209: Chapter 209 I'm not going

Zhou Limin Zhou Limin looked at Zhao Yang, pondering for a moment before continuing.

"It seems that because of your paper, MIT has developed a great interest in you. They have formally invited you to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a six-month senior academic visit."

"Regarding compensation, they have promised to provide the highest level of visiting scholar stipends, full reimbursement for round-trip airfare, and accommodation expenses. Most importantly, they are willing to grant you access to the internal supercomputer in their laboratory."

Zhou Limin looked at Zhao Yang, his tone slightly excited.

"MIT's computer laboratory is the highest temple in the global computer field. For them to take the initiative to send a letter inviting a domestic scholar to be a visiting scholar is extremely rare in the history of our country's universities."

Zhao Yang reached out and took the fax with the official logo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His eyes quickly scanned the paper, and he soon finished reading the content.

After reading it, his expression didn't change at all.

After finishing, Zhao Yang laid the fax flat on the desk and then pushed it back to the middle of Zhou Limin's desk.

"I'm not going."

Zhao Yang gave a clear answer in a calm tone, without any long period of thought or weighing of options.

Hearing those three words, Zhou Limin was directly stunned.

He originally thought Zhao Yang would be happy or even excited to see this invitation. After all, for any scholar engaged in computer or mathematics research, going to MIT for academic exchange was a massive halo sufficient to be written on the first three pages of a resume. This was not just academic recognition, but a direct leap in identity and status.

"You're not going?"

Zhou Limin thought he had misheard. He leaned forward slightly and asked with some confusion.

"Zhao Yang, you might not be quite clear about the weight of this invitation. Staying at MIT for half a year will not only allow you to come into contact with the world's top computer scholars, but it will also have immeasurable benefits for your future academic development and the broadening of your international horizons."

Zhou Limin tried to clarify the pros and cons to dispel any concerns Zhao Yang might have.

Zhao Yang sat in his chair, looking at Zhou Limin.

"Principal Zhou, I know the weight of this invitation, and I thank the university for its support. But I truly have no need to go."

Zhao Yang looked at Zhou Limin calmly and said.

"First, in terms of the deduction of theoretical algorithms and underlying architecture, my current logical system has already taken shape."

"Going there wouldn't be of much help to me. Instead, the time cost and environmental adaptation costs incurred by cross-border exchange would seriously slow down my current pace."

"Secondly, their fundamental purpose in inviting me over is that they've taken an interest in the potential of the underlying computational language shown in that paper of mine."

Zhao Yang looked at the fax on the desk, his tone very calm as he dismantled the other party's intentions clearly.

"They hope I can use their resources in their laboratory to perfect this architecture. Once I complete the follow-up research in their lab, the ownership of the relevant core patents and underlying code will inevitably be branded by MIT. This is essentially a pre-emptive harvest of top technical resources."

Zhao Yang leaned back in his chair and said calmly.

"So, I refuse."

He was not one of those ordinary scholars who needed to go to top foreign universities to 'gild' themselves to increase their value. He didn't need the recognition of others to prove his worth.

With the system, his brain was the ultimate supercomputer. He could almost directly say that wherever he was, that was the center of research.

Going abroad for an academic visit wasn't even as useful as completing a National Contest task on his own; it was completely unnecessary!

After listening to Zhao Yang's clear-headed analysis, Zhou Limin opened his mouth.

He had prepared a stomach full of persuasive words, but in the end, he couldn't say anything.

From the perspective of an administrator, he very much hoped Zhao Yang would accept the invitation, as it could bring huge international prestige to Beijing Forestry University and even serve as a bargaining chip for the school to apply for more scientific research funding. But from Zhao Yang's personal perspective, his analysis just now was flawless and hit the core.

Every step this young man took was supported by absolutely clear logic, never distracted by these external vanities.

"Alright."

Zhou Limin sighed and accepted the fact. He put the fax on the desk into a drawer.

"Since you have made a decision and have your own considerations, the university respects your personal wishes. As for the Foreign Affairs Office, I will have them draft a formal and tactful rejection letter to reply to MIT."

"I'll have to trouble Principal Zhou then."

Zhao Yang stood up.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back to the apartment to organize my paper. The data model for CATL still needs some finishing touches."

"Go ahead. Oh, by the way, put some effort into that National Contest in the second half of the year. If you need anything, feel free to mention it to the Academic Affairs Office."

Zhou Limin exhorted him.

"I will arrange it well."

Zhao Yang nodded, turned, and walked out of the Principal's office, heading down the stairs of the administration building, preparing to go back and continue writing his algorithm paper.

As for the little interlude with MIT, he put it out of his mind immediately. To him, it was just a trivial matter that happened every day.

However, the matter did not settle down there.

While Zhao Yang was back in the apartment writing his algorithm paper...

The news about Zhao Yang receiving the highest-spec invitation from MIT to be a senior visiting scholar, only to be ruthlessly rejected by him on the spot, somehow leaked out from the Foreign Affairs Office through unknown channels.

In this era of extremely fast information dissemination on the internet, this news quickly fermented on the SMTH BBS, various university Online forums, and the technology sections of some mainstream portal websites.

It soon caused a heated discussion online.

Since Zhao Yang himself was a topical figure with huge traffic, and the heat from the NIPS paper a while ago hadn't passed yet, this news immediately ignited a new field of public opinion.

Comments on the internet quickly split into several distinct camps.

Some people felt that Zhao Yang was being complacent and wasting a great opportunity.

"Is there a mistake? That's MIT! The computer lab at MIT! The holy land in the hearts of computer people worldwide! He actually refused?"

"He's too arrogant. Does he really think he's invincible just because he published one NIPS paper? How many Turing Award winners are there in MIT? How many Nobel Prize winners? As an undergraduate, no matter how much of a genius he is, working behind closed doors won't get him far."

"I think he's afraid. In China, with the resources of Peking University and Yanlin University protecting him, he can play god. If he goes abroad, in front of those truly top geniuses, he might be exposed as not being that strong. After all, there's still a gap between the domestic academic environment and foreign ones."

"This kind of behavior is simply a waste of academic resources. An opportunity that others can't even beg for, he just throws it away. This high-and-mighty attitude will sooner or later lead to a big loss in the academic world."