Investor That Can See The Future

Chapter 395

After the official announcement of his candidacy for re-election, Ronald’s first move was to tour the restoration sites in the damaged area of ​​the Big One.

I headed to the scene with Ronald and Professor Mohan. We were welcomed by people everywhere we went.

The appearance of the city was very different. Some areas collapsed to the point of being hard to recognize, while others looked relatively intact.

In urban reconstruction projects, the relationship between landowners, building owners, and tenants is intricately intertwined.

It is neither impossible nor efficient to bring an entire city back to what it was before the earthquake.

With the consent of the majority of the residents, the rest were carried out in a compulsory manner. Some residents strongly opposed this, saying it was a violation of property rights, and the state government had a hard time reconciling their interests.

In a capitalist society, individuals want to maximize their own interests, but as the saying goes about the tragedy of private land (anti-commons), if everyone promotes their own interests, nothing can be done.

Among the displaced people who lost their jobs, hopefuls were put into construction sites after undergoing vocational training. Thanks to this, the problems of unemployment and self-reliance were resolved, and the construction speed was greatly increased.

Huge heavy equipment and people were busy moving.

Wearing a jumper over a suit and a hard hat, Ronald toured the construction site himself and encouraged the workers. This is a typical attire when a tall person inspects a construction site. Well, the person next to me is also wearing the same outfit.

Several cameras followed us. Of course, the media cannot be left out of these inspections. Isn’t that what you’re doing in the first place to show?

Ronald asked the foreman about this and that.

“Are those buildings built using the glass curtain wall method?”

“That’s right. I plan to differentiate it by giving a sense of unity with glass, but slightly different colors.”

“Hey, can I see some diagrams?”

Watching them waving their hands and giving directions, it seems that I feel a little bit of the highest dignity in the neighborhood.

If CNN was Chosun Central TV, ‘Comrade Ronald, the dear supreme leader, gave field guidance to the construction site and said that California is moving on the path of self-reliance and accomplishing a feat of revolution. Also, by calling supervisors, he pointed out the form and form of a high-rise residential house, severely criticized the wrong architectural style and irresponsible use of glass, and gave a valuable instruction that the building should be built straight rather than obliquely. (Unfortunately, CNN still has a bad relationship with Ronald).

There is one big difference, unlike the supreme dignity of the upper town, who gives all kinds of teachings without knowing anything, Ronald knows more about architecture than most experts.

Because he was a real estate tycoon before he became president. Even now, buildings bearing his name stand all over the world, so it would be strange not to know.

Signs saying ‘Make California Great Again’ were hanging all over the construction site, and buildings were already going up quickly.

Indeed, it is as if they are engaged in a speed battle in Chollima under the direction of the highest dignity. Of course, this was not to say that North Korea was carrying out the construction work.

North Korea built a high-rise building in just a few dozen days and propaganda, saying that this is the capability of the republic. But what returned was ridicule, not wonder. It’s because it’s not the first time that a building built like that has collapsed, causing huge casualties.

The United States also engages in speed warfare, but in a completely different way.

Technology is invented out of necessity. When plans for the largest construction project in American history became known, architects and scientists devised new building codes, and entrepreneurs and investors made massive capital investments.

Various cutting-edge construction techniques such as modular buildings and 3D printers for construction were mobilized at the construction site.

Modular architecture is a method in which the main parts of a building are made in each factory and then brought here and assembled. It is similar to collecting and assembling Lego blocks, but has the advantage of greatly shortening the construction period.

Building 3D printers built buildings by pouring concrete instead of ink according to the input drawings. After the construction of one place was completed, they moved to the side and repeated the same work.

When I saw the scene in person, my mouth was wide open.

Is there any other country in the world that can create a new technology in such a short time and commercialize it?

Now, completely new cities were being created in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Looking at it, I realized that what I had done was not in vain. If the people who lived here had not survived, it would have been impossible to rebuild the city.

* * *

I met Peter Kazuyo, president of Akit, at the Palo Alto restoration site. He looks Japanese, but his nationality is English. He is from Liverpool, the second generation of immigrants born to Japanese parents who immigrated to England.

Akit, which he created, is a company specializing in architectural design. What sets it apart from other companies is that it uses artificial intelligence developed by itself.

It has now been reborn as a world-class architectural design company, but it has not only walked on a solid road. In the early days, the performance of artificial intelligence was poor, so it had to be modified manually.

However, start-up companies do not grow slowly and gradually, but take a leap from a certain moment.

If a company with a revenue of 1 billion continues to develop and invest in technology, it gradually increases to 1.1 billion, 1.2 billion, and 1.3 billion won. jumping in a circle

If you look at the graph, it is not a straight line pointing to the right, but a shape like a staircase. That’s why it’s called the quantum jump, after the physics term.

There are not one or two companies that cannot withstand the stagnant period and collapse. Perhaps Akit would have been like that if I hadn’t invested.

As the number of input data increases and the artificial intelligence advances through machine learning, Arkit began to extract optimal results.

Surprisingly, this was much more accurate than doing it manually. Architects who were initially negative were also forced to admit later.

Arkit distributed the program so that AI could be used by outside architects, and received royalties for it.

As it began to make profits in earnest, its corporate value soared rapidly, and the unicorn’s standard of $1 billion was already exceeded.

Artificial intelligence has now become an essential element in design. Of course, various computer programs have been used in architecture before, but Akit’s AI has gone far beyond that.

To use an analogy, it means that we have moved from the cel animation method, which used to draw pictures one by one, to the digital animation method using a computer.

Architects feared AI would take their jobs away, but the reality was the opposite. Artificial intelligence has provided new opportunities for architects, and artificial intelligence and human creativity intersect, creating entirely new buildings.

However, given the same opportunity, not everyone seizes it. Some embraced the new technology and used it, while others stuck to the old way. And the results started to change little by little.

* * *

Akit was responsible for the reconstruction of Palo Alto and Redwood City.

President Kazuyo was busy living in California instead of London, where his headquarters is located.

Sadly, his colleague at the time of his founding, Janelle Jackson, sold his stake and left the company, and is now in a new business.

It looked like something had happened between the two of them, but I didn’t bother to ask. Jackson’s place was filled by other computer scientists.

President Kazuyo told me.

“Urban planning is like semiconductor design,” he said. Just as we put all the necessary circuits in a chip as small as a fingernail, we have to make everything in the limited space of the city. Residential space, office space, public institution, shopping center, green space, traffic volume, water supply and sewerage facilities, etc. Even one small deviation can lead to big problems later on. And a problem creates another problem, and it gets harder and harder to fix over time.”

I remembered a story I had heard from Daryl before.

Computer programming is like a gigantic machine, with thousands of cogs rotating without a single error. If you make a mistake while trying to replace a cog wheel with a better one or add a new part, the machine can stop altogether. So, you have to do it right from the start.

President Kazuyo asked me.

“Do you know what is the most important thing in a city?”

“I do not know.”

“It’s people.”

That’s the obvious answer.

He gave an example.

In Paris, France, large-scale new rental apartments have been built since the 1960s to accommodate low-income families and immigrants living in slums.

What was the result? Will they live happily in their new apartment?

Surprisingly, the entire complex turned into a slum. Garbage overflowed everywhere, and buildings that were not maintained in a timely manner were almost abandoned and rapidly deteriorated.

“Unless poverty and self-reliance are resolved, housing support alone cannot prevent slumping. Since then, the city of Paris has changed the rental apartment policy. Instead of grouping low-income people in one place, we spread them across the city, even if it costs more.”

“No matter what kind of building or city we build, the people who go into it are the most important.”

“Over time, the city changes completely depending on who lives there. No matter how good a city is, it is of no value without people living in it.”

Fortunately, most of the people who lived in the city survived, so the reconstruction of the city proceeded safely.

Microsoft, Gubble, and Facenote, which were previously in Silicon Valley, also started construction of new buildings.

Just as the World Trade Center collapsed and a bigger and more beautiful building was built in its place, this city will be born more beautiful. And, as before, we will lead the world’s high-tech industry again.

In the center of the city, a huge memorial park will be built for the victims of Big One. The name of the park is ‘KJN Memorial Park’.

Of course, it was named after my initials.

President Kazuyo said with a smile.

“As long as this city continues to exist, your name will be remembered forever.”

Professor Mohan’s name was given to new roads and parks in other cities as well.

“Can we change the name of the park?”

He thought for a moment at my question and then nodded his head.

“It will have to go through the discussion of the Urban Planning Committee, but the representative’s opinion will be sufficient to reflect it. What name do you want?”

I said, remembering my friend in Korea.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

“I would like to name it OTK. Because he suffered more than anyone else.”

* * *

I was able to hear many stories about urban design through President Kazuyo.

“When I was very young, I thought that the ubiquitous era would open, telecommuting would be promoted and people would leave the crowded cities and live in country houses.

In fact, computers and the Internet are developing rapidly, and it seemed that such a future would come at any moment.

However, this prediction is completely wrong.

President Kazuyo smiled.

“The reason is simple. I had overlooked the fact that synergy occurs when people and people come together.”

Experiments have shown that talented people are more creative when they are together. Therefore, even if it is technically possible to work from home, it is more efficient to work while interacting with each other.

This is the reason why we have to take an airplane to meet even though we can communicate with people on the other side of the globe through video calls.

“This is true not only for companies, but also for cities. Various people live in a city, and a new culture is born in it. Therefore, large corporations are increasingly flocking to cities, and the trend is to build larger headquarters. This is to encourage diverse employees to interact and show their creativity in one space.”

Changes in the industry also played a role here.

Companies need people who can create new technologies and handle them, rather than simple production or office workers who do only set tasks. Businesses flock to cities in search of talent, and talent flocks again in search of companies.

“Among these, Seoul is a city worth mentioning. It’s very special. Compared to any other large city in the world, a megacity of that size is rare. Now, there is no one in the world who does not know Seoul. Do you know what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Seoul?”

“Is this the 88 Olympics?”

“This is OTK Company. It’s real. I’m not kidding. When you think of Seattle, you think of AMZ.”

I smiled bitterly.

“Development of communication and technology has rather deepened urban concentration.”

Looking at this, predicting the future is certainly not easy. Unless you have a foresight like me.

The moment I thought that, something came to my mind after a long time.