Princeton University.
The cafe was located on the second floor of the building on the side of the boulevard. Many professors would choose to have a drink here during their free time, discuss academic issues with their peers, quietly read a book, or simply enjoy the peace of the afternoon.
Ever since Witten settled down in Princeton, he had been a frequent visitor here.
Most of the students here respected this physicist who had won the Fields Medal and was only one step away from the Nobel Prize. Many people would warmly greet him when they saw him, or ask him for some physics questions that were too difficult for beginners to understand.
Every time they encountered these questions, the old man was very willing to answer them.
At Princeton, he and Professor Fefferman were one of the few people who were approachable and didn't put on airs.
One day, after Professor Witten finished his class, he came here as usual. He ordered a cup of coffee and sat by the window. He took out a notebook from his pocket and suddenly saw an unexpected person walking up the stairs.
"Angus?" Witten's eyes widened in surprise. He closed the slightly old notebook on the table and looked at Professor Angus, who was walking toward him. He jokingly said, "My friend, why are you back so soon?"
"Because I already got the answer I wanted." Professor Angus leaned his cane against the table and slowly sat down opposite Witten. He paused for a while before he said, "You're right, although I talked to him for less than an hour, I did learn a lot."
Professor Witten smiled and said, "Oh? Can you share with me what you learned? "
"Their generation of scholars is more optimistic than us, and their ideas are very unique. I used to be pessimistic and thought that the world was probably over, but now I have a new perspective. "
"I'm glad you learned something." Witten looked at the time on his watch and said in a gentle tone, "I have a physics class in a bit, so I can't accompany you."
"Go … Speaking of which, when did you start to be interested in undergraduate students?" Professor Angus looked at him strangely and asked.
"Because life has an end … I think you're right, we will inevitably die, but some things can be passed on." Witten smiled and finished the rest of the coffee. He put down the cup in his hand and said softly, "Maybe one day in the future, one of my students will be able to see the unity of the four fundamental forces and the string that makes up our world."
Professor Angus smiled maliciously. "Maybe they're all bullsh * t."
Witten laughed and said, "Haha, maybe! Whether it's positive or negative, it's the same answer for me … Speaking of which, do you want to make a bet? "
Professor Angus: "No problem, but what do you plan on betting? I don't even know if there's money in heaven. Even if I win, I won't get any benefits. "
Witten joked, "I think there will be. After all, we sent so many economists there."
"We'll talk about it when the time comes!"
Witten left.
Professor Angus stayed in the coffee shop and continued to sit there. However, he didn't have someone to talk to.
He quietly looked at the campus outside the window and watched the students walking down the tree-lined path. For a moment, he was a little lost in thought.
After a long time, he slowly took out a crumpled notebook from his pocket.
This was his memo. As he was getting older, he would occasionally forget things, so he often carried this thing with him. Whenever he suspected that he had forgotten something important, he would take it out and take a look.
In addition to recording trivial matters such as "paying bills" and "repairing faucets", he would occasionally write down his inspirations to prevent them from slipping away from his sparse silver hair …
Professor Angus stared at the blank page and pondered for a long time. The pen in his hand was like a rusty dagger as it gently trembled on top of the notebook.
After a while, he seemed to have figured something out, and his eyebrows relaxed.
"It's not right to use the past to speculate about the future. The future needs future methods and … thinking beyond reality."
He muttered to himself in a low voice that no one else could understand. Then, he scribbled a line of words on the blank notebook.
[Cosmology Economics]
After a pause, he crossed it out with his pen and wrote a new line, muttering to himself in a low voice.
[Sociology of the Future]
"This name sounds more interesting …"
Great ideas were often born from inadvertent thinking.
A theory that had a huge impact on future generations was born inadvertently …
…
The second week after Professor Angus left, Lu Zhou heard an interesting rumor.
An economics professor named Angus Deaton opened a new course in Princeton called "Sociology of the Future". This course didn't teach any specific theoretical knowledge; it only taught ideas about the future.
Even though the name sounded a bit strange, because the founder of the course was a Nobel Prize laureate, many students still signed up.
Apparently, Professor Angus, who taught this course, was writing a book on this subject.
Although the specific content had not been made public, according to one of his old friends who had read the manuscript, this serious academic work was more like a science fiction novel than an academic monograph. Also, it was quite boring to read.
However, the old friend also said that some of the ideas put forward in the book were very interesting. Maybe it would really come in handy in the future …
Lu Zhou heard these interesting stories from his students teaching in Princeton.
After all these years, Qin Yue had become a professor. Hadi, who returned to Brazil to teach at the University of Sao Paulo, was doing well. He even became one of the academic leaders of the local number theory school … Of course, this might also have something to do with the fact that the Brazilian mathematics community was not good at number theory.
As for Vera, apparently, she was working with Molina at the Institute for Advanced Study to challenge the Riemann's conjecture. It didn't matter if there were any results or not. The fact that the timid girl had the courage to challenge this conjecture was already a very gratifying thing.
There was also Wei Wen, who was about to get his PhD from Princeton, and Jerick, who was recruited by the Institute of Computational Materials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology …
On the whole, his students were doing quite well.
As their professor, Lu Zhou was also very gratified.
After replying to Qin Yue's email, Lu Zhou stretched his back and was about to look at arXiv to see if there were any interesting mathematics theses. However, the silence of the office was suddenly broken by a knock on the door.
Lu Zhou cleared his throat and spoke.
"Come in."
The door was gently pushed open, and Wang Peng walked in with a serious look on his face.
Lu Zhou saw his expression and before he could ask, "What's wrong?", Wang Peng spoke first.
"Bad news!"
Lu Zhou frowned.
"What happened?"
Wang Peng hesitated for half a second before he spoke in a serious tone.
"Biosphere A was attacked by unknown armed forces. According to the local forces, there were heavy losses …"
Unknown armed forces … Attack?
The f * ck?!
When Lu Zhou heard this, he subconsciously grabbed the armrest and stood up from his office chair.
"Are they okay?"
Wang Peng: "All of the militants have been killed in the crossfire. The researchers and foreign experts present are safe … They have been transferred to a nearby city. The local forces have been dispatched and blocked all roads in the nearby area. They are investigating the background of the militants and their entry channels, but … "
Lu Zhou sighed in relief. His heartbeat slowed down, but because of the word "but", his heart rate increased again.
"But?"
Wang Peng spoke in a serious tone.
"… Apparently, the losses to Biosphere A are very serious."
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