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Chapter 60 Collective Wisdom

What Zhou Yusheng envies the most is the relationship between Mu Haoyang and Lu Wen.

Although both of them are almost fifty years old, they are still the same in their daily lives as they were when they first got married. They not only have a good relationship, but also have many common topics.

However, Zhou Yusheng didn't know that Mu Haoyang and Lu Wen were together for a long time.

There are few opportunities to meet, so when you are together, you will naturally be very close.

There is no way to do this, because Lu Wen has also been promoted to Lieutenant General of the Army (after the Second Artillery Disbanded, Lu Wen's missile force was incorporated into the Army). This is the highest rank of technical officers. Lu Wen is the most famous and busiest senior technical officer in the Army.

However, her main business is no longer developing ballistic missiles.

In 2029, at the suggestion of Qian Zhongtai, Li Pingko, then Premier of the State Council, approved the establishment of the "Theoretical and Basic Physics Research Center", with Lu Wen as the general manager. The center is nominally responsible for managing all high-end scientific research projects funded by the state, such as two high-energy physics experimental centers, which are actually mainly engaged in theoretical research and have little direct relationship with basic projects.

The purpose of establishing this center is to improve China's theoretical physics level.

It must be admitted that the center is far above other scientific research institutions and has achieved results soon.

In 2030, Dian Yuqing was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics for "Gravity Field Theory", the first Chinese physicist to receive the nomination. Although during the review stage, this paper was very controversial, especially questioned by many Western scholars, and ultimately failed to win the award, Dian Yuqing's reputation in international physics, especially theoretical physics has already begun.

Two years later, another Chinese physicist finally won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The winner was Miao Shaofeng. The reason for winning was to verify the superluminal speed characteristics of neutrinos and prove the theory proposed by him in the laboratory.

Although he is an experimental physicist, Miao Shaofeng was discovered by Lu Wen.

To be precise, Lu Wen first attached importance to the theories he proposed and mobilized scientific research resources to allow him to prove the theories he proposed.

For this reason, Miao Shaofeng not only won 1.5 million Swedish kroner, but also won the National Science and Technology Progress Special Prize.

As a behind-the-scenes worker, Lu Wen did not show up and did not receive a bonus. Only a year later, she was promoted to Lieutenant General of the Army.

That's right, Lu Wen is busier than Mu Haoyang.

Although Mu Haoyang is usually plagued by trivial matters, as long as he is in the General Staff, he will go home for dinner every day, and if he has the energy, he will watch TV with his children. Lu Wen is not in Beijing for nine out of ten days, and even if he is there, he rarely goes home. Sometimes he doesn’t even have time to call home.

Mu Haoyang didn't ask why Lu Wen was so busy, and there was no need for this.

In fact, most of the time, Mu Haoyang didn't know what Lu Wen was doing. Even if he had the opportunity to chat, Mu Haoyang rarely took the initiative to ask about work.

The reason is very simple. Lu Wen's work nature has long exceeded Mu Haoyang's cognitive scope.

It’s just that one thing is very clear, that is, what Lu Wen does is very important.

From the things mentioned in occasional chats, Mu Haoyang knew that the department in charge of Lu Wen could receive tens of billions of special grants from the State Council every year. Even when the State Council comprehensively reduced its administrative expenses in 2033, Lu Wen's scientific research funds received did not decrease.

In addition, Mu Haoyang only knew that Lu Wen was mainly engaged in theoretical research.

In fact, this is also the most important thing.

Under Lu Wen, there are at least 4,000 scientific researchers, most of whom are young, with an average age of less than 30 years old, and many of them are students who have just graduated from school.

"What can young people do?" Zhou Yusheng was surprised when he mentioned Lu Wen's work during the meal. "Students who just came out of school have no work experience at all, and the current university education may not be able to gain much. If they are asked to do high-end research, I'm afraid..."

"Old Zhou, do you look down on young people so much?"

"It's not that I look down on you, it's just..."

"Twenty years ago, you were also a young man. If Mr. Huang had thought of you like this, I'm afraid you would still be serving on a submarine." Lu Wen did not pay special attention to his tone. He also had no need to pay attention to chatting with Zhou Yusheng, because Zhou Yusheng was the godfather of their third child.

"Mr. Lu, if you say that, I can't argue."

"That is, you're still not convinced?"

Zhou Yusheng smiled. He rarely quarreled with women.

"How old was Einstein's age when he proposed the mass-energy formula, and how old was he when he proposed the general theory of relativity? And what innovations did he have after he became famous?" Lu Wen was very serious, which was also her personality. "It is undeniable that young people do lack experience, but they are also more flexible and changeable. Theoretical physics is not experimental physics, rigor is important, but sudden thoughts are even more important. When Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, only two and a half people in the world could understand it. At that time, almost all scientists thought he was a madman. Those who do theory must first have imagination. Only by imagining it can they be verified through experiments and observations."

"Old Zhou, I just said, don't debate with her." Mu Haoyang shook his head with a smile.

Zhou Yusheng also laughed. It was not that he wanted to debate now, but that Lu Wen couldn't stop.

"You soldiers don't take technology seriously." Lu Wen glanced at Mu Haoyang and said, "Not for Lao Zhou, you have also obtained two master's degrees."

"This..." Mu Haoyang was speechless.

"Mr. Lu, it seems that Lao Mu's words don't matter to this family."

"We are a democratic family, whoever is right will have the final say." Lu Wen was still a little unwilling to let go. "I'm not afraid that you will look down on me now. I dare to bet with you that as long as we make major breakthroughs in theory, the impact on human civilization will not be inferior to that of the theory of relativity."

"So, you have to find a genius who is no less than Einstein."

"Does there have to be geniuses to make a breakthrough?"

Mu Haoyang smiled and didn't bother with his wife.

"At the beginning, I also had this idea. I mentioned to you that the difficulty of theoretical breakthroughs is more difficult than everyone imagines. We can only pray for a genius of Einstein level, but over the past few years, I think this is very unreliable."

"What does it mean?" Mu Haoyang had to ask.

"Fundamentally, without an evolutionary breakthrough, human wisdom has reached its limit. If it is natural evolution, it will take at least one million years to reach a new level. Even artificial intervention, such as improving IQ through genes, will take hundreds of years."

"So, there's basically no way?"

"If you work alone, it may be difficult to achieve results."

Zhou Yusheng frowned and said, "So, is wisdom or one plus one equal to two?"

"It's not equal to two, but greater than two."

Now, both professional soldiers were speechless.

"We did a test and asked ten thousand people to estimate the weight of an object, such as the plate." Lu Wen knocked on the dish in front of him, "and then averaged the ten thousand answers obtained, and the results were very close to the actual situation. Of course, we were not using a plate, but an irregular metal ball."

“What does this mean?”

"Humans not only have personal wisdom, but also collective wisdom, and collective wisdom exceeds personal wisdom."

"It can also be used in theoretical research you lead?"

"It's not that simple, but it's definitely useful." Lu Wen paused for a moment and said, "It's definitely not something that a person can do to establish a complete set of physics theories. After Einstein proposed the general theory of relativity, it took decades and the efforts of generations of scientists to perfect this theory. To surpass general theory of relativity, or to prove that Einstein was wrong, it is not something that a person can do. It requires a lot of scientists to devote their lifelong efforts to it, and perhaps several generations."

"So we have to pray for a little longer."

Lu Wen smiled and said, "Of course, the luck component cannot be ruled out."

"What's the meaning?"

"Theoretical research is not to start from scratch, but to a large extent, it is a comprehensive veto of the previous set of theories. This is like demolishing a high wall blocking us. Although the workload is very large, if you find the right method, maybe pulling out a certain wall brick, it will cause the high wall to collapse. Einstein's general theory of relativity can replace Newton's classical mechanics, and it is also finding the right method."

"So, it still needs a genius theoretical physicist."

"Of course, having geniuses is definitely better than not. It's just that with the joint efforts of collective wisdom, the possibility of geniuses is much greater, and the requirements for geniuses are much lower. If enough scientists are engaged in the same job, just like letting many workers demolish high walls at the same time, there will definitely be a brick that can make the high wall fall apart, and my role is the foreman."

"foreman?"

"Organize others to conduct theoretical research."

The two old men were stunned for a moment, and then they both laughed.

"It seems that we must give the foreman a glass." Zhou Yusheng raised his glass and said to Lu Wen, "Mr. Lu, what I admire most in my life is a great scholar like you."

"Old Zhou..."

"I'm talking about my heart. Don't think I've got a few diplomas, but compared to you, I'm definitely an illiterate person."

Lu Wen shook her head with a smile, and ended the topics related to technology.

"I think we should toast to friendship." Mu Haoyang took the opportunity to raise his cup and said, "In the lifetime, you will be content to have a few close friends."

"cheers"

The meal was relaxed by all three of them.

For Mu Haoyang and Lu Wen, at least they can temporarily put aside their worries at work and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in family life.

For Zhou Yusheng, you can talk to your friends about common things.

However, there are not many opportunities like this. When the sun rises again, they have to devote themselves to important, busy and hard work.
Chapter completed!