Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

On the way back, in the shuttle, Li Yao kept his eyebrows slightly locked, if he thought about it.

While he was overwhelmingly pleased with the deep breadth and infinite possibilities of Civilization, another unclear emotion surfaced as the initial excitement faded.

Perhaps human beings are born with a fear of the unknown.

It was as if the first man looked up at the stars and realized for the first time the vastness of the universe itself, that unknown fear.

Ling Xiaole saw Li Yao's expression in the rearview mirror. “Pfft” smiled: “What, are you worried about Lingnet becoming an elite thing? ”

Li Yao slightly flashed, the words “Lingnet into fine” were clever, he couldn't help but say: “How do you know? ”

“Because of the crystals, the sea of trees, the underworld, and the rings of heaven, when the four new worlds join the Federation, their best experts and powerful people come to the Federation to visit and visit, all of them will be different, worried about the Spirit Net becoming fine! ”

Ling Xiaole shrugged, “As if any human civilization with a crystal brain has the same legend and fear, fear that the crystal brain will become more and more developed, computational and deductive power will slowly take precedence over humans, and in turn control and destroy humans. ”

Li Yao: “Shouldn't we be worried? ”

Ling Xiaole: “I don't know if I should be worried, but the same concern has long been raised. I have a video here, about 60 or 70 years ago, of the intense confrontation between the two experts at the Academy of Fantasy about the pros and cons of the Spiritual Network. Among them, Professor Mo Xuan, the helmsman of the game of Civilization at the time, supported the Great Unified Spiritual Network, while the opponent was Professor Xie Wufeng, then Vice President of the Academy of Fantasy. ”

Li Yao: “Wait, Professor Xie Wufeng, isn't he the helmsman of Civilization now? ”

Ling Xiaole: “Yes, Professor Xie was a strong vigilante of the Unified Spiritual Network. After many intense confrontations with Professor Mo Xuan about the Spiritual Network and the future of mankind, he was finally persuaded by Professor Mo Xuan to join Professor Mo Xuan's team and even become Professor Mo Xuan's successor. Your doubts and concerns may give you some answers in this confrontation between the two. ”

Ling Xiaole sent the video to Li Yao's wrist crystal brain.

One of the "Nine Confederations” appeared in the picture, the Hall of Fantasy College.

Numerous vibrant youths roasted the auditorium in a bloody atmosphere.

Professor Mo Xuan, an old friend of Li Yao's, and another younger scholar were clustered by many students, sitting opposite each other, both lips and tongue sword, you come and go to me, you are not allowed.

Unexpected by Li Yao, Professor Mo Xuan did not enter a psychic body as usual, showing people in the form of ordinary ghost repair. Instead, Daguang appeared in the true face of "liquid metal”. He did not even simulate “limbs” and “head”, which is a large ball of silver glitter.

This gesture makes him look sharp and aggressive.

Xie Wufeng: “… to date, this huge giant Lingnet has controlled everything we eat, lodging, work, entertainment, transportation, shopping, everything depends on Lingnet, all data is collected and stored by Lingnet. Once we lose Lingnet, our seemingly prosperous civilization will instantly collapse. This state of life is too unstable and creepy! ”

Professor Mo Xuan: “The history of the development of human civilization is the process of constant ‘networking'. In the ancient period 40,000 years ago, in the old forest of the deep mountains, a cave can be set up to self-sufficiency, shut down and train decades of ancient monks. Their state of survival is, of course, more ‘stable’ than modern monks highly dependent on the great division of labour of society, developed spiritual networks and resource distribution networks. The ancient scythes used by ancient monks, made of a whole piece of metal, are naturally more 'stable’ than modern chainsaw swords made up of hundreds of components, and are less likely to fail - but what is the significance of these two ‘stable'?

“At some level, the Great Unified Spiritual Network is indeed unstable, fragile and vulnerable to enemy attacks, but does it not improve and develop because of fear of being attacked by the enemy? What's the difference between choking and eating? ”

Professor Mo Xuan's liquid metal body was covered with a silver-white ripple, and the sound came from the center of the ripple.

This makes him look nothing like a human being, more like a representative of a… heterogeneous civilization.

Xie Wufeng: “Professor Mo, don't go around the bend. You know very well that what we are really worried about is not the attack of the 'enemy', but the 'Great Unified Spirit Network’ itself.

“Of course, enemy attacks can be defended and deciphered in a variety of ways. No matter how developed and evil our enemies are today, they are human beings, at least. They have brains like ours, and they will not exceed the limits we can imagine, and they can be overcome, at least understandably.

“But if something goes wrong with the Unified Spirit Network itself, in the near future, because computational power is too swollen, beyond the threshold, the Spirit Network itself awakens the divine soul, like...”

Professor Mo Xuan coldly said, "Spirit mesh into fine? ”

The students downstairs laughed.

Xie Wufeng had no expression and did not give in: “Yes, that's what I meant. What if we really got deeper and deeper in the Spirit Network, so that our civilization and the Spirit Network could be completely intertwined, based entirely on the development of the Spirit Network, and one day, the Spirit Network would become fine and have a sense of self, what should we do? ”

Professor Mo Xuan's body surface continues to flutter with silver glitter: “We started this discussion on ‘The Unified Spiritual Network and the Future of Humanity' at the Tianfantasy Academy, the most famous humanistic institution in the Federation, is truly a metaphorical and culturally rich place, and I know that all of my classmates here have a large number of literary specialties, maybe many more students * * romantic, surplus fantasy novelists, and you've all often read and even written your own stories about 'The Spiritual Network Intrinsic, Crystal Brain Treason, Slavery and the Destruction of Humanity', do you have any such classmates, please raise your hands if you've read and written this kind of content? ”

Downstairs laughed again, and almost all the college students raised their hands.

Professor Mo Xuan's voice was filled with laughter: "It seems that everyone shares the same concerns and doubts as you, Dean Xie. ”

Xie Wufeng frowned slightly: “This may be common to humans, an instinctive warning of unknown dangers. ”

Professor Mo Xuan continued: "I understand the concerns and even fears of my classmates. In fact, since the birth of Crystal Brain, a pharmacopoeia dedicated to ‘computing and thinking', human fears of the Crystal Brain have never ceased, even long ago, when the Crystal Brain was born and could only be used for four operations, and it has given rise to countless works of literature based on the theme 'Crystal Brain Slaves Humanity’.

“Flying swords and knives are extensions of our limbs; armor and spiritual shields are extensions of our bones; and crystalline brains are extensions of our brains.

“But we tend to think of the 'brain' as the most important organ of the human body, even the human being itself! So no one fears that one day, the 'flying sword' will start an insurgency, replacing the hands and feet of humankind; but almost everyone fears that the brain will be replaced by the crystalline brain - even today, when mechanical bodies are so developed, the human soul can reside in the crystalline brain, and this fear has not been dispelled, but has grown. ”

“This is a testament to the legitimacy of these fears and doubts," Xie Weifeng said. ”

Professor Mo Xuan said: "The romance of a literary student is one thing, the fanaticism of a novelist is one thing, but in the real world, the birth of a ‘new life form’ is another.

“To be honest - I'd rather be the 'Evil Crystal Brain Expert' in a novel, sneaking around in the dark to create a new virtual life form, but unfortunately I can't! ”

Once again, the audience was very happy.

Professor Mo Xuan continues to be emotional: “Life was born so subtle that no one has yet been able to fully explain what ‘divine soul' or ‘self-consciousness’ really is and where it comes from.

“Professor Xie, did you just say that the increasing computational power of the crystal brain could trigger some kind of 'critical state', eventually pushing the limits and developing self-awareness?

“But the truth is that God's soul, self-consciousness, and computational power have absolutely nothing to do with it!

“Of the tens of billions of people in Starlight Federation, 99.99% have less computational power than a common one, selling only 12,500 star-current 'Auror-4' crystal brains in the Phantom Mall, and if it is the 'Phantom Dragon-7' master crystal brains used on our heavy warships, even ninety-nine yuan infant monks are far from their rivals in instantaneous mindset limit computation.

“However, the 'Phantom Dragon-7' master crystal brain, whose computational power is stronger than that of the 'Yuan Baby Monster', did not generate self-awareness, and the 'Dawn -4’ ordinary crystal brain did not produce self-awareness.

“But only a few tens or even a few hundred million of them are computationally self-conscious.

“Even those genetically defective, innate, foolish, mentally retarded children, with only a few percent of the lowest level of computation, can't do anything less than 10 plus or minus, but they are equally - self-conscious and have a precious' divine soul '!

“What I'm trying to say is, have you thought about it seriously - does it really matter between computational power and self-awareness? Is it true that the more computational you are, the more self-conscious you must be? If that's the case, then what you're afraid of, the new virtual form of life after the Spirit Net has become fine, should have been created as early as 800 years ago. No, not 800 years, but 10,000 years, because 10,000 years ago, in the era of the Star Sea Empire, we had a crystal brain that was a hundred times more powerful in computing than humans! ”