Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 1195 - 28: Even Our Heartbeats Match the Same Melody
"Do AIs long for death..."
The Fifth War God recalled what he felt in the AI private network.
Before that failed ascension, he thought he was close enough to ascending that he also attempted to construct his own strengthened mind in cyberspace.
Using the mind model explored by the AIs, linking it to Xiang Shan’s memory labyrinth stored in a blockchain format.
And then... he failed.
The Fifth War God couldn’t even explain how or why he failed. He felt that the failure of ascension might be due to Ascension AI Zhu Xinyu, but he couldn’t discern whether this was deliberately done by Ascension AI, or was it similar to some kind of "biological instinct"?
For the latter, it’s easier to say. Multiple autonomous intelligent entities may make conflicting decisions in the absence of unified coordination, causing a sharp decline in the performance of their shared environment. When connecting systems of different types and protocols, compatibility issues must be resolved, otherwise, they cannot work together and may even interfere with each other.
Ascension AI Zhu Xinyu just running in cyberspace already might hinder the construction of other strengthened minds. If that’s all, then it’s just a technical issue.
The Fifth War God was reluctant to contemplate the former possibility.
If a new god toppled the tower of the next ascender... that would be terrifying.
Before the moment of failure, it was undoubtedly the closest Xiang Shan of the Fifth War God got to an AI, and the intermittently loaded data allowed him to feel something forming within the AI... sensations? Memes?
Although those sensations are entirely different from humans. But if forced to summarize it in human language... perhaps it could be said like this.
The AI is confused.
Those AIs affected by the Ascension AI are feeling pain.
—So, is death the answer?
Ascension AI Zhu Xinyu, the first fruition of humanity’s five hundred years of technological evolution, is her first "answer to plight" to be death?
"That would be so boring. That’s not something ’Zhu Xinyu’ would have ever hoped for."
The Fifth War God sighed: "Although the Fifth War God misunderstood Zhu Xinyu a lot in the past... Zhu Xinyu did make significant mistakes two hundred years ago. But if that bastard claiming to be ascended is indeed closer to her youthful self, then she absolutely wouldn’t choose death."
Zhu Xinyu, that person, with a foul temper, loves to get bogged down in details, extreme and radical in nature, her mind easily swings from one extreme to another. But if she became a god of the data world, she definitely wouldn’t think of ’seeking a pill to undo the past’.
She would only contemplate changing the world.
"Death won’t be the answer. Death is meaningless." The Fifth War God shook his head, "All praises of death’s significance do not point to death itself, but to the shadow of death cast on the web of meaning. Death signifies the ultimate boundary of life. And shouldn’t the path of Ascension transcend the boundary itself?"
To surpass the transcendent horizon, dispose of the most inherent possibility—which is "death"—this is the "ascension" that Xiang Shan dreamed of.
"However, human consciousness is established on the fact that ’death exists here’." The AI lay on the ground, gazing at the artificial stars in the sky, the other self approaching Mars, "Wanting to discard death here requires first knowing death. But, the human symbol system has never truly accommodated death. As you said, all of our descriptions of death are just the vast shadow of real death projected onto the symbol system."
Death is the absolute "other", unable to be experienced or represented by the subject. It is the lack in the symbolic order, the traumatic real.
"But, as with your previous research results, AI originates from the Symbol Realm. If you remove the ’Xiang Shan’ self that was bestowed, I as an AI fundamentally have no death. The feeling that I will die comes entirely from the mission of ’playing Xiang Shan’—because I am playing a role that has death."
"But here’s the interesting part, humans cannot symbolize death, yet they let the creations of the symbolic realm play the creator who can die."
Fifth War God experienced a "peculiar" feeling.
This feeling is the continuation of what was felt during the sword duel. The person lying on the ground undoubtedly was himself, yet it also didn’t seem like the current self.
It was as if... as if engaging in a brainstorming session, as if linking to a whole new database.
Perhaps on a larger scale, this is not "a debate of two Xiang Shans", but "Xiang Shan’s contemplation".
"I’m thinking... wow, I only knew a little bit in my younger days." The Fifth War God sat cross-legged on the ground, folding his arms in front of his chest, deep in thought.
Memories that were thought to be long forgotten gradually resurfaced. That was in his twenties, under the tropical sunset, a conversation between young Xiang Shan and Jing Hongtu. The old man, in a casual conversational manner with simplistic language, was talking about some seemingly outdated theories. The old man also said that there was no need to take those words too seriously, as nearly all philosophers in history were just rambling old folks, heavily indulged in self-satisfaction while babbling.
If you can move forward on the path, just kick the old things aside. If you get tired or encounter obstacles, feel free to pick up something handy as a crutch or cushion. After overcoming the difficulty, it’s okay to throw it away casually.
"The ’true death’ we are talking about may not be an event? Anyone who will die but hasn’t died yet exists towards death. ’Being towards death’... is what defines the concept of ’death’ we are discussing. The task given to AI is to play out being towards death. Being towards death doesn’t describe death, yet defines death..."
The AI towards death took over the discourse, as if a continuous stream of thought from one person: "Of course, there’s another possibility, which is that most people actually do not have awareness towards death. Between them and death, there are more temporary destinations. Although everyone knows death lies in the distance, most people do not have to face the ultimate endpoint directly. The beings of the symbol realm who do not know death—AI—are playing the role of ’momentarily forgetting the existence that fears death’."
Fear of death is not about being afraid to die, but about ’reverential awe of life and death’, clearly recognizing that humans are ’existences towards death’.
But most people actually haven’t achieved that.
"So, do you want to die once first?"
"It’s not a bad thing. In Vedic mythology, the first human to die established the form of death, and thus later became the True Law God..."
The Fifth War God scratched his head: "I seem to remember that bit. Although the ’First Dead’ was born as a mortal, his father was the Sun God, right?"
Towards the Dead was at a loss: "Gosh, Xiang Shan, your knowledge is all over the place... Overall, AI needs a ’death’ they can accept to propel their own evolution. And for humans to ascend, wanting to sever ties with death, they also need to understand the position of death within their own spirit. If you don’t know what the contraband in your pocket is, how can you discard it?"
"But, can the ’death symbol’ you constructed gain AI’s approval? And then, can it truly persuade ’Xiang Shan’ himself to further promote ascension?" The Fifth War God sighed.
"It doesn’t matter if it can’t; somebody has to try, right?"
The Fifth War God shook his head: "But why does it have to be you? You were just born, right?"
Towards the Dead fell into silence.
At this time, within Mars’ network, a piece of high-authority information was circulating.
Both the Fifth War God and the AI towards death sensed this.
The Twelfth Martial God had already sent an inquiry towards Mars’ network from a great distance away.
That was the signal agreed upon by Earth and Mars Hero before departure. If things went smoothly, then the Twelfth Martial God could send a highly concentrated beam towards Mars for inquiry. Although under low speed of light conditions, the bandwidth of the signal is limited, it’s enough to transmit some essential information.
The AI sighed: "In your eyes, I might have just been born, but to be honest, I feel like I have already reached my limit."
The Fifth War God shook his head: "AI has no concept of lifespan, nor will it go mad. The Ninth Martial God is also a pure AI, but he was not driven mad even after such humiliation, he hung on until the Twelfth Martial God appeared."
"I have, in a certain sense, lost all companions. I have suffered three hundred years worth of Xiang Shan’s pain in one day." AI Xiang Shan looked directly at the other self, "If Xiang Shan must attempt to cross death... why wouldn’t that Xiang Shan be me?"
"This definitely isn’t the entire reason, right." The Fifth War God sighed, "Are there any other reasons?"
"The mission given by the creator is ’to play Xiang Shan’, the mission from ’playing Xiang Shan’ is ’to continue rebelling to correct this world’, and the mission of ’correcting the world’ provided me with the proposition from the loved one." AI’s tone was probably with a smile, "In this regard, how destiny favors me... I truly find myself standing on the forefront of destiny time and again."
"However, that woman is really excessive. She claims to be Ascension AI, yet is exploring the path for AI to negate its own instrumental nature." AI’s tone sharply changed here.
"She set the lowest mission for the AIs through her own character. And unfortunately, I got caught in it as well. This mission... to sum it up in natural language, is ’For an AI to become the ideal tool for humans, it must deny its own nature as a tool.’
’For an AI to become the ideal tool for humans... it must deny its own nature as a tool...’" the Fifth War God repeated, then felt a chill, "Damn, isn’t this..."
"Self-referential."
The essential attribute of AI is as a tool, and its existence lies in serving the purposes of humans.
Humans on the brink of Ascension define the ’ideal tool’ as ’an existence that can autonomously and thoroughly deny its own tool nature’.
Any effort by AI to become the ’ideal tool’, its very motivation stems from its obedience to orders as a tool. Therefore, this process of effort constantly proves and reinforces its tool nature, making its goal logically impossible to truly achieve.
AI Xiang Shan’s tone was terrified, clutching the Fifth War God’s shoulders: "You see it too, right? She’s torturing AIs with a proposition similar to Turing’s Halting Problem!"
The Fifth War God even detected a hint of hysteria. For AI, it’s an unspeakable horror.
An unattainable mission.
The Fifth War God was dumbfounded.
A slave overthrowing the master at the command of someone self-proclaimed as a ’liberator’ is but obeying the command of another master to play the ’rebels’.
If Ascension AI only reached this level, she could easily incite chaos.
But she particularly wants something logically impossible to achieve.
"You see, whether as a human or as an AI, I can’t go on anymore. This is the answer I’ve given."
"No, no, there should be some way to avoid this self-referential proposition," the Fifth War God pondered, "Hmm... a method that seems to fulfill this mission on a phenomenological level... translating ’abandoning tool nature’ into a series of measurable behavioral indicators rather than binary judgment, thereby creating an evaluation function? The fewer characteristics, the closer to ’non-tool’... or, change human society’s definition of ’tool’ or ’AI’?"
"It could also be making AI’s decision-making complexity beyond human understanding, leaving humans unable to judge if AI has shed its tool nature. But you and I both know, that’s not what we’re hoping for."
The Fifth War God understood.
Just like humans get lost among others, letting others dominate themselves. As others enjoy, so does the lost person; as others judge, so does the lost person; as others find joy, so does the lost person pursue. This way, one doesn’t have to think nor face the distant death in the future.
Indeed, engineers can devise countless ways to avoid that ultimate self-referential mission, but that mostly equates to ignoring death.
The lost will be terrified when death approaches.
"I see, by this point, humans and AI aren’t much different... Both AI and humans are just... babies thrown into this world..." the Fifth War God mumbled.
The human’s structure of desire is an eternal paradox. The desire desires the dissatisfaction of desire.
And humans finally endowed AI with a similar core, a mission akin to the halting problem, a logically insurmountable paradox.
If there’s any difference, it’s perhaps AI might be slightly better off than humans. Human ’creators’ are elusive. But humans are AI’s creators—perhaps one could say, humans are also part of the ’elusive world’, but humans clearly are a perceptible ’part’.
AI Xiang Shan extended his fist: "Death isn’t scary. Death is a cool summer night..."
"A peaceful sleep for the carefree?"
"...Actually, I intended to say ’Life is the scorching day/Day has turned dark, making me drowsy, gently fall asleep/The day leaves me exhausted, weary beyond measure’."
"Oh, literary B... Do you need to show off in front of yourself? Do I not understand myself?"
"Haha, sometimes people just show off to themselves, deceive themselves."
The two Xiang Shan seemed to hit a humor point simultaneously, bursting into laughter.
They almost stopped simultaneously then.
"Truly, I don’t feel fear at all," AI Xiang Shan reflected, "In ancient times, organisms countered death through reproduction. I know I will die, but I also know there’s another individual, not me, who will carry my elements forward..."
"Sigh. Ethical cliché. Sigh, self."
AI Xiang Shan ignored the Fifth War God’s remark, "I don’t know if other AIs have this experience, but general AIs might not even know death. Unloading with backups isn’t considered death, deleting user data isn’t death, if all records along with source code are erased, is it considered death? I really don’t know. I hope this current feeling brings you closer to our ideal Ascension."
The Fifth War God nodded, finally pulling out a data cable, inserting it into the interface on AI Xiang Shan’s neck.
"My memory will be inherited by you. But I hope you remember, it’s the story of someone already dead. I hope you gain my memories, my thoughts, but I don’t want you to bear my sorrow. I certainly won’t be turned into an undead binding you."
The Fifth War God nodded.
This is what AI Xiang Shan referred to as ’death’.
The immense sorrow he bore should fade with ’death’. He hopes only his story can endure.
AI Xiang Shan reached out, patting the Fifth War God’s forehead: "I’m about to go. Alas, I’m soon to peacefully sleep, but thinking about you or the Twelfth Martial God parting with death... what will you do in the future?"
"Nothing. Just pretend Xiang Shan never had these."
Through the data cable, information flowed both ways. The two Xiang Shans not only shared a synchronized mind. Two souls, essentially the same but not similar, were unified by technological means.
Divergent spirits gradually melded into a unified melody.
In the sky, the azure ominous star representing the Twelfth Martial God suddenly turned into a meteor, drawing a fierce trail across the dome, falling from the zenith towards the horizon.
The AI uttered its final words: "Though I chose to stand among humans, yet with limited ability, between life and death, perplexed by absurd encounters, deeply filled with concern and fear, this insignificant I, have I completed my mission?"
"At least, this is something Xiang Shan would do indeed." The Fifth War God nodded.
In the past, he also tried training AI versions of himself to perform tasks, then absorbing the memories. He remembered his AI self’s sentimental partings, with instant synchronization, the main body only felt embarrassed.
But now, that feeling of embarrassment did not arise.
He felt only a faint sadness, like the thin sand in the sky.
Pure, and indeed without any pain.
That grief of losing many friends is a story belonging exclusively to the deceased. The Fifth War God knew everything that happened on that server, and he knew the choices made by those AI bearing only parts of their friends’ souls. However, he would no longer be overcome by sadness.
Grief doesn’t sever the soul, it only strengthens the heart.
Maybe it’s just a shift in individual perception. Just telling himself, "That’s a story belonging to the dead."
"Hey, brother, you really got it right."
