“…… Predicting the future? ”

Touching his chin-covered beard, Perelman frowned and said, "Does this have anything to do with math?" ”

Schultz also nodded, looking at Albert who got up from the sofa with a confused face, "With all due respect, this sounds more like a concept that only appears in Hollywood blockbusters." ”

"Of course it does!" Albert replied in an excited tone, "Predicting the future mathematically is what we're working on!" ”

There was silence again in the apartment.

Krugman reached out and pulled Albert with a headache, but the latter did not heed his reminder, but shook his hand away, and continued to stare at Perelman, hoping to get his approval.

However......

His hopes were clearly in vain.

This time, not only Perelman, but even Scholz's face showed a strange expression.

It's like looking at a fool......

"I think you're thinking too much."

With a slight cough, Schultz, who was silent in the room, continued to speak his mind.

"Predicting the future is no longer the domain of mathematics, I don't think it's even physics, I think it's already the domain of philosophers. After all, you see, there are so many uncertainties that can influence our thoughts, and we ourselves are also vacillating a lot of times, such as if it rained today, maybe I wouldn't be here-"

"But the weather is predictable! It's hard to predict a person's itinerary, but a group of people's itinerary is predictable, and the traffic data and weather forecast in New York City for the past 5 years can support my opinion! ”

Interrupting Schultz's words in a strong tone, Albert continued in a firm and agitated tone, "Human beings are not fundamentally different from dust suspended in water, we are also in motion most of the time, the difference is that we are disturbed not by the collision of tiny invisible atoms and the interference of positions, but by the fluttering of invisible neurons that are transformed into a series of tasks, responsibilities and motivations!" ”

"We have a lot of tools that can track human activity, like the internet, like our mobile devices...... Count all the data that we can predict, as long as we can analyze it, we will be able to do more than just the boring thing of pushing ads to them, we can even predict the future in 10 minutes, 10 days, and even beyond! ”

"Don't you think that sounds exciting?"

As the words fell, Professor Krugman applauded.

However, he seemed to be the only one who applauded......

Whether it was Perelman or Scholz, the thoughts in their hearts were almost written on their faces.

However, although Lu Zhou's idea was similar to theirs, and he also felt that this idea was a bit ridiculous, at this time, he suddenly recalled that the last time he was in Shanghai, Professor Krugman seemed to discuss this problem with him.

Through the establishment of mathematical models, large-scale human social behavior, production and life are modeled, so as to achieve the purpose of predicting the future.

"It sounds interesting," Lu Zhou said with interest, although he did not applaud, "Your statement reminds me of Asimov's 'psychohistory'...... Did you copy this theory from "Base"? ”

"Not really! I'm explaining my theory from a scientific point of view...... Well, I'll admit, Asimov had a little bit of an inspiration for my theory, but I'm not talking about a science fiction idea here, it's a serious academic question! ”

"Well, let's assume that the collective behavior of humans is indeed predictable, but ...... How can this be? Schultz frowned and said, "Any of your actions, even the observations themselves, will have an unpredictable effect on the results of the experiment." Not only is this pointless, but it's hard to do. ”

"Whatever it is! God, do we study the wave-particle duality of light in order to direct the photons to do something? Don't you think that my prediction of the future is an exciting subject in itself? Even if we just prove that this thing works, our name will go down in history! ”

Apparently, Albert and Professors Krugman chose to come to St. Petersburg in order to persuade Perelman to join their project.

First, only a scholar of Perelman's level can complete their huge project, and the most important thing is that in the academic community, Perelman also belongs to the type that is easier to speak.

The Poincaré conjecture was even solved when he was talking to Hamilton during his visit to the United States, when he heard the latter talk about a singularity called "cigars" and complained that the problem had plagued him for many years......

However, Albert's emotions became more and more agitated because of the successive rebuttals, and the persuasion had begun to turn into a quarrel.

Krugman tried to remind his friends to pay attention, but to no avail.

And the final result was also predictable, Perelman rejected them on the spot.

Although he did not look at them like idiots, he said in a firm tone that he did not see anything interesting and did not think that mathematics was for such a frivolous thing.

As for Schultz, who is committed to achieving higher achievements in mathematics, he certainly does not take any interest in such a side-by-the-road subject, so he only politely said that he might consider studying it when he has time.

As for what day it was, probably only he himself knew.

As for Lu Zhou......

To be honest, he was still a little interested in this kind of novel thinking.

Unlike both Schultz and Perelman, he was in favor of taking the initiative to radiate the influence of mathematics to other disciplines and using mathematics to transform other sciences.

And, as Professor Krugman puts it, predicting the future is itself a topic of romanticism.

Although he has no interest in economics and is not interested in social science research at all, he is surprised that there is not a lot of rejection in his heart for this kind of subject that seems to be built in an attic in the sky?

However, he did not immediately agree to the two.

"I need a little bit of time to think about it, and at least until I solve the Riemann hypothesis, I'm not going to look into anything else."

However, after hearing this, Albert's shoulders drooped, and the expression on his face had changed to deep disappointment.

In his opinion, this sentence is probably the same as Schultz's rhetoric, and it can even be said that it is not euphemistic......

"After solving the Riemann conjecture...... God, I have never heard of a more tactful refusal! ”

The expression on Krugman's face was also full of regret, he glanced at Perelman, then at Lu Zhou, and said with a sigh.

"Anyway, I still hope you'll think about it."

Lu Zhou: "Actually, I have a question that I have been very confused about. ”

Krugman: "...... What's the problem? ”

After thinking about it, Lu Zhou continued: "If the future can really be predicted, is this really a good thing for us? ”

Krugman was silent for a while and said, "It's hard for me to answer you this method, it's a question outside of academics. Like Mr. Albert, I believe he wrote "The Link" without expecting that his theories would be used by Silicon Valley's Internet giants and advertisers to squeeze consumers' wallets......"

As soon as he heard this, Albert was immediately unhappy and shouted.

"Hey, don't say that, okay? Big data isn't just for advertising! Why do you keep focusing on the benefits of this technology on all sorts of issues, such as counter-terrorism, health care, urban planning, and so on? ”

Ignoring Albert's call, Professor Krugman continued.

“…… One day he came to me out of the blue, saying that he was planning to turn the theory in the book "Explosion" into reality, and my first reaction was that this guy definitely didn't plan to do anything good, but I finally accepted his invitation. ”

Lu Zhou: "Why? ”

"Because whether it is theoretical research or applied scientific research, it is not up to a scholar to characterize whether a technology is evil or not. Is nuclear fission technology evil? Thinking about 1945 at this point in time, most people may think so, but looking back today, perhaps it is precisely because of such a superweapon that our world can remain peaceful in the extreme situation of a superpower heading for collapse, which would have been unimaginable half a century ago. ”

"So I think we're just talking about an academic problem, and we're only looking at what is possible in the future, not what we can do with it."

"As for whether to use this technology, or even to characterize it, our civilization will naturally make a choice."

After listening to these words, looking at Professor Krugman's sincere gaze, Lu Zhou nodded lightly after being silent for a while.

"I see what you mean."

"If we have a chance in the future, we will talk about this again."

Krugman nodded, and Albert, who was sitting next to him, made a helpless expression, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I hope there is really this opportunity, and I hope I can wait until that day." ”

Even if he studied physics, he had heard of the difficulties of the Riemann conjecture.

Other mathematical conjectures are difficult to solve, but at least there is a way to solve them.

The Riemann conjecture, on the other hand, is like a lonely mountain, standing there alone.

No one knows how many more centuries it will stand......

He was still there at that time, and it was all a problem.