Switzerland.
Neural Network Science Research Center.
Sarrot stood in the hall, looking around left and right. He looked a little unease.
Surrounded by people wearing white coats, he looked out of place.
As for why he was here…
This was a long story.
Ever since leaving the United States and returning to his hometown in the Netherlands, Sarrot had given up on fame and fortune. By relying on his accumulated experience when he worked with Professor Lu, he made a series of outstanding achievements in the field of graphene. He was now considered an expert in his respective field.
He did not expect this. When all kinds of awards and opportunities came flying toward him, he actually felt a little overwhelmed.
Then Cornell University sent him an email, promising US$30 million of research funding.
However, after he was previously approached by the FBI, he had already given up on his home country. He had no intention of ever returning.
Even though the European academic community wasn’t as strong, it was still a good place for him to do academic research.
Two days ago, when he was traveling from Amsterdam to Geneva to attend an academic conference, he suddenly received a call from an old friend from thirty years ago, saying that his friend planned to show him something amazing.
This was why he was here.
He was contemplating whether to give his friend a call when he heard a voice from the side of the corridor.
“Welcome! My friend, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting for you.”
Sarrot looked over and saw an overweight old man, who was on the verge of becoming bald. The old man walked over with a smile on his face.
Sarrot struggled to match the face with a name. He shook the old man’s hand and spoke.
“Hey… We haven’t seen each other in decades, right?”
“Actually, three decades,” Professor Lumiere said as he reminisced about the past. He smiled and continued, “I think when I began researching biology, we started to stop seeing each other.”
Sarrot: “… Actually, I don’t really understand why you did that, you gave up on a promising field.”
“Aren’t you the same? Giving up on computer science, going to materials science instead.”
Sarrot’s eyebrows twitched as he coughed.
“Actually, that was due to circumstance… Also, I realized that materials science is more suitable for me than computer science.”
“Same for me, life is full of surprises. But thanks to majoring in computer science, researching neural network becomes a lot easier…” Lumiere smiled as he patted his friend’s arm. He said, “Come with me. I’ll show you something amazing.”
When they studied at the University of Amsterdam, both of them majored in information engineering. Later on, Sarrot got a master’s degree at Cornell University and met his supervisor, eventually becoming a materials science researcher.
Fortunately, his supervisor helped him get a lecturer job. However, Sarrot did not stay on the path of academia. Instead, he went to the west coast, to Silicon Valley. Using his reputation as an ex-professor at Cornell University, he was able to receive funding and acquire his own laboratory… which was eventually bought by Lu Zhou.
Sarrot admitted that he loved to brag and exaggerate, taking advantage of loopholes. However, most of the time, he was forced into the wrong position.
But he was now a changed man.
For some reason, Sarrot saw himself in Lumiere…
Lumiere was exactly the same as himself a few years ago.
As expected, when he followed Lumiere to an office and watched Lumiere pick up a stack of papers from the table, Sarrot was furious.
“This is what you wanted me to see?”
Lumiere: “This is Dr. Z’s thesis! You must have heard of him, he was the man who saved the world.”
Sarrot: “I mean, you made me take an hour train from Geneva just to show me a paper I could have downloaded from arXiv myself?”
Lumiere wasn’t scared, and he spoke in an exaggerating tone.
“Oh, my friend, you have no idea how much impact this paper made in the biology field… especially the neural network field!”
Sarrot said, “You’re ignoring my question!”
“But that’s not the point!” Professor Lumiere pointed toward the paper and said, “Listen, we’re scholars, let’s focus on the paper itself.”
“But…”
“No buts! Let’s win a Nobel Prize first.”
Wait a second, I have the right to be angry at Lumiere.
Why is he yelling at me?
Sarrot was a little blinded by the situation, especially when he heard the word Nobel Prize.
“… Nobel Prize?”
“Yes, Nobel Prize! This is definitely a Nobel Prize-worthy research. Its impact is no less than John von Neumann’s influence on computers…”
Sarrot’s eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.
“But the author of this paper is Dr. Z… What does that have to do with us?”
[Compilation Framework for Neural Signal and Electrical Signal Conversion]
The paper title sounded quite interesting.
If this was the same Dr. Z that solved the Mars bacteria crisis, it should be a legitimate paper.
But the problem was…
What did it have to do with him?
He was only a graphene materials scientist.
Lumiere saw the confusion in his friend’s eye, and he patiently explained, “The problem is that this paper alone isn’t worthy of a Nobel Prize, maybe not even worthy of the Turing Award. But the paper provides a chance of making a breakthrough in biological neural networks! Do you understand what I mean? The only requirement of winning the Nobel Prize is the research result. But the entire field is in a bottleneck right now.
“But now, the situation has changed!
“This paper gives a completely new explanation for the formation process of biological neural network signal transmission and vision and proposes a procedural compilation framework for the conversion of neural and electrical signals. The work is absolutely groundbreaking. Do you know what it means for this technology to be invented?”
Sarrot listened to Lumiere as he flipped through the paper in his hand.
“… Means that science fiction has become reality? I remember seeing this in Ready Player One.”
Lumiere said, “It’s not that superficial stuff, you think this is only a video game? It’s way more than that! It can change our perception of the Internet! But basically, all you need to know is that this technology will change the world!”
“You didn’t answer my previous question,” Sarrot said with the paper in his hand. “So, what does this have to do with me?”
Lumiere said in a serious manner, “Do you believe this is a technology that will change the world?”
Sarrot: “… If you say so.”
Lumiere: “Thank you! If this technology comes to life, don’t you think the Nobel committee will consider awarding the inventor?”
Sarrot: “There’s no Nobel Prize in computer science.”
“But there is for medicine and chemistry! Think about it, Lumiere and his friend Sarrot… as well as Dr. Z, expanded on the research of biological neural networks and the connection between neural systems and computer systems. They will be awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Considering the fact that Dr. Z remains anonymous, the prize money will be divided equally by us.”
Lumiere cleared his throat and spoke in a solemn expression.
“I’m sincerely inviting you, my friend… Do you want to join us?”
Sarrot went silent.
Even though he no longer pursued vanity, the Nobel Prize was the highest honor in academia…
To be honest, he was a little tempted.
After a few seconds of thinking, he spoke.
“… I’ll think about it.”
Professor Lumiere had a smile on his face.
Even though his friend didn’t agree instantly, Sarrot’s facial expressions were obvious…
Sarrot was tempted.
After Professor Sarrot left, Professor Lumiere paced back and forth in the laboratory excitedly.
“Graphene research should be fine. We have an expert in neural interface materials. Let me think who else we need… Oh yeah!”
Professor Lumiere suddenly had an idea, and he snapped his fingers.
Without hesitating, he sat down at his computer and opened a browser.
Soon after, a simple forum website loaded in his browser.
This was the dark web.
As a website that required special software and configuration to access, this forum, with less than 10,000 active users worldwide, served as an internet trading hub.
People used bitcoin to buy and sell things, both illegal and legal.
Professor Lumiere put out an offer on the investigation of Dr. Z’s email and phone number.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled.
What he needed to do now was to study Dr. Z’s paper and wait for Dr. Z’s phone number and email to appear in his mailbox.
Even if Dr. Z never left a trace of his contact information on the Internet, there was nothing these dark web hackers couldn’t do.
Even though this was quite an impolite thing to do, it was all in the name of science.
If he could recruit Dr. Z to his research team, there was no doubt his research would be more effective.
He knew that after chatting with Dr. Z, he could convince him to join the team…