Volume 17: Enemy of All Things Chapter 13: Les Miserables (Part 2)
"……What did you say?"
"Do you want me to repeat it again? That's fine. Is my mind bound by some kind of mental restriction? Can you conduct a thorough investigation on me? I suspect that my own spirit has been suppressed in some way. You may be able to figure it all out."
"Stop, right here."
Did I hear you correctly?
Feeling a dull pain in his head, the vice president rubbed his brows and felt that he might have encountered the most difficult thing in his life.
What kind of thing is this? A person starts to doubt his mental state and then seeks help from a higher level just to see if he is mentally ill? Isn't this a joke? And there are many ways to suppress the mind. God knows what you are talking about.
There are countless ways to suggest or even simulate personalities in Les Miserables alone . Moreover, in the player's kingdom, there seem to be more methods and more possibilities. The people in that world are more like a group of electronic machines with biological brains than normal people. Those things don't look easy to mess with, but at the same time, their minds can be tampered with physically and electronically.
In this case, there are many possibilities. Even from a broad perspective, everyone's thinking is limited by culture, society and mindset. This is a question that cannot be answered at all. It's just like the electronic man cannot be proved. In this society, people will not starve themselves to death, nor will they split their heads with an axe. Why? Because all social environments and education tell you that you will definitely die after doing these things, and there is no doubt about it. But if you haven't tried it, how do you know that your brain is not electronic and you will not starve to death?
Therefore, this kind of mental problem is simply a disguise that cannot be proven. If we look at it from the perspective of Les Miserables, there are indeed many ways to detect it. But from a broad global perspective, the professor thinks that the man in front of him is likely to have driven himself crazy.
"Well, I think instead of asking us, you should ask those psychologists that you players trust so much."
The vice president thought about it, considered his words, and tried to use words that would not irritate him, and said slowly:
"Those psychiatrists are more suitable for your thoughts and problems. We can only use our own methods to solve problems in our world, but we have no idea about what's going on over there, and we don't know what the situation is over there. So from a more cautious or reasonable perspective, you should go see a psychiatrist over there instead of coming here to ask us for so-called help."
"If the psychiatrist over there could really tell me the truth, or if I really knew what was wrong with me, I wouldn't have come to you. I would have gone to see those regular doctors a long time ago. But the problem now is that I have no way of being sure of my thoughts."
"……What's the meaning?"
“To use an analogy, it’s the invisible elephant problem. But it’s not exactly like that, it’s a slightly twisted variation.”
Li Lin sat in the chair and began to think about how to accurately describe his problem.
This was not a particularly simple matter, especially when Li Lin felt that his thoughts and ideas were becoming increasingly sluggish in some aspects. In the past, he could not feel this kind of stagnation and solidification at all, but in the game, he felt it more and more clearly.
Once you think about a certain point, or once you consider something, your thoughts and thinking will inevitably tilt and distort in a certain direction. It's as if a certain direction of thinking is suppressed. In the past, it was just a vague premonition, but now Li Lin is extremely sure of this. He is indeed shrouded by something invisible and has lost the direction of normal communication and thinking.
Even Li Lin himself was surprised at how he realized this. But this kind of thing is completely useless in the face of the next series of problems. Li Lin himself has noticed the problem, but he has no way to solve it by himself. So it is natural to ask for help from others. From a higher level perspective, Li Lin had already asked Zhang Lingmeng for help, but the response and answer given by Zhang Lingmeng made people feel a little palpitating and at a loss. Zhang Lingmeng himself is no longer trustworthy, and AI itself cannot be asked, so ironically, he can only seek answers from other angles.
Since touching and new rules will subconsciously bypass, then Li Lin's only answer is in the university. Even enemies must communicate, which is much more important than the hostility in the game. Li Lin put aside his prejudice without hesitation and arrived at the university.
"Compared to the invisible elephant, which is unknowable, I can actually touch everything around me. I am sure there is an invisible barrier in my life."
After thinking about it, Li Lin tried his best to avoid some sensitive words and phrases and used simple descriptions to summarize his predicament.
"I have been away from this world for too long. I can feel the alienation and the oppressive atmosphere around me. But I didn't think it was a bad thing at first. I thought it was normal. After all, I have been away from this world for too long. It is natural to have a certain degree of alienation. But I gradually discovered that things are not as simple as I imagined."
"There are many ways for humans to pursue desires, and there are also many ways for humans to understand their own desires. But the strange thing is that I have such an easy grasp of all this. It's as if, as long as I want something, I will definitely have it. I have always had an illusion now."
"That's what I can say for sure, the world seems to revolve around me, instead of being fair to everyone."
“…”
This mental illness seems to be really serious.
The vice president looked at Li Lin, who was narrating seriously, with some embarrassment, hoping to find some less offensive words to describe Li Lin's current mental state. For example, you have too much money to burn, or you are too bored, or you are too lucky and so you are floating.
But thinking carefully about Li Lin's game journey and what he did, the vice president felt like he had something stuck in his throat, and he had no way to say anything. Because to some extent, he was indeed right. If you want to learn something convenient, you can use the void's information tide to help you. If you save a little girl on a whim, you can get a big demon. Just make something and you will soar in the surrounding environment. The vice president thought about it, and there was really nothing he could refute.
After all, the confirmed cosmic change that time was also due to Li Lin's idea. In a narrow sense, his means of manipulating the information of the entire universe for his own benefit is indeed that the whole world revolves around him. But in a broad sense, it is not like this. This conflicting concept made the vice president a little embarrassed and speechless. After all, they themselves were people who were nurtured in this environment. It can even be said that if the university had not made Li Lin participate in several activities that he did not want to participate in for its own considerations, the dean of the university might be this little guy now.
If we consider it from the same perspective, it is not surprising that such thoughts can be generated. In other words, there have indeed been many such people in history. However, the only one who has such excessive self-consciousness is Li Lin.
Compared to the vice president who was racking his brains to think of how to express elegantly and politely that there might be something wrong with his brain, Li Lin continued his description.
"And this happened more than once, many times, countless times, and it happened this way."
Li Lin, sitting on the sofa, narrated in a low voice, as if he was saying something that was a matter of course.
"When I want to go out and talk to people, someone will flatter me. When I want to go out and take a look, something will appear. Basically, whatever I want in my subconscious mind, I will get it without any delay. I have never been asked any questions, nor have I had any doubts. I just got everything as a matter of course. Maybe it's because of my authority, but can authority really do this?"
"There are hundreds of people with authority in our world, and they are all sharing various activities and obligations, but it seems that I am the only one who is truly free. Only I can do whatever I want, go wherever I want, and do whatever I want. My language and thoughts are even more sensitive than the imperial edict. However, it is here that I can feel the barrier coming from the depths of my memory. There is something that I subconsciously ignore, and there is something that I subconsciously ignore. I can feel that every time I think, I will subconsciously slide my thoughts in another direction, but I don't know what to do at all."
"It's like that, you know clearly what's here, but you can't describe it. You can touch it, and use various means to confirm that the thing is definitely here, but there is no way to explain exactly what it is."
Li Lin sat in the chair and took a deep breath, his overly delicate face filled with sadness.
"I'm sure there's an invisible elephant in the room. I can touch it, I can feel it, I can even smell its breath, but I just don't know what it is. I don't know why it looks so weird. I asked other people to find out, but they all gave me the same answer: they can't feel it, they can't see it, and they can't touch it. Everything there is zero."
"And the world I live in is becoming more and more bizarre and unreal. I often doubt the world I see from my dreams and sporadic thoughts. But the pain and torture make me confirm that I am indeed alive. But what about those permissions? What about this idea of wishing for something to come true? Why is it that every time I want to seek the truth or something similar, I am always blocked by various things and hints? I even sought some other help, such as Zhang Lingmeng, the girl I recommended to me. She was supposed to help me sort out these problems. But the result made me very sad."
"No problem, no problem at all. But how is that actually possible? I once asked for a detailed explanation, but the answer I got back was just a brief "no problem". I could feel the uneasiness and alienation that was born more and more clearly, but I had no way to prove it."
"Are you thinking too much?"
After hearing all this description, the vice-president frowned and spoke tentatively.
He himself did not want to get involved in these messy spiritual matters, but this kind of matter was related to only one individual after all. If Li Lin did something weird, then the whole world would basically be doomed, and no one would be able to escape.
Although the vice president felt a little skeptical after listening to what Li Lin said, he still felt that Li Lin might have a little too much self-spirit from a logical point of view. Because the problem of not being aware of oneself is a very common part of the history of any world. Human cognition itself is produced through the accumulation and transformation of experience. Intelligent creatures certainly cannot be aware of things that exceed the scope of their own experience.
It's like if you tell ancient people what the planets and the universe look like, what the microscopic world looks like, they will definitely not know anything. Because their experience world and related knowledge are completely different, and they have no such impression at all. The vice president thinks that Li Lin may have fallen into this state. After all, from the casual chat at the beginning, he also knew that Li Lin was incompatible with the world around him because he had been in prison for a period of time. The vice president believes that this is probably due to the illusion caused by many counterintuitive technologies that cannot be explained by empiricism.
But I thought so, but I couldn't say it. It was no different from calling someone illiterate. After thinking carefully for a while, the vice president used some softer words to describe his views on Li Lin's affairs.
"It's common for me to feel that everything around me seems very fragile and uneasy because of my own reasons."
After thinking about it, the vice president used the ideas here to help Li Lin clarify his thoughts.
"Look, you are able to realize what is wrong here, which means that you are aware that there is a problem here. You are absolutely not aware of the real brainwashing, magic, and other messed up things. This shows that your thoughts do exist, and the existence of your doubts means that your mind is not being controlled or dominated."
"That's not necessarily true."
Li Lin shook his head.
"After a period of time, or only in the game, I was able to realize that something was wrong in reality. If I were in reality, it would be difficult for me to realize the weirdness of the life around me. Only by thinking about it here can I prove the abnormality and uneasiness over there. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Wait a minute, in other words, only in this world can you confirm that there is something wrong with your thinking?"
"That's right. Many of my demands and methods are fed back to the outside world after thinking about it, but I can't feel anything in reality. I just think everything around me is normal, and I lack curiosity about many weird things. I will instinctively ignore those strange phenomena and various anomalies, and subconsciously refuse to think about them. That's why I am sure that there is something wrong with my mind and everything around me."
"...I have heard so much from you. I want to confirm one thing first."
"you say."
"In your world, there really aren't any spiritual ghosts, or the sacredness of individual will, or anything like that, right?"
After hearing this, the vice president also began to restrain his thoughts about Li Lin being a mental patient, and began to ask seriously:
"You don't have any trend of thought or reality like human supremacy or mind over matter, right? In other words, the spirit only exists in the messages of individuals, and is not an objective existence that can be observed and detected. Is your world really like this?"
"Of course the spirit doesn't exist."
Li Lin laughed out loud, as if he found what the vice president said ridiculous.
"Current technology has long denied the sanctity of human thinking. Strictly speaking, we are all aggregates of social and cultural memes, and our thinking is a repetitive protection mechanism created through experience and complex environments. In theory, there is no decisive difference between our brains and electronic products. They are all simulated thinking caused by the operation of electric currents and the opening and closing of neurons. In fact, there is no more fundamental difference between the human brain and the computer."
"The decoding of a person's thoughts and personality has long been completed. Through the simulated personality sandbox, the outside world can now completely simulate a person's thoughts and actions through some simple simulations. Isn't this also my main fear, or the reason why I don't let you show up?"
"Without this ability to prove ourselves, our technology has reached a point where social morality cannot be categorized. That's why I hate it so much."
"...If that's the case, then I can come to a definite conclusion."
After listening to all of Li Lin's descriptions, the vice president breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his brows, and added a pinch of crushed tobacco leaves to himself.
"The eternal mental imprint does not exist in theory. Your worries are completely unnecessary. You don't have to care about who is spying on you, because it is meaningless. From the moment you realize that you may be spied on, all this is meaningless."
