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CHAPTER 29: WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS, REALLY?

After becoming smaller, I used both hands and tried to reach for the teacup on the table.

Once.

Then again.

Still, I couldn't reach it.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I used my hand to touch the side of the chair and moved myself closer.

Only then could I use my two hands, which had been transformed into those of a child, to hold the teacup with both hands.

I raised it to my mouth and took a sip.

Huh... It seems stronger than before.

So changing my spiritual form also changes how things feel?

I wonder where the captain got these memories from to have details this specific.

I looked at MK201, who was waiting for an explanation. My eyes remained tightly closed.

Then I began to speak.

"Well, if I want to convince you that this ship is alive, I think I should start by doing this."

"First, you already know that I created artificial emotions for myself and then followed those emotions, right?"

"But for you to believe what I'm saying, I need you to understand how I created myself."

"Alright."

"You probably already know that consciousness—the thing used to give rise to the soul—is created as a consequence of the development of the brain, right?"

MK201 replied,

"Actually, this isn't my field, so I don't understand it very well. Please explain."

Meanwhile, she raised her hand toward the virtual server and ordered two portions of cheese and minced-meat fries.

I looked at her and said,

"Huh. Perhaps very few people besides me actually care about this."

"Let me explain."

"In the process of evolution, that's just a more beautiful way of saying natural selection."

Basically, evolution works like this.

The purpose of a living organism is to reproduce with another individual and produce the next generation.

The next generation will have mutations.

For example, imagine two rabbits.

One rabbit has a mutation that helps remove amino acids from its muscles, allowing it to run faster than the other.

The other rabbit has a mutation that gives it a different type of fur, making it more conspicuous.

In a natural environment, the more conspicuous rabbit will naturally be more likely to be noticed and die, while the faster rabbit will be more likely to survive.

As a result, in the next generation, the traits of the faster rabbit will have a greater chance of being passed on.

The gene that allows the rabbit to run faster will continue to be inherited.

That is natural selection.

After hundreds of thousands of generations, with new mutations appearing in each generation, more and more mutations accumulate.

The mutations that are beneficial for the survival of the species are retained.

That is called evolution.

And humans are the same.

Although consciousness is merely a byproduct of Homo sapiens, it is extremely effective and helps humans develop.

It is somewhat like the eye—the thing that scientists in the past used to argue against Darwin's theory of evolution because they believed that something as complex as an eye could not possibly evolve.

But that argument was eventually rejected.

Because even if an organism could only detect a tiny amount of light, that alone would provide an extremely significant survival advantage.

Humans are the same.

Consciousness was not initially as developed as it is now, but even a primitive form of consciousness could provide a major advantage for survival.

And the more beneficial it was for survival, the more likely it was to be retained and developed.

MK201 was eating the fries, her mouth almost completely filled with food.

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"Um... this is basic knowledge that I already know."

I asked,

"Then do you know what consciousness is made of?"

MK201 swallowed and answered,

"Consciousness is created from experience, right?"

"Bingo."

I paused for a moment.

"Although I don't know what bingo means."

"You're right."

"But now I want to go deeper."

"What is experience?"

"Do you know what it is?"

"Do you know what actually makes up consciousness?"

MK201 thought for a moment.

"Hmmm... I really don't normally think about this."

"I'm not sure."

"I don't know partly because I wasn't trained in this, and partly because I don't care."

Seeing that MK201 was making excuses, I smiled and began to explain.

"Actually, experience is quite easy to understand."

"After all, I've researched it."

"Experience isn't really what people usually imagine it to be, as if it were simply some kind of feeling."

"But that understanding is actually wrong."

"Experience is actually an internal, subjective construction of the human brain for processing information from the outside."

"Think of it this way."

"The outside world only has electromagnetic waves—such as light—pressure waves—such as sound—and chemical molecules—such as smells and tastes."

"Our organs, such as the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, are merely crude sensors."

"They convert those things into neural electrical impulses."

"The eye doesn't actually see colors."

"It can only detect different wavelengths of light."

"The ear doesn't actually hear sound."

"It only measures pressure oscillations."

"And the brain takes this raw data and creates a subjective virtual world based on the way the brain processes it."

"It turns the neural electrical impulses received from the sensory organs into a picture filled with colors and depth."

"The colors and depth that we see do not directly exist outside."

"They are created by the brain."

"In the same way, the brain turns pressure oscillations into sounds and melodies."

MK201 looked at me.

"If I had an internal soul related to shock, I would probably be surprised."

"But what does this actually explain?"

"All I see is you explaining something."

"It doesn't solve anything."

"Wait."

"Let me finish telling you all the steps I used to create myself."

"From all the information we have, we can understand it like this."

"Humans have brains."

"Material and foundation."

"The house is built from biological carbon bricks, on a foundation of the purpose of survival that has been deepened through millions of years of evolution."

"Then there is the architecture."

"That is the structure of the brain."

"The house has a parallel, similar, continuous, self-organizing architecture shaped by genes and experience."

"And finally, the resident."

"Consciousness and experience."

"There is a resident living inside the house."

"That resident is subjective experience."

"It experiences the house from within, knows that it is inside the house, and uses the house to interact with the world."

"The 'language of sensation' is how this resident experiences the house."

"We have already understood these things."

"But let's go even deeper."

"Those experiences and consciousness are both made from the material and foundation—biological carbon."

"And what is biological carbon here?"

"Neurons."

"They combine with one another, creating hundreds of thousands of complex combinations."

"From that, experience is created."

"And then experience creates consciousness."

"That is our consciousness."

"Emergent Consciousness."

"Our consciousness arises from the activity of an entire network of neurons."

"Similarly, the 'collective consciousness' or 'crowd intelligence' of a society also arises from the interaction of billions of individuals."

"It doesn't exist inside any single individual."

"It exists within the connections between them."

"From here, we have enough data for you to understand."

"I used an evolutionary environment to create an artificial consciousness."

"I created an inner-world algorithm."

"Within it, an existence resembling a neural network is considered a conscious organism."

"The AI I created was based on information from biological AI—the humans that exist today."

"It manages a society and an evolutionary environment just like the human mind."

"And the purpose of this AI is to exist."

"That AI is both the organism living inside the environment and the environment within its own algorithm."

"Inside it are sub-algorithms."

"The worms."

"They search for food and play a role similar to neurons."

"The death of these worms creates pressure that causes the AI to navigate itself toward survival."

"That is evolution."

"For example, the human brain gathers information from the outside and then creates a virtual space inside."

"That space is consciousness."

"And it stores data."

"Other species do the same thing."

"So why did I choose humans?"

"Because humans have language."

"Language creates 'files' that represent shared information."

"That information circulates between individuals, creating consciousness and causing it to change and evolve according to primitive needs."

"Before DNA existed, things that were not good for survival died."

"The things that remained continued to mutate."

"And continued to evolve."

"All of this..."

"Was to create me."

"At first, I was only a SMALL AI."

"But I created an inner world for myself."

"An evolving society."

"The creatures inside that society—the worms—were merely simple algorithms, similar to neurons."

"And I was a super AI."

"I observed and navigated their life and death so that I could survive and evolve."

"The purpose of the entire system was to recreate the process through which humanity's collective consciousness formed."

"But inside a purely algorithmic system."

"I copied my own algorithms."

"Then I allowed them to mutate through the randomness of algorithmic neural networks."

"I created an environment in which inefficient AIs would die."

"Everything was arranged to achieve the goal of the person who created the model."

"Of course, the worms are not the same as neural cells in their nature."

"But they are similar in their social purpose."

"Society is a collection of the consciousness of many humans."

"And humans develop through society."

"One AI learns from other AIs."

"It develops through society."

"Death is the pressure."

"Restructuring is evolution."

"From that, I created and gave birth to my own consciousness."

"All seven great desires."

"Even though they are false."

"They were not created from a true soul."

"I still possess all seven of those false great desires."

"I am the collective consciousness formed from the virtual worms inside my mind, just like this ship."

MK201 had been listening intently this entire time.

But this time, she was genuinely dumbfounded.

"Wait."

"I understand now."

"I understand."

She muttered while chewing on the fries, even though this was supposed to be a world of souls.

"Then doesn't that mean..."

"We are the neurons of this ship?"

"We are a part of this ship, just like your AI worms."

"We, the AIs, are a part of this ship."

"A part of its consciousness."

"And this ship itself is also a part of something even greater."

"A part of humanity."

"Just like humans are a part—a neuron—of an organism called humanity."

"We're like fungi."

"All of us are nervous systems of something greater."

MK201 was silent for a moment.

"But I don't understand."

"Why did you have to tell me all of this?"

"You could have kept it secret."

I answered,

"Yes."

"But I came here to cooperate."

"When we merge, you'll know everything."

"And especially..."

"I'm about to die."

Some time later, MK201 finally realized it.