Chapter 75 Section five

Doom is an old gentleman, and now he is reciting his two hundred and fifty-three-character name in a smooth and intonation like music. "In a way," he said, "this string of names is a brief biography of myself, allowing anyone who hears or reads or senses to understand my background, my role in the whole, and My past achievements. However, for more than fifty years, I have been used to being called Doom, and if there are other Dooms, I can change to Doom Andiou, and in various professional fields I will also use some different abbreviations in the . Every Gaia year, on my birthday, I will silently say my full name in my heart, just like I just chanted it to you. Say it like this It can be very impressive, but I can't help being a little embarrassed myself."

Doom was tall and thin, almost to the point of skin and bones.Although his movements are a bit slow, his deep-set eyes are shining with a strange youthful light; his tall and straight nose is thin and long, but his nostrils are wide open; although his hands are covered with veins, there are no signs of arthritis .He wore a very long robe, the same gray as his hair, which fell to about his ankles, and beneath it were sandals with all the toes exposed. Trevize asked: "May I ask you to live a long life this year, Your Excellency?" "Please call me Doom, Choi. Any other title would be too formal and would make it difficult for you and me to exchange views freely. I just turned ninety-three in galactic standard years; however, in Gaian years, I It will be a few more months before we celebrate our ninetieth birthday."

"If I had to guess, I'd guess you're no more than seventy-five, G... Doom," Trevize said. "By Gaia's standards, Cui, no matter my actual age or appearance, I can't be considered old. But don't mention this, are you full?" Pelorat looked down at his dinner plate, there was still a lot of food left in it, he had never eaten such a casually cooked meal, it was extremely bland.He asked with a guilty conscience: "Dum, can I ask a presumptuous question? Of course, if I offend you, please be sure to say it clearly, and I will take it back immediately."

"Please tell me," Doom said with a smile, "no matter what you are curious about on Gaia, I will be more than happy to explain it to you." "Why?" Trevize asked immediately. "Because you two are my honored guests—may I hear Pei's question?" Then Pelorat said: "Since everything on Gaia shares the same group consciousness, how can you, being part of this group, eat these foods? They are obviously also part of the group. " "Very true! Yet everything is in a cycle. We must eat, and everything we eat, whether plant or animal, even inanimate spices, is part of Gaia. But, We don't kill for entertainment or sports, and when we have to kill, we don't let the living beings suffer needlessly. I'm afraid we never pay attention to the color and smell of food, because Gaia people don't need food unless they need it. , otherwise you won’t eat for no reason. You don’t think this meal is an enjoyment, Pei Cui? However, eating should not be a kind of enjoyment.”

"In any case, what we eat is still part of the consciousness of this planet. As long as some of it is integrated with my body, it can share a larger overall consciousness. When I die, I, too, will be eaten by corpse-eating bacteria, and at that point the overall consciousness I can share will be much smaller. But someday some part of me will transfer to other people, to many on people." Pelorat said: "This can be said to be a kind of reincarnation of the soul." "A kind of what, Pei?" "I'm talking about an old myth, but one that's still current in some worlds."

"Ah, I don't know at all, you must tell me some other day." Trevize said, "But your individual consciousness—the traits and traits that make you Doom—can never be fully reorganized." "No, of course not. But what does it matter? I will still be a part of Gaia, and that's enough. We have some metaphysicians here who feel that we should perhaps try to build up a collective memory of the past, yet Gaia consciousness Thinking that this doesn't actually work, and doesn't make any sense at all, would just obscure existing consciousness. Of course, if circumstances and conditions gradually change, Gaian consciousness may change as well, but for the foreseeable future, I don't see the possibility of that."

"Why do you have to die, Doom?" Trevize asked, "Since you're still in your nineties, can't this group consciousness..." Doom frowned for the first time. "No way," he said, "there is only so much I can contribute. Every new individual is another recombination of molecules and genes, so that new talents, new abilities, talents Make new contributions to Gaia. We must keep adding new blood, and the only way is to make room. I have contributed more than most, but I still have my own limit, and it is getting closer now I don’t want to live to the end of my life, and I don’t intend to die before it.”

Speaking of this, he seemed to realize that the sky in the evening suddenly turned dark, so he stood up and stretched out his arms to the two guests. "Come on, Cui, Pei, go to my studio, I can show you some of my own artwork. I hope you won't laugh at me, the old man is inevitably a little vain." He led the two guests to another room, where on a small round table there were many gray lenses, all connected in pairs. "These—" Doom said, "are all 'Fusion Mirrors' designed by me. I can't be regarded as an expert, but I specialize in the 'Inanimate Fusion Mirror', and master craftsmen hardly bother to work on it. "

Pelorat asked, "May I take one and see if it breaks easily?" "No, it won't, and if you want to test its elasticity, you can drop it hard on the floor—but it's better not to do that, the vibration may reduce its sharpness." "How do I use it, Doom?" "Put it over your eye and it fits right into your eye. It's opaque and blocks out distracting light, but the sensations are still sent to the brain via the optic nerve. It enables Your consciousness becomes sharper to integrate with other layers of Gaia. In other words, if you look through a wall through it, you will experience the feeling of that wall."

"It is wonderful," murmured Pelorat, "may I try it?" "Of course, Pei, you can pick any one you want. Each one is constructed differently to show a different aspect of the wall, or whatever inanimate consciousness you're looking at." Pelorat picked up a pair and put it on his eyes, and immediately felt the lenses sticking to his eyes.He was startled at first, and then stood motionless for a long time. "When you've seen enough," Doom said, "put your hands on the left and right sides of the fusion mirror, press a little in the middle, and it will fall off."

Pelorat did as he was told, and the glasses fell down.He blinked violently for a while, then stretched out his hands and rubbed them again. Doom asked, "Do you have any experience?" "It's hard to describe," said Pelorat. "The walls seemed to become sparkling, and at times seemed to flow again: it seemed to have a skeleton, and the geometry was constantly changing. But I... I'm sorry. , Doom, I don't think it's very interesting." Doom sighed, then said, "You're not merging into Gaia, so you see differently than we do. I was worried about that, too bad! One thing I can assure you, though these merging mirrors The main value is in artistic appreciation, but they also have practical uses. For a happy wall is also a long-lived wall, a useful wall, an effective wall." "Happy walls?" Trevize asked with a smile. "Walls have a faint feeling that's akin to what humans call 'happiness,'" Doom said. "If a wall is well designed, its foundations are solid, its structure is well-proportioned so that it doesn't create unpleasant stresses, then it can be said to be a happy wall." walls. Mechanical principles can help engineers make good designs, but only with the right fusion mirror can they be fine-tuned down to the atomic scale. On Gaia, sculptors want to make first-class works of art, there is no An exquisite fusion mirror is absolutely impossible. And the special type I made, if you laugh at me for boasting, is well-known in Gaia.” "Mirror mirrors aren't my thing," Doom said now, getting more and more excited, as anyone would when they mentioned their hobby. "But its principle is the same, the fusion mirror allows us to directly experience the ecological structure. Gaia's ecological environment is quite simple, which is no different from other planets, but we hope to make it more complicated , so that the overall consciousness can be enriched.” Pelorat seemed to have something to say, but Trevize raised his hand and waved him, signaling him not to interrupt.Then Trevize himself asked: "Since all planets have simple ecologies, how do you know Gaia has the potential to go beyond that?" "Ah," Doom's eyes sparkled with wit. "You are testing me, old man. In fact, you understand as well as I do that the earth, the hometown of mankind, once had an extremely complex ecology. Only those secondary worlds, the so-called derived worlds, had simple ecology." Pelorat was not willing to remain silent, he quickly interjected: "This is exactly the topic I have been studying all my life. Why is the earth alone able to produce complex ecology? How is it different from other worlds? Why are millions of other galaxies The worlds, the worlds that produce life, have developed only more or less the same plant life, and at most some small, non-intelligent animals?" "We have a legend on the subject -- maybe just a legend, I can't vouch for its veracity. In fact, it does sound like a fictional story," Doom said. At this time, Baoqisi came in, she hadn't appeared during the meal just now.Now she changed into a silver dress, which was extremely thin and transparent. As soon as she came in, she smiled at Pelorat, who quickly got up and said, "I thought you had left." "No, I just had some reports and other work to do. May I join you now, Doom?" Doom had stood up early (though Trevize remained seated), and he replied, "You're very welcome, and you've brightened my old eyes." "I'm wearing this outfit just to make you look good. Pei has already cultivated to the point of being indifferent, and Cui doesn't like this at all." Pelorat said: "If you think I am not interested in these things, Bliss, I may surprise you someday." "That must have been a lovely surprise," said Bliss, sitting down, and the two gentlemen who were standing sat down with her. "Go on, don't let me interrupt you." So Doom said: "I'm going to tell two guests about the story of 'The Land of Perpetual Water'. To understand this story, you must first understand a theory-the universe is not unique. Many different universes may exist at the same time. , in fact, there should be infinitely many. Any event that happened in our universe may actually not happen, or may happen in a different way. Among the many possibilities, each possibility will lead to future A sequence of events, so each future will be somewhat different." "Bliss may not have come in just now, and she may have joined us earlier, or much earlier, or now. She may have worn a different dress, and even in this dress she may not have As usual, she gave the old man a mischievous smile. Just the fact that she walked in, there are many other possibilities, and each of the many possibilities will make the universe take a different trajectory. And so on, regardless of How small the events are, and the different versions of each event, can make all the difference in the future of the universe." Trevize couldn't sit still. "I believe this is a very common conjecture in quantum mechanics, and in fact, a very old one." "Ah, so you've heard of it, but let me continue. Imagine a situation where human beings have a way to freeze an infinite number of universes, and then walk among them at will in order to choose one of them as their own. The 'real' universe, whatever the interpretation of 'real' here." "I can understand what you're saying, and I can even imagine the concept you're describing, but I just can't believe it's happening," Trevize said. "Honestly, I can't take it all," Doom replied. "That's why I say it sounds like a legend from beginning to end. According to this legend, some people can step out of the time frame, check There are infinitely many universes that could become real. These people are called 'immortals', and when they step out of the time frame, they enter the so-called 'water-permanent realm'." "The task of these people is to choose a 'reality' that is most suitable for human beings. They have been constantly revising their decisions-the story has developed to this point, and there are many detailed descriptions of the plot. Epic form. In the end, they finally found a universe - so the story goes, and in this universe, in the entire galaxy, only Earth has a complex ecosystem, and only Earth can develop enough to create high-tech intelligent species." "According to their judgment, human beings are safest in this situation, so they fixed this series of events as reality and stopped this work. Therefore, human beings are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy today. And in human beings In the process of colonizing the Milky Way, many animals, plants, and microorganisms were brought along intentionally or unintentionally, and as a result, on various planets, species originating from the earth often conquered the inherent life." "In the hazy probability space, there are actually many other realities, and in those realities, the galaxy has many kinds of intelligent creatures, but we can't touch them all. We are imprisoned in this reality. Every action and event that takes place in our reality creates many new branches, but every time the universe diverges, only one branch becomes the continuation of reality. So, there should be A large number of candidate universes - perhaps an infinite number - have arisen from our reality. But in theory they are all similar, which means that in each candidate universe, our galaxy has only a single intelligent species ——Of course, although the probability of this theory not being true is extremely small, it still exists, because since there are infinite possibilities, it is a dangerous assertion to rule out any possibility.” He paused at this point, shrugged slightly, and then added: "At least, that's what the story says. This story began to circulate long before Gaia was established, and I can't guarantee that it's true." The other three have been listening intently.At this moment Baoqisi nodded, as if she had heard the story before and just wanted to make sure Doom was right. Pelorat looked serious and remained silent for a while, then punched the armrest of the chair violently. "No," he said hoarsely, "it doesn't make sense at all. We can't use any observations or reasoning to prove the truth of this story, so it can only be regarded as conjecture. Is it true? In the universe we exist in, only the earth has developed abundant life and intelligent species, so in this universe, whether it is the only family or one of infinite possibilities, the planet earth There must be some unique characteristic, and we still have to explore what this uniqueness is.” There was another long silence, and it turned out that Trevize was the first to respond. He shook his head. "No, Janov, that's not the case. Let's make a hypothesis: If it's purely by coincidence, out of the billion habitable planets in the Milky Way, only the Earth has developed a rich ecology and finally produced intelligent life , the chances of this being one in a billion trillion, or one in twenty-one. galaxy, and those immortals just chose this reality. So in our galaxy, only planet earth can develop complex ecology, intelligent species and advanced technology. It is not because earth is special It's just a coincidence." Trevize continued in a thoughtful tone: "Actually, I think there should be many other realities, and in those realities, the only planet that develops intelligent species may be Gaia, it may be Sechelle, It could be Terminus, or some planet in our reality that is completely devoid of life. Of course there are many more realities where galaxies contain more than one species of intelligent species, and the number of those realities must be huge , so the above-mentioned extreme cases are a tiny fraction in comparison. I believe that if those immortals had examined enough realities, they would have found a reality in which each habitable planet developed independently intelligent species." Pelorat said: "Can I not maintain that the Immortals have found a special reality in which the earth is different from the earth in other realities, and that for some reason this earth is especially suitable for the development of intelligence. ?In fact, I can go further and assume that the Immortals have found a special reality in which the galaxy is different from the galaxies in other realities. For some reason, only one planet in the galaxy can develop intelligence. .” "You can argue that, but I think mine makes more sense," Trevize said. Pelorat was a little annoyed, "That's purely subjective, of course—" Doom hurriedly interrupted: "This kind of logical sophistry will never come to a conclusion. Well, let's not spoil a pleasant and leisurely evening-at least I cherish this atmosphere very much." Pelorat tried his best to relax his tense emotions, letting his anger subside slowly.At last he smiled and said, "Yes, Doom." Bliss has been sitting there obediently, putting her hands on her knees, pretending to be serious. Trevize, who had been looking at her from time to time, said at this time: "How did this world come about, Doom? I'm Refers to Gaia, and its mass consciousness." Doom raised his head and laughed a few times in a high-pitched voice, his old face was covered with wrinkles. "There are still only legends! These questions sometimes come to my mind when I read about the records of human history. No matter how carefully historical records are collected, archived, and computerized, they tend to become blurred over time. Stories snowball Generally speaking, legends accumulate like dust, the longer the history, the thicker the dust accumulated on it, and finally degenerate into legends." "We historians are quite aware of this process, Doom," said Pelorat. "Legends have their charms. Some fifteen centuries ago, Rebel Cannerat said: 'Brilliant Fiction drives out boring historical truth', now known as 'Jennerat's Law'." "Really?" said Doom. "I thought it was just a satire I invented. Well, our past history is full of hazy beauty because of this so-called Kennerat's law—you know robots are what?" "We didn't find out until we got to Sachel." Trevize replied casually. "Have you seen it?" "No, a Sasser asked us the same question, and we answered that we didn't know, so the man explained it to us." "I see. You know, humans lived with robots for a while, but they didn't get along very well." "We've heard that too." "Robots are bound by the so-called 'Three Commandments of Robotics', which can be traced back to prehistory. There are several possible versions of the Three Commandments. According to orthodoxy, it reads as follows: 1. Robots must not Injury to human beings must not be allowed to sit idly by and let human beings be harmed: 2. Robots must obey human orders, unless such orders violate the first commandment; 3. Robots must defend their own existence, unless this action violates the first or second commandment. "As robots become more and more intelligent and capable, these precepts, especially the first commandment of the highest priority, are interpreted more and more broadly, and they become more and more protectors of human beings. But their protection But it deprives human beings of their freedom and makes them more and more unbearable." "In fact, the robots are completely out of good intentions. They are obviously thinking about human beings and working hard for the happiness of all human beings, but this is even more unbearable." "Every advance and breakthrough in robots has made this situation worse. Later, robots even developed telepathy, which means that even human thoughts can be detected by them. Since then, human behavior has been controlled by robots. Closer supervision." “At the same time, robots are becoming more and more human-like in appearance, but their behavior is so obvious that they only make them more repulsive. So, of course, there will be an end to this situation.” "Why 'of course'?" Pelorat had been listening intently and did not ask until now. "It's a corollary of the robot's logical straying," Doom said. "In the end, the robots progress to the point where they're human enough to realize why humans hate them, because while they're supposed to be human, they're actually depriving them of their ability to be human." Everything as it should be. As a result, the robot has to decide that no matter how poorly and inefficiently the way humans take care of themselves, perhaps it is better for humans to fend for themselves.” "Thus, it is said that the Eternal Realm is built by robots, who themselves become immortal. They have found a special reality in which they believe humans are safest - that is, alone in the galaxy. In their After taking care of human beings, in order to truly and thoroughly fulfill the first commandment, the robot automatically stopped functioning. From then on, we are the real human beings, relying on our own ability to independently develop all technological civilizations.” Speaking of this, Doom paused for a moment, glanced at Trevize and Pelorat in turn, and then continued: "How about it, do you believe these claims?" Trevize shook his head slowly. "I don't believe it. I've never heard of any historical record of such a thing. How about you, Janov?" "There seem to be parallels between certain myths and this story," Pelorat said. "Come on, Janov, any of us who make up a story can find myths and legends that seem to fit together, just add some fancy explanations. But I mean history—reliable records." "Oh, in that case, as far as I know, there shouldn't be any." Dum said: "I am not surprised. Long before the robots disappeared, many people left the earth in droves in pursuit of freedom and went to deeper space to establish a robot-free colony world. Most of the colonists Coming from an overcrowded Earth, of course remembering humans' long-standing rejection of robots. The new world is starting from scratch, and they don't even want to look back at the painful humiliation of the past-everyone is forced to accept the care of robot babysitters like children. Therefore They didn't keep any records, and over time they forgot all about it." Trevize said: "It's very possible." Pelorat turned to him and said, "No, Gulen, it's not impossible. Every society makes its own history, and likes to annihilate humble origins. The negative way is to let them gradually be forgotten. The positive way The method is to fabricate some heroic deeds. The imperial government tried to obliterate the previous history of the empire in order to create a mysterious illusion of the empire's eternity. In addition, almost all records about the era before the hyperspace era have now disappeared, and you yourself You know, most people don't know there's a planet Earth these days." Trevize retorted, "You can't accept both, Janov. If the entire galaxy has forgotten the droids, why does Gaia remember?" Bao Qisi suddenly let out a chuckle like a soprano, and rushed to answer: "Because we are different." "Really?" Trevize said, "what's the difference?" Dum continued: "Okay, Baoqisi, let me tell you. We are indeed different, the two guests of the terminal star. The exile group escaped from the robot kingdom, among them a group of people followed Sechelle. The route of the colonists finally reached Gaia. They are the only people who have learned the skill of telepathy from robots. "Do you know that it is indeed a skill. It is the inherent potential of the human mind, but it must be developed in a very subtle and difficult way. If you want to maximize this potential, It takes many generations of continuous effort, but once a good start is made, it develops automatically. Gaia consciousness is the ultimate in this potential, and we have spent more than 20,000 years of work and have not yet reached perfection The existence of group consciousness is experienced very early in our development of telepathy, first limited to humans, then to animals, then to plants; and finally, centuries ago, to the infinite universe of the planet itself. life structure." "Since it all started with robots, we didn't forget about them, we saw them as our mentors, not our nannies. We always thought they opened another door in our minds, and we never Don’t want to be shut down, even for a moment. So, we always remember them with gratitude.” Trevize said: "You used to be children of robots, and now you have become children of group consciousness. Aren't you the same as before, still losing the dignity of humanity?" "It's two very different things, Choi. What we're doing now is entirely out of our own choice - our own choice, so the two cannot be compared. We are not forced by external forces, but from the inside out. We will never forget that. In addition, we have another difference, we are a unique world in the galaxy, and there will be no other world like Gaia." "How can you be so sure?" "Of course we can be sure, Cui. If there is another world-class consciousness similar to ours, even if it is far away on the other side of the galaxy, we can detect it. For example, we can detect it, your second The group consciousness of the base is taking off, but only for the last two centuries." "Is it during the mule chaos?" "Yes, he was part of us." Dum looked serious. "He is a mutant, and he left Gaia without permission. At that time, we were too naive and thought it was impossible, so we didn't take timely action to stop it. Later, when we turned our attention to the external world, we found that What you call Second Base, so leave it up to them." Trevize opened his eyes blankly, and after a long pause, he murmured, "Come again, and we can pick up our history textbook!" Then he shook his head, deliberately raised his voice and said, "Isn't Gaia too cowardly to do this? He should be your responsibility." "You're right, but when we finally set our sights on the Milky Way, we realized that the past has no eyes at all. Therefore, the tragedy caused by the mule became our wake-up call. Only then did we realize the fact that sooner or later we will face A serious crisis, and now a crisis is coming. But thanks to the unexpected event caused by the mule, we have been fully prepared." "What kind of crisis?" "A crisis capable of destroying us." "I don't believe it. You have driven back the Empire, the Mule, and the Saxel one after another. You have a strong group consciousness and can seize ships in space from millions of kilometers away. What do you have to be afraid of? Look. Looking at Bao Qisi, she doesn't seem to be panicking at all, she doesn't think there will be any crisis at all." Bliss put one beautiful leg on the arm of the chair, and deliberately twisted her toes at Trevize. "Of course I'm not worried, Choi, you'll take care of it anyway." Trevize was taken aback: "Me?" Doom said: "Gaia has brought you here through a hundred subtle arrangements, so that you can deal with this crisis for us." Trevize stared at Doom, the expression on his face gradually turning from surprise to anger. "Me? The galaxy is so vast, why is it me? This has nothing to do with me." "Anyway, Trevize," Doom said in a hypnotic calm tone, "you, only you, the galaxy is so vast, but only you."