January 23rd.
The Rule Period was more than halfway over; in another week it would end, and the Fire Thief would reclaim the released alien intelligence.
For the Human Consortium, this final week was the crucial ti for asking questions.
They couldn't ask questions freely before because the food shortage had triggered protests from the Xisiya side.
As the Administrator, Yelanka took a hardline stance on this matter; she was responsible for the lives of her nation's people.
If the Human Consortium didn't transport a sufficient number of parasitized forms to the Landing Site, she would absolutely not agree to unlimited, repeated questioning.
Anyone who disagreed could try moving the alien intelligence to their own territory.
Though the Human Consortium was helpless, they could understand.
Therefore, these past few days, the Joint Force on the Black Flag Country front had been constantly launching attacks, capturing large numbers of parasitized forms every day to transport to Xisiya.
This practice gradually sparked many protests.
Human Consortium eting.
As soon as the eting began, one committee mber spoke with deep concern, "Everyone must have seen the surging public opinion online, right?"
The other committee mbers nodded one after another.
Over the past two days, a large number of accusatory voices had appeared online.
These accusers claid that the Human Consortium's Joint Force in the Black Flag Country was excessively brutal, indiscriminately capturing all found Black Flag citizens as parasitized forms and sending them to Xisiya as food.
There were many such accusatory voices. It was unclear whether there were truly so many related incidents, or whether parasitized forms were pretending to be human, trying to muddy the waters and use the power of public opinion to pressure the Human Consortium into slowing its offensive.
But with so many voices that were difficult to verify as true or false, it was inevitable that people from other countries would feel sympathy and a sense of personal danger.
If what these accusers said was true, that the Joint Force was wantonly capturing people, judging all Black Flag citizens as parasitized forms, how many innocent humans would be hard, becoming food for the alien parasites?
If the Black Flag Country didn't have enough to capture next, would the Joint Force move on to do the sa thing in another country?
This sense of personal danger caused public opinion to fernt rapidly.
And this public opinion quickly coalesced into one single question.
"That question is..."
One committee mber said.
"Why must we ask questions of the alien intelligence?"
Indeed, knowing the heavy cost, why must we ask questions?
Simply put, why couldn't humanity just turn a blind eye, leave the alien intelligence where it was, let it stay quietly until the Rule Period ended and the Fire Thief reclaid it?
Why must we ask it questions?
Torafuto took over, "The overwhelming voice online believes humanity should not ask questions. The reasoning is that the Fire Thief has ill intentions, deliberately releasing this intelligence that feeds on humans. Its purpose is not to let humanity gain knowledge, but to deplete human numbers and stir up conflict among humans."
"The public's voice is not without reason; humanity is indeed at war right now."
"Nonsense! Even without the alien intelligence, wouldn't the Human Consortium have ford a Joint Force to fight the parasitized forms and the Fire Thief Worship Cult? This is completely forced logic."
"Correct. Moreover, we have indeed gained knowledge. Without asking questions, how would we know the Mind Network can identify parasitized forms? How would we know humanity's technological breakthroughs lack an unknown materials science substance?"
"But are these really knowledge? Whether it's the Mind Network or the unknown key substance, they are things humanity currently cannot apply. Like a carrot dangling before a donkey pulling a millstone, if you can only see it but not eat it, what's the point?"
"If you don't ask questions, you can't even see the carrot! Even if the knowledge gained cannot be applied by humanity now, it points the way. Does it have no aning for soone lost in the desert to now know which direction leads out?"
"If this lost person is about to die of thirst, knowing which way to go might be less aningful than giving them a cup of water."
"That's sophistry!"
Tap tap.
Gao Liangwei knocked his knuckles on the table, stopping the committee mbers who were starting to argue due to their differences.
"Everyone, now is not the ti for debate. What needs to be decided in this eting is not whether to ask questions, but what questions to ask."
The majority of committee mbers who advocated asking questions relaxed their expressions, while the one or two who opposed continuing to ask questions said no more, only looking grim.
"The last question was about energy. Judging from the fact that the amount of food the alien intelligence ate was far less than expected, it seems that answer wasn't very difficult."
"Our country's Counterasures Research Office analyzed and concluded that the simple answer suggests that special substance related to materials science might be very common in the universe. Humanity must increase investnt in space exploration; asking related questions might be better."
"If that special substance is really so common everywhere in the universe, why is it specifically not on our Tianshui Star? Are humans really that unlucky?"
"I think we should just pick a few questions from the previous candidate list, no need to think of new ones."
The committee mbers had differing opinions. Then Gao Liangwei proposed, "Our Beixing wants to propose a new question."
"Oh, what a coincidence?" Mary said, "Our Suroma also prepared to propose a new question."
"Then you go first," Gao Liangwei said politely.
Mary didn't decline, stating directly, "The question we want to ask is related to the human brain's neural network. To be precise, it's about how the human brain and intelligent chips can be connected in series."
Upon hearing this, the committee mbers all showed surprised expressions.
Mary continued, "Everyone knows our Suroma's intelligent robot technology is number one globally, and research on intelligent connection to the human brain has reached a critical stage. Compared to other distant dreams, the practical value of this question is undoubtedly greater, with more potential for actual implentation."
One committee mber asked with a strange expression, "Committee mber Mary, does Suroma want to pioneer a digital life path?"
Early on, soon after the Doomsday Rules were announced, there was widespread discussion in society.
Could humans, like in so sci-fi movies, back up mories digitally to avoid the Doomsday Rules?
If successful, humans could back up mories in digital chips. Even if the original body died due to the rules, they could achieve a kind of alternative "rebirth" by loading the chip into a robot body.
But this discussion's popularity didn't last long before gradually fading. People realized the gap between reality and sci-fi movies was still vast; achieving this was almost impossible.
Now Mary suddenly raising a related question indicated Suroma's related research had made huge progress.
"Digital life is of course one of the byproducts of this technology. If successful, humanity would have another path to preservation besides space migration," Mary said, "But our current goal is still for developnt and salvation."
"Developnt and salvation?"
"Developnt is simple. The logical computing speed of chips far exceeds that of the human brain. Combining them would make smart people even smarter, providing greater help for technological developnt.
As for salvation... In each of your countries, there are large numbers of people with severe psychological trauma or physical disabilities caused by the Doomsday Rules, right? If brain-machine chips succeed and are installed on them, it could help them overco their difficulties and regain their footing."
Upon hearing this, the committee mbers fell into deep thought.
Xisiya's committee mber Torafuto calmly pointed out, "It sounds like this question only benefits your Suroma Empire. Other countries in the Human Consortium don't seem to benefit."
Mary looked over, "Didn't you hear what I just said about salvation?"
"I heard, but this would an Suroma monopolizes the related technology," Torafuto said, "If we are to ask this question, Suroma needs to open-source the related technology within the Human Consortium."
The other committee mbers remained silent.
They agreed with Torafuto, but even with open-source technology, given their countries' current situations, they couldn't mass-produce digital chips.
The only countries with the resources and capability right now were Suroma, Xisiya, and Beixing.
"Open-source, huh." Mary turned to look at Gao Liangwei, "Committee Chairman Gao shares this opinion too, right?"
"Yes," Gao Liangwei said without hesitation, "If 'digital life' truly succeeds, not open-sourcing would an each nation's citizens' 'mory backups' would be held in the hands of the Suroma Empire. I don't think any sovereign nation would agree to that."
"Heh, Committee Chairman Gao is really hitting the nail on the head." Mary smiled, then said seriously, "As long as the Human Consortium agrees to this question, Suroma can open-source the related technology."
The committee mbers looked at each other. Mary being willing to say this suggested she had already obtained authorization from the Suroma king.
"Suroma's question is finished. So, Committee Chairman Gao, what new question does your Beixing plan to propose?"
Everyone's gaze focused on Gao Liangwei, wondering if he would also propose a shocking question.
The result did not disappoint them.
Gao Liangwei said, "The question we want to ask is, 'What will the sixteenth Doomsday Rule be?'"
Thump!
As soon as his words fell, several committee mbers leaned back in shock.
"Wh-what?"
"Asking the alien intelligence what the next rule will be? How is that possible!"
"Committee Chairman Gao isn't joking, is he?"
Gao Liangwei's expression was serious; he wasn't soone who joked, sothing everyone knew.
After the initial surprise, Torafuto was puzzled, "Committee Chairman Gao, may I ask the reason? This question seems sowhat inexplicable no matter how you look at it."
The other committee mbers nodded one after another. How would the alien intelligence know what the next Doomsday Rule would be? What was the point of this question?
Facing everyone's gaze, Gao Liangwei explained.
"This question was decided upon by our Counterasures Research Office in a eting."
"First, we believe that since this alien intelligence was released by the Fire Thief, what it knows and what questions it can answer must all be within the Fire Thief's control. In other words, its 'knowledge base' is already fixed.
This leads to a question: does its knowledge base include the Doomsday Rules? The previous question about identifying parasitized forms seed to include it, but actually we can't be sure, because that special spore was once a bestseller in the universe, indicating it's very common.
The experts at the Counterasures Research Office believe there are only two valuable questions, related to the past and the future respectively. The past refers to the legacy issue of parasitized forms caused by the alien spores; humanity has already asked and received the 'Mind Network' answer. The question related to the future is this one: by asking about the content of the next rule, we can draw two conclusions."
Gao Liangwei paused, then said gravely, "First, whether the Fire Thief has preset all the rules in advance, like a fixed program running according to set code. Second, whether this alien intelligence possesses the ability or authority to 'foresee the future.' From this, we can see the true Upper Limit of its value."
"This is the reason our Beixing wants to propose this question. I wonder if the committee mbers agree."
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