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Chapter 166: The True Meaning

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On the 21st, Zhong Xin International dispatched several trustworthy technical personnel to Xing Hai Technologies’s fourth R&D factory to study the improvements of the chip manufacturing process using the virtual factory technique. After a few days and a few dozen calibrations, they acquired satisfying results. In the virtual factory, the 14-nanometer chip’s defect-free rate had improved to 96.1% from the previously stagnant 95%. Production efficiency had also increased by 1.2%. This progress was rather astonishing. The cost price involved was no more than the several million dollars of electrical bills generated during the operation of the supercomputer.

“Continue optimizing and improvement efforts. Strive to push the chip defect-free rate above 97% and increase production efficiency by 5%! Subsequently, make actual adjustments on the production line and convert the virtual factory into an actual factory.”

It would basically not have too big of a deviation in actuality for virtual factories to realize an improvement under 5%. If it were to be over 10%, the error would increase drastically. Therefore, the ideal research procedure would be: improve by a small margin within the virtual factory — make adjustments in reality, obtain real feedback data — continue improving within the virtual factory. The key was to make small but quick steps.

If the operating powers of the supercomputer were faster and simulations were more realistic, R&D could be done from entirely within the virtual factory from scratch to producing the actual product. The entire dataset could be produced within the virtual factory and it could be applied directly in the real world! The only requirement was that the supercomputers operating speed must be over one trillion billion times per second!

As of current times, the most advanced supercomputer was Z nation’s Heavenly River -3E. Its operation speed was just 100 billion times per second, which was very distant from the demands to attain “Complete virtual development.”

Even so, using even low-performance supercomputers to assist in R&D would help save a massive amount on R&D costs and improve efficiency substantially. Chen Jin decided that Xing Hai Technologies would acquire more supercomputers, and at the same time develop their own supercomputer with better performance. Subsequently, they could upload mass amounts of “Intelligent simulation techniques” into its system and establish more “virtual factories” to assist in chip manufacturing and design, research on new materials, R&D on the high-end medical equipment... its field of application was limitless. The progression speed of achieving results starting from scratch would be very astonishing.

“This is the bright future! No matter how strong the human brain is, how could it possibly be more powerful than a supercomputer with an operating speed of N billion times per second? Even if you gather 10 thousand school-tyrants to burn their neurons for 10 years straight, it will still not be as good as a virtual factory running for a year. Certainly, we will still need talents in the future, not those who follow the existing rules, but those with a brilliant creative mind! We don’t need you to be a jack of all trades, knowing a little bit in every field would suffice. For problems that you really cannot tackle, ask the Little Star learning machine; for practical operations, use the virtual factory... in the end, by just knowing the principles and through countless trial and error, even a slag like me could find the right way and produce an advanced chip. Mastering the chip technology all by oneself is not a fantasy! In our current trend in technological advancements, insisting on using exam-oriented education is nothing but a joke. It will never be able to produce talents that would fulfill future demands.”

This was then reason why Chen Jin released the Little Star learning machine first. He was laying out his plans in advance, cultivating talents that he needed the most. For sure, this process would definitely bring forth pain, turmoil, and massive change to the society, which would affect the fates of countless people. But compared to the bright future that lay ahead, this little price that people must pay would only become the symbol of an era that would gradually be forgotten.

...

on the 1st of October, Chen Jin received a message on WeChat. Su Yun, who was usually at the passive end, sent a message to him. “Chen Jin, I would like your help with something.”

“What is it?” Chen Jin felt a little odd; this was the first time Su Yun approached him for something. Normally, aside from “hi” and “bye” and a few greeting sentences, she never had her own request for him.

“My brother wants a Little Star Second Gen learning machine... is it possible for you to get me one? I can pay extra for it.”

“Little Peng?” Chen Jin was surprised. “I asked Little Peng before in our family chat group. I asked him, ‘you will be sitting for the College Entry Examinations next year, do you want me to give you a Little Star?’ He said that he won’t need one... why did he suddenly change his mind?”

“Actually, Little Peng just doesn’t want to increase our burden. He also thought that he was capable enough to get admitted to the best university. But a few days ago, in his monthly test, he dropped to fifth place in class and fell out from the top 30 for his overall ranking in his school... he never got such a bad ranking before.”

Her brother, Su Zipeng, was usually in the first or second place in class and in the top 10 in his school.

“Was he not in his usual self?”

“Nope, he was perfectly fine. He even outperformed himself in mathematics and got full marks.”

“Then why did his ranking drop so much? Were there people who cheated with the Little Star learning machine?”

“Nope, the invigilators in his school were very strict, it was impossible to cheat with the Little Star learning machine, which is as big as an iPad. It was just because the results of those who bought a Little Star learning machine had improved by a large scale!” Su Yun explained.

After the rankings for the monthly test were released, Su Zipeng fell into extreme anxiety. He, who did not want to burden his family, had no choice but to request his parents to buy him a Little Star learning machine. His contemptuous attitude towards the device changed. Isn’t it just a learning machine, how great can it actually be? Don’t overstate it too much.

For students who did not enjoy learning, even acquiring 10 Little Star learning machines would be useless. Besides, in the current education system, the student’s academic performances still ultimately fell into their own hands. The “Tree of Knowledge” in Little Star might be very advanced, but knowledge inside textbooks in school also followed the chronological order. Similarly, the knowledge checkpoints could also be mastered. The “Homework Guide” function packed in Little Star, which could solve any question, was indeed marvelous, but it did not mean that the students themselves had mastered the answering techniques. They would still have to do the exam paper on their own.

Su Zi Peng did inquire from his friends about the “Answers For All” function that was very popular recently. He thought that it was interesting, but would not be very helpful for his studies. The conclusion that he made was that this $8,000 product was merely a gag. However, after the monthly test, he altered his judgments. His face was solemn as a tremendous sense of crisis emerged within him.

He had no choice but to let go of his contempt towards the device and look at it seriously. Via the thorough investigations he conducted on his contemporaries, he gradually realized the splendor of the Little Star learning machine: on Little Star’s “Tree of Knowledge,” not only did it allow people to have a better grasp on the knowledge checkpoints, but it also allowed a person to visually conceive their weaknesses and thereby make improvements. Little Star’s “Homework Guide” function could indeed solve many difficult problems, which felt a little like cheating. However, one could activate the “Challenge Mode” to solve tricky questions with step-by-step hints. For most of the questions, Little Star did not only provide one approach to the solution, but it was also a few or even a dozen ways! One could find the approach that was the most suitable and most understandable for themselves... more ways and more complete than the approaches taught by teachers, and was way clearer throughout and easy to understand. Some problem-solving ideas were so exquisite that it would make people scream out of amazement. No matter how great a teacher was, they could never reach that level.

Another thing was that in terms of efficiency in doing exercises, the others could finish 10 sets of mathematics question papers in a day with the help of the Little Star learning machine, while he could only do at max two sets of questions per day. Sometimes, he would get stuck on a tricky question for a whole period, while the others chose to grasp the best method from the multiple approaches provided by Little Star to tackle the question.

There were two modes of learning, one being “seeking answers by yourself” which allowed one to remember more deeply; the other one was “choose the most suitable method from multiple approaches.” There was great controversy on which learning mode was better and more efficient. Initially, Su Zipeng thought that “seeking answers by yourself” was better. No matter how many alternative methods the learning machine provided, if one did not carve it into their memory, it would still be forgotten in time.

But after the results for the monthly test were released, three of his classmates who were clearly weaker than him actually surpassed him. One of them, who usually roamed around the middle ranks and was normally 100 marks behind him, skyrocketed to the second place in class, outpacing him by over 30 marks. After the results of that classmate significantly rose, the sentence that the person kept on saying over and over again was, “The Little Star learning machine is my system to become a curve wrecker, it was marvelous!”

For students who were willing to learn, the Little Star learning machine became the ‘learning weapon’ in their hands, just like tigers implanted with wings. Therefore, Su Zipeng could not sit still any longer! “If this goes on, I, who originally had hoped to enter a prestigious university, might not even get admitted into first-tier universities. The advantage that those with a Little Star learning machine possess is simply too big! If I do not buy a Little Star myself, there will be more and more people that will surpass me, and my ranks will get lower and lower, and in the end... maybe I could only get into a normal university. No, I must buy one! I will lose if I don’t get one!”

Thinking of this, Su Zipeng, who was extremely anxious, immediately called home.