Chapter 205: Xia Kingdom's Brain Thought Experiment

"What I want to ask about is the thought experiment you mentioned in the livestream before, Brother Jiang: the [Xia Country Brain]."

"I've thought about it for a long time but couldn't find an answer, nor do I understand what this 'brain' implies."

Everyone thought this fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl would just ask a perfunctory question to let Jiang Zhe finish work early.

Who would have expected her to suddenly ask such a question!

As soon as the question was asked, the livestream chat erupted!

"Holy crap, someone finally asked!"

"Do you know how long I've been waiting?"

"Good job, little sister! You asked exactly what I wanted to know."

...

In an instant, the audience and experts, who had thought the show was about to end, perked up and fixed their attention on the large screen once more.

Jiang Zhe frowned slightly. "Didn't I talk about this in a previous show?"

"Did you? It seems you only touched upon the surface; you never explained the essence of the Xia Country Brain, right?"

"I see. Well then, this isn't difficult."

After a moment's thought, he realized that this thought experiment indeed did not exist in this world, so he began to recount it.

"Actually, the 'Xia Country Brain' is a thought experiment I conceived myself."

"I won't go into all the philosophical implications."

"The purpose of this thought experiment is to explore the nature of thought."

He looked pensive; this thought experiment was actually quite complex, and explaining it briefly was rather challenging.

"You can think of it like this: China, the country we currently live in."

"This place spans 9.6 million square kilometers."

"Our country now has 1.4 billion people. Imagine all 1.4 billion people taking out their phones and making a call at the same time."

"The calling sequence is A calls B, B calls C, C calls D, D calls E, and so on, until all 1.4 billion people are calling each other in a non-repeating loop."

"In this way, 1.4 billion people are on the same network at the same moment."

"Alright, put that aside for a moment. Keep those 1.4 billion people in a state where they are simultaneously making calls and passing signals."

As he spoke, the audience and experts looked intrigued, sensing there was more to his words.

"Next, let's look at our brains."

He pointed to his own head and continued to explain, "The process of thinking in our human brain is actually just the 'transmission of signals'."

"We don't need to know what the medium of the brain is. This means our brain doesn't necessarily need a calcium carbonate skull. No matter where you put the brain, as long as there is nutritional support, it will keep thinking. Even if it's like a Brain in a Vat, it will survive and think about what it is and where it is."

The audience was lost in thought. As Jiang Zhe said, the medium of the brain doesn't require extra support; the calcium carbonate skull is just there to protect it from damage.

Even if you took the brain out and gave it nutrients, it would indeed stay alive.

Some clever viewers understood by now—Jiang Zhe was comparing the brain to 1.4 billion people passing information through phone calls, with the medium of the brain being the country of China itself.

But wasn't this thought experiment a bit too mind-blowing?

Soon, Jiang Zhe's voice continued.

"Then, from an information-processing perspective, the neurons in our brain only serve the function of transmitting information."

"As for what the medium of the neurons is, it's still unimportant. Just as I might call Xiao Shiyi, Xiao Shiyi calls Wang Lin, and Wang Lin calls his father, and so on—this is also a form of [neuronal signal transmission]."

"Since the [medium] is no longer important, let's be bold. Let's use a human social network as the [medium], with the connections between people serving as the edges for signal transmission. Then, let's see what it looks like when all 1.4 billion people in China make calls at the same time."

At this point, Jiang Zhe's expression turned serious. "The meaning of this thought experiment is this: our 1.4 billion people are making calls at the same time, with each phone acting as an individual neuron. A neuron generates electricity to pass a signal to another neuron, just as our phones use electrical current to send signals to another phone."

"Our human brain has about 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion neural connections."

"We only have 1.4 billion people in China, which is far fewer than 100 billion neurons."

"To gather that many neurons, we can expand the Xia Country Brain thought experiment further. Let's turn on another 986 trillion phones and have them receive and make calls to the next person at specific times."

"Finally!"

Facing the camera, Jiang Zhe asked a serious question: "Will China spontaneously develop [self-awareness] at that moment?"

"To give the answer in advance—as to whether self-awareness will be born, I already have the answer in my heart!"

Hearing this, the livestream erupted once more.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"

"What a grand thought experiment! Passing signals by making calls at the same time, scaling up from 1.4 billion people to 100 billion phones... would self-awareness really emerge?"

"This thought experiment is so sharp. I feel like self-awareness probably wouldn't be born, right?"

"It's possible. At the moment those 100 billion phones are calling and passing signals simultaneously, a brief moment of self-awareness could emerge. The body of that consciousness would be our country."

"My god, I bow to the master. To come up with such a thought experiment—he's truly one of a kind!"

...

In the lecture hall, the biology experts' eyes lit up as if they had discovered a new continent.

Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng looked at the buzzing scene and shook their heads.

Though they were curious, they simply couldn't provide an answer.

Intense discussions broke out below the podium.

"My god, this thought experiment is magnificent!"

"Whether it's 1.4 billion or 100 billion, Teacher Jiang's thought experiment is about whether self-awareness can emerge in an instant. What do you colleagues think?"

"I think it's unlikely. Self-awareness seems to be born through a learning process, like the difference between a feral child and a normal person."

"No, that's not right. Regardless of learning, a feral child still has self-awareness. It's like a mouse; even with such a small body, a mouse has self-awareness."

"This experiment is great, but there doesn't seem to be an answer. From a biological perspective, self-awareness could indeed emerge, but what level that consciousness would be is something to consider."

...

Meanwhile, inside the professor's building at Tsinghua University.

Zhou Qing and Zhou Qingqing looked extremely serious; the question forced them to treat it with gravity.

Soon, Professor Zhuang gave a mysterious smile and provided an answer: "Human-Net."

Hearing this, the two women immediately reacted and asked in confusion, "Human-Net? Professor, what does that mean?"

Professor Zhuang couldn't help but look at Jiang Zhe on his phone screen with admiration. "His thinking is indeed very fresh; he always comes up with unexpected experiments and ideas. I can't compete with him on that."

"As for the Human-Net—Jiang Zhe considered China's population and used mobile calls as the medium for the neuronal signal transmission process. This can already be seen as a [natural Human-Net]."

"If 1.4 billion mobile phones were interconnected, the scale would already reach that of a small mammal's brain. For example, a mouse only has 100 million neurons. With just 100 million neurons, a little mouse can develop self-awareness and the ability to learn, whereas a cat is a bit different."

"A cat has 300 million neurons, yet a cat with 300 million neurons isn't as wise as a mouse with 100 million."

"This indirectly proves that the birth of self-awareness doesn't require too many neurons—as the saying goes, 'quality over quantity'."

"And 'Human-Net' means that at the moment 1.4 billion people's phone signals are interconnected, [self-awareness] could emerge on the land of China. If it were the 100 billion phones Jiang Zhe mentioned, the result would be even more terrifying!"

"Actually, this [self-awareness] would find expression and activity within the network. I can even imagine what that [China Consciousness] would do in the network after being born."

Hearing this, the two women's eyes burned with excitement.

"This [China Consciousness] would even exhibit reactive behaviors?"

"Really, Professor?"

"Yes!" Professor Zhuang suddenly turned back and smiled. "Naturally. The final consciousness would certainly be the [China National Consciousness]. It would be a fourth type of intelligent consciousness, independent of human, animal, and artificial intelligence. This kind of consciousness transcends all awareness we can comprehend!"

As he finished, the shock on the two women's faces was palpable.

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Transcends all consciousness that humans can comprehend!?

Just what kind of mysterious consciousness is this?