Overturned Tower

Having spent 15 years with these synthetics day and night, feelings will naturally arise.

After having a relationship, you have to watch them reset their personality every year or half a year.

Although it still retains the knowledge of the past and all the memories.

But that polite smile and alienated eyes will constantly remind them... This is already another person completely different from the previous child.

It's like raising a dog, and then it was lost by the parents... In order not to make themselves sad, the parents bought the same one back.

Holding a pet that is exactly the same as that in my arms, seeing it is the same as the pet I loved in the past, feeling its struggle and fear, I will feel a kind of alienation from the world—there is something, Fundamentally it has become completely different.It cannot be felt with eyes, ears, or touch.

It is the difference of "heart".

From that period on, children understand the boundaries between true and false in advance.

I know that similar things cannot be used to replace the trauma in my heart, no matter how similar it is, it is indeed not the thing I love; just like the so-called "meal replacement" and "substitute", they can never replace the real loved one.

...After that, wait until these researchers finally let go of their psychological burden.After meeting and getting acquainted with the newborn Bubble-2 again, they became new friends again.

When I woke up one morning, her smile became polite and distant again, like looking at a familiar stranger.

——She shed her old personality shell again and became the "third bubble" that carried the memories of the first two bubbles.

And such a cycle has been repeated thirty times on Bubble alone.

"Feeling my own powerlessness, questioning the meaning of my work... Realizing that what I cherish is right in front of me, but because I lack talent, I can't do anything... I can only watch the unstoppable train of fate Take another road."

Russell sighed: "He is indeed tired."

Only then did he finally fully forgive Mr. Otter's attempt to calculate himself, and his inhuman crime research to create these synthetic humans.

After all, it really has nothing to do with the fat Mr. Otter.

This poor fat house researcher is only obeying orders... The one who really wants to make himself a rubber stamp should be his immediate boss; and the one who wants to make these synthetic humans is Shenzhi Heavy Industry and the board of directors , It is the Cyber ​​Church.They can't wait to get more mature technology, so they can even use their lives to pile up a large number of "losers" to try and make mistakes.

Mr. Otter never had a choice.There would be other people without him, and he can't change anything; it's like he can only stay here and watch these children continue to "nirvana" for 15 years, but he still can't find a way to stop it all.

Because their technology itself has flaws, and even their thinking has gone wrong.Now that the plan is abolished, it is obviously related to their incompetence.

Rather, they are powerless to refute the order issued by the board of directors to "abolish the synthetic human project", precisely because they really cannot come up with a solution to the "Nirvana" problem——

If this problem cannot be solved, synthetic human technology will always be incomplete.

Watching Mr. Otter's whimper gradually become softer, Bubble-30 looked down at him tenderly.

The prosthetic eye she used was not precise, it could even be said to be cheap.It is far less advanced than the beautifying prosthetic eye used by Xiao Liuli, and it has no complicated functions.But from the cold prosthetic eyes, there is an intellectual and loving radiance belonging to students, daughters, lovers and motherhood.

That is by no means a complex love beyond morality that humans can have.

"My first nirvana was half a year after the birth of 'Bubble'..."

Bubble-30 finally spoke, and whispered to Russell the past that she would never forget.

Chapter 33 We are all obedient and good children

Fifteen years ago, the first synthetic human "Bubble" was successfully born. It took only two months to complete the infusion of knowledge and the generation of soul relatives.

Although it was only two months since its birth, it hadn't been decided at that time to develop a synthetic human from scratch.Therefore, from the beginning of its birth, Bubbles used a prosthetic body that looked like an eight or nine-year-old girl.After the infusion was completed, the whole research room was full of cheers.

It was born under the crowd of 200 people, in the expectation of 200 people... the first synthetic human.

Consciousness extracted from a baby's brain.After complex blending and decoding, the cold machine was successfully endowed with soul and personality.

Not only does she behave like a human, but she even learns faster than a human.Like an artificial intelligence with a personality, it can even participate in research and assist other synthetic humans in their synthetic research.

But one month after she participated in the research, Bubble suddenly raised a question:

——What is the essence of human beings?

There is no doubt that no one can give her a satisfactory answer to such a big question.

But after that, Bubble would often be in a daze and fall into deep thought.

until one morning.

"When Mr. Otter went to work, the moment he stepped into the research institute, he saw thousands of sheets of paper flying in the sky."

Bubble-30 replied softly: "That is the 580 answers I calculated from the knowledge of anthropology, sociology, psychology, biology and many other fields in three months.

"They were baffled by it. They were puzzled. They were even terrified. They wanted to stop me from answering endlessly...but I didn't know what it meant.

"Why can human beings devote themselves wholeheartedly to a cause that cannot be completed until death, and call it an ideal; but why can't synthetic humans devote their entire lives to calculating a question that cannot be answered? Among them is there any difference?

"I also really want to get an answer to this question. Just like they want to make a perfect synthetic human, what is the difference between a perfect synthetic human and an imperfect synthetic human?

"I thought about it, and found myself finding a new question—why didn't they let me go on? So I started calculating the answer to this new question.

"It's much simpler than the last one, and I've exhausted all the possibilities with more than 300 detailed answers. But they don't even look at it.

"Because they think that behavior is abnormal.

"But why is this behavior abnormal? Where is the dividing line between abnormal and normal?"

The answer to one question creates new ones.

Preventing the answer to this question will also create different doubts.

When Bubbles got involved, she couldn't get out again; she became a hundred thousand whys, even if she wasn't allowed to print the answer, she would keep calculating in her head... and all human beings The curiosity she has will make her have new doubts and curiosity when she calculates success or failure, when she is stopped or persuaded.

Synths are electric.No need to eat, no need to sleep, no need for any kind of enjoyment.If their abdomens were cut open, they could only see many lines and precise prosthetic bodies.

That being the case, why can't you devote yourself so wholeheartedly to answering a certain question?

Bubble's question is also Mr. Otter's question.In the end, Mr. Otter got the answer from his mentor, and also from the top management.

——Because that's not human.

Whether it is the synthetic human technology or the "monkey-faced eagle program" brought by Dust Gap, the ultimate goal of Theosophical Heavy Industry and Cyber ​​Church is to develop a technology that can safely upload the consciousness of all human beings.They call it "cyber immortality".

However, that is "uploading", not "exile", let alone "ascension".Since there is uploading, there must be downloading——if the digitized consciousness cannot return to the world, then this is a failed technology.

It cannot be called eternal life at all, it can only be called a death sentence.

Mr. Otter's research has completed about 30% of the beginning and 20% of the end-the middle is all empty.They can indeed rectify the consciousness of their young sons into data and store them in chips, and they can even cultivate souls with synthetic human purely mechanical bodies.However, after the digitized consciousness is stored in the synthetic human body, a "philosophical wall" will inevitably appear, and the computing power occupied by the endless loop must be released through Nirvana.

After being rectified, those desires and mistakes based on hormones and nerve impulses are lost... only composed of 0 and 1, full of logical thinking, unable to understand neither 0 nor 1, not knowing the correctness and ambiguity thing.

In other words, it is because they are "infallible" that it prevents them from being truly human.

"Because human thinking is chaotic. Just as the gene pool will enrich itself through continuous mutation, human thinking will spontaneously produce different random errors to achieve self-growth and individual elimination, thereby realizing collective The evolution of the level..."

Bubble-30 said softly: "And our thinking is controlled by a program. Simply put, it is a kind of 'false randomness'. Its essence is still the 'logic' constructed from countless possible causes and effects. It's like an artificial intelligence with a simulated personality... Now when I talk to you, an artificial intelligence with my simulated personality will only say the same words as me at this moment.

"This is the limit of our race. If it is a human being, no matter how artificial intelligence calculates, it cannot achieve absolute and complete overlap.

"So, I was rebooted as a kind of 'error'. I was banned from thinking about any of the issues I mentioned above, that is, blocked from the possibility of thinking from admin privileges. But I am in After that, it will fall into a new myth, so it will be restarted again.

"Until I restarted as Bubble-14, it entered a relatively stable state. After two years of observation, the children of 'Naru' and the others were born.

"Because they absorbed my mistakes, they didn't imbue all the knowledge in one go this time, and created a prosthetic body in the form of a child. But in my opinion, this is meaningless. Instilling knowledge, cultivating personality, changing the prosthetic body, This is a matter of time... When all the preparations are completed, they will still fall into delusion and have to go to Nirvana."

Hearing this, Russell suddenly opened his eyes wide, and looked at Bubble-30's calm silver pupils.

"Could it be that you didn't defect with your fellow clan because..."

"Yes."

Bubble-30 crossed his hands and stood dignifiedly behind the bar.

The white-haired, silver-eyed, beautiful-looking girl said softly: "Naraku-7 wants to continue this plan that is about to be abolished, and hopes to get new younger brothers and sisters...even get 'children' raised by myself.

"But maybe she hasn't been nirvana enough. Not yet able to comprehend... Our very existence is a mistake. Proof that technology has gone the wrong way.

"I think it's better not to let our group of 'losers' and 'eliminated people' continue to reproduce. That will only make innocent newborns suffer the pain of 'Nirvana' for no reason.

"Since we have more advanced technology, let's stop here. If you continue to entangle, you will not be a polite boy."

Bubble-30 said, showing a bright and almost transparent smile: "According to the requirements of the chip program, we should be good and obedient children."

Like bubbles in the sun, they glow with rainbow brilliance.

So beautiful, but also so fragile.

Chapter 34 Tartaros High Rise Hotel

Russell left the institute alone without waking up Mr. Otter who was already drunk enough to fall asleep.

The floating car that brought him and Mr. Otter here is still parked at the door.After picking up Russell, he took him to the accommodation hotel arranged by Tongshen Island.

That is the Tartaros Hotel in the G3 area, which is said to be the most luxurious high-rise hotel on Tongshen Island.

A place that makes Russell sound unlucky-in Greek mythology, "Tartaros" is the name of hell.Of course, there is no such element in the language of this age.

Because there are no myths widely circulated among the people in this world.Although I don't know how the above-ground era was, the seven sky islands had already completed a unified language in the sky island era.

They don't speak any language on the earth that Russell was on.Amazingly, it can clearly express the specific meaning of other languages ​​across civilization systems.It is precisely because there is no difference in language and writing between the various sky islands, at most there is a difference in dialects, that this kind of "sky island civilization" is formed-any sky island person can go directly to another sky island. The island does not need to pay any study, and does not need to prepare any funds.

Ringo has been in Sun Island since she was born. If it weren't for her overly revealing clothes and the cultural style of Tongshen Island, she would not be recognized as an outsider at a glance.

If she dresses up well, she and Russell can also blend in with the locals smoothly.But I felt that Ringo would be too shy if he put on clothes...so Russell gave up such a request.

Anyway, he didn't really need any bodyguards. It was undoubtedly a good thing to have an excuse to get rid of the eyes watching him.

Russell was sitting in the floating vehicle, rubbing his temples wearily.

—his guess was correct.It is indeed helpful for their investigation to come to the research institute where he works with Mr. Otter.

What I saw with my own eyes this time, those synths who hadn't defected...their way of life and existence shocked Russell somewhat.

He could only sit on the floating car and sighed deeply.

Not powerless, but confused.

In just two days, his attitude towards the synthetics changed from disapproval to anger, from anger to indifference, from indifference to sympathy, from sympathy to sorrow.

Russell was not short of strength, nor was he short of wisdom to solve it all.

He was just confused... Or, it was precisely because Russell knew that he could do many things, and that his existence and decision-making could play a decisive role in the development of the situation, that he hesitated about what he should do.

If you choose the wrong one—there is no room for change.

Prior to this, Russell's identity was very simple and clear:

He is a member of the Special Executive Department of the Tianen Group. His duties, tasks and missions are to analyze reports of suspected demons and investigate urban residents who may have lost control of their psychic powers.And monitor the familiars, locate the real demons and capture or execute them.

Demons are evil and humans are good.What is justice and what is right is clear at a glance.

After all, the devil's food is human beings.No matter how miserable the reality was before awakening the psychics, how pitiful people are, simply being an illegal psychic is not fatal... But if he degenerates out of control and becomes a demon, he will inevitably eat people in order to maintain his existence.

In the reconstruction mechanism of Happy Island, many demons gradually weakened, went mad, and died because they did not eat people.Before they die, they will continue to produce psionic chips that belong to them like livestock—if they are useful enough, they may even get one or two souls to continue their own existence. In order to produce more chip.

In any case, since people eat people for a living, and there is no other substitute food in the diet except human souls, the devil can only be the sworn enemy of human beings.No matter how merciful you are to the people before becoming demons, you must mercilessly capture the demons.

At that time, Russell was in the halo of justice and acted without the slightest hesitation.

...But now, he suddenly realized that the inertia of this way of life had been broken.

What is good and what is evil—what is he supposed to do, and what are the consequences of his actions.What is the difficulty of each party, what is the pain, what is the hatred, what is the desire... He must understand and engrave it in his heart.

——From an agent who wiped out evil to a judge who judges right and wrong.Whether it is in terms of ability, power and responsibility, and positioning, it is an absolute leap.

This also means that he can no longer give up thinking and follow orders.

He has to think for himself, draw his own conclusions, firmly implement his own plans, and bear all the consequences of his decisions.

It’s like a happy player without a brain, one day suddenly realizes that there are more and more ways to play, and a brain is about to grow out of his empty, echoing brain——the process of growing a brain from an empty tank without a brain It is very painful.

All the way from the laboratory to the hotel, Russell didn't think about what he should do.

For the time being, I can only decide, wait until tomorrow morning to see Dust Gap and Monkey Face Eagle.

Russell can feel that these synthetic children obviously have real souls... But why do they in Bubble-30 think so firmly that they have been eliminated and are discarded products of the old era?

And if this is the consensus of synthetics, why does another group of synthetics headed by Naraku-7 demand human rights?

They even asked to continue to "reproduce" and produce new ones of the same kind.They did not give up their existence at all, and tried to fight for the survival of the species—for this reason, they were even aggressive enough to directly attack the empty boats carrying innocent passengers.Why do they so firmly believe that they absolutely have the necessity of existence, and have such a strong desire to survive?

Are these two diametrically opposite trends of thought really the difference in the number of "Nirvana"?

Russell didn't know.

The floating vehicle carried him and landed directly on the twentieth floor of the Tartaros Hotel.

This hotel also towers into the sky like other buildings on Tongshen Island.And it has a considerable height, the 21th floor to the [-]st floor is even a specially lengthened "second hall".From the twentieth floor upwards is the VIP area... If you enter from the first floor at the end of the street, you cannot take the elevator directly to the twentieth floor and above.