Great Power Technology

Rongcheng, Huawuyuan.

Qian Lixun was lying in the lounge of the affiliated hospital, scrolling leisurely on his mobile phone.

He was originally doing the final inspection of the Shenguang-4 inertial confinement nuclear fusion. According to the plan, the fusion device will conduct its first ignition experiment in a week. For this goal, he, like everyone in the working group, is I have been working at high intensity for more than three months.

But even so, even though he sleeps less than 5 hours a day, he still feels that there is not enough time, because this project is far beyond what he has done in terms of technical complexity and cumbersome process. Any project.

He is already an old man, and his expectation for the success of the project supports the operation of his body. However, it is obvious that the objective laws are difficult to change, and no matter how firm the belief is, it is not enough to resist natural aging.

Since this morning, he has felt very uncomfortable in his heart, with his heart beating fast and slow, and even occasionally experiencing twitching pain.

He thought it was just a temporary discomfort caused by lack of sleep, but at three o'clock in the afternoon, when he inspected the divertor structure, he clearly felt something was wrong.

If this continues, something will happen.

However, the inspection of the installation has reached the final stage. If it is stopped temporarily, the progress of the project may be slowed down again.

This is a difficult choice. In the long history of the development of the Republic, many scientific researchers have faced the same choice, and their answers have also brought countless silent but heroic sacrifices.

Choose country between family and country, choose collective between individual and collective, choose progress between life and progress.

Such a choice is tragic - but it must be said that sometimes it is indeed stupid.

At least that's how it seems to Qian Lixun.

He didn't want to fall here.

He knows very well that if the Shenguang 4 project is delayed by a week, even if it is delayed by a month, or even by a year, the losses will not be compared to his own value.

Therefore, as soon as he realized the problem, he called the medical team and left his job.

"You are very decisive. Judging from the marker test results just now, you now have cardiovascular inflammation. If not treated in time, it is likely to develop into acute myocardial infarction."

"Stay absolutely bed-rest for the next period of time. Now that it has been discovered early, there is no need for surgery. I will prescribe some aspirin, bisoprolol and other medicines for you in the future. You just need to take them on time."

"I checked your medical history and found that your heart function has always been very good. I guess it's because you've been too tired recently, your immunity has declined, and you have a bit of viral myocarditis."

The doctor on the side said while signing the ward inspection sheet.

“Is antiviral treatment necessary?”

Ye Zhou, who was sitting by the bed, interrupted and asked.

"Then it's not necessary. The effect of antiviral treatment is relatively limited and it will cause great damage to liver function. My liver function is not very good, so it is best not to take it - are you a family member?"

Ye Zhou smiled, shook his head and replied:

"No, his family members are still busy. I guess they will have to come over to see him later."

"I understand. Then I'll leave first. You can watch for a while and don't affect the patient's rest."

Ye Zhou nodded in agreement. After the latter turned and left, Qian Lixun said jokingly:

"Doctor Du, if he knew who you were, he would probably regret not saying more to you."

"That's not the case. There are specialties in the arts. They may not have a thorough understanding of what we do, and it is probably difficult for them to have any deep perceptions."

Qian Lixun on the bed shook his head and replied:

"I'm not talking about nuclear fusion. I'm talking about the gene editor you proposed before. This affiliated hospital uses your editor. It made a lot of achievements last year, mainly in the area of ​​targeted cancer treatment drugs. .”

"When I came to the hospital for check-ups before, the banners in their office would change every now and then. They were all celebrating the passing of animal testing of some new drug or something like that."

Hearing this, Ye Zhou's expression was calm. He has been paying attention to the progress in the biological field, so he also knew that since the proposal of A\u0026C-BEmax, the medical application of this editor has been put on the agenda. Various medical institutions have They move quickly and achieve results normally.

In the past, he occasionally browsed the news during his break and saw news about liver cancer being cured by genetic drugs, which was a sensation at the time.

After all, for humans, liver cancer is almost the most difficult type of cancer to treat. It has a high degree of deterioration, rapid development, short course, and is very easy to relapse. The prognosis of each treatment is also extremely poor.

But of course, this inference is based on previous traditional treatment methods such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. After using gene editing technology to create targeted drugs, the treatment of liver cancer only requires one course of injections.

The entire process is convenient and painless – and, most importantly, cheap.

Compared with the gene transduction technology of CAR-T therapy, the new technology directly extracts human immune cells for modification, which is more efficient and cheaper.

This is not just as simple as breaking up a technological monopoly, but actually turning it into a technological obsolescence.

After that, the profits originally attributed to CAR-T therapy were instantly divided up by the swarming Chinese medical institutions. The price of the drug quickly dropped from millions to hundreds of thousands. Finally, with subsidies from financial funds, some cancer treatments The price of a full course of treatment even fell below 100,000.

But this is obviously not the full potential of gene editing technology. If it were not for medical ethics restrictions, large-scale genetically modified people might have already appeared.

However, this is not what Ye Zhou needs to care about now - he is more concerned about new things, such as immune reconstruction technology.

Ye Zhou took a breath, brought his mind back to reality, and then said to Qian Lixun:

"I will ignore the medical matters for now. Now there is a problem that I need to discuss with you."

"what is the problem?"

Qian Lixun looked at Ye Zhou curiously and asked.

"The U.S. National Laboratory has just proposed to give us the target pellet technology for inertial confinement fusion free of charge, mainly in terms of target pellet materials."

Hearing this, Qian Lixun was stunned for a moment, and then asked subconsciously:

"What do they want from us in exchange?"

In his opinion, target pellet technology is one of the most core links in inertial confinement nuclear fusion technology, and it is impossible for the other party to share this technology without any reason and purely out of good intentions.

The reason is also very simple. Controllable nuclear fusion is a technology that can definitely change the development process of science and technology. Whoever creates it first will be able to control the world. These ugly people will not give up their dominance, right?

Ye Zhou shook his head and replied:

"They don't want anything, it's free."

"Free? Why?"

Qian Lixun's expression became even more confused. He could tell that Ye Zhou was definitely not joking. Since the other party could definitely say the word "free", it meant that this information should be verified.

"We don't know - in fact, the other party has directly contacted the General Technical Office and passed some technical documents to them, saying it was to prove their sincerity."

"They will deliver subsequent documents through other methods, and they also mentioned that we are welcome to send researchers to the field to verify the authenticity of the technology - anyone can do it."

"The General Technical Office is also very confused. They really can't see any possible conspiracy issues in the other party's proposal, as if they really want to give us some expensive gifts."

"So, I just want to ask you, what is your suggestion on this matter?"

After listening to Ye Zhou's words, Qian Lixun frowned and thought for a moment, and then said:

“Is the technical documentation they currently provide credible?”

"It is credible. The information and data are complete, and some empirical results are attached. I will also send the document to you later, so you can see it for yourself."

"Since it is credible, then use it."

Qian Lixun nodded thoughtfully, and then continued:

"The production and replacement process of target pellets is not complicated. It will only delay a week or two at most. Our own target pellet technology is not advanced enough, so there is no problem in using other people's."

"There is indeed no problem in using it, but what I am worried about is that as the saying goes, the free one is the most expensive."

"That's just when you get along with people."

Qian Lixun refuted Ye Zhou's words unceremoniously.

“Between people, free services are indeed very expensive, because there may be various traps in it, and it also involves things like favoritism.”

“But in the face of such national-level technology, free is free.”

"We can mobilize sufficient power to eliminate traps, and we will never be affected by 'favors'."

"There is no emotion between countries. Under the guidance of interests, even if we are allies who have fought wars together and played with their lives together before, there will be no hesitation when it is time to give up, not to mention that we are still in an antagonistic relationship with them. "

"I think that they are willing to give away this technology because they are actually seeking resources for their cooperative project team - you know, there are researchers from China in the fringe areas of the Shenguang 4 project. If this technology If they are successful, they will have access to more technical information, which is good for them."

"Anyway, our trend of developing controllable nuclear fusion is already unstoppable, so why not give us another push? The faster we succeed, the higher their profits will be."

"Moreover, with this action, they can slightly ease the tension with us. If there is other cooperation in the future, they can also occupy a more advantageous position."

Ye Zhou nodded in agreement. In fact, when he received the news, he immediately felt that the other party might want to use this opportunity to improve the relationship with him. As for the purpose of improving the relationship, it was probably the BCI technology that is now in full swing. .

Therefore, when Qian Lixun pointed out this point, he was not too surprised.

However, the wisdom of the older generation still made him sigh in his heart.

"Then do as you always said. I will ask the Chief Technical Office to get the documents now and apply them to the equipment as soon as possible - but the application will have to wait until the second ignition experiment, and this time it will definitely be too late."

"It doesn't matter."

Qian Lixun put down his phone and continued:

"Step by step, finish what we are doing first, and then consider further optimization."

"I have to rest now. My old bones are still of great use. The next work depends on you. You are still young, so keep it up."

Ye Zhou laughed and replied:

"Don't worry, I'll come to tell you the good news in a week."