Chapter 21
THE BRAIN - SUPER COMPUTER

The possibility of creating a flying saucer awoke an interest in me. If one takes into consideration only the principle of movement as a hypothesis, still it is a new one.

Though a flying saucer is a very complicated mechanism, for us terrestrial people, it is not a matter of top priority.

That was why I decided that I would rather hear from Anastasia about something that I could understand right away. That “something” should not require any kind of scientific research or investigations. It could be applied in practice as being very helpful and beneficial for all people. I asked Anastasia to solve some kind of problem which our society is facing right now as a matter of top necessity.

She agreed but asked,

“Can you specify somehow? I mean this problem. How can I solve a problem if I don't even know what exactly you want?”

So I tried to think of the most urgent problem of today and the following terms of the task came to my mind,

“You know, Anastasia, in our large cities one of the most urgent problem of today is environmental pollution. It's difficult to breathe the air there”.

 

“But you are polluting it yourselves”.

 

“Of course, we do. Please, listen to what I am going to say. Let me finish. Only don't start your philosophical talk trying to debate the subject as you always do, by saying: 'you should take good care of yourselves, don't pollute, plant more trees and so on and so forth'. Just accept everything as it is now and think of something.

For instance, something which could purify the air in large cities, let's say, by fifty percent and moreover it would not need any expense from the state treasury. The thing which you are going to invent should be the most visible of all kinds of variants which anyone could think of and it would be applicable, understandable for me and everybody”.

“I'll try”, answered Anastasia.

 

“Are you sure you have mentioned all the conditions?”

Trying to make the task more complicated, I had some kind of gut feeling that her mind and abilities could be more powerful and advanced than our conscious mind could possibly assume.

That was why I added,

“Let the innovation you are going to think of be profitable”

 

“For whom?”, she asked.

“For me and my country as well. Since you live on a territory which belongs to Russia, let it be beneficial for all Russia”.

“Does it mean money?”

“Yes, it does”.

“How much?”

“You know, Anastasia, as far as profits and money are concerned, it is never enough. I need just enough to cover my expenses for this expedition and another one and also for Russia...”.

I became thoughtful... What if I would try somehow to arouse in her some kind of interest in the material wealth of our civilization?

So, I asked,

“What about you? Do you want anything for yourself?”

“I've got everything I need”, she responded.

All of a sudden a great idea came to me, I've realized what could arouse interest in her.

“You know, let the thing you are going to think of bring enough money so all your favorite dachniks, well, I mean gardeners, all over Russia can get seeds free of charge or on preferential terms, at reduced prices”.

“Sounds nice!”, exclaimed Anastasia. “What a wonderful idea! I'll start processing it right now if you have nothing else to add. I just love it! Are you sure you have nothing else to add?”

“Yes, I am sure, Anastasia."

That's it for the presents I could tell that she was excited by the task itself and especially the idea of helping the dachniks by providing them seeds for free.

Although at that very moment I was absolutely sure in spite of her extraordinary ability that the problem of air purification was an insoluble one. Otherwise our numerous scientific establishments would have solved it by now.

This time Anastasia lay down on the grass rather vigorously. Usually she did it very quietly, spreading her arms wide apart. The pads of her slightly curved fingers were upwards. Sometimes she was moving them, then they were absolutely still, the eye lashes of her closed eyes quivered once in awhile.

She stayed in that position for about twenty minutes, then she opened her eyes, sat down and announced:

“I have determined it. But I tell you, what a nightmare it is!”

“What have you determined? What is the 'nightmare'?”

“The greatest damage you are getting is from so called vehicles. As their number in large cities is tremendous. Each of them is producing extremely unhealthy toxic gas and dangerous substances for the human organism. The most awful thing is that these substances are getting mixed up with earth particles or, dust as you call it, so the dust gets saturated with it. While the vehicles are moving the saturated dust gets into the air and people are breathing in this terrible mixture. Also these particles are scattered all over covering grass, trees and everything around. This is very bad!”

“Sure it is bad. Everybody knows about it only nobody is able to do anything about it. There are washing machines but they can't cope with this task. You, Anastasia, have discovered absolutely nothing new. You have not thought of an original solution of the purification problems

“I've just determined the main source of harm, now I'll start analyzing and think it over. Now I need a long time for concentrating, maybe, an hour, because I have never been involved in something like this before. To kill time, you can go for a walk in the forest or...”

“Please, mind your own business and don't worry about me. I'll find what to do”.

Anastasia went deep down into herself.

When I came back after a half an hour's walk, I found her, it seemed to me, rather unsatisfied and I said, trying to comfort her:

“You see, Anastasia, in this case even your brain is helpless. Please, don't get upset. Many research institutes are working on this problem but all of them, just like you did, are only able to ascertain the fact of pollution. Yet they have managed to do absolutely nothing till now”.

Her reply sounded guilty:

“Well, I've tried, I guess all possible variants, to solve it quickly and by 50 percent... Sorry, I've failed”.

I pricked up my ears for, evidently, she had found some answer.

“What amount did you get?”, I asked.

She sighed and said,

“I've not reached a lot. My percentage is only 35-40 percent improvements

“What?! Are you kidding?”, I could not restrain myself.

“Very poor, isn't it?”, she asked.

My throat got dry. I felt that Anastasia could not lie, exaggerate or underestimate.

“All right, let's change the conditions of the problem. Now tell me quickly what you have thought of?”

“It is necessary that all these vehicles should not only scatter this disgusting dust but should be able to collect it”.

“What is it necessary to do? Tell me! Hurry up!”

“What is it that sticks out in front of the vehicles, what do you call it?”

“A bumper”, I prompted.

“So, it is a bumper. Right inside or under it they should fix a box with holes on the top cover of it. The back cover should also have holes from the which air could get out. While these vehicles are moving the flow of dusty, toxic air can go through the front holes. It would get purified and get out through the back ones. The air will get purified by 20 percent”.

“What are the 40 percent I've been promised?”

“Right now this road dust is not being removed and while using this method it's amount would be getting less and less as it will be removed every day and everywhere. I've calculated that within a month with the help of these kind of boxes, providing that they were installed on all vehicles, the quantity of polluted dust could be reduced by 40 percent. Though the air pollution percentage would not continue to go down as there are other factors which prevent it”.

“What is the size of the box? What should they contain? What is the number of the holes? What is the supposed distance in between the holes?”

“I say, Vladimir, maybe, you would like me to fix all these boxes to each vehicle”.

It was the first time that I realized that Anastasia had a sense of humor.

I burst out laughing when I tried to visualize Anastasia fixing her boxes to the vehicles. She also started to laugh and spin around the clearing. Really the idea was very simple and our technique could take care of the rest.

I tried to imagine on my own how everything could be done.

"A couple of special decrees on behalf of the leading administrative authorities, proper control of State Automobile Inspections, filter exchanges at gas stations and control tickets would be needed”.

“Wait a minute, Anastasia, will you stop, please”.

I was trying to attract her attention as she was spinning in a dance.

” What is supposed to be inside these boxes?”

“Inside... inside of the boxes? Well, for a change you should think for yourself. It is so simple”, she replied without stopping her dance.

“All right, and where will the money come from?”, I asked her again.

She stopped dancing:

“Well, what do you mean 'where from'? You have only asked me for the most rational idea and here it is. I've thought of exactly the one you had programmed. They will use it all over the world in large cities and pay Russia for this idea. This will pay the amount of money just sufficient to cover the costs of seeds for dachniks and you will get paid too. Only your money would come to you under certain conditions”

At that time I did not pay attention to her words “certain conditions” as I was too busy trying to figure out something different:

“So, do you mean it is necessary to patent it? Who will pay voluntarily ?”.

 

“Why not? They will, just a minute, I'll set the percentage Russia will get from the boxes' production by 2 percent and 0.01 percent for you”.

“What is the use of your settings? You are smart in some fields but as for business matters you are a complete layman. Nobody will pay voluntarily. They don't even pay according to signed agreements. If you knew only know the number of non payments! The courts of arbitration are overloaded. Do you know what an arbitration tribunal is?”

“I suppose. In this case they will pay meticulously. The one who refuses to pay will get ruined. Only honest ones will prosper”.

“How would they be ruined? Is it you who is going to ruin them?”.

 

“Oh, good for you! What else? It's unbelievable. Anyhow, they will do it on their own and be more precise, circumstances will happen to make it unfavorable for the deceivers and eventually they will be ruined”.

At that moment an idea crossed my mind: taking into consideration the fact that Anastasia could not lie and as she had said herself, the natural mechanisms would not allow her to make any mistake.

Before making that kind of statement she evidently had processed in her mind a tremendous volume of information and colossal mathematical calculations had to be made. At the same time it was necessary to take into consideration a great mass of psychological factors. These are caused by the people who would be involved in her project.

Actually to interpret everything into our language, Anastasia had not only solved the most difficult problem of our time, air purification, but created and analyzed a business plan. Moreover, she had done it within only half an hour.

As I wanted to specify some details I asked her,

“Tell me, Anastasia, had you made any calculations in your mind, before giving me the percentage numbers of the air purification. Then what is the expected income and benefits from the production of your boxes for the vehicles, filter changing and so on?”

“Very detailed calculations have been done and not only with the help of my own brain...”.

“Stop, will you! Be quiet! Let me finish. Tell me, could you compete with the most powerful and perfect modern computer, let's say, a Japanese or an American one."

“But I am not interested in it”, was her reply.

Then she added,

“It's so primitive and to some extent even humiliating for me. To compete with a computer is just like... well, how can I explain it to you by a simple example? Well, it's equivalent to competing with an artificial limb and, to be more precise, not exactly with a complete prosthetic appliance but only a certain part of it. A computer is lacking the main thing and this main thing is feelings”.

I started to debate trying to prove a quite opposite opinion, telling her that the people who play chess with a computer are considered to be very smart and highly respected in our society.

Having failed to convince her after trying all kinds of reasoning, I asked her to do me a favor and also, for the good of other people, to prove a human brain's abilities and possibilities.

She agreed and I did my best to specify the issue,

“Do you mean that I can announce officially your willingness to compete with a Japanese super computer in solving problems?”

“Why precisely a Japanese one?”, asked Anastasia.

 

“Because they are believed to be the best in the world”.

 

“Are they? I would rather compete with all of your computers together. So you would not ask me to get involved into any other kind of competition in the future”.

“Fine”, I felt very happy, “Let's do it with all computers, let's formulate the task now”.

“All right”, agreed Anastasia, “but to begin with, without wasting time on the task formulation, let them solve the problem which you had suggested to me and let them prove or decline my solution. If they disprove of mine, let them make their own suggestions. People and life itself will judge us”.

“Wonderful, Anastasia! Good for you! It's a constructive design. What do you think, will it take a long time to solve this problem? I guess, an hour and a half will not be sufficient time for them. Let's give them three months”.

“All right. Let it be three months”.

“I proposed to take as referees all those who are willing to do it. If their number is great nobody will be able to influence their estimations mercenarily”

“Let it be. I would like to tell you more about children and then education...”.

Anastasia believes that the education of children is the most important issue of today.

She usually speaks about it with great joy. My idea of competing with our computers did not provoke in her any special interest. However, I was glad to obtain her consent and right now I am calling upon the firms which produce modern computers, inviting them to compete with Anastasia in solving the problem mentioned above.

To summarize and call it a bargain I asked,

“What about a winner's prize?”

“I need nothing!”, was her answer.

“Why do you speak on your behalf? Are you absolutely sure of your victory ?”

“Of course, I am sure! Because I am human”.

“Well, all right. Anyhow, what would you suggest for a firm which could be second after you?”

 

“Well, I'll try to give them some ideas about how they could modify their computers”.

 

“Sounds fine! Let's call it a bargain!”

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