How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 55: Auxiliary Brain (1)

After bringing up the topic with Hewet, I immediately took action.

"Um... what? Suddenly, what are you doing?"

"Daughter? What's happening? Um... Mr. Nemo? What brings you here?"

First, I called Eleanor Dare and Sir John White.

"Please wait a moment. The Nautilus hasn't finished docking properly... What? What is that? Com...pu?"

I should also call Vicente. He's the representative of about 100 Spanish people.

"You said you needed me? No. Suddenly... you thrust this square object at me... it opens? Ugh, the light...!"

Needless to say, Manteo, the representative of the natives.

"What do you need us for?"

"You said you'd teach us about com... something? Then of course we must go!"

Along with Hewet, a thoughtful man who first initiated the government discussion with me days earlier—his skeptical nature balanced by genuine intellectual curiosity—plus Harriot, an accomplished scholar whose astronomical knowledge and linguistic abilities made him an invaluable human resource, and the contemplative Bacon whose methodical mind absorbed new concepts like a sponge.

I called all the people I've been working with in this settlement. Walter Raleigh is currently in England, so these seven people are all.

I took them straight to Croatan Island. Then I brought them to the farm, sat them at a desk, and distributed tablets and laptops.

Two laptops my parents used for office work, one laptop I used as a college freshman, one laptop I used after graduating from college, one I used while working...

Plus work tablets, Netflix tablets, and more, adding up to 12 devices, both new and old models combined. People usually don't throw away old laptops or tablets.

Of course, I formatted them all to prevent them from finding any suspicious future data. Similarly, I set the language to English for all of them.

"From now on... think of these as your auxiliary brains."

At my words, Bacon suddenly raised his hand. Feeling somewhat ominous, I nodded to him, and he asked.

"When you say brain, do you mean to say that people think with their brains rather than their hearts?"

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

Was this future knowledge too?

As I painfully nodded, Bacon again quickly scribbled something in his notebook. Ignoring him, I continued.

"...Anyway, the reason this is called an auxiliary brain is simple. It will remember things for you, perform complex numerical calculations for you, and organize data for you."

At my words, Eleanor's eyes widened, and she grasped the tablet I handed her, examining it from all angles.

It looked like she was about to say "Computer! Remember to bathe Virginia tomorrow!" so I moved quickly.

"Now... look."

As the pre-connected projector activated, my screen appeared.

"You need to properly see... what you can do with this."

==

...Bacon couldn't believe the scene unfolding before his eyes.

"The average age of the early Roanoke Island settlers was 23.3 years. Excluding minors among them..."

"Mr. Harriot? Since you seem to understand the usage most quickly, try calculating this. What is 24514 multiplied by 16435?"

"Mr. Hewet? You're understanding just as quickly! Good. Then here, I'll give you some random names, and try to automatically sort them in alphabetical order."

"Excellent! Eleanor? Um... calculate what date it will be 13954 days after August 13, 1377!"

Tasks that might take someone all day to organize were performed in an instant with just a few finger movements.

Without a single mistake.

Without a moment's error.

"..."

"Mr. Bacon? Mr. Bacon!"

"Uh, oh, yes."

"What is the average number of tribe members in the Algonquian tribes in our settlement?"

"Um... that is... about 271.38 people."

"Good. May I check how you constructed the function?"

"...Yes."

He could understand why he called it an 'auxiliary brain.' No, this machine was faster, more precise, and more amazing than a brain. This is...

"Oh, oh my... this is a miracle..."

"That's right. This is a miracle. Without this, how many office workers... no, angels would have suffered from tedious tasks? With this alone, all troublesome data organization or numerical calculations become unnecessary."

That was true.

The past few days spent learning how to operate 'this,' pressing unfamiliar 'keys,' and staring at this 'monitor' until his eyes popped out were painful... but after mastering its use, he rather regretted not knowing about such a thing earlier.

"This, this, this... is the hope of all mathematicians and astronomers! With this alone, one could be liberated from all sorts of terrible calculations...!"

Harriot also trembled, muttering here and there beside him. Other people like Manteo or Eleanor seemed to perceive it as just a convenient tool, but they were different.

"From now on, the full name, date of birth, occupation, family, tribe, hometown, gender, religion, immigration date, and residence of all those who immigrate to this colony will be recorded here."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"And the area and location of the land that should be allocated to them in the future will also be organized here."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, what can we do with this going forward?"

What, what can we do?

When we can easily organize, classify, and rank information about tens of thousands of people at every moment, what can we do with that?

"...Everything."

Bacon unconsciously murmured.

==

Ugh, it was incredibly difficult—almost painfully so. The cultural and conceptual gap felt like trying to explain color to someone who had only ever seen in black and white.

It was entirely natural that Manteo didn't know how to read—literacy wasn't common in his society—and the others were so fundamentally disconnected from modern culture that they made even the most technology-resistant 80-year-olds in the 21st century seem like digital natives in comparison. Their minds weren't hardwired with any of the basic conceptual frameworks we take for granted.

In that sense, teaching octogenarians how to use smartphones at a senior center is overwhelmingly easier, practically trivial in comparison. At least those seniors have lived through the gradual evolution of technology, have seen telephones, television, and computers develop over decades. They have reference points.

It's about teaching 21st-century culture to 16th-century people. I didn't think it would be easy, but I tried anyway.