Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 252 - 252 32 The Illusion of “Learning”

252: Chapter 32: The Illusion of “Learning” 252: Chapter 32: The Illusion of “Learning” Xiang Shan looked at the object that resembled a USB drive but had “Magic Realism Carnival” engraved on its side.

He took it and inspected it closely.

He thought the thing was suspicious as hell.

“I, as a country bumpkin, have never smoked…

or should I say inhaled this high-end stuff,” he ridiculed himself.

“What is this?”

“It’s…

a collection of surreal snippets, very postmodern junk data.

It’s rather mild,” he explained.

—Damn, it sounds even more like tobacco…

Xiang Shan said, “Do Heroes nowadays like this stuff?”

He asked Solo Kill King in a private chat channel: [If you saw Cui Hai and the others getting high on junk data, what would you do?]

Jader was shocked, immediately sat upright, and yanked the USB from his data port, stating righteously: [Those two little bastards, the Soth Divine Realm isn’t even fully constructed, and they dare surf junk data?

Cutting off their internet is the only way to go for some deep reflection!]

Xiang Shan’s expression grew even stranger.

Is this thing some kind of electronic tobacco?

And do you actually think this approach is persuasive?

Xiang Shan always felt there was something odd about this thing.

Holding the junk data in his hand, he said, “Is everyone using this thing?”

“Ah?

No, of course not.

Those lacking in Internal Strength and not within the Linguistic Realm can’t resist the influx of massive memories to their brain and easily get lost in it,” said Bai Man.

“If you have low Internal Strength, it’s not feasible to use it.

However, a short-term relaxation should be possible.”

“Ah, this, if it’s my first time trying it, is there anything I should be cautious about?”

Xiang Shan had to ask.

The thing sounded unsafe.

He wasn’t too keen on trying it.

But since it existed, there would inevitably be people scheming within it.

He needed to know what it was exactly.

“Ah?”

“I generally don’t touch stuff that has an addiction risk…” Xiang Shan gestured in the air with his hands.

He stayed away from all tobacco products, and he only marginally tasted alcohol.

The posture of Great Hero Bai Man was almost embarrassed, “Ah, this…

sorry, I…

this should be something even the Dyson Principle wouldn’t prohibit.

How to say it, it’s like nobody would think ‘sugar addiction’ is a very serious matter.

Everyone consumes a certain amount of sugar every day, and excessive intake is harmful, but there’s basically no prohibition…”

It was like “accidentally handing a cigar to a non-smoking boss and then explaining that it was a fashionable social etiquette.”

Xiang Shan looked at the USB-shaped object in his hand and inserted it into his data port.

He didn’t run it immediately but decided to check its properties first.

Uh…

A…

how to say it?

Numerous short videos, texts, images aggregated into one file in a very complex format, created for the brain to read directly.

Converted into ancient formats like MP4, MP3, AVI, JPG, this thing would probably be hundreds of TB in size.

Xiang Shan asked, “Are there any tricks to browsing this?”

“Open your senses and buffer, suppress the activity of the hippocampus, and don’t use surface thinking to search for that content,” said Bai Man.

“Ah, I mean, you don’t need to do this just out of politeness…”

Xiang Shan soon understood what this thing was.

This thing, like its superficial name “junk data,” contained an abundance of senseless information solely meant to stimulate senses, stored in this complex manner.

Human memory mechanisms are layered.

External stimuli need to first pass through sensory organs—eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and skin—which form a “sensory buffer” much like “still hearing the sound just heard.” These “sensory buffers” mix together and enter into the brain’s “buffer.” This is an actual physiological structure.

Sensory buffers are processed into short-term memories inside the buffer.

These short-term memories gradually fade away.

Only after including deep brain regions like the hippocampus processing, do short-term memories become long-term memories.

Long-term memories are often lifelong.

They indeed fade but can also be easily revived.

Ah, but long-term memories are also subject to modification by the brain.

When a person recalls an event from the past years later, their memory often deviates.

However, that is another level of problem.

Additionally, although short-term memory easily fades, the human brain can delay this fading without transforming it into long-term memory—this process is called “rehearsal.” If a piece of information in short-term memory will soon be useful, the brain will continuously rehearse the scenario until it is actually needed.

The classic example is “remembering a phone number.” If someone gives you a phone number and you need to dial it soon or write it down, your brain will continuously rehearse until the “related memory” of that phone number completes its task.

Afterward, the short-term memory of the phone number quickly fades.

The brain also tries its best to prevent an overload of information from flooding into memory, causing stress in information processing.

And “scrolling through junk information” is a special technique that blocks the brain’s retrieval of short-term memory, preventing massive amounts of junk information from transforming into long-term memory.

Often, a person doesn’t need to convert external intelligence into long-term memory to enjoy it.

For example, one does not need to remember a song’s melody and lyrics to appreciate the beauty of the music.

Nor does one need to memorize a funny video first to understand the humor.

The “sense of pleasure” arises before the creation of long-term memory.

The “junk information” these heroes “use” all directly stimulates human senses.

This junk information can provide a direct experience.

Heroes with accomplished inner strength can almost completely block this flow of junk information into their long-term memory.

That’s why they can enjoy these things.

To achieve this, you must have succeeded in the Soth Divine Realm and restructured “sensory information” and “language processing”—and this step requires at least the compilation or assembly levels of internal strength cultivation.

“I sort of get the logic …,” Xiang Shan said somewhat strangely, “This thing could just be stored in our own prosthetic body, right?

It doesn’t seem that big, so why make it look like this … like a long USB stick?”

Is it just for cosplaying an electronic cigarette?

Great Hero Baiman was shocked, “This … normal people wouldn’t store this thing inside their body, would they?

It’s too easy to get addicted to.

Even for heroes, after scrolling through it thousands of times, junk information would still enter their brain.

That would affect their inner strength.”

Information addiction is a very serious “addiction of the mind.”

Humans feel “uneasy” in unfamiliar environments because they do not know whether there are threats to their life there.

Therefore, instinct drives them to explore their surroundings, gain more knowledge, eliminate the “unknown,” and gain a “sense of security.”

Not just humans; many higher animals have this instinct.

Many animals actively explore their environment.

For humans, “the entire world” can be seen as a “strange external environment.” From the ignorant ancient times, humans have been using various methods to eliminate the “unknown” and gain a “sense of security.”

Some people explore the outside world, while others create stories to comfort themselves.

The human mind is “craving information.” However, the human body’s instinct has not yet learned to “discern information.” Therefore, regardless of whether the information is meaningful, it gives one the feeling of “I have learned” or “I know more”—and this feeling is the most severe mind addiction.

Resisting this temptation is not too difficult.

But, if this thing is stored in a memory directly connected to human consciousness, and every thought of a human could trigger it …

Few can resist it.

Memories are stored in the brain.

This process causes subtle changes in the brain.

Inner strength itself also involves self-adjustment of the brain.

A massive amount of junk information can physiologically hinder inner strength.

Great Hero Baiman remembered that early on, heroes who made this mistake and became addicted to junk information had hindered their inner strength.

Even because their mind was full of meaningless memories, these heroes found it harder to progress in their inner strength than ordinary people.

However, it must be admitted that this illusion of “eliminating the unknown” can greatly alleviate anxiety without damaging logical thinking ability.

Although chemicals like methylamphetamine are more effective in “boosting morale,” those substances are indeed too harmful to the brain.

So, many heroes choose “junk information” to alleviate pre-battle anxiety.

“Wow, interesting.” Xiang Shan casually glanced at it, then pulled it out and pocketed it in his tool belt—according to his understanding, this thing was like a cigarette handed to you by someone else.

According to etiquette, the best way to carry it was to tuck it in your ear or pocket.

He looked at Great Hero Baiman and said, “Great Hero Baiman, you didn’t ask me here just to hand me this cigarette …

I mean this piece of junk information, right?

Do you have anything else to say?”

“Indeed … I mean, you really saw through it.”

Great Hero Baiman gestured to Xiang Shan.

The two walked deeper into the cave.

In the depths of the cave, there was a prosthetic body half-buried in the ground.

The part of the prosthetic body above ground was two meters tall and lacked a head.

Several unmanned drones were conducting a final search.

Great Hero Baiman said, “Please accept this prosthetic body, Nameless Hero.

Your martial arts skills should be higher than mine.

This prosthetic body, equipped with Great Hero Tao’s Pseudo Star Device, might play a bigger role in your hands.”