Chapter 953
The Plan to See the Light Again
Tangdu, Galaxy Technology Life Science Research Institute.
Fang Gang stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass of the brain-computer interface laboratory, clutching a newly printed data report in his hand.
The edges of the report were crumpled from his grip, and the paper trembled slightly in the breeze from the air conditioner vent.
His gaze pierced through the glass and landed on the neural signal decoder that was running in the sterile operating room.
The indicator lights on the silver-gray body flickered like breathing, and the screen scrolled with dense waveforms, which were real-time signals collected from the visual cortex of a congenitally blind patient.
Nearly a year has passed since the first successful breakthrough that enabled a blind person to "see the light".
Over the course of the year, they progressed from enabling patients to perceive faint points of light to distinguish simple geometric shapes, each step of which was difficult but solid.
But Fang Gang knew in his heart that what they had achieved was far from "seeing the light again".
The patient's ability to distinguish geometric shapes is a result of optimal laboratory conditions: high contrast, fixed position, and no background interference.
But the real world is not like that.
The real world is a tapestry of light and shadow, an interplay of colors, and ever-changing scenes.
With their current technology, their performance would only be worse in real-world scenarios.
He turned around and walked back to the conference room.
The long table was already filled with the team's core members: Engineer Zhang, who was in charge of electrode array design; Dr. Li, who was in charge of signal decoding algorithms; Chief Physician Zhou, who was in charge of clinical trials; and several neuroscience experts transferred from Galaxy Bio.
Each person had documents spread out in front of them, and the whiteboard was covered with formulas and diagrams.
"Everyone's here, let's begin."
Fang Gang placed the report on the table without sitting down, resting his hands on the edge of the table and scanning everyone present with his eyes.
"Over the past year, our brain-computer interfaces have progressed from enabling patients to see light to being able to barely discern geometric shapes. To outsiders, this progress seems fast enough. But everyone here knows that this is not enough! Far from enough!"
He picked up the whiteboard marker and wrote four words heavily in the blank space: "See the light again".
"I'm thinking about something."
Fang Gang turned around, looked at his team, and said seriously, "Could we conduct a large-scale clinical trial? Not a test with a dozen or so people in a lab, not a few dozen scattered attempts, but a truly large-scale one. Let a thousand blind patients receive our brain-computer interface implantation surgery for free, with free rehabilitation and free follow-up."
"We will use the real feedback from these thousand people to test how far our technology has come and what problems we still need to overcome."
There was a moment of silence in the conference room.
Then Zhang was the first to speak: "Director Fang, isn't a thousand people a bit too many? The entire brain-computer interface implantation surgery takes more than ten hours, and each surgery requires a neurosurgical team to oversee it from beginning to end. A thousand people, just the number of surgeries alone would be enough to keep our current clinical resources busy for two years."
Dr. Li chimed in, "It's not just a matter of the number of surgeries. Post-operative rehabilitation, regular follow-ups, and data collection and analysis—every step requires a significant investment of manpower. Our current team can only serve a few dozen patients at most. A thousand... to what extent would we have to expand?"
Director Zhou, being from the clinical side, had a more practical perspective: "There's another issue, Director Fang. How does the approval process go for such a large-scale clinical trial? How does it pass the ethics committee's review? How are patient informed consent forms written? How are side effect risks controlled? If these issues aren't resolved, let alone a thousand people, even a hundred people won't be able to push it through."
Fang Gang did not interrupt anyone's speech.
He put down the whiteboard marker and returned to his seat after everyone had finished speaking.
“What you’ve said makes sense. There are insufficient surgical resources, a lack of rehabilitation teams, complicated approval processes, and uncontrollable ethical risks. These are all real problems we are facing.”
"However, I think there is an even more important issue that we all need to think about carefully."
He paused, a serious expression appearing on his face. His gaze swept over the crowd as he spoke with firm conviction: "What exactly is our purpose in developing brain-computer interfaces?"
No one answered this question.
"Is it for publishing papers and getting promoted? Is it for receiving project grants? Or is it to make a fortune?"
Before anyone could answer, Fang Gang shook his head and said directly, "I don't know what you think, I'll just say what I think."
“I did this because those who were born blind, those who lost their sight in accidents, and those children who have never seen their parents should not live their whole lives like this. If the technology can do it, but I don’t do it, then I would have failed Mr. Wang’s original intention in entrusting this laboratory to me.”
"Therefore, I believe the 'Regain Sight' project is absolutely necessary!"
Fang Gang's tone was firm and resolute, and the entire conference room fell silent except for his voice.
Dr. Li lowered his head, pushed up his glasses with his finger, and said nothing.
Engineer Zhang looked thoughtful.
Director Zhou nodded thoughtfully.
"One thousand people is just one goal."
Fang Gang softened his tone and explained further: "We didn't say ten thousand, or one hundred thousand, but one thousand because that number is enough to form a statistically meaningful sample, and it's within our reach if we give it our all. What I just said wasn't an order, but a suggestion. If everyone thinks this direction is feasible, then let's work together to figure it out step by step and turn this suggestion into a feasible solution."
The atmosphere in the meeting room eased a bit, but no one spoke.
"How about this?"
Fang Gang tapped the table and said, "Let's not make a decision today. Let's each go back and think about whether our part can be done, how to move it forward, and what resources are needed. Clarify each of the obstacles that are holding you back or making you feel that the idea is unrealistic. We'll have another meeting tomorrow, and everyone should bring a proposal."
He stood up, picked up the crumpled data report, and waved it at everyone.
"Also, why is the decoding resolution stuck at 64 pixels and can't go any higher? Is it a problem with the electrode density, the algorithm, or the cortical plasticity? Everyone, hurry up and solve this! If you can't solve it, I'll report it to the boss."
As night fell, only the occasional soft hum of security robots could be heard in the corridors of the research institute.
Fang Gang sat alone in his office, with the design drawings of the third-generation implantable electrode array spread out in front of him.
The problem is far more complex than he just described at the meeting.
The decoding resolution is stuck at 64 pixels, which on the surface is a problem with electrode density and algorithm, but the root cause lies in two deeper areas.
The first is the signal-to-noise ratio.
To improve the resolution of an electrode array, the electrodes must be made smaller and arranged more densely.
However, the smaller the electrode, the weaker the collected neural signal. The signal is submerged in background noise, and no matter how sophisticated the decoding algorithm is, it is powerless in the face of a bunch of raw data contaminated by noise.
The other is biocompatibility.
After the implanted electrode enters the cerebral cortex, the surrounding tissue will gradually form a layer of glial scar, which will wrap around the electrode and isolate it.
This few micrometers of scar tissue is enough to significantly attenuate the signal intensity of neuronal firing.
Current materials technology cannot circumvent this physiological barrier. Without solving these problems, increasing electrode density is a dead end.
The more electrodes there are, the worse the signal becomes, and the proportion of useful information actually decreases.
Fang Gang put down his pencil and rubbed his temples.
The office lights were off, and only the backlight from the screens on the desks cast varying shades of light on the walls.
He stayed alone for a long time.
Night had already fallen in Tang capital outside the window, and the searchlights from the Tang imperial city construction site in the distance dyed half the sky a dim orange.
He recalled his days in university labs, when researching brain-computer interfaces required scrambling for funding, borrowing equipment, and even competing with other research groups for decent PhD students.
Whenever he encounters a technical hurdle he can't overcome, he thinks that if he had better equipment, more funding, and a more relaxed environment, he might be able to take a step forward.
And now, we have all of these!
Galaxy Technology built this top-notch brain-computer interface laboratory for him, with unlimited funding, global equipment procurement, and every member of the team is a well-known expert in the field.
But a new problem arose: he increasingly felt that there was an invisible but real chasm between himself and the person who was actually driving all of this.
That person's name is Wang Donglai.
The difference between the two of them is like being separated by two dimensions.
What seemed like an insurmountable problem to him could be solved by Wang Donglai with just a few words, and he could come up with a highly feasible solution. It was as if the whole solution was already in his mind and he just needed to find it without having to think about it.
He understood that the fact that the issues raised at today's meeting proved that there was indeed no way to solve them.
Otherwise, with Galaxy Technology's brand, they can find anyone, whether it's people, experts, equipment, or anything else.
However, the problem still exists, which proves that the problem is too difficult, rather than anything else.
the next day.
When everyone put their prepared plans on the meeting table, the "Thousand Talents Program," which initially seemed like a pipe dream, finally took shape, revealing how to schedule surgeries, allocate rehabilitation resources, standardize data collection and analysis, and identify the key points for ethical review.
The frame isn't sturdy enough, but at least it's sturdy enough to make people look at it.
As for the technical difficulties, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning them.
Fang Gang didn't ask any questions. He knew perfectly well what was going on. When it was almost over, he said, "That's about it. It's time to report to the boss."
The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.
Everyone present understood that the action of "reporting to the boss" carried a weight unlike any of the previous preparations.
It's not about following procedures, because it can overturn a plan you've prepared for months at any time.
It was not an ordinary report to superiors, because when presenting a plan to Wang Donglai, one had to clearly explain the logical chain, accurately memorize the key data, and clearly understand the potential risks.
Any ambiguity will not pass muster!
"Director Fang, will you be going alone?" Engineer Zhang asked in a low voice.
Fang Gang nodded: "I'll go alone. I'll first explain what we want to do. If President Wang approves, the next step of resource allocation will still require your joint efforts."
No one said anything more, but they all nodded.
Fang Gang tidied up the documents on the table, stood up, and walked towards the door.
Outside the window at the end of the corridor, the lights of Tangdu's high-tech zone slowly lit up in the twilight.
The outline of Galaxy Technology's headquarters building was exceptionally clear on the distant horizon. There was someone waiting for him there, and he knew that what that person wanted was never a beautiful plan, but every step behind the plan that could be implemented and withstand scrutiny.
Fang Gang was notified on Monday afternoon that he could go see Wang Donglai.
There was only one line: "Come to the office at four o'clock."
There were no pleasantries, no preamble—typical of Wang Donglai's style.
At 4:00, Fang Gang stood outside Wang Donglai's office.
The door was ajar, and the sound of keyboard typing could be heard from inside, fast and rapid, like a downpour hitting a tin roof.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Enter."
Fang Gang pushed the door open and went in.
Wang Donglai was sitting behind his desk, with three floating screens in front of him. The scrolling data on the screens cast shimmering blue light on his glasses.
He raised his hand and pointed to the chair opposite him, his eyes never leaving the screen: "Sit down, wait for me for a minute."
Fang Gang sat down, placed his briefcase on his lap, and clasped his hands together.
He looked around the office; there were no trophies, no certificates, and no decorations that indicated the owner's status.
The bookshelves against the wall were crammed with technical manuals and conference proceedings, some of the labels still attached to the spines, as if they had just been unearthed from a pile of old books in some laboratory.
The only thing that could be considered decoration was the calligraphy on the wall: "Technology for Good".
Wang Donglai pressed the last Enter key, pushed the floating screen aside, and turned around.
"Director Fang, is the protocol ready for that large-scale clinical trial you mentioned to me last time?"
His voice wasn't loud, but his gaze was direct.
Fang Gang took out the proposal from his briefcase; it was a thick stack, separated by chapters using colored labels.
He took a deep breath and began to talk about the project background, the current state of technology, bottlenecks, and the necessity of large-scale clinical trials.
His speech was steady and logical, clearly indicating that he had rehearsed it repeatedly.
He knew Wang Donglai didn't like hearing preambles, but if some information wasn't clearly explained, the subsequent logic wouldn't hold water.
Wang Donglai listened without interrupting or looking at the plan.
After listening to the part about technical bottlenecks, Fang Gang noticed that his gaze darkened slightly. Then, he reached out and took the solution in front of Fang Gang, skipped the table of contents, and went straight to the pages about the technical path to read it.
Fang Gang's heart skipped a beat.
He knew the real test had arrived. (End of Chapter)