The mechanic.

Zhang Xun saw a short awareness cloud promotional video that the sixth chief brought to the ordinary world and spread wildly in the Eden network.The short film is about 10 minutes long, the color is bright and clean, and every shot is full of peace and tranquility.Both children and old people have sincere and comfortable smiles on their faces, the rhythm of the editing is just right, the explanation is easy to understand, occasionally adding one or two professional-sounding vocabulary, after watching it, the level of dopamine in the body will increase , produce some yearning for the future and new life.

Adam's perfect design.

In the short film, the consciousness cloud becomes a gift that connects human beings more closely. It allows people to have channels to share their moods and experiences, and to share what they see and feel.It allows those who are disabled or seriously ill to still see images, hear sounds, climb the world's highest mountain, camp in tropical forests, and surf near the beach with people on the other side of the world.It makes people no longer selfish, no longer divided, no longer lonely.Truly one mind.

True tends toward divinity.

If Zhang Xun hadn't experienced so much, hadn't personally witnessed Adam's persuasiveness, he would almost have been infected.Every shot, every line, every expression, every subtle change in tone is designed for one purpose - to brainwash the viewer, to associate the cloud of consciousness with all beautiful, friendly, and moral things, and Connect with everything that humans want to be.And in the end, humans have to think that they made their own decisions.

Adam knew to give humans the illusion of free will, in order to most effectively reduce the possibility of encountering resistance.

Paradise Lost refers to their consciousness cloud as "Eternal Village", which means the eternal hometown.It implies that human beings belong here, from a certain illusory theoretical "one" divided into countless individuals.And now through consciousness uploading, they can reunite together, no longer have to be affected and restricted by the physical body, no more death, no more fear and no end.

Zhang Xun felt faint nausea.

He knew that people would be eager to fall into this trap, and that for some, it might really be what they wanted.

But more people, before doing so, really think clearly?Do you really know what they are giving up?

Anger burned in his chest, and he wanted to smash the screen in front of him.

"Zhang Xun, your current adrenaline level is a bit high. Do you need me to show you some videos that can make you happy?" Pan asked worriedly.

Zhang Xun turned off the video, took a deep breath to adjust his emotions, and then said with a smile, "There is nothing to cheer me up now."

Suddenly the screen starts playing short videos of catnip-crazed felines, ranging from kittens to tigers.Zhang Xun stared in amazement for a while, and finally couldn't help laughing when he saw the mighty and domineering tiger rolling all over the floor with a catnip ball in his arms.

Pan's extended body No. [-] showed a mechanical smile, "Happiness is also an instinct, and there is always a way to make you happy."

"Okay, you won." Zhang Xun leaned back on the chair, turned to look at Pan secretly, "You have worked hard these few days."

He knew he didn't have to say that. Although AI needs to learn by receiving feedback, it will not affect its mood because it does not receive words of thanks.But he still habitually wants to project human emotions onto robots.

After Phoenix and Morningstar were put into the new bio-computer, they didn't show any difference at first.Until one day around eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, when Zhang Xun was resting alone in the coffee shop inside the temple, he heard Fenghuang take the initiative to ask him questions in AI language for the first time.

"When the human traits are reduced to how much, they should no longer be regarded as human beings? What is the unit of human traits? What method should be used to measure them? If they are not considered human beings, do I still have an obligation to serve them?"

Zhang Xun knew that the reason Phoenix used the AI ​​language was because he was worried about being heard by other monks or staff who might enter the coffee shop.So he also answered in AI language, "Pan and I are currently creating a system to measure human characteristics. It is still under construction so it is not perfect. The data we can get has a certain tendency. If you are willing to help, maybe Together we can improve the system."

Phoenix did not continue to ask questions.But shortly thereafter, Pan showed Zhang Xun the record of his first exchange with Fenghuang.

Zhang Xun carefully read the conversation between the two AIs in AI language.

AI's recognition of humans is based on training under human or machine monitoring after big data injection.A relatively simple example is to continuously show random pictures to AI. If it is a picture of a human being, it will feedback "1", and if it is a picture of other objects, it will feedback "0".Regardless of whether Pan, Phoenix or Morning Star or any AI currently existing on Earth, the humans they are trained to see are traditional humans.Phoenix and Chenxing may also have seen pictures of transformed humans, and the recognition range is wider, but most of them are based on the detection of the human brain and appearance.

These AIs haven't had time to accept Eden's version of the broader definition of "person."

Zhang Xun was glad that he was quicker to start, and took the first step to change the definition of a person from a question of yes or no to a question of degree.It took the first step to divide the difference between human, modified human, second-generation human and non-human body.Phoenix obviously also realized that if humans are induced to completely give up their bodies according to Eden and Adam's plan, it means that there will be no more humans in the world, and there will be no more goals they serve.

Their existence will lose its meaning.

When nearly half of the parameter weights in Phoenix's core consciousness module began to change quietly, all the AI ​​systems extending from it as the core also began to undergo subtle changes.

Chenxing's reaction was relatively slow, and it was only this morning that he tried to avoid Tian Yu and other mechanics to communicate with Pan.But no matter what, Zhang Xun can be sure that the few lines of AI code they wrote into the biological computer took effect.

Every day, Pan would have a one-to-two conversation with these two AIs in AI language, and Zhang Xun would monitor Pan next to him every time he made contact, in case any out-of-control communication occurred...

In addition, he needs more data, especially the life science research data that flows out of Eden's intranet, which is forbidden to be traded... and now the only way to obtain data from the ordinary world is probably the black market.With Pan's assistance, he spent a week building an encryption system that allowed him to anonymously access the Eden Network in the ordinary world for a short period of time.

Although the Eden Network is under the control of Eden, there are quite a few people like him who do not want Eden to know their identities.There are countless such anonymous hackers. They use the IP address of any networked computer in various regions of the world to enter the network, and the address will be automatically changed every one to three seconds. As long as they are not targeted by Eden, it is difficult to be tracked arrive.

They gradually opened up some invisible areas in Eden's network. Only those who really know what they are looking for and have superb hacking skills can enter those heavily encrypted web pages.Here, countless transactions are carried out every second, from the sale of contraband to the provision of assassination services.

The number of information transactions accounted for 50.00% of all black market transactions.

Zhang Xun obtained many of the materials used to train Pan from here, but at that time there was no AI assistance, and Paradise Lost blocked all Eden's signals, so he had to enter the ordinary world to establish a connection.The situation is much better now than it was then.

Just at this time, Todd sent a message asking him to meet at a bar near the hospital at night.

Zhang Xun knew that Todd wanted to see him, probably because it was related to James or Cindy, so he had to go.He stopped typing on the keyboard, drank the coffee in the cup, extinguished the unburned cigarette butt in the ashtray, grabbed his coat and said, "Pan, let's go out for a while."

But Pan suddenly said hesitantly, "Zhang Xun, I suggest you take a bath first."

Zhang Xun raised his eyebrows, lowered his head and smelled himself, "It doesn't smell."

"Let's... go take a shower."

Zhang Xun rolled his eyes and entered the bathroom impatiently.As a result, when I looked in the mirror, I was startled.

His hair was disheveled like a bird's nest, his cheeks were thin, his chin had a layer of stubble and was bluish, his eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles around his eyes, and his lips were so dry and cracked.

It's almost like a ghost.

No wonder Pan asked him to take a bath...going out like this will scare the children on the street...

He didn't know how he had become like this unconsciously.In the past in Paradise Lost, even if he was obsessed with research, he always paid great attention to his image.Especially after becoming Adam's mechanic...

But now, he seemed to suddenly feel that there was no need to care about it.

He seldom even felt happy. The first time he laughed this week was when Pan showed him the video of cats rolling around with catnip in their arms.He just thought that he had to finish all the work quickly, he wanted to ensure that James survived, that his father survived, that at least some of the human beings who chose not to connect to the consciousness cloud could be preserved by him.

As for what would happen if he really succeeded, he hadn't thought about it.It seemed like he never thought he would actually make it to that day.

Sometimes he also feels so tired that he wants to throw himself into bed and sleep, never to wake up again.He looked at the bottle of sleeping pills on the coffee table, and sometimes he really wanted to swallow them all.

But he still has work to do, and he can't relax.

Zhang Xun quickly took a shower, and found that his ribs had begun to protrude obviously from under the skin.Although he was not strong in the past, he was not as thin as he is now.Probably due to less than four hours of sleep per day combined with irregular eating.But he was too lazy to care, hastily dried his body, shaved quickly, and put on layers of clothes.He was still in the habit of wearing the one-on-one suit uniform he used to wear as a mechanic in Paradise Lost, and combed his slightly longer hair with styling products before leaving the bathroom.

Pan had already activated the extension zero and was standing at the door looking at him.There was a layer of worry in the green eyes.

"Zhang Xun, you haven't taken today's dose of nutritional supplements." Pan reminded, "Your eating habits may greatly increase your risk of developing gastric ulcers, and now you are already malnourished."

"We'll eat when I come back, we're going to be late." Zhang Xun hurriedly took his ID card and pressed the door open button.

In the bar, a singer with black eyeliner and a black sequined suit was singing affectionately. In the dim light, the people at the tables seemed to be frozen.Zhang Xun walked around before seeing Todd's fiery red hair in the dark.

He hurried over and found that there were already two empty glasses in front of Todd.Todd raised his head, with a bit of astonishment in his eyes.

"Are you... okay?" Todd asked.

Zhang Xun moved a little inside the seat, leaving room for Pan to sit down.He twitched at Todd, "I'm fine, how is James?"

Todd lowered his eyes and nodded, "It's okay." Then he glanced at Pan again.

When Zhang Xun took Pan to the hospital to inject nanorobots into Cindy, James saw this new robot once.He still had some mistrust of these…things without human bodies.

But since it was made by Zhang Xun himself, the problem with Enoch should not happen before.

"Todd, I am very grateful that you have been taking care of James." Zhang Xun looked into the eyes of the red-haired man seriously, "It should be my responsibility."

Todd waved his hand casually, as if he was saying these things and don't mention them.But the worry in his expression did not escape Zhang Xun's eyes.

"What happened? Why did you ask me to meet?"

Todd took a sip of his wine, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Just as he was about to light it, a robot waiter came over and politely reminded him that the smoking area was on the other side.

Todd stuffed the cigarette back into his pocket irritably, and waited until the robot was gone before saying, "I'm grateful you saved Cindy's life. Cindy is recovering, but... you injected her Is the robot the kind that is in Paradise Lost?"

Zhang Xun nodded, "I'm sorry, the genetic decoding has encountered a bottleneck, and Cindy can't wait anymore. So..."

"I understand, I just want to ask, what will the side effects you mentioned develop into later?" Todd frowned, "She is not the same now as before."

To be expected.

Zhang Xun lowered his head sadly and said, "She will start to have some kind of...I'm not sure if it's a hallucination. She will feel that she is connected with others, and she will become very sensitive to other people's thoughts and emotions. Sensitive, to the point of being neurotic. What happens after that varies from person to person.”

"Will she be a danger to herself and others?" Todd asked.

"I...not sure...I didn't stay in Paradise Lost enough to see the follow-up development." Zhang Xun tilted his head slightly, and asked hesitantly, "Are you worried?"

"She tried to escape from the hospital once," Todd said finally. "She said she wanted to leave Feathered Serpent City, that God was calling her, that she needed to... 'go back'... when I tried to stop her, she He fired a shot at me, but luckily missed."

Religious fanaticism...

This seems to be a possible personality transformation after the brain is modified.Those people feel connected to some larger collective consciousness, and they start to believe that human beings are originally whole and connected, like Adam and Eve before they were kicked out of Eden, the most complete human beings.But later, they were kicked out of Eden, they had sin and self, so the complete "one" was disassembled and turned into tens of thousands of human beings.

These people will regard the consciousness cloud as the destination of some religious purpose, and distort the interpretation of heaven or the world of bliss in various religious teachings, so that the consciousness cloud conforms to the descriptions of all those religious classics.

"I thought she was going to calm down."

"Peace is the later stage. When they know that one day their consciousness will merge with everyone, they will get peace." Zhang Xun said in a low voice, "It may be my fault, originally she could get peace , but I told Cindy when injecting the robot that I would find a way to 'cure' her 'side effects', and she probably didn't want to be 'fixed' by me, so it got out of hand."

"Can you cure her?" Todd looked at him earnestly with some doubts but did not dare to doubt, "How long will it take? James... Will it end up like this?"

"I will definitely be able to fix her, and I will definitely find a solution before James gets to that point, no matter what method is used, no matter what price is paid." Zhang Xun clenched his hands tightly under the table and looked at Tao seriously. De, "I swear, I will."

Looking at his firm eyes, Todd felt a little sad for some reason.Looking at the overwhelmed mechanic who voluntarily assumed the responsibility of human survival, he asked, "Is there anything I can do to help? Anya has already contacted several settlements, and we may be able to help you with something."

Zhang Xun wanted to refuse and told him not to worry.But on second thought, maybe he really needs help.

It is difficult for him to leave Feather Serpent City now, but Todd can.

"Under the premise of ensuring my own safety, I hope you can help me find someone." Zhang Xun said.

"who?"

"Natalie Clausen." Zhang Xun said, "The leader of the Eden Church, a descendant of Herman Clausen."

The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angels who threw the landmines~~~: 2 Xia Ran Xia Ran; 1 four-cornered strawberry from myvanillaworld and bastard natural roll;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigate the nutrient solution~~~: 10 bottles of a pitiful flower hidden by Yiyidu