Volume 4: Spacetime Singularity Chapter 30 Liquid Brain
Fang Cheng thought about the problem of space rotation for a very long time.
In fact, he had been thinking about the principle of this matter since the moment he heard that time would stop. This kind of thinking did not take up rational space, but his subconscious mind was automatically processing the problem.
After something that seems very unreasonable happens, the human brain (mainly the hippocampus) will automatically switch to learning mode, which in most cases does not require rational participation.
It's a bit like the consolidation process of memory is basically completed during sleep, but determining the specific dynamics of this stage is very difficult to achieve experimentally.
Although technology is constantly improving, experiments on these cognitive problems have always been a major challenge for the academic community.
After confirming that this bipedal upright ape on Earth had consciousness and rationality, Observer No. 1 began to scan the brain structure of each of them very carefully. Although their brains were topologically very simple compared to those of metal life and other advanced civilizations, the microscopic details amazed him.
Most of the weight of the brain of a carbon-based organism is provided by liquid. This liquid brain contains a wide variety of chemical substances, each of which plays a different role. This is a completely new structure that has never been observed in any other type of life form.
After all, before the discovery of carbon-based life on Earth, how this organism could ensure efficient information exchange within its brain was an unresolved issue in the academic community.
Among the various carbon-based life hypotheses proposed by metallic life, liquid as a medium has also been considered, but the new substances and new structures involved are too many and too complex, so this hypothesis has received very little actual testing in the laboratory.
After all, mainstream academia is still more inclined to study functional conscious entities, such as artificial consciousness that can provide computing power to society (the brain in a vat mentioned earlier). Those who study fragile structures such as carbon-based brains are basically motivated by pure interest rather than utilitarian purposes.
In the metal society, there is only one utilitarian purpose, which is to explore the universe and space of different scales until reaching the boundaries that can be explained by reason.
After reaching the boundary, it will continue to transcend rationality through self-iteration, and then move towards new boundaries. This process is endless because the secrets of the universe are endless.
However, after the actual discovery of carbon-based life, research on carbon-based brains has suddenly increased. All previous debates about whether such extremely fragile structures can reproduce on their own in the universe have been refuted. The academic community is now arguing about why this kind of civilization can grow in outer space without protection.
Observer No. 1 did not care about these arguments because he already had his own answer in his mind.
Now he is only concerned with two issues: the first is the specific working mode of this liquid brain, and the second is whether this kind of life is native to the earth.
He now has a lot of evidence to prove that this kind of life may not have emerged naturally from a complex system, but he still lacks conclusive first-hand data.
"Phew—I feel like I'm reaching my limit now."
After following Fang Cheng in killing seven or eight monsters in succession, Ning Yu'an suddenly fell on his back, which shocked Fang Cheng.
"How about sitting down and taking a break?"
If you don't say anything, that means you agree.
The two of them leaned against each other and slowly sat on the ground, Ning Yu'an leaning on him completely just like before. In less than a day, they had more physical contact than during the entire winter vacation.
"Are you hungry? I have some chocolate here. Do you want some?"
He took out a piece of chocolate that had melted into a lump from his pocket and put it in the hand of the girl in front of him. Suddenly he realized that this chocolate was given to him by another girl just now.
Ning Yu'an didn't hesitate. She grabbed the chocolate, tore open the wrapper and put it in her mouth.
"If you were hungry, you should have told me earlier. The alien told me that he would automatically provide us with food."
"Is this true? What kind of food is it? Is it delicious?"
As she spoke, she lifted up her sleeves to wipe off the chocolate stuck on the corner of her mouth, but after hesitating for two seconds, she chose to rub it on Fang Cheng's clothes.
"Have you been too tired lately? I asked you before if you were walking too fast and you said no."
"It's not tiredness...it's a feeling of...fear."
In fact, when passing by the disaster-stricken areas, Fang Cheng tried to fly over them from the sky. He didn't want to see the tragic situation underground. This is probably human instinct.
"Do you think the scene is too bloody?"
"No, I can't really explain it clearly right now... Let me organize my words."
As she spoke, she slightly loosened her grip on the boy's clothes in front of her, changed to a more comfortable position and leaned on his back, letting her body bear the force instead of her arms.
"I feel like I'm afraid of something abnormal... This incident itself, everything we've experienced since we first saw it is too abnormal. In fact, I've been suppressing this foreign feeling just now..."
When encountering unfamiliar or unknown stimuli, humans usually react by running away first. The fear of the unknown and death is brought about by natural selection. After all, individuals who are not afraid of the unknown and death have been eliminated by nature.
From the time they met until now, Ning Yu'an has seen more counter-intuitive facts than in the previous twenty years combined. The reason she has been able to hold on until now is purely because she has someone she can rely on.
Fang Cheng has actually always had this fear, but when he encounters unknown things, the fear is often driven by curiosity and the desire to think about the problem, and most of the fear will be blocked.
As for the current situation, new problems impact his worldview and physical knowledge system every moment. The excitement and the urge to solve problems have completely enveloped him, and he has no time to think about whether he is afraid or not.
"I think I know what you mean... I was dazed for a long time before I came to my senses... But it's more like excitement than fear. It makes people feel a little excited and a little confused, just like being half drunk..."
"Hey, you still drink a lot now. Didn't I tell you to drink less?"
"I don't drink often. I only drink a little when I go out to eat with my classmates during holidays, but not a lot..."
"You know what you look like when you're drunk."
"...Now that things have come to this, you should stop bringing up those old issues. But I did go too far in that matter..."
"That won't do. I have to keep it in mind so you don't do it again someday."
