Chapter 104: The First Lesson

“Though I do not know how you found out, you are right. My research concerns how to turn human beings into virtual entities. I often find it difficult to distinguish between the virtual and the real. A person is tangible, but what of consciousness? It is virtual. The data within Skynet is virtual, yet in truth, it too possesses a physical form. These questions are extremely complicated and cannot be explained in a moment. You ask your questions first. I will see what you understand and answer them one by one.”

Yuan Muye sat on the floor as he spoke.

“Is it really possible?” Although David had warned him beforehand, Li Daoran was still deeply shaken by Yuan Muye’s confirmation and could not help asking.

“I do not know. And even if it is possible, that does not mean it would be a good thing,” Yuan Muye replied.

“Why?” Li Daoran pressed.

“Heh. People like you must assume that all the data within Skynet is dead and devoid of consciousness. That is why you study artificial intelligence. But what if we looked at it from another angle? What if the data itself possessed consciousness, only with intelligence as limited as that of a tardigrade? Do you see those mice? They are the little creatures you regard as living beings. We can train them to run according to our instructions or pass through obstacles. But has anyone ever said that a mouse could be trained into a human being?”

Li Daoran said nothing. Yuan Muye was still speaking and clearly had no intention of waiting for an answer.

“These beings you consider living and intelligent cannot even be trained into artificial intelligence. How, then, could you expect life within a virtual world to become something equivalent to a human being? It is impossible from the outset. No matter how well it is trained, even if a monkey can imitate a human and imitate one flawlessly, we still would not consider it human. Artificial intelligence is the same. Even if it is relatively easy to train, it can never become the kind of intelligence we imagine.

“I understood this the moment I completed Skynet for the White Deer Republic, because I saw signs of life within it.”

Yuan Muye tapped his leg and spoke slowly.

“Signs of life? Are you saying that Skynet is alive and intelligent?” Li Daoran asked in astonishment.

“Not exactly. That is actually a philosophical question, not a scientific one. We are not discussing philosophy today, so whether it is alive is unimportant. Philosophy can even hold that grass and stones possess life. Why, then, could Skynet not be alive?

“There is no point in debating whether it is a life-form or not. Let me tell you about some of my discoveries. Data can die, and the real world has a delete key as well. Skynet is like a world parallel to ours. Though we cannot touch it or see it, it exists beside us, operating according to its own unique principles. You could even say that it functions in exactly the same way, with a similarity of ninety-one percent.

“In the field of science, no one can claim to create; one can only claim to discover. No one can say that they created Skynet. We merely discovered it and learned to use it. Let me tell you something interesting. It is rare to meet a young man as intriguing as you.”

“When you understand Skynet well enough, you can see the entire world clearly, because our world is not fundamentally different from Skynet. First, let me show you what Skynet is like. Come, follow me.”

Yuan Muye tried to rise, and Li Daoran hurried forward to help him up.

This time, Yuan Muye accepted Li Daoran’s kindness. Since he was imparting knowledge and resolving the young man’s doubts, he felt entitled to receive his care.

They walked to the computer. Yuan Muye’s hands moved rapidly across the controls, and the screen transformed into a circle that was projected beside Li Daoran. It was as if he had been placed in the middle of the universe, watching a six-dimensional film. Planets revolved around him; white, blazing stars and blue habitable worlds floated against the blackness of space. Once again, Li Daoran felt the power of technology. It truly was easy to lose oneself between illusion and reality.

“Do you know about causality? Which comes first, the effect or the cause? Is Schrodinger’s cat dead or alive? We can find the answers to all of these questions within Skynet.

“Have you ever played a game? The construction of Skynet is much like the creation of a game. First, you establish the data, and afterward the results emerge. But what is the element we set most often? Randomness.

“When you forge a piece of equipment, can you know its attributes in advance? No. No one can, because even the designer does not know. But we do know the approximate range. It is the same in reality. When we undertake an action, we can know the range of possible outcomes, but we cannot determine the exact result. This is one external expression of how closely the world’s fundamental settings correspond to one another. In truth, the world of Skynet is no different from our own. Only the way it manifests itself is different.”

“By the same logic, researching Skynet is actually researching our own world. Do you understand simple operations such as deletion and duplication? Does our world have them as well? Of course it does. Take fire, for example. It can be regarded as a form of deletion. But deletion within Skynet cannot leave no trace at all. Those traces are the ashes.

“Are ashes truly useless? Not necessarily. The transformation of all matter is reversible; it merely depends on whether the necessary conditions exist. You may not understand all of this, but you must realize that the boundary between the virtual and the real is not nearly as indestructible as you imagine.”

Yuan Muye extended both hands and sighed.

“I more or less understand. Now that I think about it, isn’t this exactly what happened in The Matrix? Turning people into virtual beings. You are not the only one to have imagined such a thing, but you are truly the only one who dared to put it into practice.”

Li Daoran’s first thought upon hearing Yuan Muye’s explanation had been The Matrix. As a classic film, it was of course familiar to him: consciousness uploaded into a virtual world, with humanity living out its existence within it.

“It is not the same, Daoran,” David countered. “Not at all. You did not understand Yuan Muye’s meaning. He is saying that virtual space possesses rules of its own. In other words, there may be forms of life whose existence we do not know.”

“The Matrix? What does that mean?” Yuan Muye asked with interest. He had not expected that someone else could have arrived at an idea similar to his own.

“Uh, it is a relatively obscure film I happened to see once. It is about artificial intelligence taking control of all humanity, while human beings live inside a virtual world created by artificial intelligence.” Li Daoran gave Yuan Muye a brief explanation.

Yuan Muye shook his head.

“That is a lie created by humanity’s fear of artificial intelligence. In reality, artificial intelligence does not exist. Remember the first lesson. The most important point is that artificial intelligence does not exist, because our definition of artificial intelligence is merely a prejudice. Skynet has its own internal logic. Never forget that you must not define it according to your own ideas.”

“If the kind of artificial intelligence we define truly existed, it could only be a human being who had become a virtual life-form. Only that would fully satisfy the definition of artificial intelligence. No matter how much a monkey resembles a human, it cannot be called human. But if a human were to become a monkey, then no matter how foolish that monkey might be, it would still be a human being.

“The end of science is philosophy. You must learn to view all things dialectically and give them new definitions. Discover, rather than create. Understand the meaning of awe, and never become arrogant.”