Chapter 92: The Virtual Machine

"Brother Fu, our product is basically ready for the market. Although it is still far from truly building a virtual world, it is already completely capable of controlling today’s computers, phones, and the like. From the way Liu Jun played games just now, it may even have enormous potential in the gaming industry."

Yan Zhang, standing beside Li Fu, also nodded in satisfaction. Although there were still many problems in reading the electrical signals of the human brain, and the main commands still carried an error rate of one in a thousand, and it was still impossible to read the virtual imaginings formed within the brain, if it was only for simple control of a computer or phone, then it was already entirely sufficient.

To send the information inside a computer directly into the brain in the form of brain waves, while simultaneously reading the various responses formed by the brain’s electrical activity, thereby achieving control over a computer or mobile phone.

"It is ready now. It is almost December already. We have spent more than a month studying this biosensory technology every single day. If we still cannot take it out into the world, then we will have no new product at all in ’18, and that would hardly suit the reputation of a high-tech company like ours."

"But what should we call this product?"

Li Fu nodded, stroking his chin in thought. He was short of money now, and with only two months left until the New Year, if they did not release a new product, the company would have almost no reserves for the holiday. Their various projects were simply too costly.

"A new product naturally needs a memorable name. That is not so easy to come up with."

Yan Zhang nodded as well, carefully searching his mind.

"I think it should be called Hand-Brain, a combination of phone and computer, and in the future it will also be a portal to the virtual world, a portable computer. Hand-Brain is a fitting name."

At that moment, Liu Jun, who had just come out of the white mouse experiment, walked over. Everyone who saw him could not help but laugh.

"Hand-Brain?"

"That name is not bad."

After hearing it, Li Fu thought it over carefully and nodded.

"I do not think that is very good. Hands and brains are both organs of the human body, and putting them together does not really show the meaning of our high-tech product. We should emphasize the advantage of using the brain to control a computer or phone. I think Mind Machine would be better."

At once, someone shook his head in disagreement and proposed the new name Mind Machine. As soon as it was spoken, many of the researchers present nodded in approval. Mind Machine, using thought to control a machine, could fully express the product’s characteristics.

"Mind Machine, that name is not bad either."

Li Fu nodded. The wisdom of the crowd truly was great; with only two people, they had already come up with two rather good names.

"I think Virtual Machine is also a good choice. It means a portal connecting to the virtual world, and it also points toward the direction and goal of our product’s future development."

Another rather good name was put forward: Virtual Machine, a machine that connects to the virtual world.

The name Virtual Machine also won considerable support, as many felt it was quite good indeed: a portal to the virtual world, a machine that connects to the virtual world.

Very quickly, one after another, dozens of different names were proposed, but the first three—Hand-Brain, Mind Machine, and Virtual Machine—were the ones that received the most approval.

"No matter how we think about it, we still do not know which one is best, so let us vote. The name that gets the most votes will be the one we use for our new product."

Li Fu smiled somewhat helplessly and, in the end, handed the decision over to everyone. The crowd voted by show of hands.

"Those in favor of Hand-Brain, raise your hands!"

Liu Jun immediately shouted loudly from the side. This was a product that would mark an era; if it could be named with a title he had thought of himself, perhaps his name too would be remembered in history. Naturally he wanted to drum up support.

Hands went up here and there in the hall, but not many. Clearly, the name Hand-Brain did not have the support of the majority.

"Those in favor of Mind Machine, raise your hands."

"Those in favor of Virtual Machine, raise your hands!"

The other two were not to be outdone, each shouting in turn. Mind Machine and Virtual Machine were almost neck and neck, but after a careful tally, Virtual Machine won by a single vote.

"Good. Since Virtual Machine has received the most votes, our new product will be called Virtual Machine from now on. A product that marks an era has been born!"

Li Fu nodded happily and formally announced the new product’s name as Virtual Machine. He also loudly declared its historical significance. This was a product of a new age, the progenitor and starting point of virtual products; as for old things like computers and phones, they would be utterly consigned to obsolescence with the birth of Virtual Machine.

"Liu Jun, since you were our test subject, do you have any good suggestions for Virtual Machine?"

After the crowd’s cheer died down, Yan Zhang asked Liu Jun with a smile.

"Mm. There is no doubt that our Virtual Machine is a product that will define an era. All the information on a phone can be sent directly into the brain, with no need to view it through the eyes, and compared with seeing it that way, this transmission is faster, clearer, and more complete."

"I think that, aside from anything else, simply adding a camera could restore sight to blind people by replacing the eyes through the camera. That could also count as a derivative product, and it should have a considerable market."

"However, I think there are still many aspects of our product that can be improved. First, it is too bulky right now, which makes it inconvenient to carry. It would be best if it could be made the size of a phone or a watch. Of course, that is because we have not yet finalized the product’s design."

"Another point is that the current electric current used to connect to brainwaves should be reduced further. It would be best to make it so slight that a person hardly feels it at all; otherwise, every time the brainwave connection is made, the electric shock would make people feel quite uncomfortable."

"Also, our product should be designed so that as long as it touches a person’s skin, it can connect to the Virtual Machine, rather than requiring placement in a specific position. If all these problems can be solved, then our Virtual Machine can truly be considered perfect."

Liu Jun carefully considered it all in his mind and spoke out every thought and suggestion he had regarding the Virtual Machine. Beside him, someone with a notebook quickly wrote down all of Liu Jun’s suggestions and ideas in detail.

"The Virtual Machine will certainly have to be miniaturized. Right now we are only in the research and development stage. In the future, if the technology continues to advance, we may even make it so small that it cannot be seen by the eye, directly implanted beneath the skin."

Li Fu nodded. In truth, the Virtual Machine was somewhat like the civilization seed of a super civilization. If future technology continued to develop in this way, with every citizen equipped with a related Virtual Machine that grew smaller and more powerful, then it would naturally be moving toward the direction of a civilization seed.

"Right now the current will not cause harm to the human body, but if the connection is made too frequently, it may really frighten people. In winter, we even cry out over the slightest bit of static electricity, let alone having to come into frequent contact with this current."

When it came to the problem Liu Jun had raised about the current being too strong, Li Fu immediately frowned. It was a serious issue and had to be resolved.

"As for derivative products, that is indeed a good idea. There are nearly two hundred million people in the world with blindness, visual impairment, age-related vision decline, and so on. In our own nation alone, there are nearly five million blind people, accounting for about 18 percent of the world’s total blind population. If we also count other eye diseases, even myopia, our nation has a very large problem in this regard."

"If we can develop related derivative products, the market will be enormous, and we can also benefit a very large population."

Yan Zhang also offered his thoughts on derivative products. If it were only a matter of adding a camera and sending information to the brains of blind people, then the product would still be fairly simple, because there would be no need to consider the technology of reading brainwave signals at all.

"In fact, it is not only for blind people that derivative products can be made. We can use this entirely new technology in many fields. To say nothing of anything else, take diving: we could place the camera in the water and observe the underwater world. Products like these may have smaller markets, but even the tiniest meat is still meat, and we can develop them as well."

"How about this: our project team will first be divided into two product groups, one responsible for developing derivative products, and the other responsible for refining the Virtual Machine. We will strive to hold the new product launch as soon as possible."

"Also, everyone should try the Virtual Machine. Each of you should put forward some suggestions, more or less. Our Fuyun Technology Group either does nothing, or it does it as a work of excellence!"

After some thought, Li Fu began assigning the next stage of work, dividing the biosensory technology research group into two product teams: a derivative products group and a Virtual Machine development group.

The most important and critical technologies were already finished. The remaining product design and refinement were, of course, no challenge for Li Fu’s team. In only a few days, the derivative products group had developed a fairly polished derivative product for blind users.

It was something like a collar, fitted with a high-definition camera at the front. As long as a blind person wore this collar-like device, the world seen by the camera could immediately be transmitted in real time into the blind person’s brain, in effect restoring sight in an indirect way.

Progress on the Virtual Machine development group’s side was equally rapid, because Li Fu himself was in this product group as well. He was eager to release the new product at the beginning of December.

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