Chapter 64: Intelligent Machinery

Qin Yu once thought that during the time he was away from the Negentropy Research Institute, the Negentropy Research Institute might decline to some extent.

However, due to multiple reasons piled up, at that moment, the Negentropy Research Institute actually remained in a state that was still quite strong and flourishing.

One reason was the impact of the previous 236 Algae Spread Crisis.

Although the 236 Algae Spread Crisis was finally resolved smoothly, it was thanks to that mysterious ‘Entropy’,

but the Negentropy Research Institute still played a big role in it, whether it was the timely response during the crisis or the follow-up gathering of strength for tackling key problems.

The Negentropy Research Institute fulfilled a mission it had from the very start of its establishment,

so those in charge naturally felt even more sure about supporting the Negentropy Research Institute.

As long as Human Civilization was not ‘invincible in the world’, then no matter when, the Negentropy Research Institute had value for the Huaxia Nation, and even for all of Human Civilization.

Another reason was the widespread influence at the big-picture level brought by the popularization of Collective Social Rearing.

Even though so many years had passed since the Negentropy Research Institute was founded,

many research institutes within the Negentropy Research Institute still kept enough energy and life.

The changeover of generations of excellent Researchers still ran well and efficiently, without getting stuck or stiff.

Also, in that era, even though the Negentropy Research Institute was still a secret research body,

as time went by, many groups actually knew about its existence by then, only they had not learned much information about it.

After one full month since he officially joined the Information Denoising Institute,

Qin Yu was in no rush to start his research right away, nor was he in a hurry to pick some Researchers from the list given by the institute to join his research team.

While he was thinking over some problems and issues,

Qin Yu also got a rough idea of the current state of the Information Denoising Institute; during his talks with the heads of various big and small research teams in the Information Denoising Institute,

he also learned a bit about the progress in the research field of Artificial Intelligence at the Information Denoising Institute at that time.

In general, it was this:

over those years, there was some progress, but compared to Qin Yu’s original goal when he built the Information Denoising Institute, there was still a big gap.

Compared to outside areas, the whole field of learning at that time had no clear lead in Artificial Intelligence research at the Information Denoising Institute.

From Qin Yu’s view and perspective,

the development of smart things in that era was still stuck in a very awkward spot.

In how people and big language models for Artificial Intelligence interacted, the level of seeming real had gone up a step compared to much earlier times.

But the core problems that traditional big language models for Artificial Intelligence could not solve, still had not been fixed by that era.

The problem of Artificial Intelligence illusions seemed like a kind of puzzle where you could not win.

What this caused was that the big language models for Artificial Intelligence seemed like they could chat smoothly with people, but it was only just a seeming thing.

And the Intelligent Program hoped for by the Information Denoising Institute, to be used for cleaning up messes in information and looking at it deeply,

still could not do things by itself like gathering information actively, thinking hard about it on its own, or figuring things out.

It could not finish tasks like collecting and watching for possible warning signs on its own, and it could not tie together all the collected information to weigh up chances of danger and send out ‘warnings about crisis information’.

Additionally,

in the world of Intelligent Machinery, or Intelligent Robots.

The body of an Intelligent Robot always knew lots of moves and tricks, and over those years, it got even more of this,

so Intelligent Robot bodies could do more kinds of actions, becoming richer and more natural-looking.

But the Artificial Intelligence model put inside Intelligent Machinery actually held back the Intelligent Robot body itself.

Through pretend training, the Artificial Intelligence model could make an Intelligent Robot do certain actions or orders… but the trouble was,

for every single order, it needed to be taught beforehand and trained over and over to happen.

A very extreme case was this: if it was trained to pick up an apple, then the order to pick up a pear needed fresh training all over again.

In real life, it might be a bit better,

but in its deep-down nature, this was how it was—the Artificial Intelligence model on an Intelligent Robot

did not have human-like ‘figure it out by thinking’ powers.

And what mattered more,

those three kinds of Intelligent Programs were still three separate things in that era.

A single useful and strong Artificial Intelligence for many jobs, one that met people’s hopes—

from chatting to doing orders, controlling machines, to sorting through information—still had not come to life.

But Qin Yu’s goal for that lifetime was, naturally, to make Strong Artificial Intelligence.

For Qin Yu as an Absolute Immortal,

aside from boosting how quickly things get made and easier to do.

a Strong Artificial Intelligence could save him lots of bother and trouble.

Also, if he could go even further and create an Intelligent Lifeform.

That Intelligent Lifeform could also keep him company for a good long time.

Though, if his Absolute Immortality stayed firm and strong,

the life of an Intelligent Lifeform had an end when seen against his time.

Another month went by.

In Qin Yu’s second month since returning to the Negentropy Research Institute,

his research on Artificial Intelligence officially started.

His first chosen target was not really lining up with what the Information Denoising Institute leaned toward in smartness research—

it was an embodied model, or an Artificial Intelligence program for controlling machine bodies.

And using this as a main topic, Qin Yu applied upwards to kick off a project.

This was a somewhat large project, but the research institute agreed to it anyway.

Just like what the head of the Information Denoising Institute said earlier,

geniuses should get some extra rights.

Qin Yu had already become well-known in the field of learning even before he joined the Negentropy Research Institute.

After the project was set up and started,

Qin Yu still felt no rush to add more Researchers to his research project and team.

For Qin Yu,

unlike his past studies in the Field of Life Sciences,

which needed tons of tests therefore asked for other Researchers to help out.

research in the field of Artificial Intelligence, in the deepest part, was actually a puzzle of numbers in the end.

In that regard, there really was nobody who could give Qin Yu any real backup.

In the field of artificial intelligence research,

it was no exaggeration to say that Qin Yu had already mastered all the knowledge currently available during that past period.

Beyond that, it required his ‘Super Brain’ to exert efforts and continue exploring, and there was no one who could really assist him.

Before settling on a suitable direction,

Qin Yu saw no need to find researchers to handle repetitive coding tasks or algorithm refinement work.

So, over the next stretch of time,

Qin Yu’s days followed a very regular and quiet pattern.

Throughout the entire research institute,

Qin Yu was scarcely heard at all.

If he hadn’t communicated with several team leaders in the previous month,

Qin Yu leaving a deep impression on them,

and if the institute head hadn’t been consistently monitoring Qin Yu’s movements,

he might almost have been forgotten.

However, including the head of the Information Denoising Research Institute, the other members did not disturb Qin Yu’s thinking and research,

much less urged him to hurry.

…

The Information Denoising Research Institute, established right when the Negentropy Research Institute was founded,

was located right next to Research Institute 011 and could be considered the headquarters of the Negentropy Research Institute.

The surroundings were rather serene.

These past few days, Qin Yu was basically shuttling between three points: the canteen, the break room,

and a large tree within the institute.

A pile of papers, a pen, leaning against the trunk of this big tree, the shade from its branches and leaves sheltering him from the heat of the sun.

Though occasionally, the gaps between the leaves, stirred by the wind, let in patches of dappled sunlight.

Then, he would sit like this for an entire day, from early morning until dusk.

Of course, Qin Yu rarely actually wrote anything on the pile of paper he held.

Even when he was pondering some mathematical problems,

his Super Brain, with its somewhat exaggerated memory, meant he didn’t need to constantly jot things down to aid his thinking.

Naturally, while mulling over some problems, Qin Yu didn’t just seem like he was perpetually daydreaming.

Occasionally, other researchers would discuss problems near this tree,

and Qin Yu would listen, even offering suggestions if they asked for his input.

This made it seem like,

rather than contemplating problems there, he was just escaping the heat.

Come nightfall,

after returning to the break room,

Qin Yu, employing his Intangibility, would leave the institute and continue his daytime thoughts elsewhere,

generally atop the snowy peak closest to the Negentropy Research Institute.

Then,

day after day went by like this.

Three months passed,

Qin Yu hadn’t written a single line of code.

He was only delving deeper into one complex mathematical problem.

However, the problem he was pondering had now gained a much clearer direction.

…

That same autumn.

Qin Yu took an academic paper on mathematics to Professor Xun Yiming, the head of the Information Denoising Institute at the Negentropy Research Institute.

After receiving this paper, Professor Xun Yiming

read it carefully.

Having just read the introduction and the title, and understanding exactly what problem Qin Yu had solved,

Professor Xun Yiming became immediately excited and enthusiastic.

But then, the further he read, the more bewildered he became.

It wasn’t that Qin Yu’s paper itself was problematic,

but although research on intelligent algorithms is closely linked to mathematics,

and over half the researchers in the Information Denoising Institute came from mathematics backgrounds,

reading such a pure math paper, especially one delving so deeply into such cutting-edge territory, remained overly obscure for Professor Xun Yiming, who focused on artificial intelligence algorithms.

“Researcher Qin, to be honest, I do not quite understand. Though I initially studied mathematics in university, it has simply been too long since I left pure mathematics research. The topics covered in this paper are quite challenging for me. I might need to trouble you, Researcher Qin, to explain it to me,”

Professor Xun Yiming spoke very sincerely, without pretending otherwise.

Qin Yu nodded slightly and didn’t say anything more.

He unpacked the paper’s contents and explained it broadly.

After spending half a day on it, setting aside the finer details, Professor Xun Yiming grasped the major points.

By then, Professor Xun Yiming’s face was flushed crimson.

After a long pause, he let out a deep sigh.

Then he stood up and simply said to Qin Yu,

“Researcher Qin, whatever you need, just say it. The institute, and the Negentropy Research Institute, will go all out to support you! If the institute can’t provide it, I’ll go to Negentropy and get it for you! If Negentropy doesn’t have it, I’ll ask Dean Tao to petition the higher-ups for it!”

“The best thing I’ve ever done might be inviting you, Professor Qin Yu, to join this institute.”

“You spent all these months, completely silent, and then hit us with something huge! Good! Excellent!”

Professor Xun Yiming found some parts of the paper impenetrable due to the specialized content,

but he understood perfectly well what problem this paper ultimately solved and how it impacted research on intelligent algorithms – after all, he was a senior professor who had devoted most of his life to the field of artificial intelligence.

Thus, enthusiastic and excited, he addressed Qin Yu like this.

“I need some people,”

Qin Yu responded with a smile.

At that moment,

with a new research direction established, he did indeed need some people to handle some highly tedious tasks.

From mathematics to the algorithmic model, and from the algorithmic model to the code… this entire process

had little to do with his Super Brain. Without hundreds of hands, he would surely struggle to accomplish it alone.

Of course…

If strong artificial intelligence was developed in the future, things would become much easier.

This kind of tedious work might be far simpler to hand over to strong artificial intelligence.

“Absolutely! I’ll have researchers from other teams at the institute assist you. If you have suitable candidates in mind, I’ll transfer them to you as well.”

Professor Xun Yiming stated directly and decisively.

The reason was simple.

Within what Qin Yu provided,

He saw the possibility of fulfilling a lifelong aspiration,

The chance to achieve the greatest goal since the founding of the Information Denoising Research Institute.

The opportunity for a powerful artificial intelligence, unlike any before, to be born.

A goal that had persisted for so long—

Any rational person would cling tightly to the slightest glimmer of hope.

Moreover,

From Professor Xun Yiming’s perspective, Qin Yu’s approach seemed very likely to succeed.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Nothing more. This is enough.”

…

Within the Information Denoising Research Institute, which had remained quiet for so long,

The shift from calm to intense activity happened almost instantly.

A flood of resources cascaded into the Intelligent Machinery research project led by Qin Yu.

When Professor Xun Yiming first gathered the research teams and announced the project,

Many teams naturally had their doubts.

However, once Qin Yu distributed his paper and briefly explained the concept,

The doubts and objections vanished.

Even in this era,

Even within the walls of the Negentropy Research Institute,

Rival factions still existed among research teams,

Mainly driven by competition over research philosophies.

But Qin Yu’s method didn’t involve winning over any faction.

It was pure, overwhelming capability.

Of course, in this era, philosophical divides also had an upside.

When Qin Yu’s research direction proved entirely beyond their existing ideas and frameworks,

The researchers simply… switched sides to Qin Yu.

In truth,

It wasn’t about transferring researchers into Qin Yu’s team.

It was Qin Yu directing all researchers across the entire Information Denoising Research Institute,

Guiding each team to collaborate under his leadership,

Advancing the Intelligent Machinery project precisely along the path he defined.

Within the institute now,

Every team, every researcher,

Felt what the researchers at Institute 011 had once experienced.

A sensation of explosive progress under Researcher Qin’s guidance despite a difficult project.

It seemed Researcher Qin Yu already held the clear solution in his mind.

All they needed was to follow the path he pointed out, and they would reach the answer.

Researcher Qin gave each participating team a clearly defined goal and task.

As each task was completed and the pieces came together,

The entire project surged forward—an immense leap.

This feeling was utterly thrilling for the researchers involved.

Driven by this momentum,

The atmosphere within the Negentropy Research Institute’s Information Denoising branch buzzed with fierce, focused energy.

…

Common Era, Year 262.

Qin Yu’s second year back at the Negentropy Research Institute.

A new intelligent program, developed by the Information Denoising Institute under his leadership,

Was installed into the era’s most advanced humanoid robot.

This marked the program’s first real-world application test after its completion.

“June 23, 262. 16:00. Device powering on. Program loading.”

“Device activation complete. Program loading complete.”