So everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.
Not to ntion that in recent years, many great mathematicians have frequently visited Yanbei and Huaqing.
Qiao Yu doesn’t like to go out much, so people often co to him for exchanges.
As more co, everyone becos familiar with the temperants of these mathematicians.
There will naturally not be any major mishaps in reception.
Even Zheng Xiweng thought it best if these mathematicians didn’t hold any grievances.
Although Qiao Yu’s decision to hold this conference was very hasty, Zheng Xiweng still believed it would be the most important mathematical conference of the century with no exception.
It is even more important than the quadrennial mathematician’s conference. It is definitely worth rembering for hundreds of years by people around the world.
As long as it is believed that civilization is continuing, this conference shouldn’t and certainly won’t be forgotten.
Though he doesn’t understand mathematics, he understands people.
After attending so many conversations between Qiao Yu and Tian Yanzhen, he roughly understood how the mathematical foundation behind the creation of July impacts the world.
It can be said that the future developnt path of human civilization is encapsulated in this conference.
So anyone who can be there is very fortunate. They will witness a historical event with their own eyes.
Qiao Yu is ultimately too reserved, hosting a conference of this level so hastily, leaving mathematicians and people like us only seven days to prepare...
If it were anyone else, they’d probably announce it to the world half a year in advance...
With this in mind, Zheng Xiweng’s attitude was more proud when receiving mathematicians from abroad.
The unreasonable requests to et Qiao Yu before the conference were decisively refused by him.
Fortunately, the mathematicians who were generally familiar with Qiao Yu knew his peculiar habits.
Before hosting important conferences, he doesn’t like to et and communicate with people.
Even reminiscing must wait until after the conference.
This is actually understandable.
The content that can be talked about at the conference is in the invitation brief. For mathematicians, supplenting their own understanding before the conference and not wanting others to interfere with their thinking are both normal.
Not to ntion, with a top mathematician like Qiao Yu, even his rude habits are forgivable.
So many mathematicians, including Professor Tao Xuanzhi, upon arriving in Huaxia, only discussed with mathematicians they were familiar with and never made such unreasonable requests.
Those who made such requests were mostly unfamiliar with Qiao Yu, or were new mathematicians who were still so distance from the top mathematician group in the world, or a few who liked to rely on their seniority...
Such people were even less of a pressure for Zheng Xiweng to refuse.
Especially since so people were invited by virtue of Tian Yanzhen’s reputation.
Finally, on Sunday, at ten in the morning, the conference started punctually at the Hundred-year-old Lecture Hall at Yanbei University.
The auditorium, which can hold more than two thousand people, did not open the second floor, and the first floor was not completely filled.
The school originally wanted to organize students to attend but was rejected by Qiao Yu.
In his view, whether the seats are full or not at a conference is not important.
There is no need to have a group of students sit in the back dozing off.
After all, too many snorers would seriously impact the sleep of many mathematicians...
But when Qiao Yu stepped up to the podium of this conference, it revived the spirits of all the attending mathematicians.
Yes, at this conference, unlike previous ones, Qiao Yu did not just sit there reading a prepared script into the microphone; instead, he stood there without holding anything in his hands.
"Thank you all for attending this conference specifically held in mory of Mr. Lott Degen.
As stated in the invitation, this conference is not only to commorate Mr. Degen’s great contributions to the field of mathematics but also to share so of my latest research results with you.
Otherwise, I fear Professor Tao might continue to pursue on his blog; after all, I’m not a celebrity and do not need to maintain an online presence constantly."
This little joke at the opening also brought a knowing smile to the people in the front rows.
Though many were displeased that this conference surprisingly required problem-solving, when Qiao Yu stood on stage, that dissatisfaction was ultimately swallowed down.
"Just now, upon the host’s suggestion, we have observed a mont of silence for Mr. Degen’s passing. So I will directly move on to the main topic of today’s conference.
I will now present a question, and I hope you will take a minute to ponder it before we proceed with the conference.
The question is: Do you think mathematics can nurture consciousness?"
When Qiao Yu finished speaking, the participating mathematicians began looking at each other in confusion.
Clearly, this is no longer a proper mathematical question but a philosophical one.
Wait, wasn’t the the of this conference Elentary Mathematics? Yet the first question is whether mathematics can nurture consciousness?
As many mathematicians realized this, their expressions inevitably turned to astonishnt, and they began whispering among themselves.
Luckily, a minute quickly passed.
Qiao Yu did not keep them in suspense and raised his hand, bringing the crowd to complete silence before starting his self-dialogue.
"I believe all of you have pondered just now. To answer this question, we must first define consciousness.
This is the most common thod in mathematics. After all, without a definition, any proof would be inaccurate.
But how should we define consciousness? This itself is a daunting issue. I have pondered this question for a long ti and realized that consciousness, being a subjective thinking process, is almost impossible to define. Does that an this question is unsolvable?"
At this point, Qiao Yu paused, confidently shook his head, and continued, "I don’t think so."
"In the past thirty years, artificial intelligence technology has erged dramatically. Its mathematical foundations include linear algebra, discrete mathematics, calculus, probability and statistics, information theory, nurical analysis, among others...
But none of these mathematical foundations can advance artificial intelligence to the level of general artificial intelligence, or strong AI, which we often refer to as AGI.
The reason is that machines lack consciousness. Defining consciousness from this premise is actually simple.
So I define consciousness as an optimal choice that ignores all computing processes.
This may be sowhat difficult to understand, so let give you an example. Consider a tiless joke on the internet.
When a young man sees soone who perfectly matches his aesthetic, he often claims that, in that instant, he’s already thought of a na for their future child.
Did you notice this process? Encountering an ideal opposite sex, one can imdiately imagine a blissful life after marriage in the mind...
All processes are compressed, and a person’s consciousness can instantly select the ideal and most perfect prediction result.
This is where consciousness and mathematics most contradict each other. Solving mathematical problems requires rigorous reasoning, argunt, and calculation, making it a process-oriented endeavor.
Yet the optimized choices of consciousness are often instantly made, compressing all interdiate steps and ti. In this sense, consciousness is a highly abstract representation, essentially result-oriented.
With the forr, we analyze problems, find ways to solve them, and finally arrive at a result. With the latter, we first preset the best outco and then design a process for that outco.
This is the core issue. With the current mathematical frawork, it is indeed challenging to design a truly intelligent artificial intelligence.
All the artificial intelligences commonly known and used by the public today essentially only execute preset algorithm flows.
So is it possible to find a direction in mathematical developnt that can describe consciousness and in the future beco the theoretical basis for machine comprehension?
Professor Xuanzhi Tao asked on his blog what I have been doing during these years of my absence. Now, I am answering you: I have been contemplating this question and have already achieved so results."
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