I Got an Omnipotent Brain

Anonymous Board,

[Guys, our Duck Lord ㅠㅠ]

– It looks like Duck Lord caused some kind of incident in the U.S. My dad is a physics professor, and he was so excited this morning that he asked me if I knew the Duck Lord.

But then he started saying strange things like no matter what, they have to bring that kid into the field of physics. He called every professor he knows in the U.S. and checked multiple times to see if it was really true. Of course, I didn’t understand any of it.

Waaah ㅠㅠ Duck Lord, please don’t leave us behind!

└If you go on the New York Times right now, Duck Lord’s photo is up.

└There’s breaking news on the BBC too.

└Seems like it’s related to the Riemann Hypothesis? While we were solving workbooks, Duck Lord was playing with the Millennium Problems ㅋㅋ

└He might really fly away now ㅠㅠ

└No! Duck Lord still needs a nestㅠㅠ I still haven’t taught him all my soccer skills.

└If Duck Lord leaves, does that mean the QuackQuack updates will end too?

└There’s a breaking news special on TV right now! Let’s all watch it together! (Link)

“What is this?”

Tae-jin rubbed his eyes and looked back at the screen.

When he woke up in the morning, the anonymous board was in chaos.

After reading the posts and all the comments, Tae-jin clicked the link.

Click.

Doo-roo-doo-doong, doo-doo-doong-

As the opening music played, the camera slowly panned over the studio.

“Hello, viewers.

Welcome to the special edition of ‘Science and the City’, a program for in-depth scientific discussion. Today, we bring you news that has recently become a hot topic.

Joining us is Professor Kim Ha-yoon, who conducts cross-disciplinary research in mathematics and physics. Welcome.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“We’ve heard that the academic world in both the U.S. and Europe is currently in a stir. Professor, what’s your take on this?”

Professor Kim adjusted his glasses and smiled.

“As a fellow scientist, I couldn’t contain my excitement. And the fact that a Korean student was at the center of this incident was both surprising and made me proud.”

“Could you explain it in simpler terms? People like us can’t really understand what’s going on, even after watching the news.”

“To put it simply:

Yu Seo-ha observed quantum chaos in an MIT laboratory.”

The host interrupted him.

“That’s where I start getting confused.

Yu Seo-ha is only 14 years old, right? He’s skipped multiple grades and is only just a high school student. So how could he participate in an MIT quantum experiment?”

“Hahaha! I don’t think anything like this has ever happened at MIT either.

There’s a renowned academic event called the ‘Young Mathematicians Forum’. He was invited to that. Beyond that, I don’t really know.”

”I see. Please continue.”

“During that experiment, he made a rather unusual claim.

He said that at the moment quantum energy disappears, a subtle phase change is detected. And he proposed a hypothesis that the pattern of that change matches the internal wave hidden in the Riemann zeta function.”

A pre-prepared computer graphic was shown.

The oscillation line of a quantum wave and the waveform of the Riemann zeta function were superimposed.

“Just hearing it sounds difficult. Could you simplify it more?”

“When a quantum particle is created or disappears, there’s an energy gap, right?”

The host nodded.

“Yes, I understand up to that point.”

“There’s been a claim since 1973 that this gap closely resembles the zero spacing statistics of the Riemann zeta function.”

“So you’re saying there’s been a statistical similarity, ‘they look alike’, since way back then.”

“Exactly. But that’s where it ended. The goal of physics is prediction. Where’s the next point? No one was able to figure that out.

As a result, more recently, people began saying maybe it was just a coincidence.”

The host let out an admiring laugh.

“Aha! Now I’m starting to understand.”

“But Yu Seo-ha revealed that wasn’t the whole story.

Going beyond statistical resemblance, he introduced a new correspondence by bringing in the dynamic characteristic of phase rotation and directly linking it with the argument change in the zeta function.”

“The terminology is difficult, but I roughly get the idea. But why is this an important discovery?”

“There are two reasons.”

Professor Kim Ha-yoon held up two fingers.

“First, we were able to confirm the structure of the Riemann zeta function, which had been considered entirely abstract until now, through observable physical signals in the real world.

Second, the mathematical model proposed during that process opened up the possibility of a one-to-one correspondence with actual phase changes, rather than merely saying ‘they look similar’.”

A brief silence passed.

“Are you saying, then, that the Riemann Hypothesis, a notorious problem even non-experts like me have heard of, could be proven?”

Professor Kim shook his head.

“Not immediately.

Hmm… to use an analogy, it would go like this. You like games, right?”

“Of course.”

“We need to clear a dungeon called the Riemann Hypothesis, but until now, we couldn’t even enter it.

We were just circling around it, speculating, ‘How big is this dungeon?’, ‘What kind of monsters might be inside?’, that’s the stage we were in.”

“Aha!”

“But Yu Seo-ha has found the entrance to the dungeon. Now we have to go in and fight hard.”

At Professor Kim’s analogy, the staff in the studio covered their mouths and laughed.

“I heard that research institutes around the world are working to verify the paper.”

“That’s right. Harvard, Oxford, the University of Tokyo, the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and several others have begun data reproduction experiments. MIT seems confident in the results.

If they weren’t certain from the start, a place like MIT wouldn’t have rushed to publish the paper.”

“So what’s next? What happens once verification is complete?”

Professor Kim grinned. His expression clearly showed his excitement.

“From that point, it’s an all-out competition. Actually, it would be more accurate to say the competition has already begun.

One million dollars in prize money is a big deal, but the Riemann Hypothesis also carries historical and symbolic weight. If someone solves it, it’ll be talked about even a thousand years from now. No scholar could resist that.”

The host let out an exclamation of admiration.

“Wow, I’ve got chills. It’s hard to believe someone who achieved such an incredible feat is a 14-year-old boy from Korea.”

“Not just the anchor, but the whole world is surprised.

There’s probably no university right now that doesn’t want to recruit Yu Seo-ha. They’re all making huge efforts, I’m sure.”

“Is the Riemann Hypothesis the most important problem for humanity?”

“I’m not an expert on every area of mathematics, but I can say with certainty that it’s not.

The proof of the Riemann Hypothesis would be a major milestone in the mathematics community, but there are problems that have a far greater impact on our lives.”

“Could you give us one example?”

Professor Kim answered without hesitation.

“One of the Millennium Problems, the Navier–Stokes equations.”

“Why is that problem so important?”

“The Navier–Stokes equations are formulas that describe the motion of fluids, gases and liquids.

From the flow of water to atmospheric circulation, to the movement of waves and clouds, all of it can be expressed through these equations. Simply put, it’s an attempt to mathematically interpret all the ‘flows’ in the world.”

“Just hearing that, it sounds impressive.”

Professor Kim waved his hand with a smile.

“Actually, mathematicians don’t like this problem that much.

Fluids! Doesn’t the word itself just sound vague? There’s way too much uncertainty. But what’s important is that it’s a subject that must be studied.”

“Because it’s related to the Earth?”

“Because it’s the foundation of the life we must protect. Even now, we’re facing many problems caused by abnormal climate due to global warming, aren’t we?

If we fully understand these equations, we’ll be able to predict Earth’s future with great precision. You could say it’s directly connected to the survival of humanity.”

“That sounds grave. It’s like mathematics is determining the fate of humanity.”

“That’s how it has always been, in fact.

Human civilization has been built on the foundation of mathematics. Date calculation, predicting rainfall, land surveying, navigation, astronomy… all of these are mathematics.”

The host seemed to think the atmosphere had grown too heavy and put on a playful expression.

“Thank you for the PR, Professor of Mathematics. Thanks to you, we now understand why the Western world is in such an uproar.

The producer is frantically signaling me to wrap up. This has been Kim Se-jin, anchor of ‘Science and the City.’”

Click.

“This is insane, Yu Seo-ha!”

A scream burst out from Tae-jin’s mouth.

His phone notifications were going off in succession. Naturally, the group chat topic was Seo-ha.

Rattle.

Tae-jin moved his mouse and opened the comments.

└With skills like that, is a perfect score in Math and Science on the CSAT possible?

└To be serious, he could still get something wrong. There are some weird questions occasionally.

└Guys, I go to the same school as him... He doesn’t hold back. He’s dead serious about exams.

└I didn’t even understand what was on TV today.

└It just means there’s a crazy smart person in Korea.

└And that person is only fourteen.

└But still a high schooler.

└Do we really need to see quantum theory to get it? My whole life is chaos already.

└Could he win a Nobel Prize?

└As a major in the field, we’ll need more results from the physics side to judge that. You know math doesn’t have a Nobel Prize, right?

└Would he be able to get into Seoul National University?

└Maybe if they throw in an apartment in Seoul. Oh, of course, the school would have to provide it?

“Should I get his autograph?”

Tae-jin searched how much Albert Einstein and John von Neumann’s autographs were currently being sold for.

***

On a sunny winter afternoon,

a power struggle was taking place between two elderly men in the president’s office at MIT.

The president stared coldly at Leonard.

“I told you.

If the dean steps in before the admissions committee moves, it creates procedural issues. If some article comes out later claiming it was a preferential admission, will you take responsibility?”

Leonard was angry.

The president had rejected his proposal twice already.

“The committee’s useless. They’re too conservative.

Why do you think Elijah Cronen ended up at Princeton? We were his first choice. But the committee took issue with his age, didn’t they? And they didn’t help with his family’s relocation either.”

“Because there are rules we must follow.”

“So you’re saying we should let this talent slip away because of those damn rules?”

“I also want Seo-ha to be our student.

The committee will send a formal offer. We’ll send him an admission letter under the president’s name. Even in MIT’s history, things like this have only happened a few times.”

“I’m saying that’s not enough.

I heard Harvard and Princeton already sent people. Of course, they’ll be offering extraordinary terms. While we sit here clinging to our rules.”

The president shook his head as if giving up.

“Tell me what you want.”

“At the very least, we need to match their level.

Not only should we cover tuition and living expenses, but we also need to provide family housing so that his entire family can relocate. If we sign a research affiliation with Seo-ha, we can legally support the family’s residency.

And we can also bypass the minor protection clauses.”

At this point, it was essentially a complete package of every benefit MIT could possibly offer to a special student.

The president let out a hollow laugh.

“Is there more?”

Leonard’s demands were endless.

“I heard he has a younger sibling, so we need to take care of health insurance and education as well. Not just introducing elementary schools, but if necessary, we might need to dispatch an ESL teacher or tutor.

Seo-ha can only focus on research if his home life is stable.”

The president looked at Leonard with an expression of disbelief.

“Are we recruiting a professor right now?”

”President!”

Leonard’s eyes flared open.

“In the 1940s, we built the radar that changed the course of the war. In the ’60s, we collaborated with NASA to send spacecraft into space. In the ’90s, we were the center of global computer science.

But what about now? Can we truly say that we have the edge over our rival schools in any field?”

Bang!

The furious president slammed his palm on the desk.

“There is no university in the world superior to us!”

Looking at the agitated president, Leonard spoke in a soft voice.

“For now… But the future is uncertain.

Charlie, Seo-ha will bring glory to MIT. We will once again stand tall at the center of the world as the one and only mecca of intellect.”

The president’s pupils trembled violently.