Siheyuan: Craftsmen of a Great Country

After dinner, the two returned to the office.

Jiang Chen took out a cigarette and handed it to Zhou Xinjian: "Mr. Zhou, do you want to take a break at noon?"

Zhou Xinjian said: "When there is something going on, I won't rest. Tell me what's going on!"

"How about, let me guess what you're going to talk about. Is it about the Internet?"

Jiang Chen shook his head: "Although it will be related to the Internet in the future, it is really not an Internet thing."

"How did you guess it was the Internet?"

Zhou Xinjian said: "During this period, we sent people to study computer issues abroad, and the results were shocking."

"Although it's not as exaggerated as you imagined, I never thought that a small computer could do so many things. By adding some peripheral devices, it can perform data processing and industrial control."

"To be honest, the Internet I started for you might actually be possible, even though it still seems so far-fetched now."

Even if Jiang Chen is supported again, it is impossible for the Ministry of Industry to ignore such a huge project that requires huge investment of manpower and material resources and just let the Institute of Seed Technology develop it on its own.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry sent people abroad to learn about the development of computers, and they were shocked by the results.

When computers first came out, they were mainly used for defense, such as decrypting codes and calculating ballistic trajectories.

But in the 1960s, with the increase of peripheral devices, the functions of computers began to diversify.

Moreover, it gradually began to move away from the scope of simple calculation.

Jiang Chen smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, you describe such a huge computer as small, which shows that you don't really understand computers yet."

"My ultimate goal is to make a computer that is only the size of a cigarette box, but has much more powerful functions than any current computer."

“You can basically do everything you need to do in your daily life with it.”

He did not mention mobile communication technology, for fear that the elderly would be overwhelmed by too much information at once.

But even this made Zhou Xinjian's brain crash.

He looked at the cigarette box and thought about current computers and their functions, which touched upon his blind spot in knowledge.

After a while, Zhou Xinjian said slowly: "Can this thing make calls?"

Jiang Chen nodded: "Of course, this is just its most basic function."

"Not only can you make phone calls, you can also make video calls and chat with the other person while watching what he or she is doing."

Zhou Xinjian: "Then tell me, if I am hungry and want to eat, how do I solve it?"

Jiang Chen said: "It's simple. Just tap a small button on it and a list of restaurants will pop up. Click on a restaurant and it will show the dishes, prices, and even reviews of the restaurant."

"Then choose a restaurant you like, order food, pay directly, and someone will deliver your food to your door in a moment."

Zhou Xinjian had many questions, and he asked the most critical one: "Where does the money come from?"

Jiang Chen said, "Of course it's from your personal bank account. When you make a payment, the bank will receive a payment request, and then the money will be transferred from your account to other accounts."

"If you don't have the money, your payment will fail and you won't receive your dinner."

Zhou Xinjian was silent for a long time: "So if I want to buy something, I can do the same thing?"

Jiang Chen nodded: "That's right!"

Zhou Xinjian took a deep breath, adjusted his thinking, and said, "Can you briefly explain the principle?"

Jiang Chen said: "The principle itself is very simple, which is the conversion, sending, transmission, reception and execution of signals."

"A radio is a machine that receives and converts signals. It's just that this little gadget has an additional function of sending the initial conversion of the signal."

Zhou Xinjian said: "Don't make it sound so simple. It will give me the illusion that I already understand it."

"But this is too sci-fi."

Jiang Chen nodded: "For now, it is indeed a bit sci-fi. But it will take at least twenty years to realize it."

"The main reason is that our productivity is not enough to support this system now."

Zhou Xinjian said: "So, when you say twenty years, do you mean that it will take at least twenty years for our productivity to develop to this level, not that it will take that long for this technology to come out?"

Jiang Chen nodded: "You can say that, but I estimate that it will take about this much time to develop this technology from scratch. Of course, the specific time depends on the development speed of our industry."

Zhou Xinjian said slowly: "Xiao Jiang, we are scientific researchers, so we can be more flexible in our thinking, and we can be outrageous, but we can't be weird."

In his opinion, the world described by Jiang Chen was too outrageous and weird.

In this era when people have not yet solved the problem of food and clothing, even Jiang Chen himself finds it outrageous to conceive of the Internet economy, a product that can only emerge when productivity is sufficiently developed.

But he has to draw this pie.

Only if the pie is big enough and tempting enough, every milestone in the process of making the pie in the future will enable him to gain more support.

Even if Zhou Xinjian is no longer in this position one day, his research will not be affected in any way.

When the wind blows hard, he will have enough cards in his hand to protect himself.

Besides, Zhou Xinjian is not young anymore and may not be able to stay in this position forever.

Jiang Chen's established strategy is to use long-term goals to ensure short-term safety and ensure that the work of the Seed Engineering Institute can be carried out normally.

Then again, this isn't entirely empty talk.

Because everything he said has become a reality in the 21st century.

He just wanted to advance this time and make flower growers the leaders in the information age.

Of course, if it's just a saying, no one will believe it.

During the research process, he needs to use one research result after another to support his ideas and direction.

For example, integrated circuits, such as optical fibers.

And the lithography machine industry chain.

Jiang Chen said slowly: "Mr. Zhou, what I said all has theoretical basis and is possible to achieve."

"But to achieve all this, there are two prerequisites: optical fiber and photolithography machine."

Zhou Xinjian said: "I know what a photolithography machine is. It uses light to write a target pattern on the surface of a specific material to give it certain functions."

"This thing is indeed valuable, but it's not as exaggerated as you say, right?"

Jiang Chen said, "Mr. Zhou, you must not use the current product to measure its potential. The fact that it can compress the circuit through light, accurately transfer the circuit pattern on the silicon wafer, and finally realize the corresponding function, gives it enormous potential."

"Let me put it this way. If our technology is powerful enough, we can even carve a supercomputer on a proton that can influence the fate of mankind!"

It’s a pity that there is no Three-Body Problem in this era, otherwise this concept would become more three-dimensional.

Of course, he did not mention things like dimensionality increase and dimensionality decrease, because the more you talk about them, the more unknowns there will be and the more troubles you will have.