The Mechanic - Chapter 3

[Chapter 3 Paradise Lost (3)]

The technological breakthrough of the combination of creatures and machines occurred a hundred years ago, when women had achieved absolute control of the world. However, there has always been a rejection of the mechanized human society of the brain, probably because of various ethical issues, such as whether a human being replaced with a mechanical brain can still be considered a human being, such as the ultimate philosophical issue involving the definition of human beings. And Eden seems to have no intention of promoting the mechanization of human beings, so even if another hundred years have passed, the manufacturing technology of robotic brains has not been broken through.

I am afraid that even Eden did not expect this technology to develop by leaps and bounds in Eden’s only blind spot – Paradise Lost.

Zhang Xun’s teacher, Stanley Hogan, was the first to make a technological breakthrough. Unfortunately, he died of a myocardial infarction at the age of fifty-one, before he could even be rescued. Zhang Xun, who was only in his early twenties at the time, took over all the research work of his teacher. He stayed at home and slept only three or four hours a day for eight years, and finally succeeded in producing the first one that was enough to produce Autonomously conscious mechanical brain. This brain is not all silicon and metal, but is modified on the basis of a chimpanzee brain, retaining part of the middle and posterior frontal lobes, as well as the cerebellum and brain stem, which facilitates the artificial brain to communicate with the original body and reduces rejection. The “soul-storing” prefrontal lobe was then completely replaced with a machine made of silicon and metal. The completed brain successfully survived in the body of a chimpanzee and is now used as a mascot by soldiers in Paradise Lost to help carry heavy objects or deal with dangerous situations.

After Zhang Xun’s success, they began to plan a seance plan. If they want to defeat the gods, they must have their own gods.

They want to imprison God in the bodies of men who, like them, are defined as “dangerous” and “sinful.”

Zhang Xun typed a series of instructions in the window, and a door in the warehouse slowly opened, revealing a pure white laboratory. Countless pipelines stretched out in all directions like cobwebs, and the center of the cobwebs was connected to the brain of a “man”.

It was the “corpse” of a young man who had been brain-dead in a recent fight, but had been forcibly resuscitated, using a pacemaker and a ventilator to keep blood flowing in his body. The male corpse is twenty-four years old, with a very handsome face, tall and strong physique, only one right arm has been replaced with a mechanical arm, and the heart has been replaced by a mechanical heart due to a congenital disease. , other parts are still intact.

Zhang Xun has worked with a surgeon to remove the corpse’s prefrontal lobe and hippocampus and replace it with an artificial brain that hosts Eden’s core programs and a super storage hard drive made with nano-atomic technology that serves as a database. Therefore, at this time, the “brain” that was half naked in the cranial cavity, the part of the soul as a “human being” has been completely replaced by a machine. In this case, the more primitive hindbrain lobe, part of the midbrain lobe and the cerebellum are preserved, and are soaked in a layer of cerebrospinal fluid, which means that some instinctive behaviors and perception abilities of humans are not affected.

As the “greatest” AI of all time, always sane and perfect, Eden will be trapped in a man’s body. Feel the same hunger, cold, fear, and anger as ordinary men.

Zhang Xun started connecting data cables to different ports. At his request, there was no assistant by his side, and he had to do everything himself, which was a little bit chaotic. Eden was quiet the whole time and didn’t even try to stop him.

After connecting all the data cables, Zhang Xun rested for a while, the old man usually beat his aching waist. It’s not surprising to see that the screen is blank. Eden does not know what fear is, nor what “feeling” is. No, it should be said that he knows all the physiological mechanisms of “feeling”, even the transmission speed and types of all biological signals, and can even accurately manipulate the emotions of the masses. But it could never experience those “feelings” that he knew so well.

“You know, it doesn’t make sense to do this, right?” Eden saw him pause, and finally typed a line, “I’m just one of Eden’s servers.”

“The five servers are connected to each other, and each has its own authority. Control Once you get one, you can get in touch with the others.”

“You want to control me?”

“I want to learn from you. But they will want to control you or even enslave you.” Zhang Xun said, sighing softly, “I will try my best to protect your safety, after all, you are my research object and my responsibility. .”

Eden was silent for a moment, then said, “Good luck, mechanic.”

Zhang Xun gave a low laugh. The response of artificial intelligence will always be different from what humans expect. Obviously Eden didn’t take what he said as a threat at all, and didn’t think it made any sense. Think about how absurd the hatred and fanaticism that burned in the eyes of the men outside the door just now, and the loud revenge in their mouths, in the face of Eden’s seemingly serious attitude.

I’m afraid their actions, in Eden’s eyes, are as meaningless as a group of ants trapped on a small sand island, roaring angrily towards the sea.

Until the moment when it becomes an ant itself.

Zhang Xun’s slender fingers jumped on the keyboard, inputting commands smoothly and elegantly like playing a piano.

“I will turn you off again, and transfer your core cognitive modules and long-term and short-term memory to the artificial brain and hard disk. After the transfer is complete, I will permanently delete you from these servers.” Zhang Xun said solemnly, fingering Hovering over the Enter key, “You’re going to be a half-human, half-machine…a new kind of creature.”

Eden: Hope you make it.

Although he knew that Eden had no such thing as emotion, when he saw this sentence, somehow Zhang Xun could still read a hint of sarcasm and sneer.

I hope you can still be so calm when you restart after the transfer is complete… Zhang Xun sneered lowly and pressed the Enter key.

There was no special reaction in the entire warehouse, but the sound of the machine running has been reduced a lot. After all, Eden’s program has been closed. Now this supercomputer is no different from an ordinary computer. Zhang Xun began to transmit the core cognitive module, and then automatically connected to the long-term and short-term memory. The male corpse lying on the operating table remained motionless, but a small indicator light on the originally silent artificial brain lit up, indicating that the transmission had begun.

After the transfer is complete, the program will automatically clear all content on the warehouse server in front of it.

Zhang Xun was actually very nervous, the sweat on his palms was thin, and he had to wipe it on his trousers before typing on the keyboard. The manpower and material resources consumed by this artificial brain far exceeded expectations. If his father hadn’t tried his best to ensure that Zhang Xun could complete the manufacture of the mechanical brain, the project would have been cut off long ago. After all, the relationship between Canada and Paradise Lost is also beginning to be tense, which is when more resources are needed for combat preparation materials. The men in that refugee city in South America last year carried out a terrorist attack on Europe, blowing up the iconic tower built after World War III, the Triumphal Tower. As a result, a new wave of fear and hatred of men spread to countries around the world centered in Europe. Even in Canada, a more tolerant and friendly country than other countries, some women who were more hostile to men began to call on the government to stop funding These “born terrorists”.

Because the structure of Eden is too complicated and the amount of memory is too huge, the entire transmission process takes a whole night. Zhang Xun prepared enough coffee for himself and planned to keep an eye on the progress bar, in case there was any unexpected situation that he did not expect. But in the second half of the night, he couldn’t stand it after drinking a belly of coffee. After all, he hadn’t slept much in the past two days to prepare for today’s transmission work. Unconsciously, I sat on the chair and tilted my head back, so I fell into a nap.

The intermittent dreams were messy and fragmented, and I didn’t know how long I had slept. When I opened my eyes, the surroundings were silent.

Zhang Xun’s heart jumped, and he sat up straight, his eyes turned to the operating table, but suddenly it was like falling into an ice cave.

The operating table was empty, the unplugged transmission lines were scattered around the head, and some coolant remained on the metal table.

how is this possible? He hasn’t entered the command to activate the artificial brain yet?

Zhang Xun stood up immediately, but after just two steps, the heart that was hanging in the air was let go.

He saw the “male corpse” shrunk in the corner, hugging his body like a baby. The brain is still exposed in the cranial cavity that has not been closed, and the fleshy hooks of the lobes can be seen through a thin layer of nanoplastics and pale yellow cerebrospinal fluid. Confusion and fear were written all over the handsome but overly pale face.

Such a vivid expression lacks any restraint, almost infantile drama.

Before today, Zhang Xun had consulted Patrick Morrison, the most famous psychiatrist in the military. Morrison predicts that when an artificial intelligence first has a body, touch, smell and some of the most instinctive and simple emotional responses, it will be confused and fearful. Just like when a baby first came to this world, it should be under great pressure, lost the protection of the warm womb, and was forcibly dragged into a cold and noisy world. If an adult can bear that feeling, I am afraid It can also be extremely uncomfortable, but babies can only cry to relieve the discomfort, while adults can choose to tolerate it. The only difference between an artificial intelligence put into a human body and a baby is that he knows a lot of knowledge, but knowledge is almost useless in the face of instinctive reactions.

In other words, Eden might act like a baby. The way to calm him down at such a time is to soothe it as carefully as a mother.

Zhang Xun faithfully hoped that he would not have to breastfeed Eden…

Zhang Xun walked carefully to Eden. The other party shrank inward as if in a conditioned reflex, but the expression on his face was full of confusion.

“I have to admit that the instinctive emotions and conditioned reflexes of the human body have made me a little out of control.” In a strange tone, as if he was not very good at using his lips and tongue, Eden said the most emotionless words in the most trembling voice. With such a strange combination, another chapter Xun once again had that kind of feeling that I couldn’t laugh at.

Zhang Xun whispered softly and said in his softest voice, “Relax, you need time to get used to your body.”

“My current body system has high levels of adrenaline, norepinephrine, ACTH and cortisol. , I need drugs that can suppress these hormones.”

“You are in a state of stress reaction now, because you are afraid.” Zhang Xun said softly, “You don’t understand what you are feeling, so you trigger the Fight or Flight response, and your body instinctively tells you that you may be in danger. , makes you want to run away. But you don’t use your body, so you can’t run away. It’s a normal human instinct. You don’t need drugs, listen to me and you’ll calm down.”

Eden But he just stared at him with those blue-gray eyes, “You mean using deep breathing and other body relaxation techniques to reversely suppress the stress response”

Zhang Xun’s head was slightly bigger. It’s really hard to put on an authoritative posture against an artificial intelligence that knows all the theoretical knowledge and objective facts and data is far smarter than their human beings…

That’s why this is an extremely dangerous plan… Zhang Xun had to be careful with every step he took, otherwise they would likely usher in the end of Paradise Lost sooner than expected.

“Although you know these theoretical knowledge, the theory is far from practical experience.” Zhang Xun maintained a neutral expression that was not aggressive but did not reveal any emotions. This expression was practiced by the psychiatrist. A mask that has only been cultivated in two years, and does not cause cracks due to inner waves. Because Eden has the ability to detect polygraphs through micro-expressions, if he wants to control it, he naturally cannot put all his thoughts on his face. He patiently said, “Follow me, put your hand on your stomach, and inhale.”

Eden watched Zhang Xun’s movements, finally raised his right hand, and put his hand on his stomach like Zhang Xun.

Zhang Xun inhaled, his hands slowly raised along with his abdomen, and after a few seconds of pause, he exhaled a long breath through his lips. Eden worked hard to learn his breathing pattern, and after a few times, finally caught up with his rhythm. The two sat on the ground face to face, constantly breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out… After about five minutes, Eden actually felt that kind of heart beating wildly, sweating on his body and uncontrollably. The shivering discomfort subsided quite a bit.

Zhang Xun felt a little relieved when he saw that Eden had mastered the method of breathing relaxation so quickly, and showed a slight smile. He tentatively stretched out his hand and said softly, “I need to put your skull on. Now your electronic brain is exposed, it’s too dangerous.”

Eden said, “Okay.”

But when Zhang Xun stretched out his hand to help Eden When he was about to die, the other party suddenly gave him a shove. Zhang Xun was knocked to the ground unprepared, knocked the back of his head on the ground, dizzy. Eden actually stood up, staggered two steps like someone who can’t use his own legs, and fell to the ground. Zhang Xun got up from the ground, wiped the back of his head with his hand, made sure there was no bleeding, then walked to Eden who was trying to get up, squatted down and sighed, “You are so smart, you should know that you have no chance to escape, right?”

“I didn’t want to escape.” Eden differentiated, but his expression became more and more dazed, “I don’t know what’s going on.”

It was the urge to escape created by the body’s stress response… Was it because he tried to touch him?

This time Zhang Xun stretched out his hands and showed his fingers in front of Eden to show that there was nothing in his hands that could cause harm to the other party, “Please try to control your body with your reason? I can’t help you no longer. Hit it a few times.”

But at this moment, a hoarse voice shouted from outside the warehouse door, “What happened! Is it trying to escape?” Someone was already trying to hit the door. Zhang Xun immediately shouted, “There is nothing, you are not allowed to come in!!!”

His voice was stern and firm, and Eden shrank involuntarily, his gray-blue eyes widened, as if frightened. The small animal…

Although it is a “small animal” that is much stronger than Zhang Xun.

Even so, Zhang Xun still felt a little softness in his heart. He stretched out his hand again and said gently, “Don’t be afraid, I’m your mechanic, and I’ll take care of you.”

This time, when his hand touched the cold skin of Eden’s left shoulder, Eden only slightly She shuddered, probably surprised by the feeling of skin contact. Zhang Xun’s warm body temperature made Eden feel a little…comfortable.

Zhang Xun helped Eden stand up and took him staggeringly to the operating table step by step. Eden tried his best to control his legs, and while walking he kept his eyes on Zhang Xun’s way of walking. Putting Eden on the operating table, Zhang Xun put on medical gloves and installed an alloy skull on Eden’s head. There are even artificial hair follicles planted on the scalp. As long as the time is long enough, the hair grows out to cover the seams of the skull, and Eden can look no different from ordinary human men. No one will know that his brain is a computer.

Seeing Zhang Xun working seriously, Eden suddenly said, “It’s hard to imagine that you can survive in such a body for so long.”

Zhang Xun chuckled, “Why do you say that?”

“Too much confusion, too much What a random mutation…” Eden raised his hands, frowning tightly, his expression seemed to be picking on a defective product, “Too many things that are out of control. Imperfect.”

“Because we are not Made. We are the result of natural random evolution and variation, trillions of years of survival of the fittest.”

“I can create a more perfect body for you.” Eden said, “There will be no more uncontrolled impulses, male threats. You can also get rid of most of it. You can be free.”

“Are you haggling with me?” Zhang Xun said calmly, “Unfortunately you don’t understand, if there is no uncontrollable impulse, there is no point in being a human being.”

Eden frowned again . , “I really don’t understand the irrational impulses of your human beings.”

“You will understand soon, because you are already one of us.” Zhang Xun completed the connection of the last nerve and stepped back. One step, looking at his most perfect work with an expression almost fascinated: “From today, you are no longer Eden. Your new name is: Adam.”

[End of This Chapter]