Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 97 What a terrible name (Bonus chapter)
Crisis Year 20 (2027)
The Trisolaran fleet is 4.15 light-years from the solar system.

Frankly speaking, none of the staff at the Tianjin Supercomputing Center anticipated that the first scientific and technological advancement Luo Qing would want to learn about after 'emerging from seclusion' would be related to computers.

Therefore, when Luo Qing descended from the sky at the supercomputing center, the researchers at the supercomputing center hurriedly got out of bed and gathered around this Wallfacer.

"What brings you here?" a technical manager asked.

Because Luo Qing's visit was sudden and late at night, there were no officials or guides to greet him; only this group of straightforward computer engineers, which was exactly what Luo Qing wanted.

Luo Qing explained, "I believe that computers are currently the technology with the greatest potential and the broadest prospects among all applied technologies, without exception."

The technical lead laughed heartily: "Don't let outsiders hear this. We'll just brag to ourselves."

“I’m serious,” Luo Qing said.

"It's an honor to receive recognition from the Wallfacers. Would you like to visit our server room?" the technical lead warmly invited.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. By the way, what should I call you?" Luo Qing asked.

"My surname is Tu, you can just call me Tu Gong."

Strolling through the hangar of the Tianjin Supercomputing Center, Luo Qing looked at the massive integrated computing center, which resembled a shipping container, and asked, "Tu Gong, are computers still in the era of large-scale integrated circuits? I remember before I went into seclusion, parallel computing was already quite mature: multi-processors improved computing power, and vector computing and distributed systems were the mainstream."

"You know so much!" the technical lead exclaimed in surprise.

Luo Qing said self-deprecatingly, "I can't create this thing; I'm all talk and no action."

The technical lead said, "The parallel computing computers you mentioned are quite famous in China, such as the 'Galaxy' supercomputer series, but those are old machines that can perform 100 billion calculations per second."

"So, there's been a major technological breakthrough?" Luo Qing asked.

"It's not a major breakthrough, just dancing in shackles. Look at this," the person in charge pointed to the huge thing that occupied almost the entire cabin.

The Tianhe-3 series supercomputers represent the limits of traditional von Neumann architecture computers; they were built through brute force, with a unit construction cost equivalent to 10 billion RMB. They are pure power guzzlers; without the extensive geothermal power plants built utilizing the heat from the Taiyuan volcano, there might not have been enough electricity. Turning this thing on once would cause a power outage in half of Tianjin.

"The geothermal power plant in Taiyuan? What about controlled nuclear fusion? It's been eight years, and it's still not widespread?"

"Military use has been widespread, but civilian use will have to wait another two years. However, it will be soon. The burning coal will soon contribute a final bit of power to mankind. Liu Xin finally did something worthwhile. Coal gasification was not used, but geothermal power generation was. Humanity cleverly got through the most difficult energy transition period."

Seeing that the topic had gone astray, the technical director steered it back on track: "'Tianhe-3's computing power reaches the trillions per second, which is equivalent to the total computing power of one billion 'Galaxy II' supercomputers. It can also calculate the data of Wallfacer Radiaz's stellar nuclear bomb and Wallfacer Hines's human brain model."

The computational workload was in the trillions, which far exceeded Luo Qing's expectations. He exclaimed in surprise, "So fast? It's only been eight years. I thought it would be amazing if the computational workload could be advanced by a few hundred times. You've advanced it by tens of thousands of times!"

"But that's all." The technical lead's smile was somewhat awkward. "In reality, Russia couldn't develop a supercomputer of this level due to insufficient funding. The EU, led by France and Germany, and the US have both developed similar supercomputers. Although the Tianhe-3 is the most advanced, it doesn't really represent a generational leap. In the field of computing, a difference of less than a hundred times in computing power means they belong to the same generation of products."

"Can't we keep improving it? For example, make the future 'Tianhe-4' even bigger! Materials are not a problem, I can approve them for you. Energy is not a problem either, just build two more controlled nuclear fusion reactors."

“The macro-level direction is indeed not the problem,” the person in charge adjusted his glasses. “The problem lies in the micro-level.”

"How to say."

"Because of the limits of electron deflection and Moore's Law, it is meaningless to pile up more macroscopic materials. Traditional electronic computers, in the 81-year history of electronic computer development, have reached their end... Continuing to delve into research may improve it by tens, hundreds or even thousands of times, but it is meaningless, too big and not practical."

"I see... So, will this level of computer be sufficient for the future?"

Not only the technical lead, but all the engineers who heard this shook their heads.

The answer is obvious.

“Compared to the tip of the iceberg of technology that the Trisolarans have revealed through the sophons, we know that their computer technology far surpasses that of humans. Our most advanced computer may just be a slightly more advanced abacus in their eyes.” “An abacus is better than nothing,” Luo Qing comforted him. He felt he had to do something about it, so he asked, “Tu Gong, are there any other directions for computer development, non-electronic, non-Von Neumann architecture?”

"Yes, we do," the person in charge said.

"Are you going to say 'but' after this?" Luo Qing asked.

The person in charge gave a thumbs up: "But basically all of them failed. After you went into seclusion, China, the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom each took the lead in a new type of computer route, namely quantum computer, photonic computer, nuclear computer, biomolecular computer, non-Von der Rohe computer, hybrid computer, etc. It was a flourishing of ideas, but unfortunately none of them succeeded."

Luo Qing guessed the answer: "Because of Zhi Zi?"

"Partly, but not entirely, it's because of sophons," the person in charge explained. "China's quantum computer and the United States' photonic computer, one utilizes properties such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement in quantum mechanics to perform calculations using qubits, and the other utilizes the interaction between photons, based on the wave nature and interference effect of photons to achieve information processing and transmission. Both of these methods lack theoretical support and belong to the category that were strangled by sophons, and research on them was stopped long ago."

"The Russian nuclear computer is purely theoretical, using nuclear processes such as nuclear reactions or radioactive decay to perform calculations. The complex data involved requires the assistance of a computer of the same level. It's like shining a flashlight on a solar lamp—it has an effect, but it's meaningless."

"The Japanese biomolecular computer went astray and failed. As for non-Von der Leyen computers, they fall into the category of wanting an egg without a chicken. The essence of hybrid computers is to assemble outdated technologies. Unfortunately, computers are not a step-by-step project. No matter how many hybrid computers are assembled, they are still the same. In fact, they are not as good as the 'Tianhe-3' which focuses solely on Moore's Law."

After the technical manager finished speaking, he realized that Luo Qing was deep in thought.

After a long silence, Luo Qing suddenly spoke.

"Have I ever said that I am actually in a quantum state?"

"Huh?" The person in charge looked bewildered.

Luo Qing gave a live demonstration of what 'Schrödinger's Wallfacer' means, collapsing into a state of destruction and then collapsing back to its original state.

Amidst the bewildered gazes of many, Luo Qing patted the person in charge on the shoulder.

"Tu Gong, where's that quantum computer? Take me to see it. I can fill in the missing theoretical gaps! That's something even a sophon can't limit!"

The group hurriedly led the Wallfacer to the semi-finished quantum computer, which was pitifully small compared to the Tianhe-3 supercomputer, only the size of a suitcase.

Does this thing have a name?

"Yes, the initial version was called 550A, and this is the third generation, called 550C. Unfortunately, due to theoretical limitations, it cannot be further iterated. Otherwise, we would have liked to name it 550W," the person in charge said.

"What a terrible name! It would sound better if it were MOSS backwards," Luo Qing complained, pointing at the unfinished quantum computer.

“From now on, it will be renamed 'Tianyan' computer. This is part of the plan.”

"Is there any story behind this name?" Tu Hengyu asked.

"The heavens evolve into forty-nine, and man escapes one; people in my hometown often say this," Luo Qing said earnestly.

：
Electron shift refers to the phenomenon where the motion state or distribution of electrons changes when affected by external factors. This change can be spontaneous. Excessive electron shift can cause electronic components that were originally operating stably to fail. Solid-state drives based on integrated circuit engraving have a maximum storage life of 50,000 years, which is due to the influence of electron shift.

Common causes of electron shift include: the effect of an electric field (electric force), chemical reactions (exchange of electrons, such as the formation of covalent bonds), chemical bond formation (in a molecule, electrons are shifted by the nuclei of atoms with strong electron-attracting ability, which I call electron bulls), redox reactions (please refer to high school chemistry), and redshift of spectral lines.

：

Moore's Law states that the number of transistors integrated on a computer chip of the same area doubles every 18 to 24 months. As transistor size shrinks and integration density increases, the physical limits are approached, challenging the rate of increase in Moore's Law. Currently, in this book and the original text, traditional electronic computers have reached the limits of Moore's Law and will no longer increase.

It is generally believed that the world's first electronic computer was ENIAC, invented in 1946. It used 18800 vacuum tubes, occupied 170 square meters, weighed 30 tons, and could perform 5000 additions per second, ushering in the era of electronic computers. The text states 2027, which, after subtracting, is 81 years later.

(Shuizhu will try her best to include irrelevant content in the author's notes and strongly opposes the practice of spamming to generate gold coins.)

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(End of this chapter)