There is a hearth burning for me
As an eternal sign of forgotten truths,
I'm up to him - the last step,
And this step is longer than life ...
Igor Kornelyuk
Night walk
Some time later, I followed Nastya along a rocky beach. Fortunately, she was already wearing a dress and I regained the ability to think analytically. Strange, just broke up with Sveta, and here is Nastya. The girls pass us to each other like relay baton ... Just what will happen at the finish line?
— Michael, you probably have a lot of questions.
- Not that word.
- Well, you ask, and I will try to answer.
- First, where did you come from, and where are we going?
We're going back to where I came from. This place is called “Southern Branch of the Institute of Applied Quantum Dynamics”. I work there as a research assistant.
“But listen, as far as I know, there is no such institution.
Nastya looked around, laughed slightly and said:
- You see, when it comes to the modern edge of science and the country's defense capability, the concepts "is" and "is not" acquire rather vague forms. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
I understood.
“Okay, how did you even know about me?”
- Michael, let's not be around the bush. After all, you went under the level, and such things immediately become known to us.
Did you go under level?
“Ah, yes, I forgot – you are self-taught. What do you call what you did?
“Well…,” I hesitated a bit, regretting that they saw me so quickly, “I closed the perimeter…”
Where did you get the necessary knowledge from?
Everything I know my father taught me. He is a brilliant engineer. Everyone else is very far from it.
- You did a good job, you did everything quite cleanly for a non-professional.
- But how did you know about it? I have erased all information.
— You erased it in the classical sense, but you should know that information cannot disappear at the quantum level. Tell me where do you think information goes when it is destroyed.
- Where? Uh... Nowhere!
- That's it. “Nowhere” is exactly what we do. By the way, we have one of the most powerful quantum computers in the world in our branch. When the time comes, you will definitely see it. Marat will show you... Marat Ibragimovich.
— Marat Ibrahimovic?
Yes, this is the head of the branch. Ph.D. A little strange. But these are all scientists - a bit of that ...
We walked on, the stones under our feet were getting bigger. In the dark, I began to stumble and barely keep up with Nastya, who, apparently, was used to such walks. I thought about the prospects for the military departments of the remote collection of destroyed information. I think I'm starting to figure out where I'm at.
- Well, you know about me. But how did I get here? After all, this place was chosen by chance ... from the site ... I understand! You intercepted a request to Random.org and substituted the correct answer!
Proud that, in turn, I saw through the methods of my sudden opponents, I added a step in the hope to catch up with Nastya.
Yes, of course we could do that. But this is done by a different structure. And it has nothing to do with science. You see, for us it is… not very sporty. Yes, and not really necessary. The fact is that we have the ability to control random events directly. at their point of origin.
- Like this?
“Look, Michael. You are now below the level ... Over the perimeter, if you like. What do all your actions look like for the world in the perimeter?
Yes, I'm starting to understand. My actions look like random events. I did everything for this.
- Right. But having slightly shifted the point of view and turned this reasoning in a different direction, we can say that any random event in the perimeter can be caused by some kind of planned influence from behind the perimeter.
In the meantime, we turned off the beach and the road led us to what looked like a student camp. Buildings of various sizes rose in the darkness. Nastya took me to one of the buildings. There was a bed in the room, where I hastened to move.
— Michael, I'm glad you're with us. Tomorrow you will learn many more interesting things. In the meantime… Good night.
Why, when girls say “Good night” when parting, they try to put so much tenderness into this phrase so that you will definitely never fall asleep. Despite the fatigue, I tossed and turned in bed for a long time, trying to comprehend where I was brought and what to do with all this now.
Knowledge is power
In the morning I felt full of energy and ready for new discoveries. Nastya followed me. She took me to the dining room, where we had a good breakfast, and then made a short tour of the science city.
Buildings for various purposes were scattered over a fairly large area. Here and there, towering three-story residential buildings. Between them came across buildings for economic purposes. Closer to the center, near a large park, there was a building with a dining room and halls for events. All this was buried in greenery. The main plant was the southern pine. From this, the whole town smelled of pine needles and it was unusually easy to breathe. There were not very many people, but everyone was of an intelligent appearance, and when we passed by, we greeted each other and took off our hats. They just smiled at Nastya, and shook my hand. It was clear that there were no random people here. Including me, as strange as it may seem.
I have always been drawn to science. And on a practical level, this was expressed in the fact that I dreamed of living and working in the academic city. Even if not scientists. And even if not a laboratory assistant. I was even ready to sweep the streets. The same town, in addition to being at the forefront of science, was extraordinarily beautiful in addition. And they accepted me as one of their own. It seemed to me that the dreams of my childhood and youth were beginning to come true.
When Nastya and I walked along one of the pine alleys, we met a man of about fifty. He was wearing a white linen suit and a light straw hat. The face was tanned. There was also a gray mustache and a small beard. He had a cane in his hand, and it was evident that he limped slightly when walking. Still from afar, he spread his arms in an imaginary embrace and exclaimed:
“Ahh, so there he is, our hero. Welcome. Welcome. Nastenka... Hmm. Nastasya Andreevna? How did you meet him yesterday? Did everything go well?
- Yes, Marat ... Ibrahimovic. Everything went as we planned. True, he deviated from the estimated time by an hour. But this is probably due to the repair of the road near Novorossiysk. But nothing, I swam a little while I was waiting for him.
Nastya modestly shifted her gaze to the pines.
- Well, that's good. That's good.
Now he has turned to me.
- I'm Marat Ibragimovich, the director of this ... institute, so to speak. I think you are with us now for a long time.
At the same time, Marat Ibragimovich somehow nervously squeezed his cane, but then he smiled and continued.
— Michael. People like you are very valuable to us. It is one thing when knowledge is obtained in stuffy classrooms and dusty archives. Another is when such nuggets as you are formed. Outside the academic process, very valuable scientific discoveries can arise, and maybe even whole areas of scientific thought. I want to tell you a lot. But it is better, as they say, to see once. Come on, I'll show our computer.
Snow-white icosahedrons
Despite the cane, Marat Ibrahimovic moved quite rapidly. With a brisk step, we moved away from the residential buildings. Having passed along a shady path, we went behind a hillock and an amazing picture opened up to me.
Below in a small clearing, there was a strange-looking structure. It somehow resembled huge snow-white golf balls. One was especially large and was in the middle. Three others, smaller ones, were attached to it symmetrically, in the form of an equilateral triangle.
Marat Ibragimovich looked around the clearing with his hand:
— This is in the center - our quantum computer. It does not have a name, since everything that has a name becomes known to... an imaginary enemy, so to speak... But these three outbuildings are already our laboratories that use a computer in their... experiments, so to speak.
We went down to the clearing and walked around the futuristic building around. On one of the three outer balls was written "Department of Negentropy." The other was labeled "Department of Asymmetric Response." On the third "Laboratory of ASO Modeling".
Well, I guess we can start from here.
So said Marat Ibragimvich and pushed with his cane the door on which was written "Department of Negentropy".
And all the secret will be revealed
We went inside and I looked around. About fifteen people sat in a large room. Some are on chairs, others are right on the floor, the third are spread out in chaise longues. Everyone had a folder with sheets of paper in their hands and from time to time they wrote down something directly by hand. I was at a loss.
- Where is it. Monitors, keyboards ... Well, there is another technique.
Marat Ibragimovich affectionately hugged me by the shoulder.
- Well, what are you, Mikhail, what keyboards, what monitors. It's all yesterday. The wireless neural interface is the future of human-computer interaction.
I took another look at the department staff. Indeed, each had a white plastic headband with branches covering most of the head.
Why do they write by hand?
— Mikhail, you still can’t learn to think in terms of… interstate competition, so to speak. Please understand that we cannot use unsecured channels. We have an unbreakable closed chain here.
Link one. quantum computer. Information is protected at the quantum level.
Link two. Neurointerface. The information is biometrically protected. Roughly speaking, the other brain is not able to count it.
Link three. Information is applied in writing by hand on sheets of paper. Here we borrowed the writing technique and handwriting from doctors. Deciphering what is written on the sheets is as difficult as what is written in prescriptions or medical records.
Link four. From leaflets, information is sent to the necessary departments under the protection of their own technologies. If a leak occurs there, we are no longer responsible for it.
Marat Ibragimovich, pleased with the demonstration of absolute superiority, once again proudly looked around the spherical room.
— Well, why is it called “Department of Negentropy”, what is going on here?
- Nastya, probably, told you in general terms how we discovered you. When information is erased, it becomes entropy. This means that, according to quantum laws, negentropy appears somewhere, containing remote information in a hidden form. All our research is aimed at ensuring that this negentropy appears in this place. In our department. You understand what the prospects are here.
Marat Ibrahimovic continued, tapping his cane on the white floor with enthusiasm.
— Moreover, the appearance of negentropy occurs not only with the complete removal of information. Also, bursts of negentropy occur simply when the movement of information is limited. Simply put, the more they try to classify or hide information, the stronger the feedback on our computer. You see, this is the dream of any ... scientific researcher. Learn the secrets of ... nature.
Here, one of the employees got up from the chaise longue and held out a sheet of paper covered with writing:
- Marat Ibragimovich, look, everyday life is climbing again. An alcoholic from Khabarovsk hides from his wife a bottle of vodka he bought the day before. The signal goes off scale and interferes with receiving really important information. And yesterday the deputy director of a brewery in Tver went to his mistress. For more than an hour we could not restore the normal operation of the system. Before this, the deputy director of the brewery still has to work and work for foreign intelligence services in the matter of concealing information.
- I told you. Adjust the quantum filters as normal. Especially household filters. The task was set six months ago. Where is our leader on this topic?
Several employees approached Marat Ibragimovich, he took them aside, and for about ten minutes they were talking animatedly about something, it seemed they were arguing. After some time, the scientist returned to us.
“Sorry, I have to deal with different issues. We're still working here. I think we've seen enough here. Let's move on.
We left the white ball, walked across the clearing and entered another white ball with the inscription “Asymmetric Response Department”.
Gods don't play dice
There were also about two dozen employees in this ball. But here they already sat in order, forming two concentric circles. They were also wearing plastic neural interfaces. But they did not write anything, but simply sat, maintaining complete immobility. You could say they were meditating.
- Ibrahim ... Marat Ibrahimovich. What are they doing?
“They, with the help of a quantum computer, jointly concentrate on a bifurcation point in order to break its symmetry.
— Bifurcations???
- Well, yes, this is from the theory of dynamical systems, section "Theory of catastrophes". Many people treat this field of knowledge lightly, but the name itself can tell us a lot. Catastrophes, in a strategic sense, are a very serious matter.
"Probably," I timidly agreed.
— Well, as you know, any dynamic system is characterized by the concept of stability. A system is called stable if a small impact on it does not lead to strong changes in its behavior. The trajectory of the system is said to be stable, and the trajectory itself is called a channel. But there are moments when even the smallest impact leads to big changes in the dynamic system. These points are called bifurcation points. The task of this department is to find the most sensitive bifurcation points and break their symmetry. In other words, to direct the development of the system along the path we need.
"Did this department move me here?"
— Yes, by his decision he will go to an arbitrary geographical point. You have created a powerful parametric bifurcation, and of course we took advantage of this. After all, we wanted to get to know you. Yes, Nastya ... Nastasya Andreevna?
Marat Ibragimovich looked at Nastya, who was standing nearby, and involuntarily squeezed his cane, so that his fingers turned white. Probably from excitement, I thought. To somehow defuse the situation, I asked:
- Tell me, do everyday issues bother you in this department as well as in the department of negentropy?
- No, what are you, - Marat Ibragimovich laughed. - For modern people, all bifurcations come down only to the choice of goods in supermarkets. They practically do not affect anything and they can be neglected.
Do you love mountains?
We exited the second balloon and headed for the third one, which was labeled "ACO Simulation Lab." Marat Ibrahimovich opened the door, and as soon as I wanted to follow him, he suddenly turned around, blocking the passage and said dryly:
“Today I am not ready to show you what is here. Can we do it tomorrow morning?
And the door slammed shut in my face. I looked at Nastya in bewilderment. There was a long awkward pause. Then Nastya said:
- Don't be angry with him. Actually you are lucky. In general, he doesn’t let almost anyone into the laboratory, only if some big bosses come ... And you know what, let's meet with you after dinner. I will show you the mountains... Do you like mountains?
(to be continued Protocol “Entropy” Part 4 of 6. Abstragon)
Source: www.habr.com