Chapter 16 first quarter

After Arthur Rubens was tested for kindergarten admission, his parents were called over by the principal. "Your son's IQ cannot be measured." The principal told them.Of course, this "undeterminable" has a positive meaning, so the father who runs a small chain of restaurants in Maryland and the mother who is a housewife are all very happy. By the time Rubens turned ten, his IQ was within the measured range, but already at the end of the normal distribution curve.The data on the chart shows that Rubens has a brain that is one in a million.It is impossible to fill the auditorium of a baseball stadium by gathering people at his intellectual level or above him all over the United States.

However, contrary to everyone's expectations, Rubens knew early on that he would not be a great player.By his early teens, he had already realized his lack of originality.Although he could inherit the knowledge laid down by his predecessors, he could not come up with innovative insights.In the history of mankind, it is the flashes of inspiration in the minds of geniuses who have built a high-level scientific civilization, and Rubens knew early in his life that his brain did not have the antenna to receive this apocalypse. Therefore, Rubens, who entered Georgetown University at the age of fourteen, took the initiative to step down from the throne of child prodigy and was satisfied with the status of ordinary top student.He has no pursuit of money or power, but only has an extraordinary desire for knowledge.To satisfy this desire, he took all the classes, the one that most attracted him was the history of science.From the birth of natural philosophy in the sixth century BC to the development of theoretical physics in the twentieth century - Rubens can appreciate the panorama of human knowledge in the history of science class and enjoy the pleasure that is irreplaceable by other things.Looking back at human history from a scientific perspective, what is particularly embarrassing is the dark age that hindered the progress of European knowledge.Without this history, humans could have landed on the moon in the nineteenth century at the latest.

In college, Rubens's academic life was fulfilling, but otherwise poor.Because he is young and smart, with blond hair and good looks, he is envied by his seniors.The senior who often played tricks on Rubens always showed an indelible hostility.What annoyed Rubens most was that they especially liked to laugh at Rubens as a virgin.This group of boys with pink eye degrades others in a joking tone.After repeatedly witnessing their ugly smiles, Rubens discovered a tendency: the less intelligent the boys, the more eager they were to be sexually dominant.If Rubens is seen getting close to girls, their language is even more vicious.This group of stupid boys reminded Rubens of stags fighting for the opposite sex.

Since then, Rubens has been a ruthless observer.He pretended to be ignorant and ignorant, let the other party get carried away, and exposed the animal nature in his heart.Those people don't know that they have been seen through by Rubens, and their animal nature has been exposed. According to Rubens, the motive force of all competitions visible in social life can be attributed to two kinds of desires: appetite and sexual desire.In order to eat more than others, or earn more, in order to obtain a more attractive opposite sex, people will despise and exclude others.The more animalistic a person is, the more he loves to use intimidation and trickery, and the more eager he is to climb to the top of the organization.The free competition guaranteed by capitalism is an ingenious system that converts the violence of primitive desires into the energy of economic activities.If there is no law, if the well-being of the whole people is not taken care of, then the inherent animal desires of capitalism cannot be suppressed.In short, human beings always use intelligence to cover up and conceal primitive desires, give them a proper name, and satisfy themselves with self-deception.

Six years after entering the university, the twenty-year-old Rubens obtained a doctorate in philosophy by virtue of his research on the foundational theory of mathematics, and for the first time learned the beauty and tenderness of the female body.He later left the familiar Georgetown to work as a doctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory.To learn the new science of complex systems, Rubens went to the Santa Fe Institute.In the coffee shop there, he met a psychologist by chance and heard the other party say something very interesting. From then on, he decided on the direction of future research: the shooting rate of American soldiers on the battlefield.

"Do you know what percentage of U.S. soldiers pulled the trigger after a close encounter with the enemy in World War II?" To the question raised in this chat, Rubens replied without thinking: "Seven times out of ten?" "No, only twice." Seeing the expression of surprise and doubt on Rubens' face, the psychologist continued: "For the remaining eight times, the soldiers would avoid killing with ammunition supplies and other reasons. There is no change. That is to say, for the frontline soldiers, the fear of being killed is far less tense than killing the enemy."

"I didn't expect that. I thought human beings were barbaric." The psychologist laughed, and continued: "There is more. It is the military that is alarmed by this survey result. It is not a good thing for soldiers to be moral. So they conducted a psychological study on how to increase the shooting rate, and the result was that Vietnam The rate of shooting in wars spikes to ninety-five percent." "How did the military do it?" "It's very simple. They changed the target for shooting training from a round shape to a human shape, and made the target stand up automatically like a human being, and then rewarded the good and punished the bad according to the shooting performance."

"Operative conditioning." "That's right, it's like controlling the behavior of a mouse through a feeder. But..." the psychologist said with a sullen face, "This training method of 'shooting on reflex when you see an enemy' has a major flaw, the soldier The psychological barrier is only lifted when the gun is fired, but there is still trauma after killing the enemy. As a result, there is a large number of PTSD among Vietnam veterans." "But," Rubens asked puzzled, "if human beings hate killing so much, why is there still war? How did the United States win World War II with a 20% shooting rate?"

"First of all, among male soldiers, two percent are 'natural killers' who can kill without concern, i.e. psychopaths. However, most of them will lead ordinary citizen lives after returning to society, Only in war do they become the 'ideal soldier' ​​who has no remorse or remorse for killing." "However, how could the war be won with just 2% of the soldiers?" "In fact, it is quite simple to train the remaining ninety-eight percent of soldiers to become murderous demons. First, eliminate the subjectivity of the individual through obedience to authority and assimilation of belonging to the group. Then, the important One point is to keep soldiers away from the target of killing."

"distance?" "Well. The word is made up of two concepts: psychological distance and physical distance." For example, if the enemy belongs to another race, or has a different language, religion, or ideology, there will be a psychological distance and it will be much easier to kill.People who usually have a psychological distance from other nations, that is, people who believe that their own nation is superior and other nations are inferior, can easily become murderers in war.In daily life, such people are very common.As long as the idea that the enemy is inferior and no different from animals is instilled into their consciousness, the killing under the banner of justice can begin.This kind of brainwashing education is not uncommon in all wars, and even in peacetime.Calling the enemy scornful names such as "jap" and "Vietnamese pig" is the first step in this education.

"In order to maintain physical distance," the psychologist continued, "weapon technology must be used." Soldiers who are hesitant to shoot and unwilling to shoot at the forefront of the battle, as long as they distance themselves from the enemy, they will not hesitate to use more destructive means of attack-launching mortars or ship-borne guns, airdrops from aircraft bomb etc.A soldier who shoots an enemy before his eyes bears a lifelong wound that never heals, while a bombardier who takes part in an air strike that kills hundreds feels no guilt. "Some scholars say that imagination is the mark that distinguishes human beings from animals. However, when using weapons, people's imagination is paralyzed to the minimum. They can't imagine how people will die tragically under the bombers. This abnormality This mentality not only appears in soldiers, but also among ordinary citizens. Do you understand?" Rubens nodded.People tend to despise the soldier who kills the enemy with a bayonet, but regard the pilot who shot down ten enemy planes as a hero. "The development of murderous weapons emphasizes staying away from the enemy as much as possible, and killing the enemy in large numbers with simple means. Therefore, human beings gradually gave up hand-to-hand combat and invented weapons such as knives, guns, shells, bombers, and even intercontinental nuclear missiles. Moreover, in In the United States, the weapons industry has become the basic industry of the national economy. So war will never disappear." Rubens, who came into contact with this kind of research, noticed a common point in modern warfare.The most cruel among those involved in the war, the person with the highest authority who decides to launch the war, often has the farthest psychological and physical distance from the enemy.The president attending the White House dinner will neither be splashed with the blood of the enemy nor hear the dying screams of his comrades when their bodies are torn apart.The president hardly has to bear any mental burden brought about by killing, so his inherent cruelty will be completely released.With the evolution of military organization and the improvement of weapons, the killing in modern warfare will inevitably intensify.The decision makers of war do not feel the slightest bit of conscience when they order large-scale air strikes. So, is the leader of a country who orders a war knowing that hundreds of thousands of lives will be destroyed, as brutal as ordinary people?Or are they simply abnormal human beings, with unusually aggressive aggression hidden behind their social smiles? Rubens speculates that the answer is the latter.Those who are captured by the desire for power and win political struggles should have extraordinary belligerent qualities.In democracies, however, such people are elected leaders instead.Democratic elections follow the will of the people, and those elected by the people embody the will of the collective.In other words, the psychology of war studies the psychology of those in power.In order to understand why people wage wars, it is necessary to decipher the psychopathology of those who wage wars. At the Santa Fe Institute, Rubens pursued such research in his spare time while deepening his understanding of the theory of complex adaptive systems.After returning to Los Alamos National Laboratory, his interest in the psychology of war, whose sole subject was those in power, remained undiminished.He studied psychopathology and clinical psychology in a short period of time. Using pathology, he tried to analyze the personality of the next presidential candidate, and concluded that if Gregory Vance was elected president, war would be more likely.Half a year later, Vance won the presidential election. Rubens judged that human history would develop in a bad direction, and he was very eager to get a glimpse of the inside story of Vance's government.At that time, he was almost thirty years old, and he also had the idea of ​​ending his academic life.It's time to get out of the ivory tower and plunge into the vast ocean of human beings. He first looked for employment opportunities close to the White House through colleagues at the Los Alamos Institute.State institutions appreciated Rubens's extraordinary intellect.Army Intelligence and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have both sent him invitations, and he doesn't know which one to choose.That's when he learned about a think tank he'd never heard of before: the Washington, DC-based "Schneider Institute."It was one of many think tanks established after World War II.Other research institutions have research categories such as economics, diplomacy, and military strategy, while the Schneider Institute specializes in intelligence strategy.Ostensibly a private public relations firm, but in fact its biggest clients are the CIA and the Department of Defense.The reason why it is far less well-known than the RAND Corporation is that the Institute operates cautiously and avoids attracting public attention as much as possible. The Schneider Institute holds a neutral position between conservatives and liberals, so it has maintained good relations with successive governments.Rubens felt that this was an excellent opportunity, so he entered the institute after being interviewed by the person in charge of personnel. In an unassuming six-story building on the banks of the Potomac River, Rubens was given a dedicated room and the title of "Researcher."He was told that after finishing the chores he had to deal with, he could continue doing research he loved.Only then did he realize that he was still in the probationary period at that time.Rubens was inadvertently put through psychological tests and a polygraph test.Federal investigators visited all the places he lived and investigated him thoroughly.A year later, they confirmed that Rubens had no financial difficulties, no foreign relatives, no involvement in any anti-government activities, no criminal experience or abnormal sexual fetishes, so Rubens obtained top-secret intelligence contact qualifications.He immediately got busy, was promoted to "analyst", and was sent to the forefront of the intelligence warfare led by the Ministry of Defense. This classified mission is psychological warfare against its own citizens, not an enemy country.At that time, the Vance regime was planning a military invasion of Iraq, and it was necessary to induce public opinion in the direction of supporting the war.As a result, the Ministry of National Defense selected about 80 retired military officers who followed his lead, disguised themselves as "military commentators who supported the attack on Iraq based on personal opinions," and sent them to various media outlets.It is actually very simple to use the media to manipulate people's hearts.President Vance's approval ratings skyrocketed by having TV pundits repeatedly preaching the Iraq threat. But at this moment, 30 Iraqi-Americans sent by the CIA sneaked into their homeland, mastered Iraq's plan to abandon the development of weapons of mass destruction, and revealed that Niger's documents exporting uranium to Iraq were forged.Suspect nuclear fuel has been bought up by companies in Europe and Japan as futures years away.However, the Vance regime ignored all reports and insisted on going its own way, provoking war. In addition to completing the work assigned to him, Rubens took the standpoint of an observer and saw through early on that this was a war of aggression aimed at plundering oil resources.Although unjust, it is beneficial to the country.What he pays special attention to is not the abstract existence of countries or military industrial groups, but the real people.Because the so-called personality of the country is essentially the personality of the country's top decision-maker. In the center of the regime leading the aggression, some people use the war to make a fortune.Chamberlain, who served as Secretary of Defense in the previous government, actively promoted the entrustment of military affairs to private military companies. After the change of government, he became the chairman of the private company that had benefited from him and obtained huge benefits.After Vance came to power, he recalled him to the White House as the vice president and acted as the vanguard of the attack on Iraq.Before the war even started, he set out to outline a blueprint for post-war revival of the business.Of course, it was his own energy company that undertook various infrastructure reconstruction projects in Iraq after the war.Recently his personal fortune has soared by tens of millions of dollars. There are countless politicians in the government who have clothed their money desires in the cloak of neoconservative political ideology.Defense Secretary Latimer himself has close ties to military companies. Most incomprehensible to Rubens was President Vance.Judging from the content of his speech, he hated the Iraqi dictator deeply, but why did he hate him so much that he had to kill him?In addition to the national interests and the transfer of interests from the military-industrial complex, what determines the president's attitude may also be unconscious motives that Vance himself is not aware of.On this point, Rubens traced the president's life experience based on media reports, and put forward a hypothesis: the reason why Vance wanted to overthrow the Iraqi dictator might be that he alluded to him as the authoritarian father in the family.Rubens laughed at himself for drawing such arbitrary conclusions from such meager data, but it would be horrific if this were the case.The bad relationship between father and son of a certain person on the earth will cause more than 100,000 people to be killed.The day Vance got his wish, he must have felt very empty.The person he defeated was not the person who should be defeated.What he killed was nothing more than an imaginary enemy deep in his heart. Anyway, the war started.Just as the Iraq war was in full swing, President Vance declared victory.Then, wolf-like countries entered Iraq one after another under the banner of helping the post-war recovery.If there are war dead in the country where the war ends, it will affect the post-war reputation, so many countries hire mercenaries from private military companies to undertake security work. This is simply a black comedy.The countries that tried their best to show their loyalty to the United States got a share of the leftovers from their masters, that is, some oil rights.The leaders of these countries are obsessed with inhumane national interests and deceive their own citizens with the pretext of non-existent weapons of mass destruction; the nationals of these countries are also willing to be deceived and serve as murderers who indirectly kill the Iraqi people.The energy companies of various countries have snatched huge benefits in a high-sounding manner, and the citizens can enjoy a more convenient life, while the soldiers who are sent to the front line are physically and mentally injured. The American leaders who led this stupid war, which is rare in history, will surely be thrown into hell by the God they believe in at the end of their lives. Rubens was promoted to senior analyst when postwar affairs in Iraq bogged down, but he made up his mind to leave the Schneider Institute.He has seen everything that can be seen in this institute.Next, he's going to study America's regenerative capabilities.Americans are not stupid, and the stupidity of the Vance administration will surely bring aftershocks.In the next presidential election, the first African-American or female president in American history may be born.If one works in the election office of a strong candidate, one can observe more closely the spirit and bestiality of those who seek the throne of supreme power. At this moment, he received a summons from other departments in the institute.Waiting for him in the conference room with strict security measures is the Minister of External Coordination, who is responsible for contacting intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency. "Look at this first." The minister handed him a paper titled "Research on the Causes of Human Extinction and Countermeasures."Rubens was secretly surprised to see that the author was "Dr. Joseph R. Heisman, Principal Investigator of the Schneider Institute".Dr. Heisman's major is theoretical physics, but he is also proficient in other scientific disciplines. It can be said that he is a well-informed and well-known figure.Especially in the field of history of science, he can be called the academic leader.Rubens had read several of his works.This Dr. Heisman actually belonged to the Schneider Institute thirty years ago, which even Rubens did not know. Rubens read the Heisman Report with great interest.What I feel most deeply after reading through is that the doctor is a thorough anti-war person.It must have taken considerable courage to deliver this report at a time when the Cold War was in full swing.Rubens developed a growing respect for the Heisman. "What do you think of this report?" asked the Minister of External Coordination. Rubens immediately replied: "What the doctor said is very true." The minister nodded, "Then look at this again." Then, he handed out a document, "The National Security Agency monitoring the situation in Africa intercepted an email sent from the Democratic Republic of Congo by the name of Naijie Pierce's anthropologist, the recipient is his research partner. Your task is to investigate and analyze the content of the e-mail in detail, and submit a report within a week. The first question is whether the content of the letter is reliable. Whether it will really happen, whether the doctor made a misjudgment." "Can I ask two questions?" "Can." "Why did you ask me to do this? Isn't that what NSA and CIA analysts do?" The minister smiled slightly, "This is something they can't do, only you can solve it. The warning issued by the "Heisman Report" is quite practical, so it's our institute's turn to appear again." Rubens nodded and asked the second question: "Can you provide some background information about Nigel Pierce?" "Refer to this if necessary." The minister took a report from the folder. Rubens first read through the report.According to the identity check of the National Security Agency, Nigel Pierce is a 47-year-old white male, whose father is the boss of the large trading company "Pierce Shipping".But Nigel Pierce was born fond of academic research, so he handed over the inheritance of the family business to his younger brother. He obtained a doctorate in anthropology at the age of 27, and then mainly engaged in field surveys. Department professor. Pierce's academic level is not highly evaluated by the outside world. His paper on the Mbuti people among the Pygmies was criticized: "It is very interesting as a travelogue, but lacks academic value." The reason why Pierce can continue to serve as a professor , in fact because the family-run Pierce Consortium provided a lot of research funding to the school.The CIA report also analyzed his personality, saying that he was "extremely healthy in spirit, not keen on academic competition and fame, and it can be said that he was engaged in research entirely out of interest."It can be seen that this person is indifferent to fame and fortune, which is exactly the opposite of the personality of a politician. A photo is attached to the report.Rubens engraved the image of the tanned, bearded Pierce in his mind, then turned to the e-mail Pierce had sent.That document was stamped "Top Secret."Rubens thought it was an email about a deadly virus, but read it with astonishment. After reading the e-mail, Rubens tried to avoid a look of excitement on his face.Emotional people are not welcome in this workplace. "I will submit the analysis report in a week." He said this and left the conference room. Rubens again marveled at America's intelligence capabilities.The National Security Agency is the world's largest intelligence agency above the CIA. Together with the other four Anglo-Saxon countries, it has established an "Echelon" system to eavesdrop on the world, intercepting all communications in the world - landlines, mobile phones, faxes , email, etc.However, because it is impossible to process all intercepted data, only information related to US security is screened by the computerized screening process.The thesaurus of such a screening program must contain the specific phrase mentioned in Dr. Pierce's email.For example, keywords such as "anti-government forces", "prime factorization", "highest strength", "RAS password", "United States", "Ministry of Defense", "shock", and "combat" in this email were probably detected. The obvious reason why the NSA considers Dr. Pierce's email a major concern is the ability to factor factors exhibited by Mbuti children.Had this capability existed, modern ciphers would have failed.For the United States, this will be a major threat to national security. However, in Rubens' view, this understanding of the crisis is very short-sighted.What will happen to the world if there are creatures that surpass human intelligence?The order of the human world that has been maintained through painstaking efforts may collapse in an instant. After reading the intercepted emails, Rubens returned to his alma mater, Georgetown University, and headed into the library to investigate the possibility of such a thing as human evolution. Charles Robert Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace came up with "Natural Selection" almost simultaneously, a hypothesis that has remained at the heart of biological evolution for the next 150 years .Organisms change their traits through mutations, and evolution that does not adapt to the environment is eliminated, otherwise it will be passed on from generation to generation.This process repeats over generations, accumulating small variations that eventually lead to changes in the species itself.Darwin and Wallace didn't even know about Mendelian genetics, let alone DNA.The insight they have come up with just by looking at nature is truly astonishing.However, because of this, the theory of natural selection has also been criticized as only discussing one aspect of evolution.Darwin's theory of evolution only examines the situation after the mutation occurs, but does not involve the mechanism by which the mutation occurs.This hypothesis does not reveal the whole picture of the evolutionary phenomenon. With the development of molecular biology, many new breakthroughs have appeared in this field.External reasons such as nuclear radiation, or DNA replication errors when forming germ cells, can cause genetic information to mutate.In fact, the human genome consists of three billion base pairs, and every two years, one base in DNA is replaced by another base.However, this kind of random variation is almost neutral, and has no benefit or harm to survival. Whether it will be fixed as a variation of the species as a whole depends entirely on chance. In recent decades, great discoveries in the field of molecular biology have emerged one after another, and conclusions have been rewritten one after another.In addition to single base substitutions, known as site mutations, genomes can also change.A gene is copied and then moved to another location, or an entire DNA strand is copied twice, all of which have happened in the history of biological evolution.This drastic base sequence change is the driving force behind biological evolution.In addition, at the end of the last century, another amazing discovery was made: Even if the DNA does not change, the traits of organisms will change.Atomic groups, such as methyl and acetyl, can promote or inhibit gene expression.And, because this chemical modification is accurately inherited from parent to child, the next generation will inherit the variation from the previous generation. The more he learned about this mechanism of DNA variation, the more Rubens felt that biological evolution was more rapid and dramatic than previously thought.In other words, biological evolution far outpaces geological change.As the Heisman Report puts it, "Organisms accumulate small changes over long periods of time, and then at some point suddenly large changes in traits occur." Summarize human evolution.Six million years ago, a certain primate branched off into two branches, a chimpanzee branch and a human branch.But it is incredible that chimpanzees basically did not evolve during the six million years, and during the evolution from Lamida ape to Homo, at least 20 species of humans were born, and eventually evolved into the current Homo sapiens.But there is not only one line of this evolution, but multiple branches running in parallel.In ancient times, many kinds of human beings existed on the earth at the same time.The new humans who left the African continent 50,000 years ago and spread across the planet should have also encountered Homo erectus and Neanderthals.Compared with chimpanzees, the evolution of human beings has been greatly accelerated. Regarding this phenomenon, the academic community has successively proposed several answers. Among the genes of the human brain, there are many substances that increase the speed of evolution. Among them is a gene related to the formation of the cerebral cortex, which is called "Human Acceleration Zone 1".Since this gene appeared in the process of biological evolution, only two base substitutions have occurred in the 300 million years.However, during the six million years of human evolution, eighteen bases of this gene have mutated.That is to say, among all creatures, only the animals of the subfamily Homo have evolved toward the direction of explosive growth in intelligence. Rubens next noticed a gene called FOXP2.Chimpanzees also have this gene.Although the FOXP2 gene of humans and chimpanzees is very small, it is this subtle difference that has led to humans far surpassing chimpanzees in terms of language ability. Known as a transcription factor, FOXP2 promotes the expression of sixty-one other genes but also represses the expression of another fifty-five.Mutations in a single gene can alter the function of hundreds of genes.It is the subtle changes in FOXP2 that enable humans to obtain highly developed language abilities. In view of the huge impact of evolutionary acceleration regions on human DNA and their small mutations, it cannot be judged that the assertion of human evolution in Dr. Pierce's report is fallacious.When Rubens was about to write his analysis, he came across a decisive study.The new human beings that appeared about 200,000 years ago lived a primitive life for 190,000 years. Why did they suddenly build a civilized society?The answer to this question resides in the human genome.There are indications that the ASPM gene that emerged six thousand years ago modified the human brain.Later, convergent evolution occurred, that is, geographically separated groups evolved similar capabilities, and civilizations arose one after another everywhere.If this hypothesis is true, then the new human has undergone brain evolution, although the new human scale is not large.Before judging whether Pierce's thesis is correct, human evolution is already a fait accompli. After finishing his research at the library, Rubens returned to his home outside Georgetown.He turned on the computer and completed the analysis report assigned by his superior in one go.In his concluding section, he carefully worded: The analysis report was handed over to the Minister of External Coordination as scheduled.The minister assigned Rubens a new task on the spot. "This matter has been written into the presidential briefing. The president may ask us to draw up a response plan. You should prepare in advance." "What is a response plan?" "It refers to what to do with the creature." Another problem arose before Rubens.Because what the president wants is not a biological solution, but how to eliminate this national security problem.Three options immediately came to his mind: let go, capture, and kill.But no matter what the choice is, there is no perfect solution. Rubens returned to the library again to gather the information needed for a response plan.He still hasn't touched the fundamental question: Why do pygmy children mutate?Furthermore, what happened to his parents' germ cells? After reviewing all sources, informative information was condensed into three hypotheses.Rubens carefully investigated each of these three hypotheses. The first thing to do is the study of DNA nucleosome structure, that is, the study of the base substitution cycle of killifish. DNA does not exist directly in the cell in the form of a double helix, but is wound around spherical proteins called histones, the relationship between the two is a thread and a spool.And, because DNA is longer than histones, a piece of DNA wraps itself around one histone after another, like a long thread wound regularly around an array of spools.The variations observed in the killifish DNA echoed the periodicity of histone structure, with variations occurring every two hundred bases.If this research is applied to the evolution of human beings, it can be inferred that there are some sites on DNA that are prone to base substitutions, and the genes related to the brains of the subfamily Hominids coincide with these intervals only by chance. .Random base substitutions are repeated, and most fertilized eggs will be aborted naturally due to genetic errors. This time, among the Mbuti people living in the Congo rainforest, individuals with successfully evolved brains appeared.If this conjecture is true, then the germ cell mutation does not occur in all members of the Kanga group, but only in one of the parents of the mutant child.In this way, the response plan only needs to be specific to this parent and child. The second hypothesis involves the "Tunguska explosion". In 1908, a mysterious explosion occurred in Tunguska, deep in Siberia.A huge fireball appeared in the sky, 80 million trees were toppled, and people 60 kilometers away from the explosion center were also swept away by the shock wave.Its destructive power is equivalent to 15 million tons of TNT explosives, which is the energy of 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs.Although it is not clear what caused the explosion, some people speculate that a comet or asteroid exploded in the air after entering the earth's atmosphere.Some of the plants near the explosion site grew three times faster than ordinary plants, and some of them completely mutated in shape. This was obviously caused by genetic abnormalities caused by nuclear radiation.But inconceivably, although no residual nuclear radiation was detected near the site, the mutation rate of plants in the center of the explosion was much higher than that caused by nuclear radiation. After learning of this situation, Rubens contacted the National Reconnaissance Bureau through the Minister of External Coordination and obtained the data of the military reconnaissance satellite.Data show that there are roughly seven explosions of small celestial bodies in the atmosphere every year.Although its scale is far from the Tunguska explosion, it is also equivalent to the destructive power of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, that is, 20,000 tons of TNT explosives.If this astronomical phenomenon can cause biological genetic abnormalities, and it occurs over the Ituri forest where the Mbuti people live, it is likely to affect all nearby residents.But the National Reconnaissance Office has reconfirmed that no asteroid explosion has been observed over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two decades.Most of this celestial phenomenon occurs over the unknown oceans.So Rubens abandoned this hypothesis. The last thing left is the "virus evolution theory" that determines the direction of the response plan.Although this was only one of many hypotheses about biological evolution, it contained concepts that Rubens could not ignore.Viruses do not have the ability to replicate themselves, so they use the biological cells they infect to proliferate.Integrate its own DNA into the parasitic cellular DNA and then replicate.However, it is possible for the virus to cease activity while integrating the DNA.So the base sequence of the virus is added to the parasitic cell, and its mutation is inherited by the daughter cells when the cell divides, so the genome also changes.Alternatively, the virus can multiply by entering the genes of the host organism as part of it, and the virus ceases its activity when it infects a new individual, and the original host's genes are incorporated into the new host's DNA.如果这种现象出现在生殖细胞中，而生殖细胞成为受精卵，添加的碱基序列获得新的功能，那么进化就发生。倘若病毒进化说成立，那么通过病毒感染，生物进化就会同时发生在多个地点。 将这一假说应用到这次的问题上，就可以得出这样的推论：刚果雨林中出现了新型病毒，感染了姆布提人，促使其发生了进化。 接下来，鲁本斯调查了针对姆布提人的病毒感染进行过的流行病学研究，发现名为古贺诚治的日本病毒学者曾对姆布提人感染HIV病毒的情况做过实地调查，而调查对象恰好包括康噶游群的四十名成员。说不定，古贺博士自己都没有意识到，他检测出了导致人类进化的未知病毒。 鲁本斯的学术兴趣被点燃，他立刻索要了日语书写的原始论文，交给国家安全局翻译。但遗憾的是，结果令人失望。古贺做调查的时间在可疑俾格米孩子出生七年前，也就是距今十年前，而且康噶游群的四十名成员都没有感染病毒。 由于新型病毒可能是在古贺博士的调查后产生的，所以在拟定应对计划时，鲁本斯没有排除进化在若干个体身上同时发生的可能性。 大量研究结束后，鲁本斯暂时放下心来。看样子，“抹杀”这一最糟选择可以避免。只要超人类可能通过病毒感染诞生，就不可能通过杀光康噶游群的成员来根除威胁。这样的大屠杀应该是不会获得允许的。 比较剩下的两个选择——“放任”和“捕获”，就不得不放弃前者。倘若可能破解最高强度密码的高智能生物，落入假想敌国手中，那将是极度危险的。 但不可否认，“捕获”这个选择也包含风险。根据《海斯曼报告》，超人类拥有“凭我们的悟性无法理解的精神特质”。面对我们发起的捕获行动，对方将作何反应是无法预测的。为了避免不测，就必须采取彻底的敌对行动，决不能心慈手软。 所以，计划的第一部分是调查。将由特种部队护卫的专业队伍送进当地，确认皮尔斯发出信息的真伪。 事实确认之后，计划进入第二阶段，即“将康噶游群的成员及所有计划执行者隔离”。之所以连计划执行者也要隔离，是因为他们有可能在当地的活动中感染病毒。任务完成之时，必须捏造隔离理由欺瞒计划执行者，比如为了避免埃博拉病毒或其他类似致死性病毒的蔓延。 计划的第三阶段，是对所有被隔离的人员进行生化检测，确定是否存在导致进化的病毒。如果检测出病毒，那之后的处置就交给政治家，从政治角度判断。政治家恐怕会开发抗病毒药物，将进化扼杀在摇篮之中吧。如果病毒不存在，那就会释放被隔离的人。 至于那个大脑发生变异的三岁孩子，应对办法是让他和他的父亲都加入美国国籍，照顾其生活，并将其置于当局的宽松监视之下。大前提是必须保证他作为一个人的权利，避免使用监禁等暴力手段，令其对现代人留下友好的印象，并利用其超人的智力为美国服务。 然而，鲁本斯拟定的计划，在提交后的第二天就被退了回来。 “高层的意见是，你的计划太拖泥带水了。”施耐德研究所会议室里，对外协调部部长说，“必须尽快消除对美国的威胁。” “消除？”鲁本斯立即明白了这个词的含义。那就是抹杀。 “而且，你拟定的计划，无论是费用方面，还是实效性方面，都有问题。中东进行的两场战争已经让我们疲于应付了，没有精力隔离纷争地带的四十名俾格米人。” “这件事可以不通过军事方法解决，要用民事办法。只要打着遏制致死性病毒蔓延的旗帜，就可以伪装为人道支援展开行动，在刚果战斗的各方势力就不会以美国为敌了吧？” “我说，阿瑟……”部长放缓口气，教育面前这位轻率无知的分析员，“你不知道本届政府的脾气吗？即便你在这儿说服了我，他们也不会改变主意，只会去找另一个听他们话的机构办事。” 被上级点醒后，鲁本斯对自己的幼稚感到羞耻。没错，那些家伙的行事风格一贯如此。给反对意见挑刺，然后加以摒弃，让周围遍布支持者。这是披着民主决策外皮的独裁。万斯政府就是这样发动对伊拉克人民的杀戮的。 “高层的意见不会建立在你拟定计划的适当性上，只会基于他们自己的偏好。本届政府是典型的牛仔气质，不喜欢慢条斯理的手段。他们的逻辑是：如果有人能破解最高强度的密码，那就抢在假想敌国知道那人存在之前干掉他。” “可是，就算干掉了那个俾格米孩子，潜在的威胁仍然存在。如果变异是病毒引起的，那康噶游群中可能还会诞生新的超人孩子。” “高层也考虑到了这一点。” 鲁本斯惊愕不已，直勾勾地注视着桌子对面的部长。本以为自己已经掌握了万斯政府的精神病理，但看样子还是低估了他们的邪恶程度。尽管是在保密措施严密的会议室里，鲁本斯还是压低了声音问：“你是说，要把康噶游群的所有成员，连带奈杰尔·皮尔斯一起抹杀？” 部长苦着脸点头：“要想在华盛顿这里生存下去，就必须注意措辞。不是'抹杀'，而是'消除'。只要存在病毒感染的可能性，那要消除的就不止你提到的四十一个人，连计划执行者也必须消除。” 拼死抗辩的鲁本斯惊讶地发现，自己竟然有如此强烈的道德意识。“但这样做军方是不会允许的。派去执行任务的是特种部队，培养一个特种部队战士需要消耗数百万美元的税金。难道这样的精锐部队也要'消除'吗？” “不是还有私营军事公司吗？派佣兵去做好了。而且，一旦方案具体化，就会成为白宫主导的暗杀任务，采用外包的形式会更加安全。” 这可不是暗杀，而是种族屠杀，鲁本斯想。目标是一个新人类个体，对一个人的种族屠杀。 “如果病毒感染扩大到康噶游群之外怎么办？周边居民也全都要消除吗？” “到时候会再做商议。明天就把新计划交上来。”部长命令道。离开房间时，他从门口转过身，补充道，“你要小心啊，阿瑟。” 在鲁本斯听来，这不是威胁，而是亲切的提醒。 鲁本斯离开研究所时，太阳还高悬在空中。他沿着华盛顿特区最惬意的街道——M大街朝家走去。这条街上商店鳞次栉比，尽管规模小，但出售的商品都质量上乘。在夏日阳光中，街道上充满了活力。鲁本斯眼中所见，是过着市民生活的善良人们。这平和的一幕可以抑制潜藏在心底的野蛮欲求。这才是美国啊，鲁本斯想。万斯政府在侮辱这个美国。 在通往普洛斯贝克特大街的陡梯旁，鲁本斯停下脚步，陷入沉思。抹杀进化后的人类，这一决定也有值得肯定之处。黑猩猩是无法利用人类的，同样，人类也控制不了超人类。如果留下他的性命，极有可能会成为人类社会的威胁。问题是被殃及的其他四十人。如果不考虑如何营救他们，鲁本斯自己就会成为大屠杀的罪魁。 辞职这个念头一闪而过，但他很快打消了。就算自己辞职，状况也得不到任何改变。万斯会找一个顺从他的人取而代之，执行大屠杀。如果有人能避免更多的人牺牲，那这个人就只能是自己。 虽然可以直接给奈杰尔·皮尔斯发警告，但唯一的通信手段只有通过皮尔斯的卫星手机发送的电子邮件。而信一发出去就会被“梯队”系统截获，并锁定发送者身份。 你要小心啊，阿瑟。 鲁本斯感觉到了危险。自己不知不觉就卷入犯罪组织中，受到胁迫，不得不参加暗杀的勾当。其实，白宫酷似黑手党——总是遇到这样那样的麻烦，提出包括杀人在内的各种解决方案，然后付诸实施。 几经思量，鲁本斯终于决定了自己的路。 返回乔治敦大学附近的出租屋，进入小书房，鲁本斯着手拟定新的计划。 首先，为了让计划执行者进行大屠杀，就要保留“致死性病毒感染爆发”这种说法。这一把人类从灭绝危机中拯救出来的虚假计划，代号“守护者”。 至于计划的背景说明，则要同之前的报告截然不同，不仅大量使用专业用语和难懂的概念，而且还不加注释。并且暗示，这一计划非常危险，极有可能以失败告终。 鲁本斯的言外之意是，对计划负责人的要求极高。这一秘密计划的指挥者，不仅要具备政治军事素养，还必须拥有以生物学为中心的跨学科知识，而且还可以被政府高层在必要时轻易解聘。满足这些条件的人，是不可能轻易找到的——除了施耐德研究所的一名年轻分析员。 鲁本斯将赌注压在了这一点上。在伊拉克战争之前，智库就占据了军工集团的一席之地，在各个研究所工作的民间人士建立起所谓的“特别计划室”，主导了伊拉克战争。鲁本斯极有可能参与机密计划的实施。 凌晨时分，鲁本斯完成了计划制定，然后想出两个代号，补充到空白栏中。暗杀目标，即那个三岁的孩子，代号“奴斯”（nous）。这是希腊语中“超凡的智慧”的意思。耶稣会教士、思想家德日进提出的生物进化第三阶段“精神圈”（noosphere）的语源也是这个词。而抹杀奴斯的计划以希腊神话中的复仇女神“涅墨西斯”命名。这是“复仇”的拟人化神，导致恐龙灭绝的巨型陨石也是用这个名字命名的。 一个月后，被纳入特批接触计划的“涅墨西斯计划”得到了万斯总统的批准，正式启动。五角大楼辐射状走廊中的第三条地下设立了行动指挥部。屋外挂着“特别计划室第二科”的名牌。进屋之前，除了必须佩戴安保徽章和身份证外，还必须通过各种生物特征识别系统。鲁本斯获得了通过这些系统的资格，因为白宫已经任命他担任涅墨西斯计划的负责人。 一切都如鲁本斯所料。四名计划执行者来自私营军事公司，在他们杀死俾格米人之前，鲁本斯有权更改计划。鲁本斯下定决心，将用自己唯一的武器，即超乎常人的智力，捍卫四十多人的生命。 行动指挥部由十一名成员构成。监督官是国防部负责非洲问题的助理国防部长帮办，军事顾问和科技顾问各一名，下面是指挥部部长鲁本斯及其直属的七名部下——一名来自国防情报局，其他六名是中情局总部临时外派的。这些特工各有绝活，手下也有跟随人员随时待命。 科技顾问由梅尔韦恩·加德纳博士担任，这对鲁本斯来说非常幸运。博士的研究领域从量子力学延伸到物理化学，后来凭借分子生物学方面的贡献荣获国家科学奖。他不仅学识渊博，而且举止稳健，在火药味浓重的行动指挥部中，起到了缓和气氛的作用。而美国特种作战司令部派遣的军事顾问格伦·斯托克斯上校很难相处，不过，其他成员倒喜欢看到两名顾问之间发生分歧。 鲁本斯在计划开始前，同加德纳博士单独谈过一次话，目的是就一些基本的问题征求博士的意见。 “关于奴斯的处置方案，博士也支持抹杀吗？”鲁本斯劈头便问。 加德纳博士缓缓答道：“这也是逼不得已吧。那个三岁孩子长大后，如果能成功实现常温核聚变，那全世界的势力平衡就会被打破。除了能源问题，包括武器开发在内的科学技术、医疗、经济等方方面面，人类都将受其支配。到时候，世界的财富和权力就会掌握在奴斯手中。” 看来，科技顾问同鲁本斯一样，对刚果雨林中出现的生物学上的威胁做出了正确的评估。威胁就是“力”。令人恐惧的，不是核弹的破坏力，也不是最尖端的科学技术力，而是催生这两者的智力本身。 “遗憾的是，我们不大度。”博士继续道，“我们不允许有比自己更聪明的生物出现。不过，我个人倒是想见见奴斯。” 鲁本斯也有同感：“奴斯长大后，会是什么模样？” “考虑到幼期性熟的可能，奴斯长大后的模样应该与现代人的孩子一样。尽管他在婴儿期时相貌奇特，但慢慢就会跟我们的孩子没有区别了。” "I see." 对类人猿祖先来说，现代人就是幼期性熟的类人猿。黑猩猩婴儿的头盖骨和人类成人的头盖骨差不多。考虑到俾格米人本就身材矮小，奴斯长大后就应当同现代人的孩童别无二致。 “这次任务最重要的因素，你认为是……” “现阶段来看，应该是奴斯的智力水平吧。” “没错，从截获的奈杰尔·皮尔斯的电子邮件判断，奴斯脑容量的增加，还仅限于大脑新皮层。” “大脑发育的强度现在还是个谜。”加德纳叹息道，“奴斯前额叶好像特别发达。” "yes." “人类的精神活动主要集中在额叶，最好不要低估他的能力。” “那就作最大程度的估量吧。” “这才安全。” 最后大家一致认为，奴斯与现代人之间的智力差，和现代人与黑猩猩的智力差相当。奴斯现在三岁，智力水平已与现代人的普通成年人相当。 “势均力敌啊。”加德纳就像是找到了对弈敌手一样，不禁笑了起来。 计划开始实施后，鲁本斯立即着手信息管制。首先，他通过信息安全监督办公室，将在国立档案馆中沉睡的《海斯曼报告》指定为机密文件，同时撤销互联网上所有提及《海斯曼报告》的网站。通过国家安全局，令所有搜索引擎都搜索不出相关结果。 涅墨西斯计划起初进行顺利，但随着准备的深入，不安的气氛还是弥漫开来。最困难的部分，是确定潜入刚果雨林的任务执行者名单。 特别计划室的最高长官、助理国防部长帮办哈里·埃尔德里奇将白宫的想法告知鲁本斯：“将沃伦·盖瑞特加入执行者名单。他是中情局的准军事人员，负责监视任务执行。” 鲁本斯惊讶地问：“让中情局特工加入守护者计划？” "yes." “这样做行吗？” 埃尔德里奇皱眉答道：“这是上面的意思。” 根据“知悉权”原则，鲁本斯没被告知理由，但万斯政府明显想让沃伦·盖瑞特这个人消失。 至于剩下的三人，埃尔德里奇通过私营军事公司找到了合适人选。但这些在伊拉克活动的人陆续遭敌人攻击阵亡了。埃尔德里奇只好重觅人选，最后选定了陆军特种部队和空军伞降救援队出身的佣兵各一名，以及法国外籍军团的日本人一名。各个成员的技能都没问题，但鲁本斯对乔纳森·耶格这个“绿色贝雷帽”特种部队前队员的资质提出了质疑。背景调查中写道，他的独生子患有绝症，命不久矣。在遭遇如此不幸时，患者家属都会产生强烈的自我破坏冲动。在执行残酷任务的过程中，耶格有可能自暴自弃。 后来，耶格孩子的问题以完全预想不到的方式表面化了。首先出现的，是国家安全局的报告。他们发现，有人用日本国内的电脑对“Heisman Report”这个词进行了搜索。见到国家安全局确定的搜索者姓名，鲁本斯大吃一惊。 古贺诚治。 这不是对姆布提人的病毒感染进行流行病学调查的学者吗？他为什么会对《海斯曼报告》感兴趣？这应该不是单纯的巧合。涅墨西斯计划正是基于《海斯曼报告》中的警告才制定出来，决定抹杀古贺博士的调查对象——康噶游群的四十名成员。 最糟的情况是，机密已经泄漏。鲁本斯立即着手调查，却发现了出人意料的事实：古贺博士1996年到过扎伊尔，同时期，奈杰尔·皮尔斯正待在姆布提人的营地中。两人很可能见过面。可是，刚果内战爆发后，两人各自回国，并没有证据证明他们后来还有交流。 古贺诚治成了中情局和国家安全局的监视对象。它们首先窃取了古贺博士的所有通讯信息，结果不仅没有掌握能解答疑问的证据，反而拿到了令鲁本斯愈发困惑的报告：刚果东部和日本之间，存在着密码化的电子邮件往来。 “发信人和收信人都不清楚，密码也不可破解。” 听到这番话，鲁本斯质问国家安全局的联络员：“既然已截获邮件，怎么会不知道发信人和收信人？” “双方通过独立的通信协议进行通信。也就是说，他们搭建了秘密通信网。” “可是，通信需要IP地址吧？只要问问日本的网络供应商应该就能查出来。” “我们已经查过，同网络供应商签约的人失踪了。” "what happened?" 联络员转述了日本方面负责反恐的机构——警视厅公安部外事三课的报告：“签约者债务缠身，已经失踪十年以上。当地警察怀疑，有人通过非法渠道购买了户籍，冒充失踪者，取得了IP地址。购买户籍是欺诈等犯罪中经常使用的手段。” 合同中登记的住址是东京北部平民区廉价公寓中的一个房间，警察在那里没有发现有人生活的迹象。无论是房屋租赁合同还是网络使用合同，用的都是失踪者的名字，根本无从查起。 “刚果这边查过没有？卫星通信服务使用合同是谁签的？” “还是同一个日本人。” 鲁本斯暗忖，莫非这密码通信是古贺诚治和奈杰尔·皮尔斯所用？如果是这样，他们有何目的？ “难道国家安全局都无法破解密码的内容？” “是的。他们使用的密码技术既不是RSA也不是AES，很有可能是一次性密码。” 鲁本斯马上就明白了。对称加密算法的一次性密码，已经被数学证明是不可破解的。这种加密方式之所以没有普及，是因为发信人和收信人必须在事前共有庞大的随机数，而这在现实中很难实现。现在使用一次性密码加密的通信，仅局限于美俄总统之间的直接通话热线。而刚果和日本进行通信的电脑里，一定有类似的密码系统。加密解密时使用的随机数，都提前储存在硬盘里。如果要破解密码，就必须搞到这组随机数。 “无法入侵用密码通信的电脑吗？” “尝试过，但失败了。” 竟然有连国家安全局都无法入侵的电脑，鲁本斯不禁咋舌。 “能否在守护者计划中增加一项任务？”联络员说，“没收皮尔斯的电脑。只要将电脑中的随机数找出来，我们就能破解他们交流的信息。” “好。”鲁本斯同意修正计划。反正守护者计划注定要中止。 力图整体把控计划的鲁本斯不得不承认，密码通信的存在令人不安。他开始怀疑，这背后有奴斯智力的支持。目前还只是猜测。敌人的手法异常高超，但只要识破了敌人的伎俩，就可以制定应对方案。 “继续刚才的话题。”联络员说，“是不是可以通过联邦调查局请日本警察配合行动，勒令网络供应商停止服务？” 鲁本斯接受了提议。只有消除不确定因素，计划本身才可控。 "Just do it." 几天后，鲁本斯接到新的报告。锁定行踪不明者的IP地址之后不久，日本和刚果之间的密码通信马上就又恢复了。据说是用另一个假名开设的IP地址。鲁本斯觉得非常丢脸。可疑通信不仅没被切断，对方还觉察到了鲁本斯他们的存在。 “要再请日本方面配合吗？” “不用了。对方多半会故技重施。继续监听通信，努力解读。” "it is good." 刚果和日本之间到底在干什么？为了整体掌握局势，除了展开信号分析外，鲁本斯还调动人员展开走访摸排。他向以美国驻日本大使馆为据点的中情局东京分局下达指令，招募当地工作人员，彻底调查古贺诚治这位学者。中情局列出了与博士有关系的人员名单，国家安全局对这些人进行窃听，选出有出轨行为的人，然后利用出轨证据和现金报酬威逼利诱，使其提供协助。代号以工作人员的职业命名，定为“科学家”。 然而，正当“科学家”开始秘密调查时，古贺博士却因为胸部大动脉瘤破裂而死。毋庸置疑，这是病死。接下来只有没收他留下的电脑。这台机器里，应该储存着破解密码通信所需的随机数。 这时，“梯队”窃听网又截获了新的猎物，搜索“Heisman Report”的人再次现身。这个人就是古贺诚治的儿子，一个名叫古贺研人的年轻人。这个研究生又开始了古怪的行动——在网上搜索肺泡上皮细胞硬化症这种绝症。而乔纳森·耶格的儿子所患的就是这种遗传疾病。 鲁本斯本以为诚治死后，刚果与日本之间的联系将就此中断，但诚治似乎将联络方法告诉了儿子。国家安全局成功截获的机密级别为“A”的情报是这样写的： Open book stained with popsicles. 古贺诚治死后，通过自动发信程序给儿子发了一通电子邮件，里面有这句话。古贺博士多半已经发现日本警察查封了一台服务器，预想到自己可能被拘捕吧。要破解这段简短指示，必然需要父子之间才掌握的某种信息。古贺博士预见到电子窃听的危险，于是采用了这一简单却有效的反情报对策。 可令鲁本斯费解的，是古贺研人的行动。研人完全不考虑自己可能处在国家安全局的监视之下，毫无防备地接入互联网。后来，“科学家”与其接触后报告说，这小子好像对父亲生前的行动一无所知。 鲁本斯轻信了这份报告，结果第二次出丑。日本的工作目标只剩下博士的电脑，于是他派出当地警察去没收电脑。但有人提前给他的手机上发了警告。出人意料的是，这段电脑合成的声音竟然是从纽约的公用电话发出的。美国大陆竟然也有人在帮他。收到消息的古贺研人摆脱警察逃走了。 到此为止，鲁本斯确信涅墨西斯计划所涉及的机密情报已经泄漏。一个来历不明的集团将刚果、美国和日本三国联系起来，并且掌握了鲁本斯他们的行动。但鲁本斯百思不得其解，这个集团的目的是什么？就算奈杰尔·皮尔斯想救奴斯的命，他也没有任何可以防备四名佣兵攻击的手段。俾格米人只有原始的狩猎工具，根本无法对抗原特种部队队员的火力。即便想逃出营地，还有蹂躏伊图里一带的众多武装势力等着。无论如何他们也不可能活着逃出去。 与此同时，非洲大陆上的守护者计划正在稳步推行。四名任务执行者结