The Brilliant Boy Billionaire

Looking forward to next

Great read. Well done! Thanks 🙏 

I’m disappointed  JJ didn’t send apologies//gift to Carl after basically ignoring him for almost the whole date.  

On 7/9/2021 at 4:30 PM, Daddydavek said:

For those of us who only just made it through college algebra, the math mentioned in this story is amazing even if I am completely lost. 

College algebra? They teach algebra in college? Isn't algebra something kids take in middle school?

Sorry - J.J. got control of my keyboard for a moment there. Not everyone is cut out for higher math. Seriously, however, I took algebra in 8th grade and a lot STEM students enter college with two years of AP calculus under the belts, and yet they're still behind their counterparts in countries like Germany and Japan. Doing anything technical these days requires some pretty advanced math skills, and even running a business involves some basic skills in calculus, and not just in the metaphorical sense. That said, even a high school dropout should be able to estimate what they'll have to pay at checkout, know when they're being ripped off or apply basic logic to realize that a post on Instagram is total B.S. But I digress…

The math and science in BBB may be over most of the readers' heads, but the story is told from J.J.'s viewpoint and he's just not capable of expressing himself any other way. As the author, I've made every effort to tell the story from the realm of J.J.'s genius, but yet to make everything relatable, even if the specifics aren't understandable to all by a few. For those who are curious, a lot of the theory behind room-temperature superconducting ceramics and everything that stems from their discovery is conjecture, but all of it is plausible. I read some papers on the subject, but the math was way beyond anything I could understand, even with all the graduate math, science and engineering courses I took in college. People who do that kind of research aren't capable of talking in mere English.

Anyway, thanks for all of your comments and criticisms.

A.

26 minutes ago, Altimexis said:

College algebra? They teach algebra in college? Isn't algebra something kids take in middle school?

Sorry - J.J. got control of my keyboard for a moment there. Not everyone is cut out for higher math. Seriously, however, I took algebra in 8th grade and a lot STEM students enter college with two years of AP calculus under the belts, and yet they're still behind their counterparts in countries like Germany and Japan. Doing anything technical these days requires some pretty advanced math skills, and even running a business involves some basic skills in calculus, and not just in the metaphorical sense. That said, even a high school dropout should be able to estimate what they'll have to pay at checkout, know when they're being ripped off or apply basic logic to realize that a post on Instagram is total B.S. But I digress…

The math and science in BBB may be over most of the readers' heads, but the story is told from J.J.'s viewpoint and he's just not capable of expressing himself any other way. As the author, I've made every effort to tell the story from all of your comments and criticisms.

A.

Well the college algebra I took was in 1966..... 

High school was beginning algebra in 1962 and geometry as a sophomore.  The science and math kids took trig as juniors and calculus as seniors.  Times have changed.  Although we did everything on paper with a pencil.  No calculators, computers....ok some of juniors and seniors used a slide rule.

1 hour ago, Daddydavek said:

High school was beginning algebra in 1962 and geometry as a sophomore.  The science and math kids took trig as juniors and calculus as seniors.  Times have changed.  Although we did everything on paper with a pencil.  No calculators, computers....ok some of juniors and seniors used a slide rule.

Talk about memories! For me, Junior High was grades 7-9 and Senior High, grades 10-12. The first day of sophomore accelerated chemistry, in 1971, we were told to go out and buy a slide rule if we didn't already have one. My dad gave me his from college - a 6-inch aluminum pocket model in a leather case. I used that trusty slide rule all through high school, and up until my first exam in college. One test in which I tried using a slide rule and I went out and bought a calculator - an HP45 that cost $400.

In 1991, when I was in my first job at the National Institutes of Health, the director of the NIH visitor center put out a request for slide rules for an exhibit. When I showed her my dad's old slide rule, she told me it was a rare find and thanked me profusely. So the trusty slide rule that got my dad through college and me through high school had become a museum piece.

As I said in the apter comments for the author's note, this is one of the best stories I've read here at GA. I really love the science that is thrown in there, and hope that at least some of it be comes reality.

@Altimexis thank you so much for sharing this great story with us, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of j.j. and Henry.

For those who are interested, the May 2022 issue of Scientific American has a cover story titled: The Key to Quantum Computing. The above link will take you to the Scientific American site, where you can read the story if you have a subscription, or purchase the issue if you don't. If you happen to have Applazon… oops… Apple News+, you can read the issue here.

Although the article is primarily about the physical barriers to quantum computing and methods of error correction, it provides an excellent overview of quantum computing using conventional superconducting metals. This is right up J.J.'s alley! Too bad the author of this article doesn't know about J.J.'s discovery of room-temperature superconducting ceramics in the BBB parallel universe.