Hot Wavelength

Chapter 34 (Reprint 2): Insulin

In November 2030, Liangguo Rocket City

Daphne Braun is several months pregnant, and her previous discomfort has gradually improved. Her belly is slightly protruding, and like most first-time mothers, she is looking forward to the happiness of holding her own child.

Michael is busy with work and often travels around the world, but whenever he has time, he returns to Daphne's side to chat with her and even carefully selects some light music to play for her. Michael says that prenatal education should start early, and listening to more music is beneficial for the baby.

Of the pieces Michael recommended, Daphne's favorite was the violin concerto, especially Kreisler's "Liebestraum" and "Liebestraum".

This year is a year of minimum sunspot activity, and April in Saskatchewan is colder than usual. In the afternoon, the sun remains high and the temperature is pleasant.

The two sat on an outdoor bench, the warm, humid air dappled with sunlight filtering through the palm trees. Cornflowers, a specialty of Saskatchewan, were scattered among the grass, emitting a delicate fragrance.

Daphne nestled in Michael's arm, stroking her belly, and whispered to him, "Do you hope I have a boy or a girl?"

“Either is fine. If it’s a boy, he’ll be as smart as me; if it’s a girl, she’ll be as beautiful as you,” Michael said.

Daphne feigned anger and asked Michael, "Are you saying I'm not smart enough?"

"Oh dear, my dear princess, can't a person have a chat? I'm just sending my blessings to our child. Who dares to say you're not smart?" Michael hurriedly explained.

Daphne wasn't really angry. She said, as if talking to herself, "Intelligence? Where do you think human wisdom comes from? Why do humans have spirituality and are smarter than other animals?"

“It’s really amazing. I can’t understand how the human brain can perform such complex calculations and storage with only a few dozen watts of bioelectric energy?” Michael continued. “One of my current focuses is replicating the human brain.”

Michael Max has been researching artificial intelligence for over a decade. While others pile up mathematical formulas and extend layers of logical reasoning, he chose a different path.

Michael firmly believes that the most powerful artificial intelligence will be a replica of the human brain. The network of hundreds of millions of neurons in the human brain does not rely on mathematical logic. In many cases, the human brain makes judgments by drawing upon prior experience.

The connection and integration of computers and the human brain is Michael's main research direction and ultimate goal in artificial intelligence.

At the same time, he plans to use superluminal waves to terraform Mars, heat its core, restart its magnetic field, create new oceans and an atmosphere with adequate oxygen content, and turn Mars into a second Earth.

Furthermore, Michael hopes to use artificial intelligence technology to completely unlock the secrets of the human brain, enabling human consciousness to break free from the limitations of the physical body and be freely copied and stored in silicon-based hard drives and networks.

Michael's imagination and courage are unparalleled. He successfully cured patients' related diseases by implanting chips into the skulls of volunteer patients. Later, he upgraded the contact-based chip implantation to a safer and more universal non-contact brain-computer interface.

Michael's self-designed VESSEL is the most successful example. He is already able to upload a portion of his memories and experiences to a supercomputer through VESSEL. When he engages in brain-computer interface thinking, the external brain provides him with faster and more precise "thinking ability".

The problem that troubles Michael is that the human brain’s consciousness is like a vast ocean, while Michael’s technology seems to be able to extract and access only a few drops of water. Can the consciousness in the human brain be completely or nearly completely replicated and uploaded to the cloud?

Michael's team included experts in computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as experts in life sciences and neuroscience. The latter told Michael that the human brain is so efficient yet consumes so little power because each of its modules can switch instantaneously between dormancy and high-speed operation.

Biologists told Michael that it is almost impossible to upload all of the human brain’s memory, computational processing, and input-output signal conversion functions to the cloud, unless all the functional modules of the human brain can be simultaneously in an excited state.

While drugs that can induce a state of excitement in the human brain do exist, the vast majority are hallucinogens, which are narcotics. Giving these drugs to volunteers would not only be a serious violation of the law, but would also cause direct harm to their bodies, making it clearly impractical.

Is there a substance that can stimulate the brain and excite it, but is not a drug and will not cause direct harm to the volunteers' bodies?

Sugar! The energy cycle in the human body through metabolism can be said to be the metabolism and circulation of various sugars. Michael told Daphne this simple yet interesting conclusion, which piqued her curiosity. Daphne asked, "If volunteers are given large amounts of sugar, their brains will be more easily excited. Could there be any side effects, like diabetes?"

“Look, who dares to say you’re not smart? That’s exactly the problem that’s been bothering me, which is why my brain-computer interface experiments have almost come to a standstill,” Michael replied.

"You can consult Erin. She is both a polymer biologist and one of the world's leading diabetes experts. There's gossip that media mogul Andre Iglesias married Erin, a diabetes expert, because he himself suffers from severe diabetes."

Without further ado, the two arranged to meet with Eileen the next day to discuss the matter.

Eileen is indeed a top-notch diabetes expert. Diabetes is a disease caused by the chronic accumulation of glucose in the blood, which cannot be metabolized normally.

This disease is caused by a decrease in the secretion level of a natural hormone in the body, which is the only hormone that can promote the conversion and metabolism of glucose. This hormone is insulin.

Eileen, having ascertained the topic of interest to the couple, said to Michael, "What a coincidence! After retiring, I stopped researching artificial insulin synthesis and am now exploring some interesting new avenues of research."

“Interesting research? I love doing this kind of thing,” Michael said excitedly, his eyes eagerly awaiting Eileen’s answer.

“One interesting approach is to look at the sugar we consume, to find healthy sugars, like the wild corn I told you about in the Mayan village,” Eileen said.

Michael suddenly realized that when he met Erin in the Mayan village a few days ago, he had wondered why a polymer biologist would go to southern Mexico to study ancient wild corn that was ten meters tall.

“Your research on corn is exactly what I’m looking for. I hope you can become a member of our brain-computer interface project and share your findings,” Michael said. “It would be wonderful if we could extract healthy sugars from wild corn that could provide subjects with a large amount of sugar to stimulate their brains without harming their bodies.”

Erin was very interested in brain-computer interfaces, and she both admired and trusted Michael, so she happily accepted his invitation.

Daphne asked curiously, "Besides wild corn, are there any other interesting directions for researching diabetes?"

"Insulin's function is to metabolize glucose, and glucose provides nutrients to the body in the blood. The more sugar, the more nutrients. When there is too much sugar, insulin cannot metabolize it, which leads to diabetes," Eileen continued. "In addition to the type and amount of sugar absorbed and the level of insulin, there is another factor that affects diabetes."

Clever Daphne counted on her fingers as she guessed, "Blood contains glucose, which is metabolized by insulin. Leaving aside sugar and insulin, another factor affecting diabetes is the blood itself, right?"

Eileen and Michael exchanged a glance. The latter smiled mischievously and shrugged, as if showing off his girlfriend's intelligence.

Images of the Indian boy Bharat and his grandmother Vanita flashed before Eileen's eyes. She had previously analyzed blood samples from villagers of this indigenous tribe.

Because of their custom, they refuse to use modern artificially synthesized drugs, so the blood flowing in their veins is both unique and magical.

Their red blood cells can carry more glucose and have a higher metabolic efficiency than normal people, which makes the incidence of diabetes in this tribe extremely low.

Michael greatly admired Erin's work, feeling that her research approach was somewhat similar to his own wild imagination. He exclaimed, "Ancient wild corn, ancient tribal villagers, magical blood—have you named this blood yet?"

“Original blood,” Eileen replied.

&
The poem composed of collected verses at the end of the chapter:
Knowing your spirit is inherently unharmed, Song, Song Xiang
Illness has weakened my physical strength. (Song Dynasty, Han Qi)

A small dose of elixir to replenish what is depleted, Ming Dynasty, Zhou Mengzhong

Cold-brewed cane tip sugar. (Clear, border bath ritual)
(End of this chapter)