Mei Yiqiu held the enhanced version of the second-generation Space Box he had just acquired, a satisfied smile on his face.
He tapped the alloy surface of his helmet lightly with his pipe, producing a crisp sound like a wind chime in the wind.
"This sound might make you think it's fragile, but it's actually quite strong!" the professor exclaimed excitedly. "You could throw it off the roof of the lab building and it wouldn't break!"
"Professor, why use such advanced materials?" Mei Ziqing asked, puzzled. "I saw the cost sheet; the most expensive part of the entire helmet is actually the outer shell and its supporting material! If we used ordinary alloy materials, we could save at least $30,000 per helmet."
Mei Yiqiu said, "Child, don't worry about money. We have a large sum of money, and it's constantly increasing."
Mei Ziqing stubbornly insisted, "But we need to push the game project forward as soon as possible. If each helmet costs $50,000, developing 10,000 players would require an investment of $500 million, while our goal is one billion users!"
The professor burst into laughter, his stiff, bushy hair standing on end and vibrating with his laughter. "Poor honest kid, who told you we were going to give away helmets to players for free?"
Mei Ziqing asked curiously, "Didn't they all start by offering free services to capture the market at the beginning?"
"No, no, only trash gets free. Truly good things are never free!" Bian Ziyuan said from the side. "Many products offer free services to squeeze out competitors' market share. Once they've captured the market and established a monopoly, they'll charge higher fees to recoup their initial losses. Our helmet is unparalleled in the world; our game is unparalleled in the world; why should something without competitors be free?"
"But this isn't a necessity! If it's not a necessity, you have to spend money to cultivate the market. Even if you're unique, users can choose not to use it," Mei Ziqing argued.
"Well, opium isn't a necessity, it's never been free, users can choose not to use it, and all governments discourage people from using it, yet opium sales have never worried the dealers," Bian Ziyuan said.
"Opium is addictive, so it doesn't count!"
"Games can be addictive."
"You mean yourself, you gaming fanatic!"
Bian Ziyuan acknowledged this point, so he didn't want to argue any further. In fact, he also wanted to know why the professor used such expensive materials to make the helmets. At $50,000 a pair, it was not something that ordinary people could afford. Such an expensive price indeed excluded most ordinary people.
Mei Yiqiu chuckled and said, "Do you know how complex the Space Box's structure is? Our first-generation product cost over twenty million US dollars. Now, with the second generation, the size has shrunk so much, but the functionality is just as good, and even some has been added. This places very high demands on the materials. You see, the Space Box is not just a VR headset, nor is it simply a device with a few sensors inside. It needs to carry a person's consciousness and all their memories to create a new world. The player's consciousness is the master of this world; they create the world first within this box, not on our servers. Therefore, the amount of information the box carries is unbelievably large, just like our human brain."
The professor pointed to his head full of fluffy white hair, "Do you know how much information the human brain can store?"
Bian Ziyuan isn't very knowledgeable about biology, but because he studies artificial intelligence, he has some understanding of the brain and the central nervous system. He said, "The information storage mechanism of the human brain is not yet fully understood; it should be different from the storage mechanism of a computer. Whether we multiply the information that a single neuron can store by the number of neurons in the brain, or use the connection patterns of neurons in the human brain to represent information, we cannot estimate the information storage capacity of the human brain. At least so far, we haven't found anyone who says their brain is full and they can't remember anything."
Mei Yiqiu nodded. "You're right, this is only long-term memory information. There's also genetic information and gene information. Although science can't prove it now, we never deny their existence. We even believe that the amount of information they contain is greater than our entire lifetime's memories. Although where this information is stored is still controversial, when our consciousness wants to access it, it always has to be retrieved through the brain, and eventually it will be transformed into the brain's long-term memory."
"So, does that mean the human brain has unlimited storage space?" Mei Ziqing asked curiously.
"That's one way to put it," the professor replied confidently. "That's precisely why our Space Box needs to be compatible with the human brain. For consciousness to create a world here, it must be able to hold everything the human brain can hold."
"Is the Space Box's capacity also infinite? But how is that achieved?"
Bian Ziyuan was also very curious. If there was any difference between his Kronos and humans in terms of intelligence, it would be in the way information is stored and the extent of thought expansion.
If an artificial intelligence cannot break free from the information processing mode of a computer, its limitations are obvious—no matter how advanced the storage device is or how small the hard drive becomes, it will eventually fill up, at which point the only options are to delete old information or add new hardware.
Mei Yiqiu laughed and said, "Do you know what a Möbius strip is?"
"Of course I know!" Bian Ziyuan said. "Twist a strip of paper 180 degrees and then glue the two ends together to form a closed loop. When I was a kid, my teacher did a fun experiment for us in class."
Mei Yiqiu said, "The secret to the infinite storage of information lies in this strip. The Möbius strip has only one side, so an insect can crawl across both sides of the strip without having to cross its edge."
"What does this have to do with information storage?" Mei Ziqing asked.
"I understand!" Bian Ziyuan snapped his fingers. "Originally, our information was recorded on one side of the paper, but after connecting them into a Möbius strip, both sides of the paper became one side, thus doubling the amount of information that can be stored."
Mei Ziqing was still puzzled. "That's only double!"
Bian Ziyuan said excitedly, "No, you forgot! A Möbius strip can be cut! We used to play with it a lot when we were kids. We'd twist a strip of paper, connect the two ends, and then cut it along the center line of the paper ring. It wouldn't become two paper rings, but a bigger Möbius strip. Then we'd cut it along the center line again, and it would become an even bigger Möbius strip..."
Having followed Mei Yiqiu for many years, Mei Ziqing Bian Ziyuan understood after Bian Ziyuan's explanation. "Ah, I get it! The binary information in a computer is linear in space and doesn't take up much width. So, if you divide the Möbius strip infinitely, it can become infinitely long, and thus store infinite information!"
Mei Yiqiu very pleased and looked at his two students with encouraging eyes. "It's already not easy to come up with this idea. When Professor Hans first proposed it, it amazed everyone! Don't underestimate such a simple idea, because to realize it involves countless problems that need to be overcome, especially in materials science."
"Is that why we need to use such expensive materials?"
"Yes! Imagine if you were to infinitely divide a centimeter-wide Möbius strip down to the nanometer level, how long would it be?"
"A centimeter and a nanometer are ten million times different. Even if you divide a centimeter into tens of nanometers, it would require at least 100,000 divisions. And with each division, the length of the Möbius strip doubles. After 100,000 divisions, the strip would become 2 to the power of 100,000 times longer than before. This..."
Bian Ziyuan was startled by the number. He silently calculated in his mind for a long time, but still couldn't figure out exactly how much it was.
Mei Yiqiu laughed and said, "No need to calculate, this length is enough to circle the entire Milky Way twice."