For example, a password used to encrypt information between a transmitter and receiver is changed every few seconds. Modulated frequency bands used for radio communication can also change.

Here we have smartwatches, pedometers, hearing aids, refrigerators, doors, cameras, centrally controlled smart homes (the latest trend).

And in the future, maybe also shoes, clothes, pens, pacemakers (a dangerous concept, as with a hearing aid that could kill the owner after a hacker attack by generating an extremely loud sound), and every household appliance that will not only clean, wash, and tidy up but will be part of a large, distributed system that is supposed to work better and more efficiently than "ordinary" household appliances.

It can transmit data about breakdowns, perform remote diagnostics, and even repair itself according to instructions from the center, exchange information with other household appliances to remotely replenish the contents of the refrigerator without having to go to the store. The possibilities of exploiting this idea are virtually limitless.

- Bluetooth is a standard for short-range wireless communication between various electronic devices. It allows the use of a wireless keyboard or exchanging messages between smartphones.

- Wi-Fi has a larger range and allows you to use wireless internet in a park or restaurant, usually for free. It has a range of several miles. It can also be used to build local or home computer networks.

And now, if you're on the subway or bus, and a yard away from you, in your neighbor's phone, there's some software virus, it can connect via Bluetooth in a fraction of a second, and then simply copy itself, jumping to your phone and activating. So the neighbor's virus is now working on your phone and can start its dark work: eavesdropping on conversations, stealing bank passwords, or even deleting all your photos. And above all, it can infect other mobile devices and computers, as there are universal evils that "run" on almost any device.

In many phones, Bluetooth is factory-enabled. To prevent unwanted virus infections, you should go to your phone's settings and turn off Bluetooth connections.

The subconscious is much more computationally powerful than the conscious mind and has a data processing power 400,000 times greater. The subconscious is a real giga-computer.

According to today's knowledge, everything is built from tiny atoms, and atoms from even smaller particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. These are in turn built from 6 types of quarks with mysterious names.

So there is, for example, an up quark, a strange quark, and a charm quark. According to newer theories, this is not the end - quarks can be built from vibrating strings (String Theory). There are also leptons.

Contrary to appearances, this is not just someone who breaks into computers or writes viruses for them. In English, the hacker is a much broader concept. It means a person who has a vast technological and/or scientific knowledge and does things that ordinary people cannot, for example, converting a gasoline car to electric, turning a vacuum cleaner into a robot, or cooking salmon in a dishwasher.

In this sense, Alan and Max can be called hackers, or simply experimenters with extensive knowledge.

On the internet, you can find more such discussions, along with recipes. Thus, it's no longer my literary fantasy, but things someone has done in the real world and benefits from them. Try it too. Nowadays, the term Live Hacker is also becoming fashionable. This is a person who amateurishly deals with improving human life and body functions; inventing strange dietary supplements, methods for faster reading, or more efficient learning.

PS. Since I also like to make and use various inventions and ideas of others, I often used, for example, the unusual use of an electric kettle for... cooking dinner, mainly various soups. It's also suitable for making spaghetti. The best is a metal kettle without a visible heating element. You can easily find materials on how to cook dinner in an electric kettle online, as well as on preparing salmon in a dishwasher.

One day, a very large star collapses under its own weight (shrinks), resulting in a massive black hole with very strong gravity, so strong that it can attract even light. At a certain distance from the hole, there is also an invisible border called the Event Horizon. What is above the horizon (further from the hole) can still orbit and move away without obstacles. What is below the horizon (closer to the hole) falls in and is forever trapped by powerful gravity, never able to escape again.

Astronomers often assume that inside the Black Hole, due to immense gravity, time slows down - the closer to its center, and a Singularity may form at the central point. Singularity, in colloquial language, means a strange phenomenon. In the case of quantum mechanics, it may be a place where other laws of physics apply, time may flow slower or not at all, space may bend so strongly that a portal to another world may form, etc. All this was shown in the 2014 sci-fi movie "Interstellar."

In my novel, the abbreviation stands for something different: Virtual Controlled Oscillator. It is a pocket-sized, virtually controlled generator of alternative and impossible realities. Another name: Improbability Generator.

As I explained in the novel, its operation is based on the Metaversum theory (meta-multiverse), where all kinds of worlds, ordinary and fairy tale, can exist with anomalies such as: reversed time flow, talking plants, different laws of physics, and of course characters from books, gnomes, dragons, and elves.

Topology is a fascinating field of knowledge studying space and its connections. For example, the Möbius strip, a figure obtained by rotating a regular, long strip of paper by 180 degrees and gluing it together. This figure has several interesting properties, e.g., despite being a three-dimensional object, it has only one side (not two). You can check this by drawing a line along the entire length of the Möbius strip.

Holon. In Aurora's civilization, there are no countries or borders. People create smaller communities (colonies) called holons and can move freely across the planet and between planets, settling wherever they want. We can distinguish two types of holons: concentrated and dispersed.

A concentrated holon is a mini-economic region with a functioning Direct Democracy, meaning no central management or typical government, similar to a cooperative, Israeli kibbutz, or co-op, in which each member has a voice proportional to their reputation and competence. Concentrated holons form areas the size of today's municipalities connected by internal economic dependencies and social ties. Larger holons can also exist.

Dispersed holons don't have to be assigned to one place. They can be created by people living on different continents or even on different worlds. They are like networks of friends who have similar views, interests, and even meet from time to time.

A typical civilization of the future (Auroras) always contains a mixture of both types of holons, which operate synergistically (mutually reinforcing and stabilizing their actions). In addition, in the culture of holons, there is no typical division into countries or languages, as Espelingua, a language that is a distant variant of 20th-century Esperanto, is used everywhere (see also the explanation below no. 49, to Chapter 11).

The human brain is not just a large electrical neural network or also (as recent theories suggest) - a quantum network, consisting of 86 billion tiny computers called neurons. It is also a network of cells that can be controlled chemically. Generally speaking, the brain is an electrochemical system. Dopamine is a substance that is one of such neurotransmitters. Interestingly, people who are open-minded and curious about the world, such as researchers, scholars, inventors, artists, travelers, and visionaries like Thomas Alva Edison (inventor of the light bulb), Leonardo da Vinci (painter and scholar, a brilliant mind of the past, a Renaissance man), and currently living Raymond Kurzweil, and in our story: Alexander, Calatea, Maniba, Max, and Alan - produce more of it.

Stem cells constitute a living storage of spare parts for the organism. They have interesting properties: while an ordinary, biological cell reproduces by dividing into two identical daughter cells, a stem cell divides asymmetrically. As a result of the division, another stem cell is formed, as well as a specialized cell of the organ in which the division took place, such as a muscle cell, skin cell, or liver cell.

This extraordinary phenomenon allows for continuous regeneration of the organism after an illness or accident, thus prolonging our lives. Unfortunately, the number of stem cells decreases over time. That is why, among other things, we age and cannot be eternally beautiful and young.