Volume 1 Chaos Comes Chapter 16 V I 50
Ai Bishui introduced the laboratory's furnishings and instruments in detail, and I didn't want to disturb her any further.
In order to participate in scientific research experiments, one must pass a basic safety test. It took me a week to pass it all. After that, I found excuses to do some tests with her frequently, and the other seniors in the group didn't care much.
My senior told me that the instrument she was using was idle, so it didn't count as taking up lab resources. After all, what we were doing had little relevance to the work of other people in the group.
The days that followed were ordinary, just a cycle of classes, eating, exercise, and sleep. I didn't have much free time for entertainment. My goal was very clear at the time, and I didn't have the energy to be sentimental.
But Ai Bishui doesn't seem to be entertained... or maybe doing experiments can stimulate her to secrete enough dopamine. Since her learning efficiency is much higher than mine, even though I have tried my best, the gap between us is still widening.
My life is limited, but my knowledge is limitless. To follow the limitless with the limited is to be confused.
So I found a weekday without classes to go back to society, in other words, to buy clothes as agreed. In fact, I originally planned to wear new clothes to meet her.
On Thursday morning, I walked into the surging flow of people in the city. The subway station on weekdays is suffocating. Everyone in the carriage is equal. No matter how big your living room is, you can only get less than one square meter of space here.
The subway line is the artery of the city. Here we shed our identities in the eyes of our family and colleagues and become just an ordinary red blood cell, transporting our own and others' dreams.
After arriving at the mall, I was a little confused by the dazzling array of clothes. I walked around for several times and didn't even know which floor I should go to. I finally found an empty bench in the aisle, and I immediately sent a message to Ning Yu'an:
I am shopping for clothes in a mall now. Should I go to the men's section or the sports section?
It's quite embarrassing to say, but apart from the clothes bought by my mother, I have always just spent a few hundred dollars on Taobao to buy a few hoodies to wear, and my pants are basically the sweatpants you can find everywhere.
Fang Xue told me several times before that what boys need most is to look clean, and clothes are not that important. Now it seems that this little girl is playing a trick on me...
After a few minutes I didn't get a reply, maybe she hadn't gotten up yet.
Immediately afterwards, an invitation for a video call came from the other side.
I put on the Bluetooth headset, and the girl on the screen was leaning on a large cushion, with a bed curtain dotted with moon and star patterns behind her. She was wearing an oversized light pink hooded pajamas that was obviously not suitable for her body shape, but her face and hair were neatly groomed.
Ning Yu'an likes to wrap herself in big clothes. When she was in middle school, she would wear my coat when she came to my house to play, but wouldn't it be dirty to wear boys' clothes directly?
"Ha... Don't you have no classes today? You're up too early."
She yawned loudly, fixed her phone on the stand beside the bed, and started to fix her hair while talking to me.
"…It's already ten o'clock…but did I wake you up?"
"No, I just washed my face and hair." She braided her hair and wrapped herself in the quilt again. "I'm not going to leave the dormitory today. I'll study in bed."
I used to have the illusion that I could study in bed, until a midterm exam taught me a good lesson.
"Is that so? Do your roommates bring you food? They're pretty nice."
I never thought about whether Xu Xia and I would bring each other food. After all, neither of us had that need.
"Yeah, do you think that girls' dormitories are full of intrigue? Actually, it's not that outrageous..." I think this is a special case, after all, she has a high emotional intelligence.
She said as she glanced at the screen, then pulled her collar a little higher to hide her vague curves and shoulder straps.
"Why don't you change into something else and we can talk again?"
"I'm too lazy to get out of bed, so that's it. Besides, clothes worn outside will make the bed dirty."
"Hmm... so should I go to the men's clothing section or the sports section..."
Under Ning Yu'an's direction, I bought two slim-fitting jackets, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a large-block sweater. She also tried to persuade me to buy a suit but was stopped urgently. "That's enough. This has already cost more than a thousand."
"Hey, I've never seen you in a suit."
"I'm sure the suit won't hold up. Let me go to the gym and practice first."
Previously, I went there at most three times per semester.
"So you think you've had enough shopping for today? No more shoes or anything?"
"I have a lot of shoes...this one doesn't make any difference."
I can’t buy it anymore.
"Oh, by the way, I actually have some questions for you."
"Okay, my phone's almost dead, I'm going to find a fast food restaurant to sit down and talk."
I found a secluded corner facing the floor-to-ceiling window in Kaifengcai and sat down and connected to the restaurant’s WiFi.
Ah, so that means I have been using data traffic all along?
"Actually, I have something to ask you about the thesis."
The girl on the screen took out a tablet from the pillow and swiped it. I didn't expect her to ask academic questions. If I had known, I would have called her back after returning to the dormitory .
"The articles I sent you during the Chinese New Year were actually assigned to me by my teacher. However, there are many parts that I don't understand, so I want to ask you."
She's treating me like a reading machine again. She's been like this since she started school.
"I saw something about 'information efficiency' mentioned there, saying that this is the reason for maintaining the self-organizing state. Do you know how to explain this specifically?"
I picked up my backpack that was draped over the back of a chair and found my notebook among the pile of new clothes.
Migrating bird flocks have two requirements: first, they must be able to maintain group stability, while a formation that is too regular will be difficult to maintain; second, they must ensure that information can be effectively transmitted, while a formation that is too chaotic will greatly increase communication costs. The critical state of self-organization is exactly between the two.
This mechanism in the nervous system should follow the same rules as a flock of birds. This rule itself is "higher" than the form of interaction and is a kind of overall consistency.
Physicists love these kinds of universal conclusions that can span different fields. The beauty of physics is that the complex and ever-changing natural world can be described in a unified way through simple formulas.
To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower.
The first person to quote this poem was not me, but Yang Zhenning.
"In fact, this represents a universal mechanism: if the neuronal connection is too weak, the total input is less than the output; if the connection is too strong, the total output is less than the input. Only the critical state of self-organization can achieve the maximum information transmission efficiency."
There was no sound in the earphones for a long time. I thought Ning Yu'an was thinking, but when I looked at the screen, I found that she was actually swiping her tablet while drinking milk tea. She placed the milk tea cup steadily on her chest without even holding it with her hands.
"That's quite...convenient, but don't drink in bed."
"It's more inconvenient, like when I run it hurts like hell."
She put the pad aside, took the half-empty milk tea cup, and stretched.
"That's all for today. I need to think about what you said and discuss it with the teacher."
"One more thing...you looked a little unhappy during the New Year. What was that about?"
"Really? Then think about it yourself."
"How could I possibly think of that?"
"I'm happy now. Remember to contact me next time you go home on vacation."
After finishing the spicy chicken burger in front of me, I looked out the window at the traffic on the viaduct for a while. The clouds were dark and the distant mountains were gloomy. A familiar figure appeared in the reflection of the glass.
He had a side-parted hairstyle, and wore a baseball jacket and light-colored suit pants, with a shirt with a row of silver buttons. That was Huang Jing, my roommate whom I had not met this semester.
"Master Jing, V me 50!"
"Hey? Why are you here? I thought you were at school on weekdays."
"I...I came out to buy clothes, what are you doing here?"
"I'm going out with my family..."
Behind him appeared the teacher who had taught us philosophy of science before, and she was waving Huang Jing over.
I realized then that they looked alike. I had had this feeling during class. The teacher didn't recognize me, after all, she was teaching a large class in a lecture hall .
"Okay, I'll be there. I'm leaving first." He said goodbye to me and ran away immediately.
