Genius Playground

”You might not fully grasp what this means. Hmm... How about this? I’ll give you a more vivid example.”

”A situation like this, where atrophied brain tissue becomes active again... is roughly as absurd as turning a hard-boiled egg back into a raw one, and then hatching a chick from it!”

...

After hearing the doctor’s down-to-earth metaphor, Jiang Ran finally understood the look of utter shock and horror on the doctor’s face.

Indeed. This completely overturned everything known in traditional biology and medicine.

Unboiling a hard-boiled egg, then hatching a chick from it—even Darwin would’ve flipped a table at that.

But this event, which defied all common sense and biological laws, had just happened right before his eyes... There was no one to turn to for an explanation.

Suddenly, Jiang Ran recalled a concept Teacher Zhang Yang had taught in a general studies class on World Line 0.

Murphy’s Law.

In other words, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. No matter how small the probability of an event, it is bound to happen.

So, was unboiling a hard-boiled egg and hatching a chick from it an event with zero probability, or just an event with an extremely low probability?

”Doctor, I’d like to ask you a question.”

Jiang Ran said softly,

”In your opinion, is turning a hard-boiled egg back into a raw one and hatching a chick from it... something that is one hundred percent, absolutely impossible? Or... is there an infinitesimally small probability, an exceptionally slim chance, that it could happen?”

The doctor was momentarily speechless. His eyes widened as he stared at Jiang Ran in bewilderment.

He couldn’t understand at all.

’Is this... is this the super-genius Dean Gao Yan was talking about?’

’What a strange question!’

’What a bizarre train of thought!’

’Does such a simple question even need to be asked?’

’When an egg is cooked, its proteins denature. The high temperature destroys the spatial structure of the protein molecules, causing them to go from an ordered, globular shape to a disordered, chain-like one.’

’How could that possibly be reversed?! It’s pure fantasy!’

But... just as he was about to lecture the ignorant boy, he began to doubt himself.

Admittedly, such a fantastical scenario was impossible in both theory and practice.

But... from a standpoint of academic rigor, could he really be 100% certain it was impossible? Was there truly not the tiniest, most minuscule possibility?

Hmm...

He made a thoughtful sound in his throat.

His gaze on Jiang Ran gradually shifted, moving from shock and surprise, to doubt and confusion, then to seriousness, hesitation, calm, and finally, a sort of dazed abstraction.

’As a scholar, from a rigorous standpoint, I really can’t just throw around terms like 100% and 0%.’

There are two thought experiments in the world concerning extremely low probabilities.

One is the ”Infinite Monkey Theorem”:

Could an infinite number of monkeys, randomly typing on typewriters for an infinite amount of time, produce the complete works of Shakespeare?

The other is the ”Tornado in a Junkyard” theory:

If a massive tornado swept through a junkyard filled with all sorts of parts, could it assemble a Boeing 737?

From a scientific and realistic perspective, this is absolutely impossible. It wouldn’t happen even if the universe ended.

But from a probabilistic perspective, it is possible—a possibility resting on an infinitesimally, vanishingly small probability.

So, returning to the question Jiang Ran had just asked him.

On the surface, they were debating raw and hard-boiled eggs, but in reality, Jiang Ran was surely alluding to the medical miracle of Tian Xiaoli’s brain regenerating.

”Hmm... You’re an interesting student.”

The doctor looked at Jiang Ran with appreciation.

”Generally speaking, in academia, we don’t like to make 100% absolute statements about anything.”

”This isn’t because we’re being lazy, leaving ourselves wiggle room, or being deliberately ambiguous and evasive. Rather—”

”’For the unknown frontiers of science, we must always harbor a sense of awe and curiosity.’”

The doctor chuckled.

”Once, people believed flight was impossible, that the Moon was unreachable, that the vacuum of space was truly empty, that the speed of light couldn’t be surpassed, and that time was irreversible...”

”But as science and technology advanced, people found that these so-called ’impossibilities’ gradually became possible.”

”Superluminal phenomena are not uncommon in the universe. The quantum delayed-choice experiment also establishes a result before the process is even determined. These are the kinds of counterintuitive things—things the public believes to be impossible—that have truly changed our understanding of reality through scientific exploration.”

”So, let’s return to our original topic.”

The doctor cleared his throat and began again.

”If you’re asking me whether, from a scientific and biological standpoint, there is an extremely small probability of what happened to Tian Xiaoli occurring—”

The doctor looked Jiang Ran in the eye.

”My answer is...”

He said, emphasizing each word:

”’It is possible.’”

...

Jiang Ran nodded.

That answer was enough.

He wasn’t truly concerned with Tian Xiaoli’s condition. What he wanted was to understand, on a fundamental level, how the Priest had managed it all.

”Doctor, may I ask you one more question?”

Jiang Ran asked softly,

”If, as you say, you can’t be 100% certain about anything... then...”

”’...could a person who has already died, under a scenario of extremely low probability, come back to life?’”

”You!”

The doctor’s eyes bulged like walnuts.

’This time, he was truly convinced the kid in front of him was nuts!’

”Are... are you all right in the head?”

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”Jiang Ran, academic rigor is one thing, but splitting hairs like this is just pointless.”