"Lao Liu, whatever thoughts you have, feel free to speak your mind!" Huang He said with a smile.
"Yes!" Liu Nian nodded, then bit his lip and said, "Boss, esteemed seniors, big shots, I've heard countless objections from you. But in essence, all these objections boil down to the fact that a base-5 computer cannot meet the needs of the current market and cannot be supported by a large amount of software. However, I haven't heard any discussions about the computational capabilities of a base-5 computer."
"Therefore, I'd like to ask all the big shots: assuming the chip processing power is the same, how would the computational capabilities of a base-5 computer compare to a base-2 computer?"
"This..." everyone fell into contemplation again. It truly wasn't an easy question to answer, as no one had actually built a base-5 computer. They could only respond based on their own speculations.
But this question was hard to answer. After all, it was a subjective outcome, not an objective fact. If they were wrong, not only would they be embarrassed, but they might also lose the boss's trust.
"I'll answer this question. I'm not sure about base-5 computers, but I know that historically, there was a ternary computer, the 'Setun' computer from Moscow State University!"
"According to user experience, this computer indeed possessed stronger computational power compared to computers of the same era. It also had exceptional stability and accuracy. One of these computers is still running in a laboratory at Moscow State University after 50 years, processing information flawlessly!"
"And it's speculated that computers with higher bases might have greater computational power, provided that a perfect logical language that fully utilizes the different variables can be designed. However, this is merely a conjecture, and no one has ever proven whether base-5 computers are superior to base-2."
"In fact, the computers the Americans initially built were also decimal, but they found them far less convenient to use than binary ones, so decimal was abandoned."
"However, in my opinion, such comparisons are meaningless. A computer's computational power depends solely on its architecture, not its base."
"Therefore, in my view, base-5 and base-2 are the same, with no difference in advancement!" Ni Guangnan replied.
"No, I don't think so!" Just when everyone thought Ni Guangnan's words would settle the matter, another expert stood up. Huang He didn't recognize this expert, but Hu Jing quietly informed him that this expert was the company's sole specialist in artificial intelligence.
"I believe that base-5 offers more possibilities than base-2 at a fundamental level!" this expert stated assertively. "As we all know, binary, so to speak, uses 0 and 1 for carries, thereby representing all numbers. Each semiconductor can only yield two distinct results, 0 and 1, which is what humans traditionally perceive as right or wrong."
"But are 'right' and 'wrong' the only concepts in the human mind? No. Consider lies, for instance: there are lies, white lies, malicious lies, half-truths, and so on!"
"Human thinking and ideas are far more complex. For any given matter, there might be dozens of different perspectives, not just simple right or wrong. Is this also why humans worldwide have unthinkingly adopted base-10 to understand the world? It's because base-10 allows humans to have a richer understanding of the same thing, thereby mastering emotions, something machines absolutely cannot do, and ultimately becoming human!"
"If we can have base-5 computers, it will undoubtedly be a crucial breakthrough for intelligent computers. Perhaps artificial life will emerge from base-5 computers in the future."
"Oh really? And then computers will destroy humanity? Do you want to have a 'Matrix' scenario?"
"Those are the fantasies of idle novelists. Intelligent life will not destroy humanity. On the contrary, it will become a tool for us humans to explore the universe!"
"Stop, cut it out!" Huang He waved his hand and said, "We are here to discuss the matter of base-5 computers, not to discuss intelligent life. I just want to know if anyone can give me a definitive answer: is a base-5 computer superior to a base-2 computer?"
"We don't know, but roughly..." everyone shook their heads. After all, this was something without factual basis, and no one dared to claim they understood these matters completely. However, they all believed that a base-5 computer would possess computational capabilities far exceeding those of a base-2 computer!"
"Boss, we have a modern saying in China: practice leads to true knowledge. Since we don't know which is superior, base-5 or base-2 computers, why don't we actually build a base-5 computer and compare its computations with a similarly sized base-2 computer? Then we'll know who is stronger!" Liu Nian suggested.
"That's right, that's feasible!" Huang He nodded, then looked at Ni Guangnan and said, "Teacher, since you said you could complete the basic architecture within three months, I hope to have a most basic base-5 computer capable of only performing mathematical operations within six months. This shouldn't be a problem, right!" Huang He asked.
"Yes!" Ni Guangnan nodded. If it was just for verifying mathematical calculations, six months was indeed sufficient.
"In that case, everything else will wait until after six months!" Huang He nodded, and the meeting seemed to conclude.
"Boss, what about this Zuo Sicheng?" Liu Nian asked curiously. "After all, the main agenda of our meeting today also included the recognition of this Zuo Sicheng!"
"As Elder Ni just mentioned, although his answer has no practical developmental value, it has indeed solved the problem. The architecture he proposed can indeed be applied to this chip. Am I correct?" Huang He asked.
"Yes!" everyone nodded.
"In that case, we'll do as we said. Hu Jing, please make arrangements. We will hold a press conference shortly, and at the conference, our Jiangnan Group will directly reward Zuo Sicheng with a prize of 100 million US dollars!" Huang He said calmly.
"Yes, boss!" Hu Jing nodded, and everyone in the conference room couldn't help but tremble.
This was a colossal prize of 100 million US dollars! Huang He was actually willing to give such an enormous sum? More people were consumed by extreme jealousy, as they had worked their entire lives and still earned less than a fraction of that amount.
Moreover, Zuo Sicheng's proposal wasn't particularly groundbreaking. He simply used his imagination and found the answer from a base-5 perspective. The answer itself wasn't difficult; even a novice who had only studied process engineering for two or three years could easily arrive at it.
This was truly striking it rich by sheer luck.
As the experts marveled, they all felt that Zuo Sicheng was someone who had gotten rich purely through luck. They never considered why they themselves hadn't had such a flash of inspiration. How had they been so confined by binary? They hadn't even thought of using base-5 to solve the problem.
Soon, the people in the conference room gradually dispersed, leaving only Hu Jing and Huang He.
"Boss, regarding Zuo Sicheng, there's something I must report to you!" Hu Jing said softly.
"No need to say more, I already know. Zuo Sicheng is the person who caused me to fall into the manhole cover back then, and my mother was responsible for him becoming a vegetative state. She sent people to do it. I know all of this!" Huang He sighed.
After Huang He transmigrated, he initially knew nothing about Zuo Sicheng or this incident, as he had forgotten everything.
It wasn't until Leng Zhiwen mentioned their encounter that Huang He had people quietly investigate to uncover the truth of what happened back then.
As a result, he didn't discover anything else but found out about Zuo Sicheng's existence.
That's right, it was Huang He's family who sent people to beat Zuo Sicheng into a vegetative state, but not Huang He himself; it was Huang He's mother.
Huang He's mother was an extremely protective person. Upon learning that her son had died because of a hooligan, Huang He's mother could not suppress her anger and sent people to hire some individuals to take revenge on Zuo Sicheng and his accomplices.
Of course, Huang He's mother didn't order them to beat people into vegetative states at the time. She only said to break the opponent's legs.
Indeed, the others had their legs broken, but Zuo Sicheng was physically strong and resisted constantly. It was very difficult to deal with him when he was bent over, and they couldn't hold back at all. Thus, during the beating, he was inadvertently turned into a vegetative state.
Later, Huang He's father learned of this incident. Knowing that his wife had made a grave mistake, he worked behind the scenes to smooth over all the loose ends.
Meanwhile, he used a false identity to have people continuously send medical expenses to Zuo Sicheng every month, to alleviate his guilt.
This continued for over a year. Even after they both died in a car accident, this payment was not interrupted until the Jiangnan Group was on the verge of bankruptcy, at which point it stopped.
This was also the reason for Zuo Sicheng's death in another world; he truly had no more medical expenses, and his father, Zuo Muli, could no longer persist.
However, in this world, because of Leng Zhiwen's story, Huang He began investigating the past and thus discovered Zuo Sicheng's existence.
Without hesitation, Huang He ordered people to resume Zuo Sicheng's payments, even covering the arrears from the previous few months, ultimately giving the Zuo Sicheng of this world a vastly different destiny from the one in the other world.
But who would have thought that this person who had regained a new life would become such a genius?
"Then how should we handle him?" Hu Jing posed a tricky question. "Moreover, according to my investigation, Zuo Sicheng has already learned the truth of the matter through a former companion named Hou Hewu. Yet, even so, he still chose to join Jiangnan Group and participate in the Dragon Gate Plan. I believe he has ill intentions, wanting to use this opportunity to approach us, infiltrate our company, and then completely destroy us to avenge his amnesia."
"But he has indeed contributed a base-5 solution to me. I have a magical premonition that this will become the greatest weapon in the hands of our Jiangnan Group, and we can use him to change the world!" Huang He smiled slightly. "Never mind, I am a person of my word. Everything remains as it is."
"I'll give him the missing 100 million US dollars, and I'll let him become our researcher through the Dragon Gate Plan."
"Should I keep a close eye on him to prevent him from doing anything detrimental to the company?" Hu Jing asked.
"There's no need. What use is guarding against a thief a thousand days a year?" Huang He sighed. "Actually, many things in this world are easy to resolve. It's not that he wants revenge, but rather that I owe him an apology!"