I Got an Omnipotent Brain Chapter 73

Translator: Dreamscribe

Boston Transportation Authority,

Red lines spread like blood vessels across the dashboard that filled the entire wall. Central Artery, Storrow Drive, Massachusetts Avenue Interchange, there was not a single section that wasn’t congested.

Deputy Director Alan rested his chin on his hand and stared at the screen.

"The trics are broken again."

Senior analyst Jamie spoke to him with a troubled expression.

“Even though the morning peak is over, the PCI (Percent Congestion Index * average congestion index) is still holding at 78. Why is this happening?”

Alan shook his head.

There were countless reasons.

The irregular structure of the city, a signal philosophy prioritizing pedestrians, the poor quality of sluggish sensors, event variables...

But even accounting for all these factors, Alan was still overwheld with a sense of helplessness.

“It’s probably because I’m incompetent.”

Jamie looked at Alan in surprise.

“Please don’t say that! Ever since you ca here, this city has really changed a lot.”

Alan Smith, a transportation systems engineer from MIT, was one of the big nas in the industry.

From his undergraduate days, he had drawn attention with research that mathematically analyzed human movent patterns, and in graduate school, he earned his PhD with a thesis on 'Dynamic Signal Optimization Algorithms for Irregular Cities'.

He worked for ten years at the MIT Urban Studies Lab and participated in transportation AI projects in Singapore, Amsterdam, and Tokyo.

Alan’s papers were held in such high regard that they were referenced by leading nations including the TRB (Transportation Research Board * United States Transportation Research Board).

At one ti, he was the talent most wanted by IT companies and gacities alike. But Alan turned down all offers.

'I have no intention of solving equations that have already been solved.'

The reason he stepped down from his position as chief engineer of the New York Transportation Authority and ca to Boston was the sa.

Boston was pushing for a new project to completely overhaul its signal system, and Alan was the best option for them.

“It did change a little.”

Alan recalled the past.

As soon as he took office, the city changed dramatically.

Sensor databases were standardized, and intersection signal logs were integrated in real-ti.

The BITN (Boston Intelligent Traffic Network), built under his leadership, once reduced the average travel ti in the city center by as much as 13%.

But that was a story of the past.

The screen was once again filled with red lines.

Just a single hospital opening or a new construction zone was enough to trigger a chain reaction of system overloads. It was as if the city was rejecting his control and trying to return to its original rhythm.

In the end, the city had no choice but to revert to the previous system.

“Isn’t it that your ideals are too high, Deputy Director? To , this still feels nothing short of a miracle.”

“How long have you been working here?”

“A little over fifteen years.”

“The transportation authority is an old organization. Everyone here probably thinks the sa way you do. ‘Isn’t this good enough?’ they ask themselves.

Even while the entire city is screaming.”

He walked to the window and pulled back the curtain.

Below the glass, Boston’s afternoon roads were visible.

'It's like the blood vessels of a patient dying from hyperlipidemia.'

He could see it with his own eyes.

Even if blood flows slowly, it may seem fine at first. But slow blood flow creates the perfect environnt for fats and waste to accumulate. Congestion becos permanent.

“Is that why you gave the data to the MIT students?”

Alan turned around.

“It’s not like they were asking for budget money. There's no reason not to give it. What we need now is a new perspective.”

Though that wasn’t the only reason.

When he received the report that MIT had requested the data, he suddenly recalled his own undergraduate days.

The days when he wanted to understand the massive organism that is transportation through mathematics,

That passion had dulled with ti, and now he was soone accustod to compromise and efficiency.

Still, he was grateful that soone was still asking, “Why does it get congested?”

'Go ahead, try it. If you, with your undergraduate spirit, find a better answer than , I’ll gladly applaud you…'

It was a quiet encouragent sent from a researcher who once believed he could change the world to juniors who had not lost that belief.

***

The morning air was cold like ice.

Swaaaeng-

Taxis and buses occasionally passed by on the road through the Longwood dical Area.

Ellie and Jason were out on-site again from early dawn to collect data.

“Are you ready?”

Jason carefully unfolded the drone’s wings.

Nod.

Tudududududu!

The wings spun and stirred up the wind.

When Ellie pressed the touchpad, the drone rose into the air with a low hum.

“Satellite signal secured! I’ll raise the altitude.”

The drone flew into the sky in an instant and focused on the target.

“Vehicle occupancy rate 92%, queue length 178 ters.”

A satisfied smile appeared on Ellie’s lips.

Data collection had been much more grueling than they had expected.

Ellie and Jason had been moving back and forth for days between the transportation authority and the hospital area, gathering signal data and intersection footage.

But the hardest part was having confidence in the work.

“Seo-ha, do you really think we can understand all of Boston’s traffic with this data?”

Ellie’s gaze swept over the numbers on the laptop screen.

What they had collected was just the tip of the iceberg when looking at the whole city, at most only a few percent of the total traffic volu.

But Seo-ha answered calmly as if it was no problem.

“Because we have the data from the transportation authority. As long as we can accurately read the patterns of the key sections, we can reconstruct the rest by comparing with that data.”

Ellie shook her head. In her view, the data was nowhere near enough.

“Is that really possible?”

“The source is a bit limited, but it’s not impossible.”

Instead of explaining, Seo-ha showed her the laptop screen.

“We’ll extract just the signal patterns from the cara footage and combine it with the congestion info and traffic volu data from the transportation authority.”

Seo-ha’s hands moved quickly over the keyboard.

“If we organize the signal phases by ti and calculate the average delay, we can predict the flow of the invisible sections too. In the end, all traffic flow is one connected equation.”

Jason let out a laugh in admiration.

“Is this a movie? It’s like magic, say it and it happens.”

Ellie bit her lip.

“Got it. You’re serious about this, right? We’ll do our best too.”

Ellie didn’t want to remain just a bystander in this team.

After hearing Seo-ha’s plan, she had gone around the campus lab borrowing various caras, drones, and scanners.

Jason had a talent for handling machines.

He used LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging device) to collect data and cross-verified it with thermal caras to correct errors. He was also in charge of adjusting the drone’s altitude, GPS errors, and sensor response speed.

Thanks to that, the two of them were able to collect data that was far broader and of much higher quality than Seo-ha had expected.

***

Finally, all the data was gathered.

On the screen mounted on the study room wall, Boston’s main road network was precisely rendered.

Jason, organizing the cables, spoke.

“On-site data input is complete.”

Seo-ha sat in front of the monitor and moved his hands.

The LiDAR point cloud, video footage collected by drones and caras, and various information from the transportation authority were combined one by one.

Millions of data sets were aligned into one under the algorithm Seo-ha had developed. Then the full traffic flow of the city appeared.

Ellie held her breath.

“Is this the real-ti situation right now?”

Seo-ha nodded.

“It’s a virtual simulation generated from the data. The margin of error probably isn’t large. Since it’s about ti for evening rush hour, let’s check it.”

As Seo-ha entered the code, the screen responded instantly.

The gray road network split into red, yellow, and green according to the congestion status.

“I’ll… I’ll check the current traffic conditions.”

Jason turned on the navigation system and compared the real-ti traffic with the program.

“Wow!”

“It’s almost identical.”

Seo-ha had recreated the traffic with almost no error using the given data.

“The data was just that good.”

Seo-ha gave the two a thumbs up.

“Now we can finally begin the assignnt.

Let’s think together about how to create the most optimal traffic flow.”

The etings continued for days.

After class, the three of them naturally gathered in one place and opened their laptops.

During free periods, it was at a café; at night, in the campus lounge study room. Equations piled up on the table.

Although Seo-ha could have completed everything on his own, he chose not to.

He wanted this project to remain as a shared accomplishnt among all of them.

“We probably won’t be able to apply our optimization plan directly in the field. Outsiders can’t fully grasp the variables of real-world situations.

But even if we can just convey the ssage that ‘this kind of perspective exists’, I believe that alone holds aning.”

The other two nodded as if in agreent.

Seo-ha picked up a pen and wrote a few equations on the board.

“What we need to do is simple.

We mathematically classify the causes of bottlenecks and calculate the phase differences between intersections to derive optimization scenarios.”

Once their tasks were set, the pace of work accelerated.

Ellie was in charge of refining the collected data and removing anomalies. Jason estimated the queue lengths of each intersection node and built the graph network, while Seo-ha compiled all the results, adjusted the algorithm, and completed the optimization model.

And a few days later, the results finally ca out.

***

Alan stood for a while in front of the main gate of MIT.

It had been a long ti since he’d been on campus.

“Since I’m here, I might as well go.”

He headed to Building 2, the Mathematics Departnt.

Seeing Whitman’s na on the lecture room list, Alan chuckled.

“Still going strong, I see.”

He had been Alan’s ntor.

It was thanks to the mathematical thinking he learned under the professor in graduate school that Alan was able to make a na for himself as an urban engineer.

He quietly looked into the lecture room from outside for a mont, then slowly opened the door and entered.

Alan reached out his hand to Whitman.

“I heard the team that received the data from the Transportation Authority is presenting today.”

“Good timing. It’ll be interesting.”

Whitman offered him a seat at the front.

The lights in the lecture room dimd, and Boston’s road network appeared on the projector screen.

Alan’s gaze turned to an East Asian boy.

‘So that’s the project leader.’

Just watching him move, it was clear.

At the boy’s direction, the team adjusted the equipnt.

“Hello, I’m Yu Seo-ha.

Our team began by questioning whether Boston’s notoriously bad traffic situation is truly impossible to improve. Using the available real-world data, we attempted to recreate the current traffic conditions.”

As he nodded, colors began to appear on the roads.

Like a ti-lapse, the roads on the screen changed swiftly.

Red spread through the downtown area, yellow bands expanded outward, then slowly faded into green.

Like clock hands spinning fast, a full day in Boston played out before their eyes in compressed form.

‘They pulled this off with just that limited data?’

To him, the Deputy Director, it was an all-too-familiar sight, but for outsiders, it was top secret, impossible to know.

“In conclusion, Boston’s signal system is only optimized on the individual intersection level. While this might be efficient locally, it causes bottlenecks in the overall system.”

He wrote a few equations on the board.

The flow of the city was expressed as differential equations.

Alan watched the screen, lost in thought.

'It hurts to be criticized from the outside.'

To change the signal cycles, one needs approval from the Traffic Systems Committee. Budgets vary by district, so even installing a single sensor requires negotiations.

Citizen groups advocate for pedestrian priority, and the routes of police, firefighters, and ergency vehicles must also be secured.

Of course the system ends up a ss.

Even so, Alan still wanted to push forward with idealism.

How satisfying would it be to cleanly reorganize the dirty traffic of this city? He still thought about it every day.

“There is a solution.”

Seo-ha began writing equations on the board.

Starting from one corner, the formulas spread across the entire surface. Alan watched without even rembering to breathe.

“What we’re proposing is a phase synchronization model.

If the entire network is controlled with this algorithm, wouldn’t Boston’s infamous reputation eventually disappear?”

Click!

At Seo-ha’s click, the algorithm was applied to the roads on the screen.

The red color of the downtown area gradually faded, turning yellow, then green.

As the entire city's signals ca under the control of a single algorithm, the traffic network, once like clogged arteries, began to breathe again.

Seo-ha pointed to the graph with his finger.

“This is not just a simple simulation.

When compared with Boston’s real-ti data, the error rate in actual traffic flow is only 2.9%. That ans it's a perfectly feasible scenario.”

At last, every road in Boston turned green.

Alan felt his chest swell with emotion.

‘The adults' circumstances? The mayor’s sponsored districts? Interest groups?

What of it? If you’re an urban engineer, you should dream like them!’

That boy had created such a sophisticated algorithm with nothing more than patchy, incomplete data.

If he were given the real data held by the Transportation Authority, how far could he go?

Alan’s heart began to pound fiercely.

Clap, clap, clap!

The presentation ended, and the lights ca on.

What the students saw was a middle-aged man rising to his feet with an emotional expression, applauding with passion.