Chapter 56: The Theory of the Body

Watching Jiang Zhe return from backstage without approaching the leaders present to discuss anything...

...it meant that there was no so-called 'program accident' at all.

"I was a bit nervous; it was almost a program accident."

Old Zhao sighed with lingering fear.

The worry on Wang Guosheng's face turned into relief: "I knew it. How could he have a program accident? He has always been a person who knows his limits."

Old Wang saw that the leaders on-site had returned to a state of calm, and he felt somewhat embarrassed at this moment.

Jiang Zhe hadn't made a mistake; rather, it was Old Wang himself who had made a mistake.

Why did he listen to the audience talking about a [program accident]?

They aren't the hosts!!!

Old Wang didn't know whether to stay or leave.

"Old man!"

Fortunately, Wang Lin winked at him, hinting for him to leave quickly and stop embarrassing himself.

Only then did Old Wang give an embarrassed smile, turn around, and depart.

Watching Old Wang leave, Xiao Shiyi leaned toward Wang Lin and said, "Your dad is a bit like a child. He sees a breeze and reports that a typhoon is coming; he's a bit silly."

Wang Lin's mouth twitched. "Is that how you talk about your elders?"

"Hey, what's our relationship? Your dad is my dad, my dad is also a dad, and he's also Jiang Zhe's dad... Jiang Zhe... he doesn't seem to have a dad."

"You motherf—! You're asking for a beating. Only a meal of barbecue can keep me and Jiang Zhe from being angry."

"Agreed. Let's go to Hedilao after work."

...

Meanwhile, in the livestream room, bullet comments were flying rapidly.

"Damn it! Whoever told me there was a program accident, get out here! I'll beat you to death!"

"Which son of a bitch said it? You made me think I could only watch half an hour of the stream today. I've been waiting all day, and my good mood for the whole day was ruined by you!"

"Azhe... actually, was it really a program accident, and Jiang Zhe just cleverly resolved it?"

"Get out of here with that 'program accident' ghost story. The Ship of Theseus is too simple for Jiang Zhe. Would that really take two hours to talk about?"

"Exactly, exactly. Now his [Cloning] theme is truly the 'Plus+' version of the Ship of Theseus, which also corresponds to the [Paradox Point Three] he mentioned earlier."

"..."

Those viewers who had spoken of a program accident felt incredibly embarrassed. Having no face left to stay, they turned and left one after another.

The viewers in front of their televisions, however, didn't sense anything unusual at all.

...

Inside the auditorium of Kyoto University of Science.

After confirming that Jiang Zhe hadn't suffered a program accident, the two of them felt at ease.

Only those experts in the audience who had wanted to see Jiang Zhe fail had eyes that shifted guiltily.

"Actually, I really did hope he'd have a program accident just now..."

"+1. Who would have thought we were the clowns?"

"So embarrassing!"

"..."

On the big screen.

Jiang Zhe spoke again to explain.

"Actually, the third core point of the 'Ship of Theseus' is precisely: Cloning."

"As the name implies, if you clone an identical ship, is it still the original ship?"

"Now, we will transition from inanimate objects to living beings."

"Due to the limitations of living beings—for example, wild animals without wisdom—they have no wisdom or thoughts, only instinct."

"The instincts of wild animals are: survival, eating, sleeping; fighting, vying for territory, reproducing, and so on. These are all the biological instincts at work."

"Therefore, there is no need to discuss them."

"Let us first analyze [Cloning] from different perspectives!"

"One question: To the viewers in front of the screen, when you talk with others, what exactly does the 'I' you speak of refer to?"

"Please tell me through the bullet comments in the livestream room!"

As his voice fell, the backstage director very cooperatively said: [I am the backstage director. I will capture a portion of the viewers' bullet comments for Teacher Jiang to view.]

As soon as these words were spoken, it immediately triggered a massive wave of bullet comments from the audience.

"Isn't this simple? When we say 'I', it definitely refers to my body!"

"No, no, it's not the body. I think it's [consciousness], because if the body dies and the consciousness remains, then 'I' still exists!"

"No, neither. I think 'I' should be our memories, not the so-called consciousness or body."

"..."

Soon, the overwhelming wave of bullet comments finished posting.

A moment later, Jiang Zhe received the summary from the backstage director.

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe smiled slightly.

"Regarding the word 'I', many people's opinions are quite different."

"In the bullet comments, 40% think it's the body, 50% think it's consciousness, and the remaining 10% are somewhat unclear."

"Now, let me share my insight."

"We humans, the word we say most in our lives is 'I', followed by 'you', and finally 'him'."

"When you use the word 'I', you probably feel your meaning is very clear. I am me, what's there to understand, right?"

"'I' is probably the clearest and least mistaken thing in your life in this world; you've known what it meant since you were very young."

"So when you are discussing the question of 'I', you all place the focus on 'who it is'."

"In reality, 'I' is indeed a self-evident thing."

"But suppose you stop to think about 'Who am I?', then the concept of the word 'I' becomes less clear."

This was indeed the case!

When a question or a single word is carefully pondered for a long time, that question and word will become extremely foreign; this is a type of human thinking mechanism.

Witnessing all this, the experts in the Kyoto auditorium nodded in agreement one after another.

The philosophers on-site, however, had their eyes light up. The theme Jiang Zhe was explaining was actually still the [Problem of Identity], which is the core of the [Ship of Theseus].

And the 'I' within the world of philosophy has always been a controversial topic.

In this world, up until now, no one has been able to answer the three questions posed by ancestral philosophers.

[Who am I?]

[Where do I come from?]

[Where am I going?]

These could be considered the unsolved mysteries of this world!

Hua Yunfeng looked at the big screen and couldn't help but reflect: "It is indeed so. I originally thought the Ship of Theseus was merely a question of parts replacement, but with his narrative, he has elevated the difficulty of the Ship of Theseus to this terrifying question."

Old Feng said without hesitation, "From different perspectives, 'I' also has different perceptions; actually, this answer cannot be unified. I don't know how he will explain it."

Hua Yunfeng shook his head, "No, perhaps he isn't explaining 'Who am I', but is laying the groundwork for his next blockbuster. I know him!"

To this, Professor Feng narrowed his eyes and began to treat the matter with increasing seriousness.

In the image.

Jiang Zhe began to list examples.

"In the current academic world, there are many theories to verify 'I'."

"Let's first talk about the [Body Theory] that everyone is familiar with."

"When we talk about a person, we first talk about a person's physical body as well as some characteristic information and so on."

"For example, me, Jiang Zhe, 1.82 meters tall, likes to wear suits, fair-faced, average-looking; characteristics are being dead serious and having victory within my grasp; working as a host at Suzhou TV Station, knowing whom, living where, and so on and so forth."

As soon as these words were spoken, the livestream bullet comments erupted like a tide.

"Holy crap, do you have no self-awareness at all?"

"You weaver-thief, you actually said you look average. Do you motherf—ing want to see what you're saying?"

"I don't allow you to say that about yourself. You have always been the most handsome man in my heart, bar none."

"..."

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room.

Old Wang looked at these bullet comments and subconsciously picked up a mirror to look at his fat, bloated cheeks in the reflection.

He nodded with a serious face, "Not bad, but compared to me, you're still a bit lacking."

The young staff member beside him heard this, and the corners of his mouth twitched madly.

"As long as you talk about the person [Jiang Zhe], you will immediately state my information in your mind."

"If you say, that 1.82-meter person who likes to wear suits, whose features are okay, whose face is fair, and so on."

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently, "It's a pity, you wouldn't be able to distinguish who the person in that speaker's mouth was."

"Therefore, names appeared. The appearance of names means we can more accurately distinguish who the person people are talking about is."

"Back to the point!"

"Body Theory holds that your physical body is yourself."

"This theory makes sense. Regardless, if your physical body stops working, you are dead."

"If I, Jiang Zhe, experienced a very major life upheaval—and upheaval doesn't refer to the physical, but a blow at the spiritual level—it would cause my temperament to undergo a massive transformation."

"Thus, people who know me, Jiang Zhe, might say: 'Jiang Zhe has changed. He used to be very honest, but now he's changed so much I almost don't recognize him.'"

"Of course, the saying here is not literal. I am still me. Although my temperament has changed, my body is still me, Jiang Zhe, right?"

"Yes, because my physical body is Jiang Zhe. No matter how my behavior and language change, in your eyes—"

"I am still Jiang Zhe!"

"This theory is the reason why 40% of the viewers in front of the screen voted, right?"

As soon as these words were out, the bullet comments in the livestream room supporting [Body Theory] chimed in one after another: "Exactly."

Jiang Zhe nodded silently, and then a smile appeared on his face.

"Very good. Congratulations, the 40% of viewers, the answer you believe in is [Wrong]."

As soon as these words were spoken, the viewers who supported that theory were instantly dumbfounded, feeling as though their intelligence had been insulted.