Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 131
“Lieutenant Zorda, where is your squadron leader? How could he tolerate you turning your cabin into a garbage dump? It looks like I’ll have to remove him from his position! By the way, are you really a soldier? Anyone who graduated from a military academy wouldn’t have such sloppy hygiene habits!”
Admiral Darius Bayes suppressed a wave of nausea as he stepped into Lieutenant Zorda’s cabin, accidentally kicking an empty can. The can rolled a few times and landed at the feet of the lieutenant, who was intently staring at a screen filled with rapidly flashing data. The lieutenant was perched on a swivel chair like a monkey, his hands typing on the keyboard at an unbelievable speed.
“Let me correct you on two things, sir. First, I don’t recall being part of a ‘squadron’. Second, I indeed didn’t attend a military academy. I was directly drafted as a technical consultant.” Lieutenant Zorda didn’t even turn his head, let alone show proper respect to his superior.
The small cabin was filled with food wrappers, cigarette butts, discarded old chips, and mechanical parts of unknown purpose. Darius had no doubt that if the Sword of the Queen were to shut down the gravity grid and enter a zero-gravity state, this place would become a dangerous battlefield filled with hazards and traps.
“Alright, technical consultant, expert, master, whatever.” Darius kicked another can.
“Surely, your visit isn’t just to practice can-shooting accuracy.” Zorda’s typing slowed down just a fraction (really just a tiny bit), indicating he was sparing some attention for Darius.
“Actually, it’s nothing much.” The admiral gave up on the idea of walking over to the lieutenant for a private conversation. It would be more difficult than crossing a battlefield filled with flying lasers. So, he closed the door, leaned against it, and spoke to Zorda from a distance. “There’s something I’ve been trying to figure out. Lieutenant, I’ve heard that you’re quite accomplished in programming and AI studies, so I wanted to ask you.”
“Oh?” The lieutenant’s typing paused for a moment. “What could be so perplexing to you?”
“You’ve dealt with high-level AI, and in Milantu, you even managed to sever the connection between a high-level AI and a pirate base. So, tell me, who’s more powerful, humans or AI?”
“Well… if we’re comparing humans and AI as different species, I’d say humans are definitely more powerful because AI was created by humans, after all.” The lieutenant shrugged. “But on an individual level, AI is certainly superior, especially high-level AI. Its computational power far exceeds that of the average human brain, and across the entire universe, probably only a few mathematical geniuses could compare to it.”
Darius shifted uneasily. “Then what if… just hypothetically, what if a genius human were to connect their nervous system to the superluminal network? Wouldn’t they become something like an AI?”
“In theory, it’s possible, but in practice, it’s not feasible. In the past, there were figures like cyber hackers and neural surfers. When a human’s nervous system is connected to a computer, the brain becomes the network’s terminal, and all computations depend on this terminal. But if a human’s mind stays in the superluminal network for too long, their body would gradually deteriorate. Once the body dies, the terminal responsible for operation ceases to exist, and the mind—this human’s AI—would also perish. It’s extremely inhumane, so the Empire, the Federation, and the Free City-States have all long since legislated against connecting human nerves to computers.”
“What if this person transferred their mind elsewhere, like how AI backs up its personality and memories?”
“That’s also impossible. How could a human mind be transferred to a machine? It’s not a silicon-based lifeform! If it were a biological computer, it might be possible, but that hasn’t even been invented yet! AI can back up its personality because it was born on that kind of platform. Similarly, it’s impossible to put AI into a human body. AI can exist temporarily in a human brain, but as the information recorded in brain cells increases, the human body would inevitably develop a human personality, which would instinctively reject the AI. Over time, the body would either become schizophrenic or the brain cells would deteriorate. AI can remotely control a human through a controller, making them absolutely obey its commands, but it can never become human.”
After speaking, Lieutenant Zorda’s chair spun halfway around, facing Darius. “Sir, why the sudden interest in AI?”
Darius frowned deeply, as if he hadn’t heard the question. “But… let’s hypothesize another situation. If medical devices were used to sustain a person’s life and their nervous system was connected to the superluminal network, would that person become an immortal artificial… no, ‘human intelligence’?”
Zorda looked at Darius with slight surprise. “‘Human intelligence’… that’s a nice name. Where did you hear it?”
“I came up with it myself.” The admiral scratched his head. “Do you think it’s possible?”
“Well… if the brain could be kept alive, then yes, it’s possible. But it’s only a possibility. Do you know how much computational power a high-level AI has? Just the computer needed to run it would be the size of the Lady of the Night. The average human brain has only developed a small percentage of its capacity. If someone tried to do what a high-level AI does, the flood of information into the brain would drive an ordinary person insane. The cyber hackers and neural surfers of the past could only do slightly better than ordinary hackers. They were nowhere near the level of high-level AI.”
“What about an extreme case?” Darius asked urgently. “What if this person were a genius with an extraordinarily developed brain?”
“… According to current estimates, if a human brain develops beyond 70% of its capacity, it would have computational power equivalent to that of the Lady of the Night. If there were such a genius and, as you said, they were kept alive and connected to the superluminal network, they would certainly become a ‘human intelligence’ equal in power to, or even surpassing, high-level AI.”
Lieutenant Zorda stood on his chair, looking down at Admiral Darius Bayes. “But people would definitely prefer to keep such a genius in reality. Besides, this kind of thing is against the law throughout the galaxy and is extremely inhumane. It would require a person to give up their human body, identity, and dignity. Who would want to become something like that? Moreover, developing the human brain and making it compatible with computers also presents technical challenges. So it’s only theoretically feasible.”
Darius nodded stiffly, his face grim. “You’re right, Lieutenant.” He mechanically turned around and opened the door. Lieutenant Zorda, still standing on his chair, could clearly see beads of sweat on the back of his neck. The admiral, usually calm and composed, was oddly unsettled today.
“You haven’t answered my question, sir. Why are you suddenly interested in AI today?”
“Nothing. Just a random thought.” Darius held onto the doorframe as if he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment. “Lieutenant, what we just discussed—don’t let a third person know.”
Zorda sat back in his chair, refocusing on the rapidly moving data on the computer screen. “What did we just discuss? I don’t remember.”
Darius curled his lips into a smile. “Yeah, I don’t remember either.”
After taking two steps out, he came back and advised earnestly, “Lieutenant, even though you’re single, I still have to remind you: keep your cabin clean.”
“…Fuck off!”
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