Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 271 - Chapter 271 Chapter 271 Research on the Virtual World—Begin

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Research on the Virtual World–Begin! Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Research on the Virtual World–Begin! Yamamoto spoke at an extremely rapid pace as he explained, “Human memory itself can be read and copied, just like a hard drive. But as you know, a hard drive cannot work directly. It requires power, certain drivers.”

“The ‘self-awareness’ quantum algorithm is equivalent to the operating software of the hard drive, which cannot be forcefully read or copied, but can only undergo a complete transition. It must rely on memory itself to have complete functionality… without that, it would be meaningless. Software and hardware are both indispensable.”

Yamamoto Ichiro turned on a computer screen in the laboratory, displaying a “mouse” that had undergone consciousness upload.

This “mouse” was idly staring in the computer, motionless, as if it had become stupid.

“You see, this is the self-awareness of a mouse.”

“It remains motionless because the self-awareness is not connected with memories… Without a physical body, it doesn’t even have instincts, so it can only stand here, dazed.”

“Wait a second!” Zhang Yuan pondered for a moment before asking, “Why does the screen display a mouse… rather than something else?”

This question sounded a bit strange, but it was exceptionally important.

Since it had already separated from its physical body and become a bunch of two-dimensional data, why was the mouse still a mouse, and not something else like a cat or a dog, or perhaps even a human?

“Oh, that’s just set arbitrarily. We gave it a virtual body based on the mouse’s memory… Of course, we could also set it to be a cat.” Yamamoto paused and reflected for a while before speaking, “It’s just data after all, though we cannot directly observe the core, we can observe the outward behavior. By giving it a virtual body, we can understand what it is actually doing.”

“Observing this virtual body is fine, it won’t affect the collapse of ‘self-awareness’. If we observe the internal data, it would die instantly.”

Zhang Yuan reflected for a while and then chuckled bitterly, “That’s very quantum mechanics… you cover it up with a layer of skin so that the function won’t collapse?”

“Yes, once observed, the function will collapse, losing its randomness.

“So to speak, even God can’t predict what humans will do the next second?”

Yamamoto nodded, “Theoretically, it’s like that, what thoughts will arise the next second can’t be predicted. However, the Mind Reading Technique might still be possible… because even if the algorithm itself cannot be observed directly, the data generated by the algorithm, that is, the memories, can still be observed with caution.”

“…We might even be able to change a person’s personality by modifying memories! But this still involves matching patterns of self-awareness… Mr. Zhang Yuan, I beg you to support this technology.”

As he spoke, his passion grew, and his wild musings sent a chill down Zhang Yuan’s spine.

Well, Yamamoto was a man devoid of traditional morals; he didn’t consider how such technologies, which intrude on and even modify privacy, could cause panic among the public.

Zhang Yuan steeled himself and contemplated for a while, swiftly declining some of his requests. What a joke, although the new civilization pursued progress, releasing these technologies now would be like digging one’s own grave!

“To truly realize these functions, who knows how long it will take, right now it’s just relying on Gaia Civilization’s technology… Whether we can replicate a biological computer is still a question.”

Zhang Yuan patted his shoulder, signaling him to be more down-to-earth and not to always dream about overnight success.

Next came various comparative experiments, where the poor mouse’s consciousness was tossed and turned repeatedly.

Connecting “self-awareness” to the memory storage area, the mouse quickly went from its original dull state to being alert.

Startled by a background panel of blue dots, it scattered its tiny feet in a mad dash, but how could it possibly find a safe corner in this sort of place?

After running for a few minutes, for some unknown reason, it seemed as if the consciousness itself could get tired. Gradually, it slowed to a stop.

Yamamoto pressed a button, and “self-awareness” was disconnected from the memory storage area once again, leaving the mouse in a dimwitted state as if nothing had happened.

“Because the mouse’s brain is relatively simple, self-awareness and memory can be separated easily, unlike with animals like monkeys, where it’s much more difficult.”

Several staff members reset the data in the memory area back to its original state.

Once reconnected, the mouse again began to frantically scurry about, with its reaction identical to the previous one.

However, Zhang Yuan, with his sharp perception, noticed a subtle difference in the mouse’s running movements between the two repeated experiments.

He said, “So, are you saying that even with the same memory as the base, the same self-awareness can react differently, is that right?”

Yamamoto replied, “Yes, that’s the so-called randomness that belongs to life itself! However, this randomness is not chaotic but fluctuates within a certain range.”

Zhang Yuan asked further, “Then, what would happen if you matched the memory of one mouse with the self-awareness of another?”

“It’s highly likely it would become an idiot… but if the memories of the two mice are mixed in a certain pattern, there’s a small chance of success. Why it succeeds, we still don’t understand. It could be like in fantasy novels where one soul devours another.”

After watching these experiments, Zhang Yuan felt a bit uneasy. Memory and self-awareness might be the most baffling and incomprehensible black technology that humans have encountered to date…

How should it be said, all the leading scientists in this lab seemed like the Black Wizards in fantasy stories, trying to manipulate–souls?

Stuffing a life’s “self-awareness” into another creature’s memory, how different is this kind of experiment from what the Black Wizards do with souls?

Of course, science is, after all, a methodology and not so-called empiricism.

Quantum consciousness is not a soul; repeated experiments aren’t for torture but merely to better explore nature.

“So, Professor Yamamoto, what’s the meaning behind recruiting VR game testers here?”

With a frown, Zhang Yuan asked again, “If you intend to conduct experiments on human self-awareness, that would not be allowed… Even just reading human memories is a serious violation of privacy rights, I hope you are aware and adhere to the laboratory’s rules.”

“No, no, no!” Yamamoto hastily waved his hands, “I am aware of this.”

“The VR game testers are mainly for testing the technology of the background space after the upload of self-awareness… that is, the virtual space aspect. Creating an environment that is truly liveable isn’t so simple.”

“Background space?” Zhang Yuan recalled the space filled with blue dots, where one could feel gravity, breathe, but the overall sensation was very monotonous.

“If you want to expand this blue space into a virtual world almost indistinguishable from reality, there’s a lot of content that needs filling in, including various physics rules, as well as setting up scenes like houses, air, gravity, and so on. You saw it too, this mouse on the screen, its movements are a bit odd; that’s because the physics rules don’t quite match reality… Relying entirely on memory is definitely unreliable.”