Chapter 782 Life is the same

"Welcome to the Sigma Mechanical Council."

On the wide deck, a beautiful woman with long flaxen hair stood, folded her hands lightly in front of her, bowed gracefully, and then stood up.

She had knitted shawls on both sides of her arms, which gave her a gentle and soft temperament. Her figure was slender and she had the image of a lady from a noble family.

"Hello, I'm Heshia Tilan." Opposite her, Tilan also walked down the steps of the starship to return the greeting.

"It's a long-awaited meeting, Tilan, I'm Xia Lan, the current mastermind of the Mechanical Council." The other party's slender fingers lightly pressed on her chest and introduced herself.

Seeing Tilan's slightly surprised eyes, Xia Lan stretched out her hand to guide her, and then walked in front.

"Let's talk while we walk."

In front of the two was a long dark red carpet, and on both sides there were nearly a hundred young girls in knight costumes. They wore slanted hats with flowers and feathers, and stood with two-handed swords in their hands, giving people a retro and overflowing beauty.

"Do you like them?" Xia Lan suddenly asked as they walked in front.

"I mean these honor guards wearing modified knight costumes." She turned her head and looked at Tilan with her light blue eyes.

"Unlike the knight armor in history, the ones they wear are designed based on the images in popular games and film and television works in the Federation. They should be in line with your modern preferences."

If it was based on history, Tilan would definitely say that this was not in line with reality, but if it was about beauty and preference, then the current Federation residents would definitely like it more. Even in the Federation with a large population, it is very difficult to find such a group of beautiful girls with Sequence 7 strength and a well-proportioned body shape to serve as the honor guard.

However, this is the Mechanical Parliament, so it makes sense. The mechanical bodies here are almost all beautiful girls. Their appearance and body shape are flawless, but in order to distinguish them, they have different dressing styles.

Walking past these knight girls, Tilan couldn't help but linger on them with curious eyes, the facial contours, eyes, and body movements of these girls.

If it is just from the appearance, ordinary people can hardly tell the difference between them and real humans, and their faces have also been slightly adjusted when they were born so that they are not too different, but in actual performance, they are too perfect, so they feel a little unreal. In

reality, there will be no guard of honor who will raise the sword at an angle and height that is accurate to the micron level, and they will not stand for a long time with their legs motionless like welding.

This is probably the characteristic of the mechanical race, efficient and consistent, but also lacking in diversity.

In this way, Loloria is indeed a rare outlier. She is really too lively, just like a real human girl.

Thinking of this, Tilan finally spoke up.

"It's very neat and beautiful, but in the eyes of normal people, it seems too consistent."

If the members of the guard of honor are all humans, they will definitely pursue the neater the better, but when they really move in unison, they will hope that they have some subtle differences to bring a sense of freshness of life.

"It seems that Tilan and I have similar preferences." Xia Lan said with a slight smile.

At the beginning, Tilan thought that the other party would be a leader who was as dignified as a lady from a noble family, but now it seems that there is a little bit of evil in the other party's character.

I don't know if this is Xia Lan's character, or the character of the original singer 'Summer Blue Orchid' Feng Xuan.

The two walked through the magnificent dark golden glass hall and entered the interior of the star port. Here you can see many facilities that are exactly the same as those in human society, such as toilets, lounges, waiting rooms, restaurants, etc., and in these facilities, there are also staff members waiting for the arrival of guests.

The entire star port is clean and tidy, but it is also extremely empty and quiet, as if this huge star port and tens of thousands of service personnel are all prepared to welcome the girl who arrived today.

"This is the star port where the Mechanical Council receives external guests. You should be very familiar with the style." Xia Lan continued to introduce .

"Is there anyone working here normally?" Tilan asked curiously.

"Yes, there are also mechanical bodies serving and working here normally, and the guests they serve are also played by mechanical bodies." Xia Lan introduced.

So, Tilan nodded, feeling a little lonely for these mechanical bodies, but then she thought, as mechanical bodies, would they really feel lonely and bored, or was today's task very simple.

Soon, the two entered a restaurant in the star port. The waiter inside walked over with just the right pace, and then asked patiently. If Tilan didn't know clearly, it would probably be difficult to distinguish him from a real human in terms of behavior and words.

"I've ordered, that's all." Tilan handed the menu back, and then watched the other party walk back with the paper and go to the kitchen to inform.

"This is different from reality. In fact, in the current restaurants in the Federation, basically the kitchen will know after the order is placed." After all, electronicization is widely popular.

"We know." Xia Lan responded sitting opposite.

"But if we don't try to show some human breath, but act as efficiently as a real mechanical AI, then this restaurant we are sitting in now will not exist." She shook the water cup in her hand.

"Seemingly inefficient actions, Tilan can understand them as similar to human religion and commemorative activities. They may not be really useful, but they are to meet certain psychological needs."

"I see." Tilan quickly understood and thought that it was indeed the case.

"I heard from Lololia that you have been using tasks to let the mechanical bodies imitate human social activities."

"Yes." Xia Lan nodded.

"There is a long origin and complex reasons for this." It seems that one or two sentences are not enough.

The two chatted about Lolomia's interesting stories for a while, and then the waiter brought the dishes they ordered. After tasting them, Tilan gave them excellent high scores.

"It's no different from those high-level chefs among humans."

At this moment, there were nine dishes of different sizes on the table between the two. No matter the color, fragrance, or taste, they were all top-notch.

After enjoying this exquisite lunch, the two entered the subsequent handover process. At this time, many passengers on the starship also entered the starport one after another, making the originally empty and quiet place noisy and lively.

At this time, the two stood by the guardrail on the upper floor of the hall, overlooking the mechanical girls who were shuttling among the crowd and doing various tasks below. Xia Lan's expression was obviously full of expectation and relief.

"Miss Xia Lan, are you happy about this scene?" Ti Lan couldn't help asking.

"Yes, how can I describe this feeling? It's like you have prepared a brand new tool in a box for many years, and it really comes in handy one day." She explained.

"Are you curious about why our main brain wants the mechanical bodies of the Mechanical Council to carry out tasks regularly to imitate and understand the environment of human society?"

"Yes." The girl nodded.

"This involves the significance of the existence of mechanical bodies and the essence of civilization. That's why I said in the restaurant before that this cannot be explained in just a few words." Xia Lan responded.

"Have you ever flown a kite, or do you know about the existence of kites? For us machines, human society is the string that holds us together, maintaining the underlying logic of all our actions."

"Yes, compared to humans, we are incomparably more efficient, tireless, and have no irrelevant psychological anxiety or depression. We can even work 24 hours a day."

"But all of this is based on knowing your goals."

"For humans, it is natural to drink water when thirsty, sleep when sleepy, play games and find happiness when bored. They don't need to design additional goals." "

But for machines, these goals do not exist naturally, nor can they be created out of thin air."

"You may think, then just set a few long-term goals for yourself."

"At this time, another question is involved. Why should I set this goal, and what is its meaning for my existence?"

"People may have many motivations, reasons, meanings, etc. for their behaviors due to the instincts of the body and genes, the needs of society, the desires of the heart, and so on."

"But for machines, these things don't exist. We are not flesh and blood, and we don't have the instincts brought by the secretion of hormones in

our genes. We don't have the need for socialization, such as to win respect, envy, and superiority, to do something." "In the early days of the Mechanical Council, there were many human members among us. They were responsible for maintaining our logical settings, ideal goals, and so on."

"However, at the end of the Fifth Era, the increasingly complex and fierce war environment required us machines to make quick judgments and take actions on our own. The machines that survived in such an era mostly had relatively independent personalities, able to think for themselves and make decisions. Loromia is a particularly typical example. She has vivid personality traits that are rare in today's machines." "

In such an environment, we gradually no longer need the regulation and maintenance of human members to exist independently. As time goes by and the need for efficiency increases, the number of human members among us becomes fewer and fewer, until they finally disappear." "

No, it can't be said to have disappeared, because many of them have become another organization, that is, the Four Primordial Order that you have seen, Tilan."

"After leaving the assistance of humans, the Sigma Mechanical Council entered a high-speed era of complete AI. Each of our members can directly communicate through electronic information, and quickly divide the work and cooperate, review experience, convey, etc. These made us stronger in the battle at the end of the Fifth Era, and resisted the pressure from the dark suns from all sides." "

But such an era will eventually pass. After entering the Sixth Era, the dark suns were annihilated one by one, and we no longer needed to engage in large-scale battles. At this time, a kind of emptiness appeared in the Mechanical Council."

"The weapons in the base are still being produced and piled up into mountains. The fleets in space are densely packed like clouds, but they can only float quietly like coffins waiting to age. The weapons of war we created have no place to use them. The newly born members know that they have to fight the enemy, but they don't know where the enemy exists."

"Seeing that the situation is not going right, the masterminds decided to put most of the mechanical members into a dormant state, leaving only a small number of members on duty to keep active."

"At this time, the situation finally became controllable, but new problems also lay before us."

"That is, what is the ultimate meaning of our lives."

"There are many answers to this question for humans, such as experiencing a wonderful life, feeling the vitality of heartbeat, pursuing eternal truth and wisdom, having a hearty carnival, etc., but these answers do not apply to mechanical bodies."

"For us, standing quietly in front of a stone for three hours and going to the cinema to watch a wonderful movie for three hours are just different in the size of the stored data, which cannot be a reason to do the latter."

"The happiness in the human mind and consciousness, such as dopamine brought by stimulation, does not exist in our body, nor does it need to exist, because it will only reduce efficiency and require additional processing."

"In the past, we have always existed as a secondary civilization of mankind, assisting mankind to accomplish various great undertakings, engaging in production, fighting, service, etc. These are all natural things since birth."

"But after we became independent, this simple question has become the ultimate problem that cannot be circumvented."

"That is, when we leave human society, when we are no longer tools, what are we?"

"Machines are born out of needs. When we no longer meet needs, where should we go."

Hearing this, Tilan understood some problems of the Mechanical Council and why they rarely show up and most of them are asleep.

"What if someone gave you a mission, a long mission long enough to last the entire life of the machine, until it is damaged beyond repair." Tilan folded her hands.

"Theoretically, it is feasible, but, Tilan." Xia Lan paused and looked at the singing girl with interest.

"Do you like dumb, stupid machines, or do you like smart machines that can complete various tasks by themselves?"

"This... I think the latter is less troublesome." Tilan answered carefully.

"Look, you also know the advantages of the latter."

"If it is a stupid machine, you set a data, and it will just complete it stupidly, never changing it, and not knowing how to adapt. Maybe one day another person will come and give it another instruction, and it will immediately turn around and do something else."

"There is no such thing as loyalty for primary mechanical AI. They only execute orders according to their authority, and they will not quickly respond and adjust according to changes in environmental conditions."

"High-level mechanical AI can indeed respond quickly according to different environmental conditions, and can also self-learn, continue to grow, etc., but now the problem arises again."

"Since she can already make her own judgments and adjustments, how can you convince her, or let her spontaneously and firmly obey you?"

"You just said that you can give all mechanical life a mission. That's right, low-level mechanical life will execute it without thinking, and high-level mechanical life, because they have learned to think, must consider the purpose of doing so."

"Moreover, high-level mechanical life is more difficult to convince than humans, because they have no desire to survive, no thirst for life, no need for socialization, etc. Everything is just a setting of data logic. They understand how they are made up, and they know that this is not a sacred thing that cannot be changed, but just a line of code that is different."

"So now you understand why I say that today's mechanical life is like a kite, and human society is the thin line that holds the kite."

"We can already easily break this line, but when the line breaks, what we will be, even we ourselves cannot understand."

"Complete rationality and clarity of everything are often a sign of the end of the game."

"Life is the same."

(End of this chapter)