Chapter 51: Is this definitely not a movie, but special effects?

This question undoubtedly piqued everyone's curiosity.

Jiang Zhe did not analyze the Ship of Theseus from a traditional perspective, but from the [People].

For most of the crew members, they witnessed the replacement of the parts on this ship with their own eyes.

But for the ordinary people on shore, this ship was no different from the Ship of Theseus that had departed before; therefore, this ship was still the Ship of Theseus.

This point caused a certain string in the minds of many experts to be plucked in an instant.

"This Jiang Zhe is analyzing the Ship of Theseus from a human perspective; this seems a bit novel."

"To the crew, this ship is no longer the Ship of Theseus; but to the people who don't know the truth, this is the Ship of Theseus!"

"Yeah, why didn't I think of that?"

"I was thinking earlier about whether to use science to answer it, but his explanation is much sharper!"

"..."

The lecture hall was suddenly filled with discussion.

If viewed from the perspective of the people on the shore, this ship was the same Ship of Theseus that went to sea decades ago; it was no different!

Even Old Feng and Professor Hua Yunfeng had nothing to say.

"Yes, it is!"

"That's right, for the people on the shore, it is the Ship of Theseus."

"I think so too!"

"..."

In the live broadcast room, most of the audience chose [Yes].

The Television Station's backstage director provided the data for the [Yes] votes; it was almost 98%, with the remaining 2% abstaining.

On the big screen.

After receiving the information, Jiang Zhe nodded silently; the answer was as expected, without any surprises.

He continued his explanation.

"Yes, to the uninformed people on the shore, this ship is the Ship of Theseus."

"Actually, whether it is the Ship of Theseus or not is quite simple and can be resolved through the issue of perspective; but everyone certainly won't be satisfied with this decryption, so I don't consider it solved yet."

"Even in daily life, the definitions of many things we are accustomed to are actually very crude. Once you and I start getting serious, this problem will be pulled into the rhythm of those skilled in sophistry, and the sophist will surely profit from it."

"Right now, that sophist is the person you see in me."

"So, I will act as a sophist for once. Let me first ignore this shallow explanation and let us continue to stubbornly split hairs to decrypt the truth behind it."

These words made everyone nod silently, and their opinion of Jiang Zhe rose even higher.

If this were the whole truth, then the viewership ratings for this episode would naturally plummet.

It would be far too simple, with no suspense at all!

"I will now upgrade this paradox slightly on the spot; I'll turn it into the [Ship of Theseus Plus Edition]."

"Director, please put the video on the big screen!"

Speaking to this point, Jiang Zhe turned his head to look at the backstage director. The fat director took the hint and ordered the backstage staff to get to work.

The backstage staff inserted the USB drive Jiang Zhe had given them into the computer and started playing it.

At this moment, the sounds of summer birds chirping and dolphins leaping through the waves appeared on the big screen behind Jiang Zhe, feeling very pleasant.

Upon the vast, boundless blue sea.

A huge sailing ship flying a white flag was navigating.

The deck was filled with Greek Warriors dressed in ancient attire, resting with their eyes closed.

But soon, a storm hit, and towering waves crashed against the hull; a piece of the deck was instantly damaged, and the bottom began to leak frantically.

The warriors busied themselves nervously under the captain's command, quickly repairing the damaged area.

The first disaster was resolved quickly.

The video footage accelerated. Soon, another shipwreck occurred, damaging the originally massive ship until it was in a wretched state.

Fortunately, the Greek Warriors neared an island. They chose to dock and cut down wood to repair the hull.

The footage continued to accelerate as time passed.

The Ship of Theseus constantly encountered shipwrecks, and the soldiers constantly repaired it.

Soon, all the parts in the perfect hull had been replaced.

During their voyage, these warriors also rescued many island refugees.

Finding they could not rescue all the refugees, the captain decided to use the damaged parts from the original Ship of Theseus to do some repairs and then build a [New Ship of Theseus].

Thus, two giant ships of the same color and volume appeared on the sea.

They set off toward the battlefield. On the way, they gathered more refugees to serve as army reserves. On the battlefield, their combat power was unprecedented.

Naturally, they returned in a grand victory.

Not far from their return to the Greek port.

The people waiting on the shore witnessed two [Ships of Theseus] appearing on the sea—

One was filled with returning soldiers, and the other also carried Greek soldiers, but they were not exactly the same people.

As a strain of melodious music played, the special effects demonstration ended there.

...

Inside the leadership conference room.

Old Zhao and Wang Guosheng first glanced at the video on the big screen, then looked at Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi with faces full of confusion.

Old Zhao said, "I remember we didn't seem to allocate funds to film this 20-minute video!"

Wang Guosheng nodded repeatedly. "And those 20 minutes were compressed into 2 minutes by him. Who exactly paid to film this?"

Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi looked at each other with some emotion.

They really wanted to lie and say Jiang Zhe did it all by himself, but that felt a bit exaggerated.

However, there was no choice; the two of them had seen Jiang Zhe doing it alone with their own eyes while they were over for a meal.

The two of them still nodded and told the truth.

"He made it himself."

As soon as these words came out, the whole room was shocked.

"What? What? What, 'made'? Not filmed?"

"He made this? One person made this? How is that possible?"

Wang Lin explained, "Yes, I saw him making it on the spot when I went to his house for a meal in the evening. It took him about 2.5 hours to make it."

These words ignited the scene once again, leaving many leaders dumbfounded.

They could not believe it no matter what.

Producing a result comparable to dozens of days of work by ten people from top domestic or international studios in just 2.5 hours.

If it hadn't been said by the two of them personally, everyone would have thought Jiang Zhe had made it a long time ago and then played it when he talked about the [Ship of Theseus] paradox.

In this instant, all the leaders realized how terrifying Jiang Zhe was.

The scene was silent for a moment.

Old Zhao broke the silence in disbelief. "Then... it's impossible for the whole thing to be special effects, right?"

Xiao Shiyi shook his head.

Seeing Xiao Shiyi's movement, Old Zhao felt relieved for just a second before his heart hung in suspense again.

"The whole thing is."

As the words fell, Old Zhao was completely dazed. "This..."

"With this level... why is he working as a host? People in Hollywood film companies would be fighting to get him. I didn't expect his special effects skills to be at a top-tier level in the country."

Wang Guosheng couldn't help but gape, his understanding of Jiang Zhe being refreshed once again.

...

Because the live broadcast room's video was slower than the Television Station's.

At this moment, the video in the live broadcast room also ended.

As it reached this point, the audience's brows were tightly furrowed.

Did Suzhou TV Station spend a fortune on this?

Finding a bunch of foreigners to film a paradox promotional video?

And they even freaking found hundreds of thousands of Greek citizens?

Even the promotional video was filmed so long; how much funding did that take?

Putting funding aside, was there enough time?

It was only last night that it was decided to talk about the Ship of Theseus paradox.

In one day, could they achieve such a large scale?

Just as the audience was full of doubt, Jiang Zhe's voice came through.

"Alright, the special effects demonstration ends here. After watching it, everyone should have a new understanding of this paradox."

Before his voice could fade, the live broadcast room's bullet chat exploded.

"Wait, wait, special effects?"

"What's going on? Isn't this a promotional video filmed at sea with foreign actors?"

"Holy crap, I thought it was filmed on-site, but you're telling me it's special effects? So everything is fake?"

"I don't believe it. I don't believe the TV station has that kind of budget. Those hundreds of thousands of people and the real people on the sea must be real; special effects couldn't be this lifelike!"

"Exactly, I don't believe it either."

"This wasn't made by the TV station."

"I knew it. How could a special effects film this long be made in one night? Even as someone working in special effects in China, I think the level is so high it completely rivals Hollywood; maybe even surpasses it."

"This wasn't made by the TV station; Jiang Zhe made it himself. I'm right here on the scene... [Leadership Meeting Room.jpg]"

Once that bullet chat appeared, the live broadcast room went completely silent.

Not a single bullet chat was sent out.

Every person who saw that message felt as if they had seen a ghost.

"..."

Just like the audience's reaction, the experts were also shocked.

In the lecture hall.

The leaders on-site took a sharp breath.

They had underestimated Jiang Zhe's skills. Not only did he have outstanding scientific ability, but even his screenwriting and special effects abilities were not weak at all.

In the eyes of Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng, no matter how incredible something was when it involved Jiang Zhe, it was acceptable.

After all, he was a variable!

At this time, Jiang Zhe was completely unaware of all this.

He only knew that the studio's floor managers, backup hosts, and staff were looking at him as if he were a monster.

While everyone was surprised by the [special effects] matter, Jiang Zhe's voice drew everyone's attention back.

"As you have seen."

"Previously, Plutarch's Ship of Theseus only had two core questions."

"Is the Ship of Theseus with replaced parts still the Ship of Theseus?"

"Is the Ship of Theseus with all parts replaced still the Ship of Theseus?"

"I upgraded it a bit, and a third core point was produced."

"The third core question: [If I use all the replaced parts to reassemble a Ship of Theseus, then which one is the real Ship of Theseus?]"

"In this paradox, the first two are actually the simplest."

"I'm not boasting, but the third core question is what we humans should fear and take seriously; because the scientific technology of the third core question will definitely be born in the real world of the future!!!"