Grothendieck's question was not so easy to answer, because his question was whether he had faith in human civilization.

Human civilization is a big word, it includes Wang Yinan, Li Wenjing, Mr. Qiu, and the knowledge and wisdom of thousands of people.

Wang Yinan is confident that he will not let things go beyond his control, such as limiting the interface between the Gödel system and the outside world to a very small range, such as flight control, traditional Chinese medicine or the securities market, and even games.

He's not going to let this thing read, he's not going to try to make it self-aware, and so on.

However, if he doesn't do this, it doesn't stop others from doing it, there is no shortage of crazy people in this world, and there is no shortage of people who want to become famous overnight.

Wang Yinan pondered for a long time, and Grothendieck did not look impatient at all, he sat there quietly, the noon sun shining in through the window, but there was no sound, and the small room was drowned in a suffocating silence.

Until Yang Lihan couldn't stand the silence in the room, she opened her mouth and wanted to say something, Wang Yinan spoke,

"You know, I'm Chinese", Wang Yinan's beginning was a little unexpected,

Grothendieck looked at Wang Yinan curiously, and did not speak,

"Most Chinese people are strictly faithless",

"Although there are many people who believe in Buddhism, ghosts and gods, or other religions, for the vast majority of Chinese people, the only thing we believe in is ourselves."

"Isn't that how the Internationale is sung", "There has never been a savior, and it doesn't depend on the immortal emperor!" It is up to us to create the happiness of mankind!",

"For Chinese people, their own happiness must be created by themselves, and it is useless to beg others",

"Therefore, the Chinese are the most humble, because no one is born noble, we are all born ordinary and humble, and the Chinese are also the greatest, because the whole world is built on our own."

"Do you understand this mentality?" , Wang Yinan asked,

Grothendieck nodded, and it was clear that it was not difficult for him, who had followed idealism and anti-war doctrine and had always been a pure mathematician, to understand this.

"It is because we do not believe in the existence of a savior and an immortal emperor that we are humble when we face nature alone, and the complexity and chaos of nature are beyond our comprehension, so what?" , Wang Yinan said,

"Isn't that a normal thing, that no one can really understand nature, understand our society, understand humanity itself?" ，

Grothendieck kind of understood, "You don't think humans can understand nature at all, so of course you don't feel disillusioned and disappointed."

"Not exactly," Wang said.

"To be precise, I can accept that humans can understand the reality of nature, and I can also accept that humans cannot fully understand, or even describe the reality of nature",

"Because we ourselves are created by nature, isn't it normal for nature to have more magical things happening?"

"What's more, what you find is only a logical and formal system, which cannot fully describe the complexity of nature in a limited number of steps".

"No one has limited human beings to use logic and formal systems to think, and non-logical and non-formal systems are also part of our wisdom," Wang Yinan said with emotion.

Wang Yinan's meaning is also obvious, your old man has spent too much energy and time on algebraic geometry, and has devoted a lifetime of effort, so you will feel that he is omnipotent, and when you find that it, as well as the more basic formal system, axiomatic logic, has its own essential flaws, you will feel disillusioned.

But Wang Yinan won't, there are contradictions in everything, and it can't be perfect, which was realized by Wang Yinan, who was born as a civilian, very early, so human understanding has limitations, and it is not an unacceptable thing for Wang Yinan.

"What about human civilization, don't you think that the future of civilization is not controlled by logic, or even by human beings, is a very terrifying thing?" , says Grothendieck,

"Hehe", Wang Yinan smiled,

"The emergence of axiomatic logic and formal system theory is less than a hundred years ago."

"The so-called civilization is controlled, but it is just our illusion, if you think about it carefully, how can human beings really control the development of their own civilization," Wang Yinan said.

"When Einstein discovered the famous E=MC^2, nuclear weapons became inevitable, how many scientists saw the horror of nuclear weapons, including Einstein, they desperately wanted to prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons",

"But it didn't work, the atomic bomb exploded in the country of the sun anyway,

"Don't talk yet, I know that your position and I must be different on this matter",

"However, whether you are the God of algebraic geometry or I am just an ordinary person who came out of a poor ravine, to be honest, we are all equally powerless on such a big topic as the direction of the development of real human civilization."

"Mankind has never controlled the development of its own civilization", grothendieck muttered,

"For example, although you are revered as the god of algebraic geometry, you can only express your opinions and protest by withdrawing from the mathematical community," Wang Yinan continued.

"But in the end, you're like me, and nothing can change."

"So, back to your original question",

"I have confidence in human civilization", Wang Yinan finally gave an affirmative answer,

"Why? Is it because of the humility of mankind? Grothendieck asked,

"It's not entirely humble, I'll put it another way, so that I might express my meaning more clearly," Wang Yinan said.

"My confidence in human civilization has not been diminished by the discovery that axiomatic logic and formal systems cannot accurately express the complex natural world",

"Because axiomatic logic does not guarantee that our civilization will develop in the right direction, and I even doubt that axiomatic logic can accurately express the correct concept, I ask you, is God right, or Satan?"

Grothendieck fell into a long silence, he tilted his head, half lying on the sofa, one hand in the air gesturing something, Yang Lihan pulled Wang Yinan out, "He's tired", Yang Lihan said,

"How do you know Grothendieck", walking out the door, Wang Yinan asked curiously,

"When I was on the roof of the world, I met a mathematician from Princeton, and in him I saw something strange that led me to this ancient village under the Pyrenees",

"Until I met this Mr. Grothendieck", says Yang Lihan, "when I came to this village a month ago, the old man was in a strange frenzy",

"He didn't sleep for several days, and when he finally took out the stack of manuscripts, the whole person was too thin, and I stayed with him for several weeks before he recovered, and then I saw that he was reading papers, several of which were in your name, and I told him that I know you",

"You know what happened next, and he asked me to bring you the manuscript."

Wang Yinan and Yang Lihan walked along a small river next to the hut, and in this village, there are occasionally one or two huts emitting smoke, bringing some popularity to this deserted town, "He will take a nap at this time, we will sit at the small pie shop at the entrance of the village, and he will come over to eat later."

The two of them sat in the pie shop, chatting with each other, Yang Lihan is also the kind of person who has very few words, not to mention Wang Yinan, although he swore to Grothendieck just now that he has confidence in human civilization, in fact, he still has no bottom in his heart, he has been thinking, what is the most terrible thing, is it really possible for human civilization to be led to the abyss of unknowability by artificial intelligence that is stronger than himself and incomprehensible?

Not long after, maybe two hours, maybe less, Grothendieck appeared at the door of the pie shop, he said hello to Wang Yinan and Yang Lihan, and sat down with them.

"I've thought carefully about what you said," the old man said to Wang Yinan,

"Indeed, I can't change anything but myself",

"It's so hard to change yourself,

"However, I'm old and I don't want to spend time changing myself."

"Young man, are you interested in chatting with the old man, I found something very interesting in your papers," says Grothendieck.

Then what else is there to say, this master seems to be preparing to teach some unique secrets, Wang Yinan nodded again and again, "No problem, no problem."

Wang Yinan called Qian Zhonghua, and when he heard that he was learning a few tricks from Grothendieck, Qian Zhonghua immediately stopped urging him to return to China quickly, "Learn more, this buddy's theory seems to be the basis of cryptography."

After saying hello to Zhou Hui and the company, Wang Yinan settled in this small mountain village.

Although Grothendieck is nearly ninety years old, his thinking is still very clear, and his intuition is even more terrifying than when he was younger, Wang Yinan guessed a little irreverently, "Is it because he is closer to God?" ”

The old man had already guessed the existence of the Gödel system from Wang Yinan's paper, "My intuition tells me that your theory must be pieced together."

"Why", Wang Yinan was very unconvinced, "It's too boring for you to draw such arbitrary conclusions",

"It's not natural, every part is delicate, every step is reasonable and natural, but the whole thing is very unnatural, like a living person who has been dismantled by you and put back together," says Grothendieck.

"Okay", some people's wisdom can transcend times and ages, Wang Yinan honestly confessed the existence of the Gödel system.

"In fact, while you are building your own theory, you have stumbled upon some formalized methods," said the old man.

"From disorder to order, there are still these basic skills",

"The first thing I did was to find a general way to express a chaotic system using a formal system, but after almost exhausting all the techniques, I finally found that it was impossible to get a perfect expression in a limited number of steps",

"But even if it's not perfectly formulated, there's still a lot of math in it",

"For example, the place can be added with the concept of homophony",

"Here is essentially a cluster of fibers",

Wang Yinan is like a sponge absorbing the wisdom of the old man, he has a very strong intuition, the key to solving many problems is in the old man's telling.

Until the morning a week later. 8)