Chapter 99: Chapter 92: Celestial Net! James Raven
Chu Bamboo gently tapped his fingers on the bed Nuwa had constructed. He suddenly spoke, "Nuwa No. 17, tell me about the Europe and America Celestial Net Group. And about James Raven."
"Celestial Net Group Profile:
The Celestial Net Company was founded on June 17, 2030.
In response to a call from North America, it gathered forces from the Europe and America Region to build what was, at the time, the world’s most powerful computing cluster since the invention of the microchip. This, in turn, led to the creation of a world-leading AI—
Celestial Net Zero.
The Celestial Net Group is not just an internet company; it is also a giant in the heavy industry sector.
It has produced a series of well-known products, including but not limited to Raven-brand unmanned machines and Raven-brand unmanned industrial machinery. With just one person issuing commands and controlling them from a backend system, these unmanned machines can provide the equivalent labor of one hundred elite workers, along with all the necessary heavy machinery.
This was a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence!
They accomplished this a full six months before Z Company in the East achieved something comparable!
The establishment of the Celestial Net Group powerfully drove a revival and a new era of prosperity for industry and infrastructure in the North American Region, reversing the effects of deindustrialization.
However, this boom in productivity was not without its downsides. The Celestial Net Group’s full automation caused the demand for labor in the North American Region to plummet. This, in turn, led to a massive spike in social unemployment rates and intensified the conflict between the upper class and the working class.
Although it has drawn mixed reviews from netizens worldwide for failing to take on its social responsibilities, there is no doubt that the Celestial Net Group is one of the undisputed leaders in the field of artificial intelligence in the latter half of the 21st century."
"James Raven. Gender: Male. Nationality: A dual national of Britain and the White-headed Eagle. Date of Birth: August 9, 1988. Alma Mater: Harvard University.
For the first forty years of his life, James Raven was unremarkable. Despite graduating from Harvard University, he didn’t enter fields like law or medicine. Instead, he chose to become an entrepreneur, failing time and time again. He has a record of filing for bankruptcy eight times!
In ’28, James Raven reached a turning point in his life. That year, he got to know a great number of powerful and influential figures in the Europe and America World, becoming their guest of honor.
In ’30, he successfully persuaded numerous oligarchs to invest in the establishment of the Celestial Net Company. From then on, its development was explosive, and it embarked on a path of massive expansion.
In ’33, James Raven was awarded the Wolf Mathematics Prize for successfully solving the Riemann hypothesis.
In ’35, James Raven won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In June of ’37, the market value of the Celestial Net Company soared to a new high, setting the record for the company with the highest stock price in human history.
In ’38, James Raven won the Nobel Prize in Physics again. In the same year, he resigned from his position as President of the Celestial Net Group, retaining only the title of Chief Scientist.
In January of ’41, after the emergence of the AI Z, Zhao Shao of the Eastern World came to be widely regarded in the Europe and America World as the only AI expert from the East to have caught up to James Raven."
Chu Bamboo: "...?"
’Wait, let me get this straight.’ Chu Bamboo’s expression was complicated. He remembered that Celestial Net was supposed to have gained self-awareness later than Z, so why was Zhao Shao only considered to have caught up to James Raven *after* the AI Z appeared? ’But still...’
"Incredible!" Chu Bamboo clicked his tongue in amazement. James Raven’s entire journey was like he was cheating. Even Zhao Shao, in terms of sheer accolades, seemed to pale in comparison to James Raven.
’The only suspicious thing is, why did it all start in ’28?’
’He was completely unremarkable before ’28? That makes no sense. The fact that he won the Wolf Mathematics Prize proves he must be a top-tier mathematician. That award is considered one of the two crowns of mathematics, on par with the Fields Medal!’
’And mathematicians often make their greatest achievements when they’re young. The Fields Medal, for instance, has a strict age limit of forty!’
’There’s the concept of a late bloomer, of course, but mathematics is an exception... After all, it’s a field that relies heavily on innate talent. If you don’t show prodigious talent when you’re young, the chances of a major breakthrough later in life, when your energy is declining, are incredibly low.’
’Not to mention that pile of Nobel Prizes! The math award could have been a fluke... but both Nobels were for work he did *after* ’28, after he started his company!’
’Suspicious!’
’No matter how I look at it, it’s extremely suspicious...’
After some deep thought, Chu Bamboo finally made a decision. "For my next life, I’ll focus my investigation on this Celestial Net Group, and James Raven!"
Chu Bamboo actually had a suspicion that this Celestial Net might be related to that redacted organization that had captured and dissected him.
’After all, it was almost certain that organization was rooted in Europe and America; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to abduct him when he went to Europe for the Olympics. The only problem was...’
’If it really is a company secretly built and manipulated by that organization suspected of having ties to aliens, then shouldn’t its technology be far beyond anything imaginable?’
’It would be absurd if alien technology couldn’t even surpass Zhao Shao. But from the looks of it, in the Celestial Net Group’s early days, its technical level was indeed slightly outmatched by Z.’
’No, no, I can’t completely rule out another possibility. Maybe Celestial Net was created much earlier... Or perhaps, the aliens don’t actually fully trust this organization built by Earthlings, and only gave them limited access to some of their more advanced technology?’
After a long moment of contemplation, Chu Bamboo let out a long sigh, a hint of relief washing over his face. Regardless, he had finally found a tangible target—a suspected enemy operating out in the open.
