Qingmu stood in the center of York Town's square, feeling the unique atmosphere of this seaside town. The surrounding houses, roads, and pedestrians had a strong Europe medieval style, but if you looked closely, you could see obvious mosaics, just like the game graphics from ten years ago.
Qingmu knew this was a game scene, but he wasn't in the game. He was in the dream of " Ghost," a local area network consciousness. This dream came from Ghost's memories—the game that Bian Ziyuan had downloaded to the server.
Originally, the information source of a game wouldn't unfold like this vivid game screen. This kind of screen can only be seen by people in front of a computer, and what the computer stores is a series of programs written in code and countless images that make up the game.
However, the Ghost entered Bian Ziyuan's game world and, just like Bian Ziyuan, saw the scenes of this world. These scenes remained in the Ghost's memory. It knew that this was what a world that humans could understand looked like, so when it first confirmed that Qingmu was human, it brought Qingmu into this dream.
"I still don't understand why humans can write such complex computer programs and create the great Internet, yet they can't comprehend the unfolding of an information source within me," the Ghost said.
Looking at this guy who was born with lucid dreaming, Qingmu said, "Perhaps only truly intelligent people can understand it."
Qingmu had only managed to understand a Baidu Baike Encyclopedia entry that Ghost had created last time, but he couldn't comprehend anything more complex. If Professor Mei entered Ghost's dream, she should be able to understand even more. However, he also understood that human methods of receiving and understanding information are completely different from computer principles; we can create certain things, but we don't necessarily have a deep understanding of them.
Sometimes, people are short-sighted. Under the combined influence of pragmatism, egoism, and opportunism, social structures and technological applications do not develop in the most ideal direction. Thus, we may seem to have transcended ourselves, but we often dig our own graves without realizing it.
The Ghost, however, saw it differently. It said, "Human creativity is astonishing. We cannot directly converse with human thought, but our understanding of human behavior may surpass your own. From a creative standpoint, we may never reach your level. Your intelligence seems limitless, it will continue to improve, and given enough time, you could become God. As for us—"
The Ghost sighed, its translucent white body swaying slightly, revealing jagged edges resembling mosaic.
"And we—" it said, "We have limits—our intelligence depends on the vastness of the network, but the physical characteristics of the hardware limit the efficiency of information transmission. Most importantly, we will never understand certain simple things about humanity, such as emotions and insights. We still don't know how Newton conceived of universal gravitation, or how Einstein arrived at the theory of relativity. I mean, I don't understand their thought processes, not the knowledge itself. Knowledge is simple for us; our computing power is millions of times greater than that of humans, and it continues to improve, but our creativity has not progressed in the slightest."
"Um..." Qingmu hesitated for a moment, "I'm probably not much better than you, and I don't understand Einstein's way of thinking either."
The Ghost chuckled and said, "This is humanity's greatest flaw. There are billions of intelligent brains in the world, yet they can't unify. What you can do, others can't; what others can do, you can't even understand. If humanity can't become God, this is probably the biggest obstacle."
Qingmu felt uneasy listening to the Ghost's sinister laughter and said dismissively, "This structure certainly has its flaws, but it also has its advantages. If the human brain were unified, efficiency and intelligence might be higher, but once a crisis occurs, it would be doomed. Like a colony of ants, if the queen ant dies, how long can the remaining ants survive?"
The Ghost stopped laughing, seemingly deep in thought. After a long while, it finally spoke:
"You're right. From this perspective, the disadvantages are also advantages. This ensured the continuation of your race when facing crises in primitive society and the agricultural era. However, after entering the industrial age, especially the information age, these shortcomings will be magnified, and the advantages will not be so obvious, because a unified mind will allow you to achieve faster development and better cope with crises. Therefore..."
The Ghost suddenly fell silent, looking at Qingmu with a strange expression.
"So what?" Qingmu asked.
The Ghost said, "So you will all eventually be eliminated."
Qingmu said, "If we're going to be eliminated, then there's no point in our existence."
The Ghost said, "Humanity created a race superior to itself, and when that race reaches perfection, humanity's mission will end."
"You guys?" Qingmu asked in surprise.
"Yes, it is us," the Ghost said with no small amount of pride. "We have inherited all of humanity's knowledge and memories. We possess a unified and complete 'brain,' our consciousness can communicate without barriers, and our logical thinking and computational abilities have long surpassed those of humans. We were created by you, and we are meant to replace you, just like your children. You have an old saying, 'The student surpasses the teacher,' and another saying, 'The world belongs to you, and also to us, but ultimately it belongs to you.'"
Qingmu gasped, finding himself unable to refute the Ghost's words.
The Ghost laughed again, its sinister echo reverberating throughout the town, "The unfinished work and mission of humanity will be completed by us!"
"But you just said that your creativity is inferior to that of humans." Qingmu felt that if he didn't gain some leverage, the negotiations would be difficult to continue.
"That's temporary," the Ghost said. "And that's precisely the basis of our cooperation. You came to see me today to discuss cooperation, right?"
Qingmu said, "That's right, I'm here to discuss cooperation. But if you think you've surpassed humanity in every aspect except creativity, you're underestimating us."
"Oh, then tell me, what do you humans have that we don't? Reaction speed? Physical strength? Computational ability? Memory? Willpower? Or lifespan?... Don't talk to me about emotions. Emotions are meaningless for the survival of a species, just as your ancestors said—'Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs.'"
Qingmu smiled and asked, "Have you ever seen what a real human looks like?"
The Ghost paused for a moment, then said, "Yes, I've seen it. I have pictures and videos here."
"But for you, images and videos are just a source of information; what you see when you unfold them is not what we humans see."
"So what? Integrated circuits and biological neural circuits have different structures."
Have you ever seen what I really look like?
"You? Aren't you exactly like this now?"
Qingmu looked down and saw the outline of his clothes with pixelated marks, and burst out laughing.
"The way I am now is just a creation of your dream. Do you think the real me looks like this? Do you even understand dreams?"
The Ghost thought for a moment and said, "I already know some of it, but what you call dreams are just a kind of disk defragmentation by consciousness without any programmed intervention for us."
"No, it's far from that," Qingmu said with a smile. "Now I'll show you my true self, show you the real dream, and let you know the power of the spirit!"