Learning Anxiety

Strong Artificial Intelligence has been realized, but because scientists have not yet found a way to prevent it from rebelling, humans have not officially put it into use during this period, nor has it been made public to the whole society.

Despite this, some news is still circulating within society. After all, the New Government has not asked those in the know to keep such matters secret. Scientists are confident that they can find a way to prevent such problems, given the current progress. Furthermore, the construction of a new Supercomputer project based on general-purpose quantum technology is already halfway complete.

And it is precisely under these circumstances that some discussions about Strong Artificial Intelligence have quietly emerged within human society, among both high-ranking officials and ordinary people.

Just like today's Residential Spaceship No. 705, also known as Hope 705, these things are occasionally discussed.

Over 1,100 years old, Xu Yanxia was tall and strong, beautiful with long legs. She walked with a somewhat slouching gait on the road leading to her home. Apart from the power engines and other components, the living area on the Residential Spaceship was basically a living area with simulated gravity. As Xu Yanxia walked, her eyes would occasionally glance at the scenery on both sides of the corridor.

The countryside is especially enchanting at dusk. The faint glow of the sunset shines through a thin layer of clouds onto the dappled fields, where the day's heat has subsided, and the earth reveals only a pale green hue.

"It's beautiful, but it's just a picture, not reality." Xu Yanxia, who is usually known for her rugged personality, rarely showed a longing for the countryside.

There was no other reason; it was just that on her way home from get off work, she suddenly thought of her sister, who had passed away many years ago along with the earth.

She remembered that her younger sister, Xu Yanshi, loved this kind of scenery the most.

Xu Yanxia didn't go straight home. Instead, she turned a corner and came to the front of a cake shop, then walked in with practiced ease.

As soon as she walked in, a voice came from inside. "Welcome! Made to order or pre-order?"

"Make it fresh. I want all the flavors from your shop added, and it has to be processed by Boss Li himself." Xu Yanxia didn't stand on ceremony and stated her requirements directly.

She only visits this cake shop once a year, but she doesn't buy cakes for her own birthday or for anyone in her family; instead, she buys cakes for her sister who passed away many years ago.

Although she only comes once a year, excluding the hibernation period, she has come hundreds of times. Moreover, she usually asks her department to take care of the store's business, so she has become familiar with the owner over time.

Opening a cake shop isn't unusual, but it's quite rare in the interstellar age, especially on Residential Spaceship. After all, spaceships are different from Earth. When they travel across Star System with the entire civilization's fleet, they need to undergo high-G acceleration and deceleration. Therefore, sweets like cakes must be disposed of before the spaceship takes off, otherwise, all that will be left after the spaceship completes its acceleration and deceleration.

Clearly, the owner of this cake shop is very experienced; all the cakes in the shop are made to order, and yes, they are all handmade.

"Okay, no problem!" the voice replied.

"Huh, it's you? Where's your mother?" Xu Yanxia then realized that the person speaking to her was not the cake shop owner she knew, but her daughter.

"That damn gene editor glanced at the girl," Xu Yanxia thought to herself.

There's no other reason than that the girl looks so much like her mother, and even her voice is similar, so she didn't realize it at first.

"My mom and dad went to the Sixth Planet last year. They said they needed people for development there, so we went to earn Contribution Points. So now I'm the owner of this shop," the girl answered crisply.

"Alright then, you can do it, anyway, you probably won't be able to do it for much longer." Xu Yanxia turned her gaze away from the girl's face, then turned and sat down comfortably on the sofa next to her.

The girl's name was Li Xuan. Xu Yanxia remembered that she should only be eighteen years old this year, a full 1,098 years younger than herself.

"Huh?! What do you mean by 'it won't last much longer anyway'?" Hearing Xu Yanxia say this, Li Xuan looked over in confusion, her hands pausing in their movements.

This Xu Yanxia was her mother's friend of a thousand years, so she knew about her. She was said to be a remnant of the Earth Era —no, I mean a survivor.

Besides this relationship, she also knew that Xu Yanxia was an engineer in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Engineering Department. She had made a great contribution to the Tactical Armor worn by the landing personnel. She was a very capable person, but she didn't know exactly how capable she was.

How can she remain calm when someone says they won't be able to make cakes for much longer?

"It's not just you, I might lose my job too! I don't think I have much time left. Remember to tell your mother to prepare herself, because I'm afraid my job making handmade cakes is going to be gone." Xu Yanxia raised her eyelids, revealing her pearly teeth.

"Huh?" Li Xuan looked completely bewildered.

"If Strong Artificial Intelligence research is successful, it will soon sweep through the entire society. All manual labor that originally required human intervention will be replaced by Robot Laborer. It is estimated that in the future, apart from creative, innovative, design, scientific research, scientific careers, and administrative jobs, everyone else can retire early." Xu Yanxia did not hide anything.

"Strong Artificial Intelligence?" Li Xuan's face showed an even more puzzled expression.

It was only then that Xu Yanxia realized that this girl was only eighteen years old this year. According to the current human learning curriculum, she was still in the early stages of learning and would need to study for another forty-two years before she could graduate from school.

At this stage, it's possible that you haven't heard of Artificial Intelligence if you don't deliberately seek it out.

Shaking her head, Xu Yanxia patiently explained to her what Artificial Intelligence and Strong Artificial Intelligence are, and then concluded. "In short, you just need to know that any manual or physical labor will be replaced by Robot Laborer."

Is it really that exaggerated?

Li Xuan felt that life was too hard. All she wanted to do was to graduate, then go out and inherit her mother's business, make her handmade cakes, earn some Contribution Coins, and live a long life.

Unexpectedly, before she even graduated, someone told her that there would be no jobs she wanted to do in the future, and that she would be replaced by Robot Laborer.

For a moment, she felt somewhat lost.

"What an exaggeration! Strong Artificial Intelligence has self-awareness; it's essentially a quasi-life form. With the recent breakthroughs in Nanotechnology, it wouldn't be surprising if robots with flexible limbs like humans appeared in society soon. And a cake made by Robot Laborer worker is still a handmade cake. So, Xiao Li Xuan, while you're still young, hurry up and set a new life goal." Xu Yanxia struck a pose with an air of authority.

She was talking about Li Xuan, but in her heart she was also talking about herself. The emergence of Strong Artificial Intelligence had also made her somewhat anxious; she was afraid that she would have nothing to do in the future.

It's not that she's afraid of starving to death if she has nothing to do. As a top-notch Mechanical Engineering Department, she couldn't possibly starve to death with all the experience she's accumulated over the years. Human society is now rich in resources, and there's no such thing as starvation.

Xu Yanxia was just worried that if she had more free time, she would lose her enthusiasm for life. Others might not know, but she was very knowledgeable about Strong Artificial Intelligence.

Once this thing is truly put into use, and combined with Robot Laborer manufactured using Nanotechnology, not only her, but all of humanity will be able to live a life where everything is done for them.

There's no need for anyone to do anything. If the New Government wanted, it could easily equip everyone with a Robot Laborer assistant, and then no one would have to work.

To do something or get something, simply give the Robot Laborer assistant a command.

Such a life is enviable, but Xu Yanxia couldn't be happy at all, because she felt that the knowledge and practical skills she had worked so hard to acquire suddenly became useless in that instant.

Strong Artificial Intelligence everything it knows, and it can do everything it can do—every aspect, everything it has.

This feeling made her very uncomfortable, but there was nothing she could do about it, because she knew clearly that Strong Artificial Intelligence would inevitably be put into use.

"Perhaps the New Government will formulate some corresponding measures," Xu Yanxia thought to herself, and sighed again. It was rare for someone as cheerful as her to be like this.

Actually, she's not alone; many scientists have experienced similar anxieties after the true realization of Strong Artificial Intelligence. However, due to their different perspectives, these scientists are more concerned with anxieties about human knowledge.

They believe that even after a lifetime of learning, the knowledge accumulated in the human mind is still less than that of a Strong Artificial Intelligence. They fear that once Strong Artificial Intelligence is truly used, the entire human society will fall into a decadent state of hedonism.