Chapter 496: Consciousness Plague_1
Blue Maiden Star, Wallfacer Office Building.
Dinner was brought to the meeting room by the staff, and after eating, the members of the emergency team took a few minutes' break before continuing with their work.
During dinner, Jiang Yu had thought, "Do you guys think that the Black Cuboid People might have also been tricked by 'Paradise' back in the day?"
Hao Ying followed this line of speculation, saying, "It's highly possible, and that could also explain why the Black Cuboid People's technology in the realm of consciousness is so advanced."
Common sense suggests that no civilization would place much emphasis on the research of consciousness.
After all, consciousness is intangible and invisible, making it less rational to study than technology that is tangible and has clear references.
But the most eye-catching aspect of the Black Cuboid People's technology is their consciousness transfer technique.
Only when humanity conducted reverse research did they realize how difficult this was.
For a long time, there was a hypothesis that consciousness could be seen as a special electronic signal, which, if copied and transferred to another body, could achieve immortality to a certain extent.
However, during the relevant experiments, it was discovered that simulated humans created by copying that electronic signal were like empty shells.
They had the ability to judge and adapt to an extent but acted like robots, making choices and judgments only within fixed criteria.
When something exceeded these criteria, serious misjudgments would occur, or they would simply fail to respond at all.
The most crucial point was that such simulated people lacked emotions!
Before this experiment, an increasing amount of biological research had already indicated that human emotions stem from certain trace elements secreted by the human body, or from hormones.
But this experiment led to three key conclusions: First, the electronic signals representing consciousness observed by humans are very likely communication signals between consciousness and the body.
If only these electronic signals are copied, it is comparable to only copying some instructions of consciousness, not consciousness itself.
Second, human emotions are the product of the interaction between consciousness and the body, neither of which can be absent.
Third, according to current mainstream speculation, consciousness and the body have a symbiotic relationship, each providing the energy or perception needed by the other.
Therefore, if one wants to transfer consciousness from one body to another, there's no need to copy it—simply transfer the consciousness, just like transplanting a cornea!
That's why the Black Cuboid People's technology is always termed "consciousness transfer" rather than "consciousness copying."
As of now, humanity only has a general understanding of consciousness, and transferring it is easier to accomplish than copying.
It is believed that the Black Cuboid People also discovered this, which is why they developed a series of technologies related to "consciousness transfer."
The discussion continued, and Jiang Yu speculated further, "Then, can we assume that Advanced Civilizations have technologies like the 'consciousness epidemic'?
"Once infected with the consciousness epidemic, as long as the infected person's body loses its vitality, the epidemic would have no other means of transmission.
"That's to say, two people might be physically close, but if they don't communicate, their consciousnesses might not necessarily be close.
"For example, when two strangers brush past each other, they are physically close, but if neither of them notices the other, doesn't it mean that their consciousnesses are far apart?
"Conversely, when consciousnesses are close, bodies might not necessarily be close.
"Take, for instance, two people communicating in real-time across light-years. Although their bodies are far apart, their ongoing communication means their consciousnesses are close.
"Epidemics spread at the level of consciousness but still need a physical body as a carrier! So if the body dies, the means of transmission is also cut off, as communication is inseparable from the cooperation of the body."
Number Three suddenly said, "I'm reminded of the phrase 'heart-to-heart connection.' Often, two very intimate people or those who understand each other well, can think alike and sense each other's thoughts.
"And there are some rare instances where one person, though far apart, can feel the other's presence when they miss them.
"Could all these be forms of communication at the level of consciousness?"
Ricks joined the conversation as well, "That reminds me about the talk I had with Director Yang Dong a few days ago..."
At this, he glanced at Jiang Yu with a smile, "About a topic we discussed with Director Yang Dong, the strings symbolize the connections among all things in the universe, so as humans are also creatures of the universe, could there be strings that connect people as well?
"If we go by the Wallfacer's hypothesis, could these strings exist between consciousnesses?
"For instance, once two people establish communication, their consciousnesses may not be physically close, but the strings between them exist nonetheless!
"So, if there really is a consciousness plague, it could be transmitted through such strings."
The pathways through which the consciousness plague spread became increasingly clear, and the logic behind the entire incident became more and more evident. The Survivor contracted the consciousness plague in "Paradise," then the Survivor passed the virus of the plague to Wu Xiangzhong.
Wu Xiangzhong committed suicide, and to prevent infection, he was immediately sent for cremation, but was the spread of the virus halted there?
No one could be sure, but so far, those who had contact with Wu Xiangzhong showed no signs of the consciousness plague.
It was at this moment that Cooper received an urgent communication; after listening for a while, he said to Jiang Yu, "Wallfacer, we only cut off communication with the Survivor, but we overlooked the possibility that he could initiate contact with others!"
While speaking, he connected his call to the public channel, and the Stereoscopic Imaging System in the meeting room immediately started working. A hologram of a middle-aged military officer appeared in front of everyone.
He saluted everyone, "Wallfacer, Fleet Admiral, everyone!
"Seventeen minutes past the hour ago, we received a report from Fleet 66, saying they had been in contact with a gravitational source exploration team.
"Colonel Bod reported that during the communication with a staff member named Ji Kang, his communications officer experienced a brief loss of emotional control.
"Since we had not received a report from the emergency team at that time, it did not attract much attention.
"After receiving the related report, we immediately contacted Fleet 66, but they were already out of contact.
"While we were continuously calling them, we received a video file from Colonel Bod.
"I hereby report this matter, and request instructions on how to deal with the incident!"
Jiang Yu immediately asked, "You haven't watched that video file, have you?"
"No!"
"Hmm, good," Jiang Yu ordered, "Send the video over!
"Publish the signal code for the exploration team and notify all fleets to ignore any communication requests from them!"
"Yes!"
The call ended, and Jiang Yu added, "We need to inform all units and organizations to refuse to connect with any communications from the exploration team.
"If a connection has already been made, quarantine the involved personnel immediately!
"Cooper, dispatch the nearest warship to destroy all vessels of the exploration team immediately!"
Hao Ying and Cooper responded together, "Yes!"
Following that, the two of them temporarily left; these tasks could not be accomplished with just a few words.
The meeting room fell into a tense silence; humanity hadn't anticipated the enemy's attack.
Humanity was like a sieve before them, full of holes everywhere.
Jiang Yu clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, "There should be many clues in the video of Wu Xiangzhong's interaction with the Survivor, as well as in that colonel's video!
"The urgent matter at hand is to figure out a way to watch those videos!"