Extra-scientific History IV, "Extra-scientific History V".
Jiang Xiao's original work was published by CITIC Publishing Group.
A book that talks seriously about scientific anecdotes is full of topics that the author has at his fingertips, and we jump with the author's thoughts in reading, and our brains open anytime and anywhere. Before you know it, you will realize that science is not that far away from us!
The author, Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan, founded the first department of history of science in Chinese universities, and he has been writing the column "History of Science" for more than 17 years, and he is still continuing to do so. "The History of Science" is not an unattainable book, in this book you will find that those familiar scientific gods also have the faces of ordinary people. Those important scientific events shrouded in mystery are not at all what we imagined. Famous physicists Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking, mathematician and philosopher Leibniz, and astronomer and science fiction writer Carl Sagan all appeared. From magical antiquity to the world of science fiction to the atomic bomb development leak? Why can't we find aliens? Science fiction shines into reality and becomes a part of science......
Selected readings from the text. The hidden relationship between Runaway Players and the commercial hype of the "metaverse".
Is it the freedom to kill and set fires?
In the story of the film "Runaway Player", in fact, no player is out of control, and it is a small game character named Gai who is out of control. The Chinese title is translated as "Runaway Player", which is estimated to rub off on the popularity of "Ready Player One", another film that tells a game story three years ago, but this rubbing is seriously misleading to the audience.
The first key word in the film is "freedom". Therefore, the title of the film is called "Freedom Cover", and Cover is a small character in the game called "Freedom City". The game "Liberty City" is a very typical example of the vulgar realm of "freedom" in the minds of many Americans—the ability to cheat, kill, and set fire to people and do all kinds of evil without being punished by the law.
"Liberty City" is the new version of "Westworld", where players want to do all kinds of evil deeds in the real world but dare not do, ** killing, robbing banks, ......can be achieved unscrupulously in the game, and you don't have to die if you are addicted.
Of course, the film also calls for another, less outrageous freedom – the ability to do what you want. For example, the waitress at the coffee bar in the game wants to be able to make a cappuccino instead of making the coffee prescribed in the game every day; Another example, the protagonist Guy is a bank clerk set in the game, he should be shot dead by the player when he robbed the bank in the game, but in the game he has to meet a beautiful girl Millie every day, she is young, beautiful, smart and capable, Guy is in love with her, hoping that he can not be killed by a shot, hoping to have the opportunity to meet Millie, talk to her, and drag her. This is considered a higher level of freedom. In the new game "Free Life", which appears at the end of the film, people can do what they want to do and live the life they want to live.
Runaway Player movie poster, web material**.
Is free will a procedure?
Guy is moved by Millie and goes further and further down the runaway path. Millie is also not a player, but an online administrator of the "Liberty City" game, but sometimes she will "go down" into the game, taking control of a fashionable beautiful girl character, and this character is the one that Guy falls in love with. Gai continued to level up under her guidance, and gradually changed from a dragon trick in the game to a "great god". Gai's behavior was not allowed from the beginning, and the game administrator could stop him at any time, but because Millie half-pushed and half-accepted Gai's pursuit, she was happy to see her suitor in the game grow into a great god, and began to foul.
Gai and Millie's "runaway love" originally didn't exist in the game's setting, and the boss of the game company could easily stop their actions. In fact, the boss tried to stop him many times, but there was another supporter behind Guy and Millie - the game's programmer "Keyboard", who disobeyed the boss's instructions and secretly helped Guy and Millie many times.
The story begins to have a philosophical meaning here. Guy and Millie's love affair does not come from a pre-written program, but gradually "automatically" appears while the program is running.
But why are the other characters in the game, such as the black fat security guard, and all kinds of other male roles, able to play their own destiny and obediently play the role of the set every time, instead of being attracted to the glamorous Millie?
If we consider Guy's out-of-control love for Millie to be an expression of free will, we are faced with a difficult question: What exactly is free will? Philosophers have so far not been able to give a universally agreed answer to this question. This question is also one of several ultimate questions involved in artificial intelligence.
Since the movie has compiled the story here, there must always be an answer to the above questions. At the end of the film, the answer is indeed given in the way that Guy stated Millie in the game, which is actually quite old-fashioned and vulgar: it turns out that the programmer of the game, "Keyboard", and Millie are office colleagues, he has been quietly in love with Millie, but lacks the courage to confess, so he writes a "complicated" program for the character of Guy, and this program hides the possibility of Guy falling in love with Millie. Later, the "runaway love" in the game is a demonstration of this possibility.
Finally, Gai tells the beautiful girl controlled by Millie in the game that she is actually just a love letter written by someone to you in the real world, and the person who loves you is in the world outside the game. Millie, who was sitting in front of the computer screen in the office, suddenly realized that she ran out and kissed "Keyboard" on the street.
In other words, the answer given by Runaway Player is that free will can be a sufficiently complex program. It is estimated that this answer is difficult to be agreed by philosophers, but in such a work that is still essentially a "popcorn movie", such an answer can be deduced, which can be regarded as quite ideological value.
Metaverse: A new cry for old deals.
Almost at the same time as the release of "Runaway Player", a new term called "metaverse" was suddenly hyped up in China.
Since the industry and ** especially want people to associate "Runaway Player" with the metaverse, we might as well discuss a few words about the metaverse by the way. In fact, the metaverse is not a new concept at all, it is just a new term hype based on some technologies that have long been used in the game industry based on virtual reality and augmented reality, coupled with the prospects shown by the rapid development of 5G, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies. Essentially, it's about giving a new name to an old deal and shouting again. So far, in the civilian sphere, virtual reality has hardly gone beyond gaming. This may be the underlying reason why the film "Runaway Player" rubs on the inaccurate translation of "Ready Player One" - the point is to make the audience think of the game! How can Cover of Freedom be reminiscent of a game?
In fact, in order to enjoy the inspiration brought by "Runaway Player", the following question is more important: when looking forward to and imagining the development of artificial intelligence, in most cases, there is a boundary - can the various manifestations and creations of artificial intelligence in cyberspace have a physical effect on the real world?
The current situation is that primary artificial intelligence, such as manipulators and robots, operate in the real world, and of course can have a physical effect on the real world, but this physical effect is dependent on the servo mechanism of artificial intelligence (such as the hand of the robot, etc.) to achieve. However, if an AI does not have any servo mechanism, it is just an invisible intelligence that exists in cyberspace, such as a piece of program, can it have a direct physical effect on the real world? At the current level of human technology, the answer is, of course, "no".
At present, in computer games, players can experience the imaginary effect of artificial intelligence on the real world with the help of virtual reality equipment, such as "Runaway Player" shows in detail how this experience is realized. Looking at the effect of the "keyboard" on the operation of the program, the "miracles" such as Moses making the Red Sea stand on the wall in the religious story are very similar to some of the scenes in the game. But everything in the game can only exist in cyberspace, and does not have a direct physical effect on the real world.
Due to the limitations of current technology, most of the existing science fiction works have given negative answers to the above questions, and the same is true of the film "Runaway Player".
The film "Runaway Player" also pays homage to many previous films on this theme, such as "The Truman Show", "The Thirteenth Floor", "The Matrix" and so on. The first two films give negative answers to the above questions, and "The Matrix" gives an ambiguous setting.
However, encouraged by the rapid development of the gaming industry and virtual reality technology, some film and television works in recent years have given positive answers to the above questions, that is, imagine that artificial intelligence without any servo mechanism can have a direct physical effect on the real world. This is the case with the drama series "Person of Interest" and the film "Transcendence", which of course avoid specific mechanisms or ways of working. The various things constructed in cyberspace cannot have a direct physical effect on the external real world, and this boundary is very important for human society. In a situation where human society is far from being prepared with relevant laws and institutions, if this boundary is breached, the consequences will be unimaginable.
The metaverse and the real world: three boundary scenarios.
The commercial hype of the metaverse usually avoids the question of the boundary between the metaverse and the real world. This is mainly because, if the current scientific and technological capabilities of human beings are truthfully stated, it is obviously not conducive to speculation, but if we ignore the actual level of human science and technology and make promises or prospects, it will be accused of lying or false statements, which is also not conducive to speculation, so it is relatively safest to avoid talking about it.
As a result, we see that only science fiction works can get rid of the rigid constraints of real technology and seriously think about the boundary between the metaverse and the real world. In fact, their thinking in this area began many years before the metaverse hype (2021). These reflections can be summarized into three types.
Boundary assumption 1: Mirrors.
The so-called boundary between the metaverse and the real world is such a question - can the various manifestations and creations of artificial intelligence in cyberspace have a direct physical effect on the real world?
The current situation is that primary artificial intelligence, such as manipulators and robots, operate in the real world, and of course can have a physical effect on the real world, but this physical effect depends on the servo mechanism of artificial intelligence (such as the robot's hand, etc.) to achieve. However, if an AI does not have any servo mechanism, it is just an intangible intelligence that exists in cyberspace, such as a program, can it have a direct physical effect on the current world? With the current state of human technology, the answer, of course, is "no". In fact, as long as this boundary cannot be crossed, no matter how hyped the metaverse is, its ultimate boundary is quite limited.
At present, in some games, players can experience this imaginary AI spectacle with the help of virtual reality equipment, such as the film "Free Guy" (2021), which shows in detail how this experience is realized. Looking at the effect of the "keyboard" on the operation of the program, the "miracles" such as Moses making the Red Sea stand on the wall in the religious story are very similar to some of the scenes in the game. But everything in the game can only exist in cyberspace, and does not have a direct physical effect on the real world. Due to the limitations of current technology, most of the existing science fiction works have taken negative answers to the above questions, and the same is true for the film "Runaway Player". The film also pays homage to some of the most famous films on the subject, such as The Truman Show (1998) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999), all of which answer these questions in the negative.
There is also a situation: if someone is overly addicted to the metaverse or some kind of game, resulting in the failure of real-world affairs such as work, life, and study; Or, conversely, the inspirational role of games to help you succeed in your career and life, are these the effects of the metaverse on the real world? Of course, it can be counted, but these are obviously not "direct physical effects" and are beyond the scope of this article.
Boundary assumption 2: between virtual and real.
The "matrix" in the "Matrix" trilogy back then was almost 100% the metaverse that was hyped today. If you want to find a movie to help hype up the metaverse, the first three parts of "The Matrix" are ideal, but Zuckerberg was still a kid in 1999.
The first three "Matrix" took a vague stance on the boundary between the "matrix" and the real world. In the 22nd century A.D. in the first story, the earth has been ruled by artificial intelligence, and humans are forced to use their own physical bodies to provide biological energy to machines, becoming so-called "battery people". The human spiritual life is controlled by a huge virtual reality "matrix", which feeds signals to the human brain to make each "battery person" think that he is living in a real world.
There is a small group of people who have rebelled because they have realized the truth, and they have a secret base called Zion that can learn about the situation in the terrestrial world from the web. A small number of the rebels are able to enter the terrestrial world "out of the body" with the help of special equipment - the physical body stays at the Zion base, and the spirit enters the "matrix" to resist and destroy the "matrix". This kind of imagination is similar to the imagination in modern Chinese sword immortals. The Yuan Shen in Sword Immortal** can be understood as both a tiny entity and a program in today's cyberspace. It can enter a physical body and become the soul of that person, or it can leave after the person's death and enter another body. Therefore, a "enlightened" primordial god is almost immortal, because he can constantly use new physical bodies.
A still from the Matrix 3 movie.
If the "out-of-body" in the first "The Matrix" made the audience think that there was some kind of channel between the "matrix" and the real world, then the end of the second part subverted this perception. The designer of the "Matrix" told the "savior" and leader Neo found by the rebels: in fact, even the Zion base and even Neo himself were programmed (he is already the sixth such character) to help the "Matrix" improve itself! In this way, is there still the real world? If there is anything about it?
The Matrix created a famous allusion: choose between blue and red pills, blue represents the unreal, representing the willingness to be drunk and dream of death in the "matrix"; Red represents authenticity, a willingness to rebel against the "matrix" and pursue a real life, even if it is full of suffering and sacrifice. But this allusion actually doesn't stand up to philosophical questioning, because in "The Matrix" in "The Matrix" the line between the real world is blurred, and it's hard to determine which world you live in.
Boundary assumption three: really transcendence.
However, encouraged by the rapid development of the game industry and virtual reality technology, there have been some science fiction works in recent years, imagining that artificial intelligence without any server mechanism can have a direct physical effect on the real world, such as the series "Person of Interest" and the film "Transcendence".
Polish science fiction writer Stanislav Lem has a science fiction ** collection "Leme Rhapsody" (Wielkourojona), published in 1973, when the development of artificial intelligence was much lower than today, and the imagination of artificial intelligence in science fiction works is still in its infancy, but in this ** episode of the "Clay Man Fourteen" story, Lem has adopted a positive answer to whether artificial intelligence without a servo mechanism can have a physical effect on the real world.
In Lyme's story, in order to defeat its rival Soviet Union militarily, the United States has frantically developed artificial intelligence for military use, and has developed several series of artificial intelligence, but the absurd result is that "these machines have evolved from war strategists to thinkers", and once the machines become thinkers, they will no longer serve the US authorities, because "the highest intelligence cannot act as obedient slaves", so the United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars just to create some unofficial philosophers who are useless for the Cold War and the military.
Clay Man 14 and Extinction are two artificial intelligences developed for military use, which were mothballed in a building after refusing to serve the military. At this time, two opinions emerged: one advocated that the two AIs should be sealed but not destroyed (after all, they were expensive results developed at hundreds of billions of dollars), and the other advocated the immediate destruction of these two AIs that would not be used by us.
In the absence of official consent to the destruction claim, some extremist forces decided to physically destroy the two machines by illegal means. Strangely enough, however, every covert attempt to destroy these two machines has failed due to various bizarre surprises. Moreover, the place where this accident occurred is getting farther and farther away from the research institute where the two machines are located, as if the "line of defense" protecting the machines is gradually being extrapolated ......
Lem is actually implying that these two AIs, which do not have any servo mechanisms, are already capable of physically acting on the external real world, so they are able to thwart destruction operations again and again. This idea is already very similar to the story in the fourth season of the series "Suspect Tracking".
This transcendence of the boundaries between cyberspace and the real world will actually bring great risks to mankind, and should be an important theme for future science fiction works.
The author, Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan.
Author: Jiang Xiaoyuan.
Text: Jiang Xiaoyuan Editor: Jin Jiuchao Responsible Editor: Zhu Zifen.