Upon hearing Ming Po's words, Shen Yiqi did not grow angry or fall deep into thought.
He did not waver or hesitate in the slightest.
It was as if he had already anticipated Ming Po's response.
"I understand your concerns."
Shen Yiqi nodded earnestly. "The scenario you described is entirely possible. Machines and Artificial Intelligence might not be at fault, but the humans who manufacture, train, control, and maintain them might harbor ulterior motives or simply lack competence.
"What if you were to join them? If you cannot trust , can you at least trust yourself?"
"No, I cannot."
Ming Po leaned back into the soft sofa and replied without hesitation, "I don't even trust myself.
"Mr. Shen, have you ever heard of Richard Gatling?"
"...The inventor of the Gatling gun?"
"Yes, the dical doctor." Ming Po spoke slowly. "He initially invented the Gatling gun because he was traumatized by the massive casualties he witnessed on the battlefield. He realized that his own efforts alone could never save everyone... Thus, to allow a single soldier to wield the power of a hundred, he created the Gatling gun.
"He thought that with such a highly efficient weapon, battlefield casualties would decrease. In his mind, wars would no longer require as many troops. If the number of soldiers on the battlefield dropped, the war would end sooner, effectively minimizing death and injury.
"But what happened next?"
Ming Po threw his hands up in a mocking gesture. "Did the number of soldiers actually decrease?
"It wasn't a case of needing fewer soldiers to kill the enemy because the efficiency of slaughter had improved. Rather, because the efficiency of slaughter improved, armies required even more soldiers just to withstand the enemy's slaughter. The machines you want to invent to 'replace human labor' might end up squeezing people even harder.
"Furthermore, how exactly do you screen a person's talent?"
Ming Po countered, "So people only awaken to their true calling halfway through life. Not all talents are simply 'discovered'—so are nurtured later on, and so talents simply do not belong in the current era. If these individuals are cast aside too early and their developnt halted, how will they ever escape their suppressed fate when their era finally arrives?
"If you can uncover secrets that they themselves haven't even discovered... that implies you have completely monopolized all of their information. Are you going to peer into their souls and pass judgnt on their thoughts?"
Ming Po did not hold back in the slightest.
Under Zhuang Yan's appreciative gaze and Shen Yiqi's incredibly solemn stare, Ming Po raised his hand slightly, delivering judgnt like a godfather. It felt as though Shen Yiqi was the one being interviewed, not Ming Po.
"These things you've ntioned..."
Shen Yiqi remained silent for a mont before speaking. "They are all problems that can be solved, aren't they?
"Whether it's 'hidden loopholes planted in a designed program,' 'AI iterations spiraling completely out of control,' or 'flaws in the legal and screening systems'—they can all be reported to us and subsequently fixed. After all, it is impossible for a newly launched program to be perfect from the start.
"Let's make a hypothesis, Mr. Ming Po. Let's assu we possess the ability to travel through ti.
"We create such a system together today. And if, in the future, we discover that it has deviated from its original design... that it has lost control! Or maybe it has a massive design flaw, or soone exploits it, or the AI awakens into so kind of 'Skynet' ruler...
"Then we simply return to this exact mont and rewrite the code. You've seen Terminator, right?"
"Yes, I have."
Ming Po spoke evenly. "But I don't think you are building Skynet. You're building the Sibyl System."
Hearing this, a smile blood on Shen Yiqi's face—the delightful expression of encountering a kindred spirit. "Psycho-Pass? I've seen that too... But I don't believe the Sibyl System is wrong. Besides, the ones truly doing that kind of thing are soone else."
"You think... the Sibyl System isn't wrong?"
Ming Po sat up slightly straighter, frowning.
The "Sibyl System"—a concept originating from the work Psycho-Pass.
In simple terms, it was a fictional social managent system capable of assessing a person's psychological state, their deepest desires, their occupational aptitude... and their Cri Coefficient.
When soone's "Cri Coefficient" reached a critical threshold, it ant they were either planning or already committing a cri. Consequently, they could be apprehended before the cri even occurred, thereby minimizing the harm inflicted upon other citizens to the greatest possible extent.
"I think that is a good thing."
Shen Yiqi rested his hands on his knees and spoke candidly. "Weren't all the problems that appeared in Psycho-Pass caused by vulnerabilities, bugs, or soone maliciously exploiting the Sibyl System itself?
"But it demonstrably reduced cri and improved the experiences of the vast majority of law-abiding citizens, which proves its significance. The issues depicted in the ani actually stemd from its inadequate capabilities. The fact that it could be deceived simply ans it wasn't perfect enough, wasn't good enough. Its authority was usurped, and the administrative system remained inflexible.
"Just as you ntioned... I don't believe Dr. Gatling was wrong either.
"His only mistake was that he still wasn't powerful enough. The Gatling gun certainly increased the efficiency of war, but a quantitative change did not trigger a qualitative change..."
A nuclear bomb.
Shen Yiqi slowly spat out the term.
A fanatical light, blazing like the sun, shone in his eyes.
"The sheer devastation of nuclear weapons actively constrained the nature of warfare, thereby drastically reducing casualties. Precisely because of this, we cannot afford to be timid, can we?"
Shen Yiqi spoke like a seasoned orator, his words brimming with infectious zeal. "We must achieve everything in one fell swoop! Break the shackles of this era! Shatter all the chains of the old world!
"Law! Morality! Common sense! Instinct! The new era is upon us; the future is already here. Any force resisting humanity's stride into this new era is rely a remnant of the old world.
"Don't you think it's incredibly foolish and inefficient for humanity to continue fighting amongst themselves on the ground in an era where we can touch the stars?
"If we are going to do this, we must be absolutely thorough! Annihilate the existing concepts of 'work,' 'entertainnt,' 'education,' and 'reproduction' in one breath, terrifying the entire world just like the creation of the nuclear bomb!
"You ask, what if we overlook talent?"
Shen Yiqi bead, his eyes flashing with an invisible, oppressive majesty. "That is an excellent question!
"I believe there are three aspects to this. First, it still ans our capabilities and technology are lacking. Society is a chaotic system, and human destiny even more so. But if we can exhaustively sequence the human geno and completely parse sociability, then human talent becos controllable.
"Even if that 'doesn't seem human,' it is rely the next stage of humanity.
"Second, it ans we are still short on talent. However, AI can iterate upon itself. Technology can too. We aren't just developing machinery... Robots are rely tools, not the ultimate goal. They are our servants, replacents for 'inferior humans'... while customized genetic engineering will push superior humans even further, transforming them into greater beings.
"Third."
He paused for a fraction of a second.
For a brief mont, that dazzling smile turned as rciless as the blazing sun.
"If the number of overlooked and missed talents is small, then ignoring or missing them isn't an issue. As long as the number of new talents unearthed by this system vastly outweighs the ones we miss, the overall efficiency of society still receives a massive boost, doesn't it?"
In that instant, a single realization dawned on Ming Po.
—This guy was absolutely serious.
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