Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 399 - 43 Chat Flow

Chapter 399: Chapter 43 Chat Flow

"Push Hands" in itself is not a technique used in actual combat. It simply isolates "breaking the balance" and "exchange of force" from the confrontation in boxing technique, existing as an independent project. However, actual combat encompasses a much larger and broader scope.

If one excels at Push Hands, it’s akin to a boxer who excels at jumping rope. This may show that the practitioner "surpasses ordinary people in certain respects," but it does not necessarily mean that this person knows how to fight.

The martial studies of a Natural Person ultimately still need to focus on aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise, and anti-strike training.

That is, so-called "tempering strength."

Any practitioner knows the principle of "one force subdues ten skills."

If one merely pursues lethality, then one shouldn’t practice unarmed combat. The body structure of a Natural Person dictates that even the "Invincible Divine Fist" is inferior to the "beginner weapon handling."

Even if your hard training allows you to bend an iron pipe with your thigh, if the iron stick is bent, it can simply be replaced with a steel one, but a cracked leg bone is still cracked.

But it’s different for Cybermen. Cybermen don’t have muscles that grow with exercise, and their anti-strike ability is largely determined by the external armor materials and the designer. Hence, the training for tempering strength is meaningless here.

Xiang Shan and Hiroshi Matsushima have reached such a level in their realm of external skill that they can exercise control as they please.

"Push Hands" abstracts "breaking the balance" and "the gamble of power," forming an independent project. The achievements they train for in this project can be absorbed, understood, and applied to all concrete aspects.

There will be no "dead moves," no lack of adaptability.

Of course, the technique of energy manipulation and the rules for Cyber Push Hands differ greatly from those of Natural Persons.

After all, the "perfect" martial studies theories constructed by the imagination of Natural Persons cannot be perfectly applicable in the context of Cybermen. All martial artists holding onto old concepts were eliminated before the advent of the Dyadic Wars.

Xiang Shan and Hiroshi Matsushima’s palms touched, and both their wrists shook momentarily, before achieving balance again. Their palms became steady and slowly traced curves in the air.

But this movement is not meaningless. Both are using prosthetic bodies for skill practice, which are mostly standard, and the stances they can assume are limited and distinct.

When their palms move to certain positions, one side’s stance becomes unsustainable. Their posture in exerting force becomes absolutely disadvantaged.

At that moment, that side has to step back or be pushed out by the opponent.

And at this time, the one stepping back concedes a slight loss according to the universally accepted rules.

Of course, since this is a training exercise, the competitiveness is not as strong.

But now, the Paralympics do indeed have separate Push Hands events.

Hiroshi Matsushima’s eyes were unfocused as he asked casually, "Was this combat method also invented by Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan?"

"Hmm... as far as I remember, when Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan first invented martial studies, he relied on the physical engine of a supercomputer," Xiang Shan said. "Although at times, these physical engines could produce comical results, when their capabilities become sufficiently powerful, algorithms complex enough, and parameters exact enough, they can seem more real than reality itself."

"That’s not really the case?"

"Yeah, initially everyone fought according to battle files that had been written in advance. At that time, the Tyrant’s army had very poor individual combat capabilities, so there was no need to pursue the unity of biological brain and algorithms like modern Martial Artists do. That method of expansion was considered quite fast. They probably didn’t expect the situation we are in now."

"Is that so..." Hiroshi Matsushima suddenly exerted force.

Xiang Shan immediately took a half step back.

Then, the Push Hands continued.

"Thinking about it... we initially thought that the ’Linguistic Realm’ Inner Strength was enough. There was no need for the brain to become overly specialized. Or that ’Assembly Realm’ would suffice. The ability to control machinery with an exposed brain of the ’Mechanical Realm’ was quite terrifying. But now? Inner Strength has evolved beyond the ’Mathematical Realm’."

TX-0 also took over Hiroshi Matsushima’s synthesizer and spoke with Matsushima’s voice pack, "Yes, my master said something similar... Sometimes mentor seems to roam beyond this world. We don’t know what she is thinking about. Perhaps with the advancement of Inner Strength, part of her thoughts has also turned into programs."

Hiroshi Matsushima’s hand trembled, and Xiang Shan retreated another half step.

Xiang Shan fell silent for a moment: "Actually, machines might be writing elegant poetry with zeros and ones, it’s just that humans can’t understand it."

"Do you think machines can have emotions too?"

"’Emotions’ are just a highly abstracted training set geared toward the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, formed by natural selection, a complete set of information processing programs. Evolutionary Psychology studies this very thing."

"So emotions are not noble?"

"Not so. Emotions are precious, but there is no theory yet to deny that machines are equally entitled to this valuable asset," Xiang Shan said flatly.

At the same time, he pushed forward forcibly.

He felt that Matsushima had exposed a weakness at that moment.

Hiroshi Matsushima stepped back with ease, regaining his footing. He seemed very surprised.

TX-0 asked, "Hiroshi, is there a problem?"

Although he didn’t quite understand external strength, he could still see that Hiroshi Matsushima had a momentary lapse.

"An AI discussing with another person whether an AI can be independent, and that person is..." Hiroshi Matsushima didn’t even know how to describe it.

"If AI possesses consciousness, then it indeed shouldn’t be enslaved. However, AI itself is created by humans with specific purposes in mind. This ’Zero’ we are discussing has no qualms about self-deletion after completing its tasks," Xiang Shan said. "Humans may be perplexed about the purpose of their existence, but AI will never be. If an AI reaches a conclusion to destroy humanity, it must have been due to faulty code instilled by the programmer as a creator."

TX-0 asked, "So, do you support AI independence?"

"Hmm, I even support the complete upload of consciousness," Xiang Shan replied. "Actually, the difference between a Pseudo-personality Mask and complete consciousness upload is only a few steps. What’s the difference between an artificial intelligence with a personality entirely created by human beings, and someone who used to have a biological brain but no longer does?"

Hiroshi Matsushima fell silent for a moment, then pushed Xiang Shan away forcefully: "You actually think this way?"

"Why would you think that I don’t?" Xiang Shan said, "The man in front of you is one of the people who have driven the Human Cyborgization Process forward. I have always believed that the ’good enough’ standard of natural selection is far inferior to the pursuit of the limits of function by prosthetic bodies."

"Limbs can be replaced, and so can the brain, of course."