IMUC-CHAPTER 82: TECHNOLOGY CHANGES THE FUTURE

Stark Industries Tower was a magnificent building with an artistic style, embodying a fusion of technology and fashion. With a height of 190 meters and a total of sixty-two floors, it could easily accommodate thousands of workers and was one of the iconic landmarks of New York.

As Howard put it, “It’s just average. It falls far short of the Empire State Building. The main reason is that we didn’t have enough funds at the time, so we could only build this relatively large main office building. In addition to this office building, Stark Industries also has a Future Technology Square for launching new products, as well as three large manufacturing plants located on the outskirts of New York.”

At this moment, on the top floor of the sixty-second level, where the chairman’s office of Stark Industries was located.

Logan stood guard outside the office, while Kyle and Howard each held a goblet of fine red wine, standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows that replaced the outer walls of the building, overlooking the night view of most of the city of New York.

Howard smiled and said, “When it comes to fine wine, the collection in my office can rival any bar. And as a major shareholder, you haven’t seen the main office building of Stark Industries with your own eyes, so I brought you here directly.”

“It’s much better than I expected,” Kyle nodded, expressing his evaluation. His initial investment was in Stark Industries, but in reality, he was investing in Howard himself.

“Soon, Stark Industries will prove to the world that technology can change the future,” Howard said with a smile, raising his goblet in his hand to Kyle.

The two glasses clinked crisply, and they both drank the red wine in one gulp.

After a few drinks, Howard’s professional habit seemed to kick in, and he eagerly urged Kyle to see the recently developed and manufactured products.

In the luxurious office on the top floor, the interior walls had hidden safety compartments.

Howard walked towards an exhibition table and, through a triple confirmation of his fingerprint, eye scan, and voice recognition, the wall on one side suddenly opened, revealing the first safety compartment, inside which lay a square-shaped machine device.

The more Kyle looked at it, the more familiar it became. The instrument fits perfectly in his hand, with a screen that only occupied a small part of the device, while the majority of the lower section consisted of dialing numbers.

“Isn’t this a cellphone?” Kyle was dumbfounded. It was a wireless cellphone with a keyboard?

“Yes, it’s a cellphone,” Howard shrugged and explained, “Since you gave me that cellphone product a few months ago, I’ve had my engineers of the industry working day and night to disassemble and study it. We found many sophisticated hardware components that cannot be mass-produced with the current manufacturing technology.”

“But many of the functions of that cellphone were too advanced. As a portable communication device, it only needs to meet people’s need for instant communication. So, I simplified the design for mass-produced cellphones and plan to showcase them at the Future Technology Exhibition in New York Square after the war ends, followed by the initial promotion in New York with the establishment of communication towers.”

Before Howard could finish, Kyle was already speechless and the only thing he can do at this moment was stare at the person in front of him in admiration.

This was what a technology mogul was capable of. Give him an iPhone, and he could come up with ideas for mass production and promotion. After all, it was still 1944! Wireless cell phones would not become common items for at least another 3 or 4 decades and now Howard can release them in just a few years.

Kyle was still somewhat dazed, but Howard had already put away the first safety compartment and opened the second hidden compartment on the adjacent wall.

“Click—”

This time, there was a much louder noise, accompanied by the rush of cold air from the hidden compartment. What emerged was not a safe, but a massive desktop computer with numerous wires plugged into it, as if countless electronic components had been intricately assembled. Various indicator lights blinked on its surface, and there was a slight noise when it was running.

“Howard, you’re not telling me this is a supercomputer, are you?” Kyle forced out a smile as he spoke.

Howard smiled without saying a word, lightly clapping his hands, and gave instructions to the massive desktop computer, “J.A.R.V.I.S, say hello to Kyle.”

J.A.R.V.I.S?

Before Kyle could react, the massive desktop computer made a ‘di di’ sound, and then responded with a calm male voice, “Mr. Howard, welcome back. Good evening, Mr. Kyle. Welcome to Stark Industries.”

Kyle’s heart trembled. Even with his mindset, he was shocked beyond words and he almost threw the cell phone in his hand.

“Hahaha, surprised you, didn’t I?” Howard patted Kyle’s stiff shoulder, explaining, “This is just a supercomputer. But I equipped it with intelligent voice recognition capabilities and programmed it to respond to greetings.”

“Why did you call it ‘J.A.R.V.I.S’?” Kyle asked, still trying to catch his breath.

“J.A.R.V.I.S is the name of my current residence’s butler. It makes me feel very familiar and at ease,” Howard said, looking at the supercomputer in front of him with an expectant expression, and said in a solemn voice, “Using the computer host and intelligent chips you provided, I created the world’s first supercomputer with a semi-intelligent program and named it ‘J.A.R.V.I.S.’ I hope that one day, it can become a true artificial intelligence life, independent of the system’s command programs, and emerge from these hardware devices.”

“I see,” Kyle let out a sigh of relief and fell into silence for a moment.

Was he wrong to think that the father and son duo were made from the same mold?

‘J.A.R.V.I.S’ as the artificial intelligence of the 21st century, Iron Man’s personal butler, was created in its most primitive state by his father ahead of time.

“Perhaps we won’t even have to wait until the 21st century for the birth of a complete artificial intelligence like J.A.R.V.I.S…” Kyle’s excitement and worry were mixed. He had thought that he himself was already the biggest butterfly effect in the Marvel World.

Who would have expected that the two Green Item Cards he drew, after trading with Howard, would bring even greater potential changes to the world in the future.

Technology is the primary productive force! Using it to revolutionize the world!

“Oh, by the way,” Howard seemed to remember something and put away the supercomputer J.A.R.V.I.S., before walking towards the third hidden wall-operated entrance.

“What else is there? Please show it all at once. I can’t handle it bit by bit,” Kyle said, slightly out of breath.

“This is different from the two items earlier. Although it has been researched, it’s currently of no use,” Howard said, and just as he finished speaking, the third hidden wall revealed the safe, inside of which there was only a pencil-drawn design.

“What’s this?” Kyle picked up the design with a hint of surprise. Since it was kept in the third hidden compartment, it meant that its value was not inferior to the unfinished J.A.R.V.I.S.

“This is a design I developed over a month ago through an in-depth study of the Tesseract. I deduced a new elemental structure that is not found in the periodic table of chemical elements. I believe it can replace infinite energy!”

Howard said regretfully, “Unfortunately, even though I deduced the design for the new elemental structure, this element requires artificial synthesis through the continuous acceleration and collision of high-energy particles. With current technological capabilities, we still can’t produce the finished product.”