Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 114 Mathematical Problems
After the rocket launch, Jiang Yang's attention shifted to another matter.

How is the deciphering of the alien script going?

Although it cannot be confirmed at this moment that the images composed of lines and dots are alien script, people have already accepted it as such.

Gu Changshan said, "Domestic experts are developing a decryption plan and writing a decryption algorithm."

The task force is requisitioning domestic supercomputers and contacting foreign countries in an attempt to include them as well.

The work should be nearing completion; it should be operational in a few hours.

Jiang Yang was slightly surprised: "Supercomputing?"

Gu Changshan said, "Yes. Deciphering these characters is actually a problem of mathematics and computer science."

Hearing Gu Changshan's explanation, Jiang Yang gradually understood.

Contrary to my previous imagination of deciphering alien scripts, this process did not actually involve many ancient script deciphering experts, but rather more related to mathematics and computer science.

Ancient script deciphering experts decipher ancient scripts primarily by studying the evolution of these scripts, combining archaeological discoveries, and comparing them one by one with existing archaeological traces.

For example, the character "豕" (shǐ) is composed of a roof radical (宀) and a pig radical (豕). Knowing that "豕" means pig, and that the roof radical (宀) clearly signifies something being covered or obstructed, and combining this with the history of human civilization, after some research and comparison, one can understand that this character means "home".

However, these alien scripts are clearly unlikely to be related to anything on Earth, thus ruling out the possibility of deciphering them through existing ancient script experts.

But there is another way people try to decipher it.

First and foremost, it can be confirmed that since it is written language, it must contain some kind of logic. The arrangement of one character with another is regular and meaningful; it is unlikely to be a random arrangement.

The study of the inherent arrangement rules of characters falls under the category of linguistic logic.

However, studying only its linguistic logic is insufficient to decipher its content. Furthermore, there are no other references available.

That leaves only one method of deciphering the code.

Exhaustive brute force.

The so-called brute-force enumeration method involves assigning a number to each character, assuming it has a certain meaning (e.g., one character is assumed to be "home" and another is assumed to be "sun"), and then replacing the original characters with this set of rules. Artificial intelligence is then used to analyze whether the logic of the article is coherent and whether it conforms to linguistic rules after the replacement.

If the resulting article is illogical after this replacement, then it can naturally be ruled out.

At the same time, if a replacement solution shows a sufficiently coherent logic in the early stages, such as the combination of two characters being considered to mean "Little A's house", but the same character representing "house" appears after the character identified as "wind", and the two combine to form the meaningless character "wind house", then this replacement solution will also be rejected.

There are approximately 3000 commonly used Chinese characters in modern times. From this perspective, each alien script could have 3000 possible meanings. However, it's important to remember that an alien script might not correspond to just one Chinese character.

It may correspond to a single word, or even a whole paragraph.

In this way, the possible meanings of each alien script could be countless.

The number of possibilities that need to be eliminated one by one when using this alternative is so large that it is impossible to count them all.

Therefore, the introduction of supercomputing and the use of AI to assist in the elimination of problems became inevitable.

This explains why the Doomsday Project Command not only requisitioned all available supercomputers domestically, but also proactively sought to requisition supercomputers globally.

The computational workload is simply too great; only through global collaboration can the meaning of these characters be deciphered in a short period of time.

"I wonder if the other countries will cooperate with us..." This was a worry that surfaced in Jiang Yang's mind. As if sensing Jiang Yang's thoughts, Gu Changshan said in a deep voice, "The work is progressing very smoothly at present."

……

On the other side of the world, in a spacious office, a large group of people dressed in military uniforms or expensive suits gathered together.

Ahead, the president, with his blond hair tinged with white, listened attentively to a subordinate's report with a serious expression.

"...Following the nationwide industrial mobilization in the early stages, that country carried out frequent and numerous heavy-lift launch missions."

Its failure rate is extremely high. Furthermore, intelligence indicates that at least one-fifth of these rockets were manned launches.

Ultimately, 60 out of 292 rockets were successfully launched.

Ballistic studies have shown that these rockets all have the same launch target: the moon.

However, as of now, we still don't know what they discovered on the moon that made them so, well, crazy. Yes, I can only describe their actions as crazy.

At the same time, based on comprehensive analysis, I believe that their actions, whether it was the previous brazen launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the requisition of our country's superconducting material production plants, the nationwide industrial mobilization, the current frantic rocket launches, or the just-received request to requisition all supercomputers within our country... should all be based on the same event framework.

These events are not unrelated; they belong to the framework of the same larger event.

The subordinate closed the document in his hand, looked at the president and his colleagues, and said in a heavy voice, "So, should we agree to their request to requisition our supercomputer?"

A buzz of discussion instantly filled the conference room.

After a moment, a soldier with a resolute face raised his hand to speak.

I object.

Supercomputing involves my country's core interests and secrets, and we cannot simply hand it over to them.

Considering the current situation, their previous launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles that passed through our territory, and the interception of our missiles, has already caused a significant drop in our national prestige.

"Gentlemen, do you know what it means to comply with their demands now?"

"I object too."

In an instant, everyone in the meeting room expressed their opinions, some opposing and some supporting. But regardless of whether they opposed or supported it, they all had sufficient and seemingly irrefutable reasons.

The murmurs finally subsided. All eyes were now on the president.

At this moment, for some reason, the president, who usually appeared strong and aloof and seemingly invincible, showed signs of aging.

He remained silent for a long time, a full ten minutes, before finally raising his head.

"Gentlemen, put aside your hatred, resentment, and prejudice, and accept reality."

Although they were the ones who led this incident, we shouldn't fight for the right to speak at such a crucial moment.

As long as people live, nations exist, and civilization continues, there is a future to speak of…

(End of this chapter)