"What? Does anyone really dare to challenge our 'first' generation computers? ”

In the face of such a shocking reversal, Alex felt that someone was eyeing him. In his opinion, how could anyone come out to respond to this kind of thing. The "first-generation" computer was not a vegetarian, and the CPT company's million-dollar was not fake, and anyone dared to accept a bet to gamble?

Chuck replied with a serious expression, "Yes, this guy is called 'Yuriwak'!" It is said that he came from the 'authoritative spokesman' somewhere, and he insisted that he would compete with us. ”

"Then he said that the prediction did not turn out, and who he thought would be elected president?"

Alex was in his heart, thinking, don't be Eisenhower, don't be Eisenhower.

It didn't turn out as hoped, and Chuck replied, "He also thinks Eisenhower was elected president." ”

"Holy! It's up to us! Have you found out who this guy is? What's not going on. ”

"We are investigating, and we will have news soon. Besides, if he really wants to challenge, he will definitely stand in front of the salary. ”

"Well, that's right, since he also predicted that Eisenhower would be elected, then we have to find a way to force him out, let's say that it is more accurate than anyone's prediction. We must hold a press conference as soon as possible, and we must not let the other side dominate the direction of public opinion. ”

Chuck replied yes, and then went to someone to get some work ready.

When Alex returned home, his family happened to see the news on TV about the "campaign gamble". It seems that everyone is very concerned about the challenger that suddenly appeared this time, and the topic that has already cooled down immediately attracted people's attention.

Bart asked with some concern, "Who is that 'Yuriwak'?" Are you going to lose to them? ”

"We don't know who the other side is." The first generation will definitely not lose! You don't have to worry! ”

Angel said softly: "How can we not worry, if the opponent's 'Yuriwak' wins, we will have to lose a million dollars." ”

The $1 million that Evan showed at the press conference was still a blank check, and it was impossible to withdraw money now, and it had to be signed by Angel to be effective. However, if the game is lost, the CPT company will definitely have to give the opponent a million dollars.

Bart thought for a moment and said, "This 'Yuriwak' sounds familiar, as if I've heard it somewhere. ”

Alex said he had never heard the name, not once.

Angel jokingly said: "This name sounds weird, could it be that the other party is also a machine." ”

What I didn't expect was that it came true. Before Chuck's people went to investigate the other party, a reporter inquired into the bottom of who this "Yuriwak" was.

It turned out to be a computer made by the RAND Corporation, and it was made by the same inventor as the famous Eliac computer. The engineer on the other side swore that his prediction was well-founded, and that he had deduced the result of the director's calculation using the most complex mathematical formula, which was beyond the imagination and estimation of ordinary people.

"So who has the faster and more accurate computing power between the 'Yuriwak' computer produced by your company and the 'first-generation' computer of CPT company?"

"In terms of computing speed, of course, it is the fastest in the 'first generation', which is something that everyone knows. However, in terms of accuracy, of course, our computers are superior. ”

When he saw the news, Alex was so angry that he threw the newspaper to the ground and shouted, "This is slander, slander!" ”

After calming down, Alex knew that someone must be taking advantage of the opportunity to slap them. Maybe the RAND Corporation is just being used as a gun, as for the people behind it, who else will there be if it is not IBM.

"Chuck! Let's prepare for an open computer prediction contest. The venue is going to be bigger, and I think there will be a lot of reporters by then. ”

"It's good, I'll have people arrange the venue and contact the news reporters."

In order to push the other party into a corner, Alex decided to ask the RAND Corporation to come up with a bet as well: "By the way, let the other party also prepare a check for a million dollars." In addition, I told reporters that after we win, we will donate the one million dollars we won. ”

"What a shame! I'll arrange it now. ”

Alex was a little anxious, wondering how many votes Eisenhower would get in next year's presidential election. If the number of votes calculated by the program he made was lost to the opponent's computer, wouldn't he lose the competition?

"What to do?"

No matter what he does, Alex knows that taking a step back now is a loss, and further may not lose. Then the only way to do this is to go head-on and see if you can fight a bloody path.

The RAND Corporation was soon ready to bet a million dollars and also took the initiative to arrange the venue. Because their computer is a vacuum tube computer, it is too large, too bulky, and inconvenient to carry.

"We asked to play at the designated venue, otherwise we would have withdrawn."

For this kind of request, Alex almost wanted to get the other party to quit. In this way, there is no need to play, and both sides have better faces. But when I thought of the plan I had worked so hard to come up with, I was made a mess by others, and I was very annoyed.

"Accede to their request! However, we have to talk about the rules of the game and make sure that they are fair and impartial. ”

"Fair and just? How can we be fair and equitable? ”

Chuck didn't understand Alex's thoughts, and in his opinion, for this kind of competition, of course, it was necessary to play a thousand dollars. Otherwise, how can you guarantee that you will win and not lose, if you lose, you will lose a million dollars. Not to mention the damage to the reputation of the CPT company, the impact on the sales of the "first generation" computers.

"Yes, we just want to be fair and just. Only in this way can we win and not lose! ”

Once again, Alex emphatically said that he is becoming more and more confident of winning this tournament. Originally, he thought that he had a high chance of losing, but after thinking about it differently, it should be the other party who lost. As long as the rules of the game can ensure complete fairness and justice, "Yuriwak" is not the opponent of the "first generation" at all, at least the "first generation" will not lose the game.

For Alex's request to "ensure that the competition is fair and impartial", the RAND Corporation immediately agreed. "We also hope that there will be no cheating in the game," they said. ”

In order to ensure the fairness and impartiality of the competition, Alex also invited Heisenberg, Einstein, von Neumann, Shockley, Oppenheimer and other scientists to the scene as judges.

For such a grand event, those scientists were invited one after another. Of course, Alex also spent a lot of appearance fees.

On the day of the competition, the competition venue arranged by the RAND Corporation was crowded. Among these people are scientists, university professors, journalists, science enthusiasts, company employees, ordinary residents, and so on. Everyone was very interested in the outcome of the "gamble of the century", and there were people on the sidelines who opened the market and bet on the game to see who could win.

The person who presided over this competition was a professor at a university, and although he was not very good academically, he was better than his popularity, so he was asked to be the host.

The host saw that the time was almost up and the venue was full, so he came to the microphone and said, "In order to ensure fairness, we have invited many scientific celebrities to be judges for this competition." ”

Every time the host mentioned a science master, the audience immediately applauded. After introducing all the judges, he continued: "The purpose of this competition is to test the speed and accuracy of two computers. The way the game is played is to compare by predicting the outcome of next year's president. ”

"Rule 1 of the game, the staff of both sides must stay in their own area, must not interfere with the opposing team's staff, must not cheat, and must not ......"

"Rule 2 of the game, in order to ensure that the game is fair and impartial, both sides must use the same calculation formula and procedure to predict the outcome of the election."

"Rule 3 of the competition, the result of the competition is determined by the judges present who wins and loses. If there is a difference of opinion, it can be raised on the spot, and the two sides shall not have any objection after the game. ”

"Finally, I announce the start of the computer contest to predict the outcome of the 1953 presidential election!"

Under the order of the host, the staff of both sides immediately began to be nervously busy after getting the formula and procedure.

The "Yuriwak" is a vacuum-tube computer, which is bulky, and the program still uses perforated paper strips for input and output.

The "first" computer was completely different, it was a transistor computer, the whole volume was only the size of a wardrobe, plus the display input and output devices, etc., and it did not take up a lot of space. From the appearance, people can tell that the computer is more advanced.

The "Original" is more than 10 times faster than the "Yuriwak", and what is even worse is that the "Original" program input method is through keyboard typing, and the storage medium is a record-sized disk. When the CPT staff entered the program into the "first-generation" computer, it took less than a few minutes to calculate the prediction.

At this time, on the other side of the field, the staff of the RAND Corporation were still busy entering the program into "Yuriwak".

After repeatedly checking that there were no problems with the prediction formula and procedure, and that there were no problems with the calculation process, the CPT staff printed the prediction results on a piece of paper and handed them to the tournament host.

After the moderator got the results, he immediately announced: "The CPT company's 'first' computer has got the results, and their prediction is that Eisenhower will win next year's presidential election with 438 votes." ”

In the face of such a fast computing speed, everyone was very surprised, and they whispered in the audience. This put a lot of pressure on the RAND employees, and the speed of entering the program became even slower. Finally, after five or six minutes, I wrote all the programs and started to let the computer do the calculations.