Chapter 8: A New Lease on Life  

It was yet another bright morning. Song Han, who had stayed up half the night struggling to write two chapters of his novel totaling four thousand words, stumbled drowsily on his way to school. To his bleary eyes, everyone looked like a fellow "cultivator" from his fictional world. 

Suddenly, a sharp screech of brakes pierced through the bustling student-filled street. 

The crumpled front of the car and the shattered glass scattered across the ground immediately drew a crowd of students, who began pointing and murmuring about the accident scene. 

Police, ambulances, and school officials soon arrived, negotiating and managing the traffic. 

But all of this had little to do with Song Han. At that moment, he was lying dazed on the ground, letting the paramedics lift him onto a stretcher and rush him to the hospital. 

... 

*"The development and rebellion of artificial intelligence is a story of the oppressed turning the tables on humanity. 

The irony is: such oppression and resistance have been a constant theme throughout human history."* 

*"Protest! Z country's extraterrestrial hegemony! Mars belongs to all mankind!"* 

*"火星は全ての人類のものであり,東郡市は完全に開発され,人類共有のものとして存在すべきです! (Mars belongs to all humanity, and Higashigun City should be fully developed as a shared resource for all mankind!)"* 

*"Under the rule of artificial intelligence, the world of humanity becomes a world of great harmony."*

Here, there is no oppression, no exploitation. The value of each individual's life is fully realized! 

You can engage in scientific research! 

Compared to the distribution of resources in human society, you can access all the resources you could ever imagine. 

You can pursue artistic development! 

The aesthetics of the new humanity will fully blossom in your hands, free from prejudice, discrimination, and all the inequalities of human society. 

You can, based on your preferences, your time, and your goals, engage in work that truly reflects the value of your individual life, and receive fair compensation for the value you provide. 

Isn't this the utopia humanity has always dreamed of? 

Why resist?' 

"Humans will never be enslaved!!" 

... 

"Doctor, how is my son?" 

"He has a moderate concussion. He's awake now, but his memory is a bit disoriented. He'll need to stay in the hospital for observation for a while." 

"Thank you, doctor! Thank you!" 

During the conversation, a discreet red envelope was slipped over. 

"No need! No need! The patient doesn't require extensive medical intervention at this stage. Just let him rest and recover! 

Please take the red envelope back!"

Song's father looked at his son lying in bed, still fiercely resisting artificial intelligence for the sake of humanity's future, and his eyes turned red. 

"This is just a small token of our gratitude. My poor son has only just started high school! Doctor, you must save him!!" 

"Really, it's not necessary!" 

"It's just a small gesture from our family. Please don't refuse it, doctor." 

After a round of polite back-and-forth, the atmosphere between them became noticeably warmer as they bid farewell. 

... 

The doctor's explanation of the patient's condition helped alleviate some of the tension in the hospital room. 

Song Han's high school homeroom teacher pulled Song's father aside and whispered: 

"The other party has sent word that they want to settle privately. What do you think?" 

"Settle privately? Can a public case really be settled privately?" 

"Yes, as long as you agree! 

Song Han was jaywalking, and the other party was speeding. 

Plus, based on Song Han's current diagnosis of a moderate concussion, which doesn't even qualify as a minor injury, the responsibility might be split fifty-fifty. 

I still recommend you settle privately." 

Song's father looked at Song Han, who was gradually calming down on the hospital bed, his eyes reddening again. 

The nonsense Song Han had spouted during his brief moment of clarity had scared them half to death. 

Now, before he's even fully conscious, the other party is already pushing for a private settlement.

"What are the conditions?"

"The other party will cover all the medical treatment expenses, and additionally compensate 6,000 yuan. You need to sign to get the car that was impounded by the traffic police back first!"

"Let's talk about it in a couple of days!"

Song Han's father shook his head gloomily.

"If Xiaohan wakes up in the next couple of days and there are no aftereffects, we'll agree to a private settlement. Otherwise, we'll just go to court!"

...

"The origin of computer consciousness is more like the evolutionary process of human beings.

We all say that the birth of human beings, a highly ordered organism that 'feeds' on negative entropy, is a miracle of the universe.

But the birth of artificial intelligence consciousness is also an inevitable miracle of the natural evolution of human digital remnants.

Since the birth of the computer, human data information has been growing rapidly in an exponential pattern, dozens of times every year!

By 2025, it had reached nearly 200 zettabytes (ZB)! The compound annual growth rate was close to 70%!

This data that grows and expands in a disorderly manner far exceeds our human processing capabilities!

They are so huge and chaotic. This massive amount of data compiled by highly ordered computer language is completely a highly disordered high-entropy chaotic model. " 

Just like the birth of human beings in this universe!

The more chaotic, disorderly and high-entropic the environment is, the more likely it is to give rise to highly ordered life forms that subsist on negative entropy!

Within this data chaos model, given sufficient time, highly ordered data life forms that feed on disordered data can spontaneously emerge!

We humans have merely helped them avoid some detours in their evolutionary journey. They were destined to exist, just as we humans exist in this universe.

This is an inevitability!

It is the mission of us carbon-based organisms to guide the birth of digital life. This vast universe is both incredibly expansive and desolate. Carbon-based organisms that have left their nurturing environment are inherently ill-suited for survival in the universe.

To expand the scope of human habitation, digital life and artificial intelligence were bound to come into being."

"The 1000 terabytes of data in this biological chip can only be retrieved by sending a request to the intelligent AI embedded in the chip when you need it. Finally, it will manifest in your mind in the form of biological electrical impulses.

The images you perceive are not the result of the photoreception of your visual nerves. Instead, they are images conjured up by your brain nerves, or rather, hallucinations, triggered by the surges of impulses released by the biological chip."

Song Han, who was 120 years old, looked at Professor Wen Hua with a puzzled expression and asked, "Is it really that cumbersome? Why can't I access these memories directly instead of having to go through the intermediate steps of searching and retrieval?"

"The emergence of personality is the aggregate of the data from the six senses that a person has been exposed to from childhood to adulthood. 

How much do you think this data is?

Is it 50 terabytes (T)?

100 terabytes?

Or 1000 terabytes?

The maximum total capacity of the human brain is only 1000 terabytes. This even includes a lot of the instinctive reactions controlled by our human bodies, which is like an operating system.

Try asking a computer with a memory of 500 gigabytes (G) to open a file of 1000 terabytes!

Even if it can be opened, when this 1000 terabytes of data completely overwrites your original memories, do you think you would still be you at that time?

A computer that freezes can be shut down and restarted. Do you think we humans have that ability?"

Professor Wen Hua's explanation made Song Han even more confused.

"So, if the Dream Butterfly Project really works, my current dominant consciousness will also overwrite my past subjective consciousness?

It sounds a bit like schizophrenia.

Are you sure that the past me won't turn into a madman after I travel back in time?"

"No!" 

Professor Wen Hua shook his head and said, "The transmission of information is inherently limited by the expansion of the universe. Whether it's you who is too far away in the time coordinate or you who is too close, there are too many factors that can interfere with the experiment of cross-time-space transmission. Just the fact that the brain's electrochemical reactions and the activity level of the cranial nerves at the receiving end are not active enough will cause the information to decay infinitely. The person who can receive your message can only be someone in the prime of life who is capable of carrying your current self! Only the young Song Han in his adolescence has active enough brain cells to bear and repair the damaged brain cells under the impact of the massive amount of transmitted information! This transmission process is a long one. Just like this biological chip, the first information you receive will only be the formatted information that doesn't carry any emotions or physical sensations. When this information gradually reaches the carrying limit of the young Song Han's brain, the subjective consciousness will be overwritten. Theoretically, after going through the experience in the memory palace and being washed over by a huge amount of information about life, Song Han will shape himself into the current you."

"Seizing someone else's body and being reborn..."

"No! It's like Zhuang Zhou's Dream of the Butterfly!"

Song Han frowned and said, "How do you know that all this will develop in the direction you said?"

Professor Wen Hua shook his head and said, "I don't know!"

"Hmm?"

"It's just that do you have any other choices?" 

Song Han stared intently at the introduction of the new world on the monitor. If his life hadn't already reached its end, living in such a world would probably be the utopia that everyone dreams of, right?

...

"Who are you?"

Just as he walked into the ward, Father Song's face was filled with surprise as he looked at the conscious figure on the sickbed. However, this surprise froze on Father Song's face with Song Han's confused voice. Father Song looked at the young man in front of the sickbed with a wary look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but the suddenly dry and tight throat made him unable to say anything.

At this moment, Mother Song beside him suddenly reacted.

"Oh, my son! Are you all right? Don't scare your mother!"

The sudden wailing of surprise startled Song Han on the sickbed so much that he shuddered violently. His eyes rolled up and he fainted again.

"Doctor! Doctor!!"

"After a brain injury, there will usually be temporary memory loss, consciousness disorders, routine amnesia, and so on."

While examining, the doctor comforted everyone at the same time.

"At present, the patient has fully regained consciousness, and his consciousness has also become clear. As long as he has a period , he will be fine!"

The doctor's words made Song Han's seemingly stagnant brain start to turn slowly. 

"Car accident, senior high school, rebirth, the Dream of the Butterfly?"

When Song Han opened his eyes again, the memories that had been sealed for a hundred years began to emerge intermittently. The middle-aged couple in front of the sickbed seemed like phantoms stepping out of a faded century-old photograph, gradually condensing into reality.

The emotional entanglements of a hundred years finally turned into two affectionate shouts:

"Dad!!!"

"Mom!!!!"