to learn from him and pass on his methodology."

"Fourth, publicity. This matter needs to be made public, but the method and timing of the public announcement must be carefully designed. We have already coordinated with Science, Nature and Physical Review Letters to publish three papers simultaneously."

After listening, the old man nodded: "Next, the domestic media should follow up, but the core technologies and key parameters must be kept secret."

"These are all acceptable. But they're not enough."

He looked at Chief Hou, who was sitting silently in the corner: "Young Hou, you have the most contact with that kid, tell me, does he still need anything?"

""

Commander Hou stood up, thought for a moment, and answered honestly, "Commander, to be honest, Lin Yu doesn't lack money, equipment, or support. What he lacks is time."

"Since I met him, I have never seen this kid rely on money and equipment for his research."

"Basically, it's all about conducting thought experiments in your head, and then bringing them to fruition."

These words piqued the old man's curiosity; he had never imagined that scientists could be like this.

"time?"

"Yes."

Chief Hou smiled wryly: "Look at what he's done these past few months—satellites, artificial intelligence, steel, oil, fuel, BEC—he's practically splitting himself into eight pieces to use."

"Academician Wang advised him to learn to focus on the big picture and let go of the small details. He did focus on the big picture and let go of the small details, but the big ones kept coming one after another, and he couldn't stop at all."

"He once said that his ultimate goal is spaceflight, and that he wants to develop our own satellite constellation."

"Everything else is paving the way for space exploration."

The old man nodded after listening, then stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, the May sun shines brightly in Beijing, and the locust trees in Zhongnan are blooming with white flowers.

"Spaceflight..."

He gazed at the clear blue sky and murmured to himself.

After a moment, he turned around and said, "Give him a space company."

The already quiet meeting room fell even more silent.

No one expected the old man to say that.

Deputy Secretary-General Liu was taken aback: "Sir, what do you mean—?"

"6

"If he wants to get into commercial spaceflight, let him do it."

"Give him the policies, the qualifications, and the right to use the launch site."

"Anyway, didn't the No. 3B launch vehicle in Jiuquan already use its aluminum alloy grid fins?"

"The base is already built, so what difference does it make who uses it?"

The old man's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear and forceful: "Satellite navigation, rocket engines, high-energy fuels, basic materials—he has all of these. Since he's come this far with such a clear goal, let him continue."

"Our aerospace industry has been following a state-led path for decades."

"This path is correct, but there can be additions."

"If the international situation changes one day and national projects are blocked, at least there is still this path."

He paused for a moment: "Consider it as—buying insurance for the future."

A low murmur arose in the conference room.

Deputy Secretary-General Liu quickly jotted down a few lines in his notebook.

The old man walked back to his seat and sat down again: "As for the reward—"

He looked at the recommendation regarding the awarding of a national honorary title: "Young Scientist, that title is too inadequate."

"Give him a National Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award. Anyway, we've already created several awards specifically for him, so it won't make a difference if we create a few more."

"In addition, notify the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering to initiate a special supplementary selection process."

"Young people like this shouldn't be waited for."

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Then, everyone stood up.

"yes!"

By late May 1994, Beijing was already experiencing the heat of early summer.

Fortunately, the basement was still quite cool in the early morning.

Lin Yu was holed up in the basement of Beihang University, where a plain text webpage was slowly loading on the monitor of the Cray supercomputer in front of him.

"Slow, too slow."

He stared at the transfer progress in the lower right corner of the screen. It was a 64K international leased line with a download speed of 8K/second. It took more than ten seconds to open a simple webpage.

But Lin Yu couldn't stop smiling.

The Internet!

This is the Internet!

Cool!

Although now I can only send emails, browse rudimentary BBS forums, and read technical documents that are all in English.

But this is the Internet!

When he returned in 2026, what he missed most was that era of the Internet of Everything.

Now, it finally tastes a bit familiar.

On the screen, a physics forum page for an American university finally finished loading.

Lin Yu clicked on it casually and found that it was already in an uproar.

The pinned post prominently reads: "Chinese team achieves Bose-Einstein condensate!"

The post received hundreds of comments, some questioning, some expressing amazement, and some requesting the original text of the paper.

However, judging from the IDs, they are all foreign IDs.

People from Japan, South Korea, the US, and France started arguing in a chaotic, disorganized manner.

The Japanese didn't believe it at all, but the Americans threw the paper in their faces and gave them a piece of their mind.

Lin Yu found it hilarious.

He casually registered an account with the ID "FromBeijing," and then replied to the post:

"Yes, we did it. More to come."

(Yes, we did it, and more applications are coming soon.)

After replying to the post, Lin Yu leaned back in his chair and stared at the loading circle on the screen, grinning foolishly.

The internet in this era is too primitive.

There are no search engines, no social networks, no short videos, and even Chinese websites are scarce.

But in the next thirty years, the Internet will change the world at an explosive pace.

In his mind, the Internet is the greatest invention in human history!

The only difficult point is the influence of the sect's founders, Alan Turing and John von Neumann.

Influenced by these two patriarchs at the top of the hierarchy, many programmers in later generations either changed their avatars to cute ones and, like Turing, liked pretty girls.

Either wear a plaid shirt and become irritable and prone to hair loss like John von Neumann.

The year 1994, in which he is now, is a crucial juncture in the transformation of the Internet from academic networks to commercial networks.

Netscape was just founded, and the Global Information Network Alliance was also recently established.

The White House just launched its website, while Amazon won't be around for another year.

China's internet has only recently been connected to the world via a 64K leased line.

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