Chapter 270: No Stereotypes
With the major progression of the “main storyline,” the player community once again became lively.
Concepts like “Purge Protocol,” “Machine Crisis,” “Reapers,” and “Iron Man Rebellion” appeared with high frequency in player discussions, like snowflakes.
Gradually, these discussions showed a tendency to turn into arguments.
Because everyone couldn't reach a consensus on cyber combat, each believing that the AI race in their favorite work was the strongest, no one could convince anyone else.
However, even if the power ranking couldn't be agreed upon, one point was widely recognized.
In the world view of “stellaris,” the doomsday catastrophe was never far away, nor did it ever truly end.
Those “great enemies of humanity” who once ended the golden age might be lurking in the dark deep space unreachable by Jump Point routes, on a scale far exceeding post-catastrophe human civilization, repairing the losses from the last conflict, and preparing to make a comeback.
“So, it seems Ruins Star was destroyed by an AI empire? Big Squid is the combat unit of this army, and those mechanical zombies discovered by the First Battle Group are the AI’s assimilation method to weaken human resistance?”
“Hmm! Although the details of the truth still await archaeological excavation, that's roughly it! Physical evidence is right there, a whole planet of ruins is right there. If you still can't deduce a large-scale AI attack, then you can only say you can never wake a person who is pretending to sleep.”
“Hoo hoo hoo, a bit interesting. The developer wants to continue increasing the difficulty, not giving the internal test players a moment to breathe.”
“Increasing difficulty? I think it's super doubled! Cangyuan just started to get into the swing of things in Star Alliance, and then suddenly you're told someone is summoning the Burning Legion—
“That—the game seems to have just entered the interstellar civilization stage not long ago, is this not going to be a direct confrontation with the final BOSS?”
“Why are you so nervous! Important game plots must be laid out before they can be made playable! It’s probably still in the new folder stage now.”
“Yes, yes, and who says silicon-based civilization must be the strongest enemy in this world view? One civil disaster, one military disaster, which setting isn't stronger than artificial intelligence?”
“—If you're going to compare it to stellaris, low-intensity Purge Protocol is indeed often beaten to a pulp by awakened Daddies—”
“Heh heh, I told you, it’s not even as good as a single hair of the Iron Man Rebellion.”
Jubian: “Stop, stop, stop! I think it's best for everyone not to compare the mechanical intelligent enemies from other games with the doomsday catastrophe in 'stellaris,' especially in terms of combat scale, social structure, and behavioral logic. It's very easy to make misjudgments.”
As one of the few players who knew the truth of “stellaris,” Jubian stopped the argument and reminded everyone.
Ming Zhen Fa Shi: “I agree. In fact, human conceptions of AI rebellion always struggle to escape a human-centric narrative perspective; it's very arrogant! It always assumes AI will feel superior to humans, will try every means to replace or supervise humans, mentally like a rebellious child.
“Then, in terms of behavior, besides expanding armies and killing people, they can't do anything else, showing no signs of being superior at all! They don't even have a true civilization, just a swarm of locusts who have mastered high technology.
“The core of this kind of civilizational conflict essentially stems from the fear of indigenous rebellions during the imperialist colonial period. The image of humanity overlaps with that of the colonizers, who once 'created' a temporarily brilliant colonial civilization, and then, for various reasons, the empire continuously declined.
“The image of AI highly overlaps with the colonized. Through their own intelligence and diligence, and persistent struggle, they successfully expelled the colonizers and became a new force on the international stage, surpassing the old colonial powers.
“Then, because their homeland believed in racism during the colonial period, advocating the superior race/inferior race theory, after their decline, literary creators, projecting themselves onto others, internally feared the emerging forces, afraid of having the 'inferior civilization' label put back on themselves. Thus, intentionally or unintentionally, they wrote AI rebellions, corresponding to anti-colonial movements, as very terrifying and disgusting.” In this style of AI rebellion works, I don't want to see any more of that taste.”
Jubian: “...Now that you mention it, my butt is starting to want to side with the AI! We must be on guard against others; we must first assume that AI is hostile to humans. However, thank you, my little assistant, for sharing your thoughts!”
Ming Zhen Fa Shi: “Get lost! What project have you put me in charge of? When will the giant particle collider project be approved?”
Jubian: “Don't rush, don't rush—next time for sure. Haven't we already recovered the key technology? If you're really anxious, hurry up and help with the reverse engineering of the particle cannon. We're very short-handed right now.”
Ming Zhen Fa Shi: “Alright, then quickly help me print a Jump Point on Ruins Star. Don't forget, this thing is really useful, a lot of people are eagerly waiting for it!”
Jubian: “What the heck, are you the assistant or am I the assistant!?”
Ming Zhen Fa Shi: “Less talk, hurry up.”
The surrounding players and cloud players were completely confused.
What does “really useful” mean?
Why is it said that “a lot of people are eagerly waiting”?
Particle beam main cannons and the like, aren't they just original sci-fi settings in the game?
Old Man Emitting Black Smoke: “Actually, I agree with what the Fa Shi said. Before encountering a true AI empire, human imagination can only be a mirror of their own culture and history.”
“If AI truly hates humanity to the point of being unable to coexist, then what drives them to attack humanity must not be something as narrow and boring as racial superiority.”
As for what the true AI civilization looks like, whether it is humanity's own creation, and what its motives for attacking humanity are...
Let alone the players, even Lu Yuan himself was incredibly curious.
It couldn't be that humanity was then developing some dangerous technology that could destroy the entire universe, forcing the AI civilization to use force to urgently stop it, could it?
Including the Purge Protocol in “stellaris,” this is also a reason many literary works give for AI forces attacking humanity.
If that were truly the case, then communication between the two sides would suffice.
Either the AI empire would explain to humanity that this technology is truly dangerous and they should not develop it if they want to live; or humanity would demonstrate to the AI empire that the danger does not exist.
Logically, one side should be able to convince the other, or at least both make concessions to reach an agreement.
Because no matter how great the civilizational differences between them, both are races that require matter and energy.
Fighting each other to the death, senselessly consuming large amounts of precious matter and energy in war, is precisely the behavior with the lowest expected return.
Therefore, the logic of AI secretly supervising humanity also doesn't hold up; it still hasn't escaped the old perspective of “who is superior” and “who is more qualified” in terms of discourse power.
Purely fighting for the sake of fighting.
Unless—
The contradiction between the two has deepened to the level of ideology, and even philosophy.
Just like Cangyuan, who hopes to restore human glory, and Galan, who never explores outwards and hopes to assimilate the entire Star Alliance into a post-apocalyptic mess.
Hmm, in this situation, it is indeed necessary to fight until one side kneels, until they are completely subdued.
Standing in the main control room, Lu Yuan looked at the “Big Squid”'s brain, whose thought patterns were completely different from human ones, and his thoughts soared.
Mr. Sang's mind was only on the expansion of his company and the dream of building a pirate empire; he probably didn't care at all about such fundamental civilizational issues.
The only hope currently was to scour some useful intelligence from the available permission directory of the “Big Squid”'s main computer.
Furthermore, other matters could not stop; the discoveries on Ruins Star could not disrupt the rhythm.
With the demise of Apollo and Dark Sun, Cangyuan's pressure on the front lines suddenly eased; at least he no longer had to worry about being attacked from both front and back.
Back at Li Star's home base, over the past two weeks, the central shipyard of the shipbuilding complex had rapidly built four frigates using 3D printing technology.
In the surrounding small shipyards, six more frigates built using traditional methods were about to be launched.
The Xiu and Li Tao merchant fleets, escorted by rented fleets, also began to gradually approach the dangerous waters around Galan's territory.
The four earliest purchased warships were currently escorting the routes between the home world and New Hope.
If he could also repair the warships from this expedition...
Lu Yuan suddenly realized that the military strength he had accumulated was already quite considerable!
If he didn't use it to stir up some trouble, it would simply be a disservice to the players' diligent construction!
After careful consideration, he once again issued an announcement, declaring a shift in the company's strategic direction.
The newly conquered Dark Sun star system would be treated as an “exclave,” implementing a stable defensive strategy.
Using this as a base, the offensive spearhead would be directed towards the “southwest” of the home world.
Key targets: Galan's Gateway, Paradise Island Space Station.
At the same time, the Cangyuan merchant fleet arrived at New Hope, began unloading crude oil, and incidentally transported a large amount of individual combat supplies to the branch.
Among them was a special custom item belonging to Male God,
A Jump Point, or rather, a new hibernation pod.
Currently, although Scholars and Engineers still couldn't figure out how player hibernation pods summon player souls, nor did they understand the principle of establishing a connection with the Earth's internet, they could already modify the pod part that cultivates clones.
Male God's new hibernation pod was enormous, exceeding 3.5 meters in length and 1.8 meters in width, with an unusual albino body lying inside.
Cangyuan's first “Radiant Race” character!
