Chapter 1795: Summer in Fools' Village (Eight)_1

When Lex arrived at Rodriguez Manor, Merkel greeted him at the door. The butler was not in his usual formal attire, but in a short-sleeved casual outfit and a pair of water shoes, with a hoe in his hands. He looked like he had just been working in the garden.

Merkel carried a roll of waterproof carpet to the door, covering places where the water had collected. Lex and Clark got out of the car one after another, and under Merkel's guidance, they entered Rodriguez Manor.

By now, the sun was up. A heavy rain the night before had washed the manor sparkling clean. The air was filled with the scent of fresh grass. It was still chilly, and the damp air gave a cool feeling from the nose to the throat.

When they found Bruce, he was sitting under a sunshade at the back of the manor, fiddling with a sleek, black laptop.

Lex looked around and asked, "Where's Professor Shearer?"

"He's gone to teach at Gotham University, just left not too long ago." Bruce stopped typing, looked up at Lex and seemed somewhat surprised when he saw Clark behind him.

"Good morning, Bruce. Here, I got coffee this morning. Lex said he doesn't drink it, and I was worried it would go to waste." Clark handed the coffee he'd bought for Lex to Bruce. As it's still morning and not too hot, the ice hadn't fully melted. Bruce took a sip of the coffee and said, "Thanks, I needed a pick-me-up."

Clark pulled up a chair and sat down, while Lex asked, "Why are you sitting out here? Aren't you going inside?"

Bruce nodded towards the garden and said, "I need to keep an eye on them."

Lex followed Bruce's gaze. Harley was chasing Barry around with a watering hose, spraying water everywhere. Meanwhile, Merkel was digging up dead plants and trying to stop them.

Lex took a seat at the table, sizing up the surroundings. This was the porch leading to the back garden, next to the table was the back door to the manor's dining room, and further ahead were the floor-to-ceiling windows of the dining room. A thin layer of dust coated the glass, while mud splatters from gardening activities stained the walls.

"What did you call me here for?" Lex asked.

Bruce's hands paused for a moment. He turned his laptop towards the two men, and especially looked at Clark as he asked, "Have you ever used a laptop from Wayne Enterprises?"

Both of them shook their heads. After a moment Clark recalled, "Our editor-in-chief has one of those laptops. He frequently shows off his computer skills, but I know he never uses the laptop. He has his employees do all the work."

Clearing his throat, Lex said, "It's probably because he doesn't know how to use it. Wayne Enterprises' computers are hard to use."

"What do you mean?" Bruce instantly perked up. He leaned forward, looking at Lex and asked, "How is it difficult?"

Lex opened his mouth, paused to think, then instead of answering, countered, "Why did you suddenly start thinking about this problem?"

Bruce let out a heavy sigh, thinking back to the events of the previous night.

When he came to visit Shearer, he took the usual route, first climbing up the side wall to the roof, then jumping from the roof to a tree in the back garden. Surprisingly, even without the bat suit, his raincoat hood caught on a tree branch. When Merkel helped him down, Bruce could clearly sense Shearer's frustration.

Seeing the Wayne Enterprises laptop on Shearer's desk made Bruce happy since it was a device his company had developed. Plus, the start-up animation featured a bat.

But he didn't expect this to be the catalyst for Shearer's anger. Shearer brought Bruce to the desk and showed him how difficult the laptop was to use.

This left Bruce feeling puzzled. He had often heard Shearer express innovative ideas about electronic devices. Bruce considered these concepts very advanced, so he didn't think of Shearer as an old-fashioned man who shunned modern devices or struggled with computers.

In Bruce's view, what was so difficult about using a computer? Logging in, entering codes, accessing programs–wasn't it dozens or even hundreds of times easier than aimlessly searching for information in an archive room?

There was some disagreement between Bruce and Shearer. Bruce considered a computer to be a specialised tool, using which requires some learning, just like learning to drive. Otherwise, why need a driver's license?

People always need to remember some basic rules to use new devices smoothly. Just like drivers must remember where the brake and gas pedals are, which lever to switch gears, the meanings of road signs, and so on. The fact that using a computer requires learning shouldn't surprise anyone.

Shearer, however, proposed a very advanced concept—simplify the operation of computers so that even three-year-olds could use them. Minimize the learning curve, not just enabling everyone to operate the computer, but the system should operate itself with minimal user interference.

Bruce didn't like this idea. He believed that if there's no threshold to use the internet, humanity will be plunged into a terrible information overload era, where people would be dominated by the internet, rather than controlling it.

Bruce didn't believe that letting everybody have internet access was beneficial. Public opinion could often hurt people, and if even three-year-olds could wield this weapon, how could we ensure that humanity doesn't waste time in meaningless virtual battles?

Finally, Shiller did not continue trying to persuade Bruce, because in this era, people have a fearful attitude towards the rapid development of digitalization, unlike in the future, where anyone can go online anytime and anywhere as casually as eating and drinking.

Shiller believes that, just because he comes from an era of information explosion, he does not have to beautify that era as flawless and then urge Bruce to swiftly usher humankind into that era with his genius intellect, such a move would be irrational since the era of information does indeed contain various kinds of problems.

The direction the human race should go in one cosmos isn't necessarily determined by the predetermined future of another. History is a choice of the masses, not something forced upon by a prophet on a genius's head. Every dollar in this Earth belongs to the people and counts as their vote; the technological pathway that ultimately survives would be humanity's direction.

Therefore, Shiller did not dwell too much on it, he went to work at Gotham University after breakfast. But just like every debate that has taken place over the years, Shiller doesn't care anymore but Bruce begins to fret again.

Bruce explained his disagreement with Shearer simply to Lex and Clark, then reiterated his views. Finally, he looked at Lex and said: "I've heard that the user interface of the Luther Group's products is extremely convenient, I have used your company's computers before, but I'm not sure whether making digital products increasingly accessible is a good thing.

Bruce put his hands on the table and said: " The Internet and other home appliances are different, the convenience it provides to the human race isn't materialistic, it's more like providing readily available information, but the information that circulates amongst the human race will eventually become indistinguishable between truth and falsehood; the end result has to be a chaotic mess."

"Humans have never been able to understand each other, and even if they had a highly accessible form of communication, they wouldn't comprehend each other, but only have greater expectations and greater disappointments. The disputes and conflicts that this leads to, are they really beneficial for a species?"

Lex hadn't expected Bruce to come to him to discuss this issue, after thinking for a while he said; "The philosophy behind Luther Group's digital products is, we provide a shortcut for ordinary people, to let those electronic products, which used to perform best in the hands of professionals, provide convenient services for ordinary people."

"This will greatly diminish the impact brought on by the information gap." Lex looked at Bruce and said; "To transform the information previously monopolized by the wealthy into a public resource accessible to anyone, because the chance to profit from information gaps will become fewer and fewer."

"So, will this reduce the class gap? Or exacerbate conflicts? Which is what you want?" Bruce asked.

"To promote human development is what I want."

"You believe this can give ordinary people more opportunities, and let each human individual exert greater value, but where does this value ultimately flow to?"

Lex fell into a moment of silence, he knew the answer to this question, Bruce was right to the point, apparently, if the liberated productivity continues to be harvested, it would be equivalent to not being liberated, and what's worse, is that the harvesters will have a more convenient way to stir up conflicts and widen gaps.

At this moment, both Lex and Bruce turned their heads and focused their gaze on Clark. Clark, who was still drinking coffee was startled and said, "Why are you two looking at me? Do you want me to be the referee?"

"Don't you have any opinions to express?"

"What's the point of your discussion?" Clark said somewhat bewildered, "So if one of you wins, something will change?"

"Of course, we....."

Before Lex could finish speaking, Bruce looked at Clark and said; "You reminded me, we don't need to control where humanity is headed to align with our expectations, we just need to make a choice, time will provide the answer."

Lex opened his mouth wanting to say something more, but he also didn't want to appear less broad-minded than Bruce in front of Clark, so he looked at Bruce and asked; "What made you visit Rodriguez Manor in the middle of the night? were you even stuck up in a tree?"

Clark also looked at Bruce curiously and asked, "Right, your father isn't around, shouldn't you be managing Wayne Enterprises?"

"I came here to lay low." Bruce took a sip of his coffee and said.

"Lay low?" Lex frowned, asking, "Who could make you hide?"

"A troublesome woman."

At the entrance of Shiller's office at Gotham University, Pamela held a plant and said to Shiller, "Professor, I didn't get a chance to congratulate you on your office relocation, here's a present."

Shiller looked at the plant in Pamela's hands somewhat apprehensively. Knowing his concerns, she said; "Don't worry, Professor, it's just an ordinary Pothos, it neither bites nor hits people, it's for decoration on your windowsill."

Shiller eventually took the plant from Pamela's hand and placed it on his windowsill. Just then, a sharp ringtone came from Pamela's body. Pamela took out a Motorola cell phone from her bag, pressed the answer button and said,

"Hello, Landt, what's going on? Another plant breakout? Okay, I'll be back in the lab right now... What? It could be a human doing this?! You saw a suspicious shadow? Don't act rashly, I'll be back immediately!"