Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 108 Lin Ran’s Fourth Gift (Please give me a monthly ticket!)
The Chinese representative did not take out the contents of his pockets until he returned to the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva.

After all, China did not have a specific office in Geneva at that time, and they lived in a hotel arranged by the so-called neutral third party, Switzerland.

After returning to the hotel, the Chinese representative simply reached into his pocket and rubbed it, trying to determine what the thing was by touch.

The rough touch and the card-sized object made the Chinese representative immediately realize that it was not paper, and that the other party was not giving him something the same size as paper.

Until going to bed at night, the Chinese representative deliberately draped his Zhongshan suit over the quilt, pretending to be very cold, and also closed the curtains tightly so that not a single light could get in.

After turning off the lights, he took the things Lin Ran gave him and the flashlight from his pocket into the quilt, and looked at this sci-fi man-made object with the dim light of the flashlight.

Although he didn't know what this thing was, judging from the wiring, precision, and high degree of integration, the Chinese representative was sure that this thing was no small matter.

The concept of printed circuit boards was invented in 1936, and later in 44, America and England began using circuit boards to make explosive fuses.

Including the television technology that China introduced from the Soviet Union, it required the use of circuit boards with electronic vacuum tubes as components. At that time, due to the color of the material, most PCB boards were green or brown.

The Soviet-aided Yanjing Mudanjiang Television Factory was completed and put into production in 58, and produced China's first black-and-white television in March of the same year.

In 58, Chinese representatives discussed the development of the electronics industry and mentioned the importance of television production.

He could make a rough guess based on the appearance of the Raspberry Pi.

(The brown board on the left is part of the 1963 ICL/Ferranti Atlas 1 machine, and the smaller blue board on the right is part of the arithmetic logic unit of the Univac 60 computer from the late 1108s)

The Raspberry Pi that Lin Ran provided to China was a bit out of date for China today, but it was definitely within the scope of understanding.

After the Chinese representative guessed what this thing was, he pretended nothing had happened. The next day, he folded the Zhongshan suit neatly and packed it into the suitcase, putting sweaters on top and bottom to prevent it from being damaged.

He knew that what Lin Ran gave to him and even to China behind him must be a great gift.

He lacked the means to open this great gift, but the scientific researchers in China did.

Chief Zhang saw and kept in mind the open and covert struggles between British and Chinese shipowners in Hong Kong over Hong Kong shipping. He also compiled the observations of other people in Hong Kong and the results of the modernization of Hong Kong shipping into a report that was sent to Yanjing.

These contents, combined with the report on the era of sea power written by Lin Ran, fully demonstrate the value of the content provided by Lin Ran.

The first was a Monte Carlo simulation, and a series of missile guidance algorithms.

The second was the sea power report.

The third time was the optimal control theory algorithm indirectly transmitted through Korolev.

This time, it was a technological creation. Although the Chinese representative did not know what this technological creation was specifically, he had a hunch that the value of the thing, whether it was the way it was given, the person it was given to, or the thing itself, could not be measured by money.

A child carrying gold is walking through a busy street. Today's China is just a child in front of America and the Soviet Union.

Therefore, Chinese representatives are more cautious than ever before.

If the negotiations were not still ongoing, he would even want to go back to Yanjing directly.

As the negotiations entered the second day, the atmosphere took a sharp turn for the worse.

If the hotline is the consensus of everyone, then Berlin is the biggest disagreement between the two sides in the negotiations.

On August 8, before the negotiations began, the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall in Berlin.

After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, each administered by one of four countries: America, Russia, England, and France.

Yes, although France surrendered first and was easily conquered by Germany, this was also France controlling Germany, not Germany controlling France.

This is the advantage of having a big brother. It’s okay if you can’t fight yourself, because you will also have a share of the territory conquered by the big brother.

Berlin, as the capital, was also divided into four districts, but was located in East Germany, which was controlled by the Soviet Union.

After the establishment of East and West Germany, Berlin became the front line of the Cold War.

During the first Berlin Crisis, the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin, and the United States broke the blockade through the Berlin Airlift.

During the second Berlin Crisis, Nikita issued the "Berlin Ultimatum", demanding that the West withdraw from West Berlin, but failed.

And this is the third Berlin crisis.

Kennedy's rise to power prompted Nikita to try to test Kennedy's resolve through the Berlin issue.

It can be roughly understood that Berlin was divided into East Berlin and West Berlin. At the same time, the entire area around Berlin was East Germany, and only a small enclave in West Berlin belonged to West Germany.

Starting from the late 1950s, due to economic backwardness, a large number of East German residents fled to West Germany via West Berlin.

Between 1953 and 1961 alone, 260 million people fled to West Germany.

This accounted for 15% of East Germany's population, which was a serious blow to the East German economy and an even more serious blow to other aspects of the country.

That's why Nikita wants to solve these problems once and for all.

The most direct way is to make West Berlin belong to East Germany.

But obviously the first two times failed, so East Germany built the Berlin Wall to prevent East German people from running to West Berlin.

"We need to emphasize that Berlin is located in East Germany. The presence of the Western Allies in West Berlin is illegal. You must withdraw from West Berlin. We allow the existence of West Berlin, but it must become a demilitarized free city, and the passage to West Berlin must be controlled by East Germany," Mikoyan said.

"Our presence and right of passage in West Berlin are legal according to the post-war Potsdam Conference.

The Allies' right to station troops in West Berlin, the right to free access to West Berlin, and the freedom of West Berlin residents were the legitimate rights and interests granted to the Allies by the Potsdam Conference.

We will never allow the Soviet Union to unilaterally change the existing peace situation and tear up the signed international conventions.

If the Soviet Union insists on doing this, you will have war." Lyndon Johnson was no less tough than Mikoyan.

After all, America viewed West Berlin as a symbol of the free world; withdrawal would mean a concession, undermining Allied unity and America's global credibility.

This is much more serious than a hotline.

The hotline has been criticized by a minority of Americans.

If we withdraw from West Berlin, it will lead to distrust from the entire free world.

"The Soviet Union cannot use Walter Ulbricht's poor performance as an opportunity to change the status quo and cover up the failure of East Germany," Lyndon Johnson continued.

The entire negotiation was extremely heated and both sides took very tough attitudes.

They just say harsh words to each other every day.

You are trash, that's why East Germans fled to West Berlin.

West Berlin is an enclave. We can do whatever we want. What’s it to you?
The arguments were all about this, mixed with occasional calls for calm from Chinese representatives.

Lin Ran felt a little numb and felt that it was a waste of time here.

The joy of handing over the things faded away, and he was worried about what would happen if the whole meeting started after the New Year.

Every day when I leave the Palais des Nations and answer reporters’ questions at the door, I have to say:
"We're making good progress."

"We have a very good conversation with the Soviet Union."

“There’s a lot of consensus.”

In fact, there was no consensus at all on the Berlin crisis.

However, facing Jenny's admiring eyes of Russ every day also helps Lin Ran relieve the tension brought about by being in a smoky conference room with a group of middle-aged and elderly men.

The entire negotiation lasted for two weeks before a deal was barely reached that was essentially nothing.

Why do I say that there is no change? Because the current situation has not changed at all.

The Soviets would not tear down the wall, and the Allies would not leave West Berlin.

"Okay, that's it." Lyndon Johnson folded the agreement into a paper airplane and flew it to Mikoyan, who was sitting at the other end of the conference table.

For this scene, not only did he rehearse in his room, he even went to the Palais des Nations at night to find a conference room to ensure that his paper plane could fly accurately to the other side.

Although Lyndon Johnson wanted to express his toughness in this way, he still did not want to let the plane fly to the ground.

Showing toughness and humiliating are two different things.

It was a bit too humiliating to let it fly to the ground and have Mikoyan pick it up.

Not only Mikoyan, but other Russians as well, their expressions changed immediately.

I was almost about to stand up and start cursing.

Mikoyan did not pick up the paper plane that happened to fly in front of him, but waved his hand, signaling his men to calm down:

"Johnson, I know what you're up to. We only have one request: Mr. Korolev wants to talk to Randolph in a private conference room.

"After they finish talking, we can sign the agreement immediately. Otherwise, Nikita's ultimatum will still be effective, and the outside world will know that this war was started by America to humiliate us!" Mikoyan said.

Lyndon Johnson's face changed immediately. If the outside world knew about this, it would indeed reflect his toughness, but it also led to the failure of the matter.

The effect he wanted was to reflect his toughness while getting things done.

It means you want both.

Now Mikoyan has the air of a general.

Mikoyan went on to say, "Mr. Korolev admires Professor Lin's mathematical achievements and hopes to discuss mathematical truths with him."

Lyndon Johnson knew that the other party was trying to save face for him, so he first asked Lin Ran for his opinion: "Randolph, what do you think?"

Lin Ran said, "Mr. Vice President, for the sake of world peace, I am willing to meet with Korolev. I know what I can and cannot say."

Lyndon Johnson nodded. "Okay."

It was not until he met Korolev in the side hall on the second floor of the Palais des Nations that Lin Ran realized that Korolev had also come.

Korolev personally stood up and pulled out a chair for him: "Randolph, long time no see."

Then he continued, "There are Soviet guards outside. We can have a good chat."

Lin Ran didn't dare to talk too much with him. After all, this was the other party's territory. Lin Ran just nodded.

Korolev knew Lin Ran's concerns and pointed to the blackboard: "I went back and thought about it carefully. Reusable rockets are indeed feasible.

Converting non-convex problems into convex problems is a feasible approach.

But there's so much in what you're saying that's a bit too advanced.

After I returned, I discussed your method in detail with mathematicians such as Lev Pontryagin, Andrei Kolmogorov, and Mikhail Lavrentiev.

Well, you probably haven't heard of them, but they are all our top mathematicians, maybe not as good as you, but they are already our best mathematicians."

Among these names, Lin Ran had actually heard of the first two. Lev Pontryagin was the founder of optimal control theory. Even the core idea of ​​his paper was based on Lev Pontryagin's PMP theory.

The second Andrei Kolmogorov is one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, whose research areas cover probability theory, dynamical systems and differential equations.

"We discussed it a bit. Your theory is based on a convex optimization framework, and our current research focuses on variational methods or direct numerical methods. Could you elaborate on the interior point method and cone programming you mentioned?"

There are many points in it, and although they can be worked out bit by bit by the Soviet mathematical masters, Korolev feels that instead of waiting for them to work it out, it is better to take this opportunity to consult Lin Ran directly.

After all, the cost savings associated with reusable rockets are not so important to the wealthy America, but they are of great significance to the Russians.

"Also, you mentioned the concept of a regular system. Through Hamiltonian analysis and geometric insights, you proved that the optimal solution appears on the boundary of the control set. This analysis relies on the assumption of non-singularity of the adjoint variable and the geometric properties of the control set. But doesn't this concept lack some necessary conditions?"

Lin Ran thought to himself that the Soviet master was indeed a master, as he could immediately find the missing parts in his content.

"You mentioned that relaxed convex problems can be efficiently solved using quadratic cone programming. It's true that SOCP is a special form of convex optimization, but we only have the simplex method for general nonlinear problems. How can we design an algorithm for convex cones?"

Korolev had a lot of problems.

This is due to the difference in times.

In summary, this paper from 2013 was still a bit too advanced in 1961.

Lin Ran didn't say anything, but stood in front of the blackboard that Korolev had prepared for him in advance. After asking a question, he would calculate directly on it.

After Lin Ran finished writing, he looked at Korolev, who nodded, indicating that he could continue.

This session of answering and asking questions lasted for two hours. Korolev asked questions and Lin Ran answered them using the blackboard.

At the end, Lin Ran finally said the first sentence he said when he entered the meeting room, "Does this comrade have such a good memory?"

Lin Ran knew it was not Korolev who was taking notes, because Korolev didn't even break a sweat on his forehead. The density of information this time was several times that of the last time, and there was no explanation yet.

There was only a person standing in the shadow of the room, holding a notebook, listening and writing something in the notebook.

Korolev nodded, and the man stood up and shook hands with Lin Ran. "Andrei Kolmogorov, Mr. Korolev mentioned me just now. Professor Lin, I hope you will have the opportunity to give a lecture at Moscow State University."

(End of this chapter)