The End of Technology

According to the time schedule of this forum, everyone must move to the lecture hall to start the meeting in the afternoon. But obviously this was an ideal estimate, and ultimately allowed on-site scholars to observe the anti-gravity materials on-site until nightfall.

Yes, the end result is a whole day spent on the playground. This means that although the material can be fused, it is actually extremely hard, otherwise a few grams might have to be picked away.

Of course, the indulgence is only for this afternoon.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the staff began to take further measures to persuade all scholars to leave the venue. Then a heavily armed convoy drove into the playground again and transported the materials away. Until the convoy carrying important cargo disappeared from the sight of the scholars on site, these people could finally go to Ningyuan Canteen to enjoy the dinner that had been prepared long ago.

On the way to Ningyuan, more than a hundred scholars were divided into small groups of twos and threes. But it can be seen that the vast majority of people are discussing something with serious expressions, and a small number of people appear to be extremely excited or worried. Only one could remain calm.

In fact, most people wanted to communicate directly with Ning Zi, but the young man had already left the scene when he announced that they could observe the materials in an orderly manner.

…

On the way to Ningyuan, Colin Drost, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly asked Tim Cook beside him: "Tim, why did Ning Zi think of inviting you to this meeting?"

"Huh?" Tim Cook, who was obviously distracted, glanced at Colin beside him with an inquiring look.

"Why did Ning Zi invite you?" Colin Drost repeated the question just now.

"Oh, I came to visit him because of business issues, and then he invited me to stay a few more days, what? What do you think?" Tim Cook responded casually, without going into so much detail.

"I just thought that if Ning intends to include Apple in this project in the future, maybe we can have the opportunity to cooperate." Colin Drost said sincerely.

"Oh? So, Colin, what do you think this project means to Apple?"

"It may not make sense now, but it may determine whether the world still needs Apple after decades or hundreds of years, or whether Apple can still exist." Colin Drost gave a profound opinion .

Tim Cook turned his head and took another deep look at Colin Drost, then nodded and said with a smile: "Thank you very much, Mr. Drost, I will seriously consider your proposal."

Then the discussion on this issue stopped.

They are all people who stand at the top of the pyramid in their respective fields, and they are all very independent.

The shock is the same, but the perspective of thinking is definitely different.

Commercial logic and academic logic are often incompatible with each other. This is just like scientists often having conflicts with the funders who provide them with funds. Demand deviations always exist, and how to deal with them is a matter of opinion.

In fact, Tim Cook didn't quite understand why Tong Ningzi asked him to come to observe this forum.

It's true that he was shocked, but he didn't think that Ning Zi's character and style of work would allow Apple to get a share of this field with unlimited possibilities.

Yes, Apple has money, but it is not rich enough to really participate in developing the space track.

If Ning Zi is willing to sell, Tim Cook really doesn't mind using 80% of Apple's cash flow to buy back the materials Ning Zi showed today, and he is very sure that this business will not lose money, and may even be profitable. Make a lot of money. It's a pity that someone with such achievements cannot be so short-sighted.

So, what does Ning Zi want to do?

…

Tim Cook is obviously not the only one who thinks so.

At the buffet at Ningyuan Restaurant, when he saw Ning Zi, people were already surrounding him.

At this time, Tim Cook did not join in the fun, but quietly watched the group of people discussing around Ning Ju from a distance.

Deep down in his heart, he was still thinking about what Ning Zi would talk to him about.

Until someone interrupted his thoughts.

"Hi, Mr. Cook."

Tim Cook turned around and saw Ning Zi's sister and wife standing next to him.

The person who said hello was Ning Zi's sister, who was very quirky and had a deep impression on him. In fact, Ning Zi's wife has a similar temperament, but her English skills are not very good.

"HI, hello." Tim Cook greeted the two of them with a smile.

"It's like this. My brother wants my sister-in-law to bring you a few words, but my sister-in-law's English is not good enough, so I will come as a guest translator. By the way, what do you think of my current English level?" Ning Yulin asked.

"It's pretty good. At least I can understand every sentence." Tim Cook responded with laughter and tears.

Then he watched the two young women laughing and biting their ears for a long time. Finally, Ning Yulin said: "Thank you for your recognition of me. Well, my sister-in-law asked me to ask you first, what do you think of what you saw today? How do you feel about everything?”

Tim Cook raised his eyebrows, thought for a moment, and then replied seriously: "It's very amazing. Although I don't quite understand what Ning said, I know that it represents something very new. This world It is very likely that things will become completely different from what they are now because of Ning’s discovery. I think what we see today will bring greater changes to mankind as a whole than the first appearance of the steam engine in this world.”

After answering, Tim Cook saw Ning Yulin turn around and say a few words in Chinese to the young woman next to him. Seeing the smiles on their face, he always felt that his answer was too formal...

Fortunately, the second question came to him soon.

"My sister-in-law said that my brother will definitely be very satisfied with your answer, but my brother also said that for anything, don't depend on what others say, but on what others do. What my brother asked my sister-in-law to do is to ask you in advance Think about whether you are willing to let Apple help him build a stable global industrial chain to ensure that the future space industry with new materials as its core can quickly complete its global layout.

The benefit for Apple is that your products will be the only non-Chinese products authorized to access signals and be used in space in the future. As for the rest, they are all minor benefits. My brother also said that Apple is not the only choice. We chose Apple first because we have a basis for cooperation, and secondly because Apple is already very mature in this business and has great appeal around the world.

If the two parties cooperate, Apple can save him about two years of time. However, my sister-in-law and I both think that two years is actually worth the wait. After all, my brother is still so young. Anyway, I am bringing you this message so that you can think it through first, so that you will have a foundation when you talk and won't waste too much time. Well, am I clear enough? "

Tim Cook nodded, it was indeed clear enough.

He was even somewhat grateful to this little girl for being able to express these words so clearly.

Otherwise, he would have to guess Ning Zi's thoughts for a long time.

At this time, he also suddenly realized. No wonder when he was talking to Ning Zi two days ago, this guy talked to him about Apple's global industrial chain construction. It turned out that he was thinking about this issue. Every second really counts.

Of course, Tim Cook still has concerns about this cooperation model. Of course, he didn’t think it was useful to directly talk to the two girls in front of him about these concerns, so he just politely said: "Thank you, I will consider it carefully and carefully." .”

"Huh? Don't you have any doubts? This doesn't seem like you really want to cooperate. Do you think that my sister-in-law and I are too young, so you just deal with us casually?" Ning Yulin said, blinking her big eyes.

Tim Cook spread his hands and smiled bitterly.

Okay, this girl...

"Actually, there are problems, such as mutual trust between the two parties. I don't know how Ning solves this problem. I don't think he will directly control the supply chain system in Apple's hands, so he will definitely have more demands on Apple. , I just don’t know what he’s going to ask for, maybe it won’t be known until we talk.”

Tim Cook casually pointed out one direction of worry.

"Haha, my brother also said that you must have doubts in this regard. He said that China has actually begun to lay out and has the ability to produce an anti-gravity flight platform in the atmosphere in the short term. But if we want to build a real space operation platform, There are still many difficulties that need to be overcome. If we can introduce foreign supply chains, especially Western supply chains, the preparation time will be greatly shortened.

So in fact, you don’t have to worry about him worrying about Apple’s control of the supply system. After all, you are the one who advanced the money. The most damage to the space platform will be a delay in launching it. But you have much to lose. My brother said that you are a smart person, so he firmly believes that you will not do a loss-making business that hurts others by two hundred and loses one thousand.

In China, it may be said first that this is not a good thing. By the way, I am quite satisfied with the gift you gave me that day, so if you cooperate, I will ask my sister-in-law to put in a good word for you. But then again, the most important thing about cooperation is honesty. The ancestral motto of our Ning family is that we will be good to whoever is good to us, and whoever wants to plot against us, we will... bang. "

As he spoke, Ning Yulin raised his hands and made a big bang gesture in conjunction with the onomatopoeia in his mouth. Not only did he not look intimidating, but he also felt extremely cute.

If Ning Zi had said these words, the warning and threat would undoubtedly be much heavier, and would even make people feel very uncomfortable. Therefore, when Ning Yulin said these words under Lu Xiaoya's platform, it actually attracted people's attention and made people feel less repelled.

"Ha, of course, I believe that no one in this world would think of using deceitful means to gain benefits when dealing with your brother. Someone has done it before, but their ending was not very happy." Tim Cook smiled bitterly. replied.

"My brother is right, you are indeed a smart person. Well, please enjoy the food. Oh, by the way, he will meet you in the office on the fifth floor at 9:30 in the evening. Well, you can go up directly when the time comes. Just identify yourself to the staff. Oh, no, actually your appearance is your passport!" Ning Yulin waved his hand.

"Thank you." Tim Cook said his thanks, dumbfounded, and then watched the two little women wave to him, then leave happily arm in arm, and go to the seafood area to have a feast.

Subconsciously looking at Ning Jie, who was still surrounded by a group of scholars not far away, Tim Cook suddenly felt enlightened.

…

News actually travels much faster than imagined.

After all, this is an academic forum with no confidentiality, and visiting scholars are not allowed to use various communication products, including mobile phones, in any link. The queuing observation that lasted for a whole day also gave these scholars enough time to spread the news.

Whether it's intentional or not.

In fact, when seeing an incredible achievement, it is an instinctive reaction of scientific researchers to share it with others in the same field.

This also caused many professionals to stay up all night, regretting that they could not participate in this forum, otherwise they would be able to see or even touch the legendary negative mass matter at this time.

Some scholars even directly posted the video of the demonstration session on Facebook, or used Twitter to praise this great discovery. The harvest probably made it difficult for many people to sleep.

The day that just passed in China was a night in the Western world.

Many Western scholars who came to attend this conference received many phone calls seeking confirmation while on the scene. With excitement, these scholars reported back this discovery in various exaggerated and shocked tones.

Of course, these feedbacks and impacts are still concentrated in a small area, and it is difficult for scientific progress to resonate with ordinary people in the first place. The threshold is too high, and it is a headache to understand those obscure concepts.

Not to mention that scientific theories always have a subtle and gradual impact on people's lives. It's like when people use the Internet to obtain all kinds of information, they don't need to care about the underlying logic of how the Internet operates, let alone who invented it.

But for the small-scale related researchers or intelligence personnel, this news is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.

Not to mention anything else, the discovery of anti-gravity materials first means that humans have discovered a truly green, environmentally friendly and highly adaptable power system. Not to mention that Ning Zi also demonstrated on the spot that this material also has a fusion effect. These two points alone are enough to show that this special material has many physical properties that the world cannot yet understand.

What these physical properties can do has been explained a lot in many science fiction novels. Even without science fiction, many basic researchers can list a bunch of applications. This in turn extends the impact in a deeper direction.

For example, in the future, there will suddenly be many airports that can move for a long time in the sky, and the emergence of anti-gravity aircraft will have what impact on the global situation? This would certainly be a good internal report or paper topic.

But while all this is still waiting for confirmation, these emotions can only be brewed silently for the time being, and are far from comparable to the emotions on the scene.

…

After the dinner, Tim Cook went back to his room on the fourth floor, made a few phone calls, and walked out of the room at 9:25.

Instead of choosing the elevator, we went directly to the fifth floor from the stairs in the center of the building.

Sure enough, a staff member showed up, and after a brief exchange of words, he was taken to the door of Room 501 on the left side of the building.

The staff knocked on the door, and someone answered. When the door opened, Tim Cook discovered that although he arrived at a stuck time, it was still early, and there were two other people in Ning Zi's office.

Seeing his arrival, the young man in a suit stood up, said hello to him, and then looked at Ning Zi.

After the two of them spoke a few more sentences in Chinese that he couldn't quite understand, the young man in a suit left with another young man who looked ordinary, leaving the office to the two of them.

"Sorry, I might have come a little early."

"It's okay. Mr. Zhang came over just now as an unplanned matter. He came to talk to me about some security upgrades. I still hope that there will be 24 people around me for personal protection. By the way, Tim, Do you have any bodyguards with you?"

"Of course, the company spends about 700,000 US dollars a year on my personal security, but it is not personal protection, but they will provide a complete set of services when needed. If we talk about further security services, I think you should Ask Zuckerberg. He is more concerned about security. He spends more than five million dollars on personal protection every year, which includes the cost of 24-hour personal protection. Of course, it also includes some intelligence services."

Tim Cook spread his hands and said.

After hearing this description, Ning Zi sighed: "More than five million US dollars, phew... he is indeed a rich man. Fortunately, Mr. Zhang said that all the services provided to me are free."

This made Tim Cook smile and reply: "Someone has to foot the bill."

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Ning Zi waved her hand and asked, "Tea or coffee?"

"No, thank you. I just finished two cups of coffee. Ning, what you asked your sister to bring to me was a serious suggestion?" Tim Cook took the lead in making today's conversation more formal.

Ning Zi nodded and replied: "Of course, there are two considerations. In addition to the reasons she should have mentioned to you, Apple's status can also be a good lubricant, so as not to affect some of our next steps. Development causes misunderstandings. In fact, I don't care much about these, but there are always people who are too sensitive. Although the misunderstanding can definitely be resolved, I don't want to waste time on it. For me, it is important to seize the time."

Tim Cook glanced at Ning Jie with a complicated expression and asked again: "Okay, so if we get involved in this matter and someone asks Apple to provide information on the entire supply chain and it is inconvenient for us to refuse, what can we do?" Do you want to provide this information?"

"Of course, I don't think that supply chain information will cause any problems for the subsequent development plan. In fact, I won't put all the eggs in one basket. As long as we cooperate well, the supply chain controlled by Apple can enable us in the short term." It only reduces the pressure on internal funds and helps us buy a certain amount of time. In the long run, there will naturally be a set of independent internal circulation supply chains built."

"So, you don't have to worry about reverse research revealing some secrets in business or core technology chains?"

"Haha, Tim, I dare to release the materials for everyone to see on today's occasion. Of course I will not be afraid of these. There is a saying that may be hurtful, but it is the truth. In terms of research in this direction, the entire West has It seems to be at least a century behind us. Yes, the building you are in, this school, and everything you see here are from that century."

Recommend this book, "Are you mentally ill?" This is a horror world! 》.

Introduction: On this day, He Xuan, a seriously ill patient in Qingshan Mental Hospital, entered the world of horror.

While others struggle…

He Xuan, who thinks he is a doctor, is giving the female trickster in red an injection: "Good medicine tastes bitter and is good for the disease. What's more, I didn't make your mouth taste bitter."

While others are running for their lives...

He Xuan, who thought he was a police officer, put a pair of handcuffs on Chainsaw Gui: "I'm sorry, I'm a police officer."

When others are dying...

He Xuan, who thought he was an immortal cultivator, began to use Li Jui to refine the elixir: "I'm sorry, my elixir of immortality just lacks your elixir."

After seeing He Xuan's various outrageous operations, everyone was stunned.

"Brother! Are you mentally ill? This is a horror world! Where are you playing in this sadistic world?"

"Shh, be careful he twists your head off."