The scientific consultant "corrects" behind the scenes for "The Wandering Earth 2"

  More than 20 experts from physics, astronomy, artificial intelligence and other fields participated in the script creation, making the plot and details more in line with scientific cognition


  The popularity of the sci-fi movie "The Wandering Earth 2" has not diminished since it was released, and it has also sparked heated discussions on the scientific issues in the film.

Some viewers noticed that many of the scientific advisors in the end credits are active science experts, such as Gou Lijun, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who studies black holes, and Wang Yuanzhuo, a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who hand-painted the explanatory diagrams for "The Wandering Earth" for his daughter. .

  According to Luo Yiyun, the executive producer of the scientific advisory team of "The Wandering Earth 2", a professional scientific advisory team was established in the early development stage of the film, consisting of more than 20 experts from the fields of physics, astronomy, artificial intelligence, etc. World view structure and script creation are in progress.

  From concepts such as "digital life" and "space elevator" to details such as "waterproof spray" and "sixty-hour system", many plots and details in the movie are supported by scientific consultants, who translate formulas and knowledge into the screen. The images make the settings of the unconstrained sci-fi movies more reasonable, and bring the audience a sense of reality to the greatest extent.

  Highlight 1

  "Human in the loop" scenario rationalizes key plot

  "The timeline of the movie is about 2029-2075, spanning nearly 50 years. We spent nearly two years with the scientific advisory group, through online and offline communication, and formed a world view structure with more than 100,000 words, covering Sciences such as astronomy, earth science, and computer, as well as social sciences such as law, economy, and culture.” Luo Yiyun said that in such a “worldview,” science and imagination are balanced.

  Wang Yuanzhuo is the person in charge of the artificial intelligence advisory group. In his opinion, an important role of scientific advisors is to refine and correct some settings.

"Creators and screenwriters will find a certain plot more attractive. What we have to do is to make this setting more in line with scientific cognition. For plots that cannot be explained or do not conform to scientific cognition, scientific consultants will suggest changes."

  For example, he said that the setting of the story is 50 years later. In such a length of time, it is not realistic for artificial intelligence to develop a rational and autonomous robot like MOSS.

"We need to find a relatively credible technical path for the realization of such strong artificial intelligence. Therefore, we put forward the idea of ​​'human in the loop' for the integration of 'Tuyaya Digital Life' and '550W'."

  He specifically explained that in some professional fields, such as Go man-machine battle, artificial intelligence may win, but in the field of generalization, artificial intelligence already has most of the functions of data acquisition and processing, feature extraction, etc., but in the "last stage km" still cannot surpass humans.

For example, children can easily distinguish smell from smell, but artificial intelligence needs to learn a complete set of procedures, including data collection, feature extraction, labeling, application, feedback, and deviation correction.

If humans can intervene in the overall data processing process of artificial intelligence and make up for its shortcomings in the "last mile", it is possible to quickly develop super artificial intelligence and continue to iterate.

Therefore, the scientific consultant put forward the idea of ​​combining digital life and artificial intelligence.

  Highlight 2

  "Digital Life Card" and other props also strive to be authentic

  In terms of presenting the details of the film, the scientific consultant also contributed a lot of ideas.

  In the plot, the scientist Tu Hengyu transmits his daughter's thoughts to "550A" after his wife and daughter died in a car accident.

Wang Yuanzhuo said that the data and consciousness of the human brain cannot be extracted at present, but to present such a scene in a science fiction movie, they suggested referring to the current method of brain-computer interface, and put a brain electrode hat on his daughter's head.

"From the perspective of scientific researchers, we make the whole scene and equipment not only have a sense of the future, but also have a certain degree of authenticity."

  Regarding the appearance of the prop "Digital Life Card", Wang Yuanzhuo also discussed repeatedly with the film artist.

"The digital life card should not be too big. It should be convenient for Tuhengyu to carry around. At the same time, it should be pluggable like a U disk. It should not only have a storage function, but also a certain calculation function." Based on these settings, Wang Yuanzhuo gave suggestions on the structure, shape, volume and weight of the "Digital Life Card".

  In the film, in the plots related to digital life and artificial intelligence, every line of code displayed on the screen, the command line in the automatic sending system email, the feedback result, etc., are all deliberated by the scientific consultants of the artificial intelligence group line by line.

  Luo Yiyun said that in order to make the details more realistic, the team also consulted material experts for the waterproof spray that flashed across the lines.

Experts provided them with two ideas, among which bio-waterproof technology relies on bacterial repair, which has become a setting in the plot.

There is also a polymer composite material technology, like the principle of the existing "ultra-slippery toilet", which is used in the field of architecture to prevent the backflow of sea water after the earth stops, and has become an indispensable part of the "wandering earth world". .

In addition, in order to strive for rigor, the test questions for the assessment scenarios of the "Space Elevator Training Camp" students were also designed by the scientific consultants from the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  Highlight 3

  The trick "moon bombing" leads to the concept of "phased array"

  In the movie, the bridge segment of the moon explosion has aroused the interest of science fiction fans.

As everyone knows, in order to "explode the moon", the scientific consultant also discussed multiple plans.

  Previously, the plot was set to gather all the nuclear bombs on the earth to blow up the moon, but the astrophysics team told the crew after calculation that this was not feasible.

"In all previous Chinese and foreign science fiction works, this problem was not handled well. This time, the film established a benchmark. We told the crew this scientific concept that planetary-level events must be completed with planetary-level energy. Liang Wenjie, a researcher at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is also one of the scientific advisors. He said that when the asteroid with a diameter of 10 kilometers hit the earth that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, the energy released at that time was far higher than all the nuclear bombs owned by humans, but the earth was not destroyed. destroy.

And the energy that can destroy the moon is many orders of magnitude higher than the energy of that asteroid impact.

  However, the plot still needs the story of the moon being destroyed, so the science consultant had a big brain hole and proposed plans such as "the moon blows itself up".

Liang Wenjie said that after combining the presentation with visual effects, the crew refined the plan with the theoretical physics team, and finally formed the effect of "phased array nuclear explosion on the moon", which was presented on the big screen.

That is to say, in the "moon crisis" in 2058, human beings changed the direction of energy transmission through the phased array method, concentrated the world's nuclear bombs to detonate on the surface of the moon, and spread to the inside of the moon, causing the pressure and heat in a very small range to exceed the critical point, thus Induce uncontrolled chain silicon, carbon, oxygen nuclear fusion.

  Liang Wenjie said that this brain hole does not exist in reality, but it is reasonable in the structure of "The Wandering Earth 2". It also introduces a concept that is widely used in life and production - phased array.

To his relief, many practitioners in related fields were very excited when they saw this idea, aroused strong resonance, and explained phased array on Zhihu and Station B.

  ■ extension

  The fusion of science and film provides a larger platform for science popularization

  Due to the non-disclosure agreement signed with the film studio, the scientific consultants did not know whether their ideas would eventually be presented in the film. After the film was released, they were proud to see the "shadow" of the scientific consultants in the screen and the plot, and believed that such cooperation Experiences are rewarding.

  As early as when "The Wandering Earth" was released, Wang Yuanzhuo became popular on the Internet because of hand-painted explanatory pictures for his daughter.

In 2020, the Science and Film Integration Special Committee of the China Popular Science Writers Association was established. As the vice chairman of the China Popular Science Writers Association, Wang Yuanzhuo and more scientific researchers participated in the production process of film and television works.

  Wang Yuanzhuo believes that in science fiction films, science can serve art, and during the participation process, scientific consultants should raise scientific loopholes in the film settings in advance.

"Every word we say may bring a series of troubles to the main creative team. Some changes will affect the whole body, but the main creative team still respects the ideas of scientific consultants, and we can communicate in advance and in a timely manner." He is happy to see that more people are discussing whether scientific settings are feasible these days.

"Everyone's attention to technology is the value extended by science fiction movies."

  The B station of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences where Liang Wenjie works, and the WeChat public account are very active and influential. A team composed of masters and doctors in their 20s has done a good job in popularizing science. Opportunities for scientific advisors.

  "The Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has put a lot of effort into science popularization. We not only engage in cutting-edge research, but also attach importance to the promotion of science and technology, so that more people realize that science is not unfathomable, but is around us." This experience made him Realized that the fusion of science and film can provide a larger platform.

"We are happy to see that the film presents the quantum computer, artificial intelligence and other technologies that China is researching to the audience in a sci-fi way, and conveys the voice of science to the public through the huge influence of film and television."

  Beijing News reporter Zhang Lu