Chapter 2 wedge

One morning in the autumn of 2037, in the high-end residential area of ​​Yannanyuan, Peking University, the sound of the piano sounded as usual. It was Xiao Xianyun, the only daughter of the Kong family, who was giving morning lessons. Today she played Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture.Xianyun is 5 years old this year, but her fingering skills are already quite sophisticated. She flies her fingers, and this long and clear music flows out from under her fingers, and she seems to follow the sound of the piano into the iridescent night scene. Listen quietly behind. After the song was over, the professor from the Central Academy of Music applauded lightly: "Yun'er, you played really well, let's end here. Today is the most important day for your father, and we will also go to the laboratory to watch it."

She carried Xianyun off the piano seat, closed the cover of the high-end Xinghai piano, and then took her little daughter along for a walk through the tree-lined path on the campus of Peking University.Xiao Xianyun was bouncing around, asking curiously, "Mom, is Dad going to give birth to brother Yuan Yuan today?" "right." "Can Dad have children too? Is Yuan Yuan in his stomach too?" Mom smiled: "Yun'er, you will understand when you grow up." Then she stopped talking.Xiao Xianyun secretly raised her head to look at her mother. She felt that her mother's expression today was very special, solemn, excited, and somewhat nervous.Of course, these subtleties came to her as an adult, but all the scenes of this day were embossed in her memory with great vividness.

The experimental hall of the School of Life Sciences of Peking University is located next to a thousand-year-old pagoda. It is a modern bionic building with a large tortoise shell-shaped roof that is very light and thin. The light transmittance can be automatically adjusted according to the intensity of sunlight. It is surrounded by 12 pillars as white as ivory— —They are actually ivory, a biomimetic material made with ivory growth genes.The pearlescent paint on the walls changes brilliant colors in the morning sun. The hall was already full of guests.They talked softly, and watched the eggshell-shaped laboratory in front of them with an almost pious mood.Inside the glass wall, staff in white are making the final preparations. The central figure is a 35-year-old man with a slender figure but strong muscles and flexible movements.He was giving orders in an orderly manner, his expression was as calm as a stone elephant, and only a hint of excitement was revealed in the depths of his eyes.

Xiao Xianyun saw him immediately, "Father!" she shouted happily.Mom hurriedly shut her mouth and pulled her into a corner.But many people in the hall heard the clear and crisp child's voice, and a few people came over to shake hands with their mother.They whispered: "Congratulations, Madam Kong." "Congratulations, Ms. Zhuo Qingyu." Xiao Xianyun recognized several familiar uncles and grandfathers, including Grandpa Zhang Biao from Science and Technology Daily, Uncle Luo Hancheng from CCTV, and Uncle Liu Qian from People's Daily.Uncle Liu picked her up and patted her little face gently:

"Little Yun'er, do you know? The whole world is watching your father today." Xiao Xianyun saw that there were many blond-haired and blue-eyed white people in the crowd, and there were also a few black people. They had already pointed their cameras at the egg-shaped laboratory.She also lowered her voice like an adult and asked: "Uncle Liu, why do so many people come to see Xiao Yuanyuan's birth? Is he important?" Uncle Liu kissed her and said jokingly, "Of course! It's so important! Maybe there is only one thing in the world that can compare with it, and that is God's creation of man. Do you know the story of God's creation of man?"

"I know, that's just a myth. I know that people are transformed from monkeys." Uncle Liu laughed softly, and suddenly put his finger to his lips and hissed.The hall suddenly fell silent, so quiet that the slight sound of the camera could be heard.The well-dressed Dean of the School of Life Sciences, Professor Tian Liwen stepped onto the podium, tried to restrain his excitement, and announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, the results of a cross-century project will be announced soon." His voice trembled slightly, revealing the excitement in his heart, "We named this project the Nuwa Project, because in Chinese mythology, Nuwa It was not Yahweh who created man. Of course, both Nuwa and Yahweh are superficial fairy tales produced during the ignorant period of human beings. At that time, human beings did not understand how difficult the birth and evolution of life was. 4.5 billion years ago, The combined effect of solar ultraviolet rays, cosmic space radiation, and lightning on the earth produced high-molecular substances such as nucleic acid and protein in the primitive atmosphere and primitive ocean of the earth, and began the course of life in the first self-replication. Today, Another brand-new intelligent life is about to be born, and human beings will replace God who created all things. Now, please invite Professor Kong Zhaoren, the father of intelligent life, to speak for you.”

Liu Qian hugged Xianyun and squeezed to the front. She saw her father in the egg-shaped transparent cover give the last order to the assistant, then took the speech from the secretary and walked to the microphone, facing everyone through the glass.Mother also squeezed in from behind, and gently grabbed Xianyun's little hand. Professor Kong Zhaoren glanced at the speech, smiled slightly, and put it in his pocket.His face was clear, his eyes were sharp, and the lines of his nose and jaw were as strong as a granite statue.He spoke calmly and eloquently: "Thank you for coming. I think today should be a milestone. We will replace God to complete the great transformation of life forms." His calmness is full of pride, "We have reached this height by stepping on the shoulders of countless ancestors , here I would like to count several major advances in biology over the past hundred years, and express my gratitude to these ancestors."

He saw his daughter in the crowd, smiled at her, and counted with his fingers: "In 1924, the Soviet scientist Obalin put forward the hypothesis of the origin of life. In 1952, the American scientist Miller - then he was a student - used electric sparks and ultraviolet rays to simulate the mixed gas of the original atmosphere, and obtained the composition of protein. Various amino acids are the building blocks of life. Later, American scientist Fox produced a protein-like microsphere, which has life characteristics similar to movement, growth, reproduction and metabolism. In 1965, Chinese scientists synthesized real protein crystals. Insulin. In 2013, my predecessor, Mr. Chen Ruoyu, former dean of the Academy of Life Sciences, based on the cell reconstruction theory of the late Mr. Bei Shizhang, used non-living substances to 'assemble' into a cell that can divide autonomously. This is the first artificial In the same year, after more than ten years of concerted efforts by scientists all over the world, they finally deciphered the 100,000 human genetic codes. Twenty years later, in 2033, Japanese scientists used known human genes (excluding adults) Brain gene) bred the first brainless human body, which is now widely used as the body of bio-robots—including the body of Xiao Yuanyuan today."

When enumerating these boring figures and facts, the fire of passion in Kong Zhaoren's heart was gradually rising, and his eyes sparkled.He calmed down and continued: "As for the brains of intelligent people, they take another path completely. As we all know, the human brain is the pinnacle of the 4.5 billion years of life evolution and the essence of the universe. Strictly speaking, the human brain is the legacy of each era in the evolution of life. The accumulations of the human body are inevitably mixed with many redundant structures, such as the brain skin of reptiles; they are also subject to various restrictions, such as the maximum pulse conduction speed in neurons is no more than 10 meters per second. When entering intelligence and brain After the free kingdom of science, we don't need to simply imitate it. In short, as far as Xiao Yuanyuan is about to be born today, his brain is an electronic computer with 10th generation biological components, and its brain capacity and calculation speed have already Far beyond the human brain."

Xiao Xianyun looked around curiously. Of course she couldn't understand these difficult words, but these scenes were deeply imprinted in her mind, including that very special atmosphere: solemn, majestic, desolate and dignified with a bit of mystery . Associated Press reporter Hayes Ball was the first to stand up to ask questions. She was a beautiful girl with blond hair, a pointed nose, and bright blue eyes.She said: "Mr. Kong, I heard that the first new type of life and the first intelligent person you created has the appearance of a little boy. He has a Chinese name called Kong Xianyuan, right? Could you please introduce him? .”

Professor Kong smiled and said: "Xiao Yuanyuan is a learning robot. He has strong basic intelligence, but he does not input any programs. He also came to this world with a blank mind like a human baby, babbling, toddler, and gradually perceiving the world. Build your own mental system. We want to judge whether it has the ability to build itself through this process of starting from zero. Only after he breaks out of chaos and builds himself can we say that he is indeed a new intelligent life. We also want to To determine what kind of emotional bond can be established between intelligent robots and human 'parents'. Xiao Yuanyuan will live in my house, and I think we can love each other, including my wife, my mother and my daughter. Yuner, will you Do you love this little brother?" He smiled and asked Xiao Xianyun outside the window.Xiao Xianyun giggled and said, "Of course!" Her laughter enlivened the overly serious atmosphere in the venue. Miss Hayes smiled and asked: "As a woman, I want to ask a few trivial questions that women will be interested in. Can Xiao Yuanyuan eat? Will he grow taller? Is he as invincible as Astro Boy?" "Xiao Yuanyuan uses permanent energy in his body. Of course he also has the function of eating, but this is only for him to better integrate into human society. He will grow taller. In order to speed up the progress of the experiment, when he was born, we used the rapid growth method to already Give him the body of a two-year-old. As for his physical ability, it will definitely far exceed that of ordinary people—since we have the secret of genes, why don't we make him perfect in all aspects? Of course, he will not be like Astro Boy The invincibility of God, that is a fairy tale, not science." The second question was also a woman, Mrs. Sadie from India: "Mr. Kong, when you talk about the emotional bond, do you firmly believe that this new type of life will have human love?" Professor Kong said calmly: "Emotion is a kind of material movement more complicated than intelligence, and human beings don't know enough about it. But, I think I will definitely love him—you know, creating a little Yuan Yuan is more complicated than conceiving a baby." October is going to be far more difficult, and I have no reason not to love him." The reporters all laughed, and so did Xianyun's mother.Dean Tian said: "The time is up soon, now please say a few words to Mr. Chen Ruoyu, a highly respected senior and former dean of the School of Life Sciences." Only then did the reporters notice an old man with white hair and beard.He had already entered the door and stood quietly behind the crowd.Several familiar reporters hurried over to help him, but the old man waved his hand, walked over vigorously, and took the microphone: "Congratulations to Mr. Kong." The 78-year-old man said generously and lovingly, "Today is undoubtedly the beginning of a new century. As Mr. Tian said, the evolution of life on earth is such a difficult journey, how many species are in the process of evolution It failed tragically and died. Human beings are the only lucky ones who survived and ate the fruit of wisdom. But now, we can create a new kind of life overnight and endow it with intelligence stronger than human beings. I'm just kind of jealous." A Turkish reporter with a beard said sharply: "I think Mr. Chen is euphemistically expressing his wariness towards Xiao Yuanyuan." Mr. Chen did not comment, and continued to speak, his tone revealed a touch of desolation: "I hope this is just an old man's worry. As we all know, human beings' dependence on computers has long been irreversible. However, it is consoling that computers are essentially intelligent machines, and they can only be passively subordinated to Human society. But will intelligent robots that have built themselves have the desire to survive as humans? Will they take the initiative to participate in and change the world? Can humans still control this new world? Let us wait and see." Mr. Chen's words made the already active air in the hall thick again, and the reporter's question was delayed for a while. At this time, the time was up. The Wolf computer in the egg-shaped airtight cabin started counting down, and a clear metallic sound echoed in the hall. reverberates in: "...7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, start." A sealed door in the corner of the cabin slowly opened.A small crystal box was pushed out, and suddenly it was filled with white mist, which was caused by the temperature difference of minus 200 degrees.Under computer control, the inside of the crystal box began to heat up rapidly and evenly. Two-year-old Yuan Yuan fell asleep peacefully.He has a big head, high forehead, long closed eyelids, white frost on the eyelashes, pursed mouth, hands crossed on his chest, and his whole body is naked.Seeing this adorable child sleeping naked in the frost, people couldn't help but feel very distressed, as if they were also chilled. The computer is monitoring Yuan Yuan's brainwaves.There was chaos at first, and then a bright green light spot suddenly appeared, dancing on the black screen.The amplitude of the jumping gradually decays, and when it is about to disappear, it suddenly jumps a few times, and then slowly disappears.Then there was another spot of light, several spots of light, tens of thousands of spots of light, and the spots of light quickly became dense and turned into flickering colorful beams of light.Xiao Yuanyuan's spiritual wisdom finally broke out of the deep and boundless chaos, his eyes slowly opened, and cast a blank first glance at the world.The screen on the wall immediately showed his field of vision. In the field of vision of this newborn baby, there was first a distorted and flowing image of a human figure, and then gradually formed a clear upside-down figure. It was Professor Kong and his assistants staring at him intently. All was quiet, and suddenly there was a sonorous cry with a metallic sound.It was so humbling that almost everyone in the hall had tears in their eyes.Taking advantage of Uncle Liu's inattention, Xiao Xianyun slipped off Uncle Liu, threw himself on the glass wall and shouted happily: "Brother, Xiao Yuanyuan!" Xiao Yuanyuan was then sent to the Kong family.He needs to avoid reporters and cameras and live like an ordinary boy. Xianyun and his mother happily accepted Yuanyuan, only Grandma Xianyun was indifferent.She is 70 years old, her body is still very strong, her ears are not deaf and her eyes are not blurry.The lack of a boy in the Kong family has always been her heart disease.In the living room over there, the mother and daughter took turns kissing Yuan Yuan, shouting: "Mom! Grandma! Come and see Yuanyuan!" The old man muttered dissatisfiedly: "Hmph, what a fool, I don't have a son, so I bring back a robot kid, he can receive incense from Kong's family." , the little penis pouted, staring at her with dark eyes.She embraced him suspiciously, patted his buttocks, and felt her hands trembling.The old man was very surprised. In her thinking, the robot should be a tough guy like the weeding robot in the hall. "Is this the robot boy?" Xianyun's mother smiled happily: "That's right!" "Two years old?" "Well, two years old, his body is already two years old." "Can he talk?" "Not yet, he hasn't learned to speak yet. However, his brain is fully developed, and he should learn to speak quickly. Yuanyuan, grandma, grandma—grandma—" Yuan Yuanhan smiled, moved his mouth and tongue with difficulty, and finally burst out two words: "grandmother." Grandma was overjoyed and hugged him into her arms: "Hey! What a smart boy! My darling!" Professor Kong just entered the door, and she hurriedly boasted to her son: "You heard that Yuan Yuan would call grandma, and the first one he would call grandma is grandma!" Yuan Yuan Dad also smiled happily. At lunch, grandma held Yuan Yuan in her arms and patiently fed her, while firmly saying: "Zhaoren, Qingyu, if you are not allowed to ask for a nanny again, Yuan Yuan will leave it to me." Yuan Yuan's father didn't plan to find a robot nanny, he wanted Yuan Yuan to grow up in a "real" human environment.But he didn't intend to ask his mother to greet Yuanyuan either.He frowned and said, "Mom, you're 70 years old." "What are you afraid of at the age of 70? My body is strong. With this villain, maybe I can live another 20 years. Don't talk about it, it's settled like this. Xiao Yuanyuan, are you willing to follow grandma?" Xiao Yuanyuan tried hard to swallow the bread, and said inarticulately: "willing." Xiao Xianyun also said impatiently: "Grandma, I will bring Yuanyuan for you too. I will bring Yuanyuan for you when I come back from kindergarten, okay?" "Okay, it's settled like this!" Father Yuan Yuan had no choice but to agree. On the fifth day, they carried Yuan Yuan to the public lawn in front of the building.The green lawn is flat and soft, and the autumn wind is blowing gently, and the fallen leaves are swirling down.Xiao Yuanyuan stared at the fallen leaf curiously until it fell to the ground.Grandma muttered worriedly: "Yuan Yuan learned to walk too early, he was only five days old." Yuan Yuan's mother smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mom, his little arms and legs are very strong, let him try." She put Yuanyuan on the grass, and Xianyun clapped his hands in front of him to call out: "Yuan Yuan, come here quickly, come here quickly." Yuan Yuan was not used to being out of the embrace of an adult for a while.He raised his hands timidly and stood unsteadily.His small brain quickly collected tens of thousands of environmental parameters, analyzed and synthesized them, the motor center of the cerebellum sent the first command pulse to the left leg muscles, and then lifted his left foot slightly off the ground.His body staggered immediately, and both grandma and mother stretched out their hands in unison. But his cerebellum has responded quickly, adjusted the center of gravity, and established a new dynamic balance.He finally raised his left foot and stretched forward hesitantly.He stepped down and stood firm.The three female surnames shouted happily: "Yuan Yuan will leave!" In this way, the intelligent biological robot Xiao Yuanyuan took his first step in life.Under the care of the three women, he began to stagger forward, the soft grass kissing his soles.The three women were so intoxicated with the joy of victory that they didn't notice that the little thing was walking faster and faster, and they started galloping in the blink of an eye.The three screamed and started chasing and intercepting, while Yuan Yuan was giggling and running around.When Yuan Yuan's father heard the news and arrived, Yuan Yuan had already broken out of the encirclement and broke into the main road in front of the house.Several cars screeched to a stop, and only the nearest one still slid towards Yuan Yuan amidst the screeching sound of brakes.Yuan Yuan's mother and grandma screamed at the same time. At that moment, Kong Zhaoren also closed his eyes in despair.He didn't expect that the first intelligent person he had worked so hard to create would die in an ordinary car accident. Yuan Yuan's laughter before his death seemed to still echo in his ears.Finally he realized that this was not an illusion, opened his eyes, and saw Yuan Yuan pushing the car hard with his buttocks pouted. The two front wheels of the car had already left the ground. Little Yuan Yuan was flushed with exhaustion and was still giggling. .Several pale-faced drivers stared at this scene dumbfounded. Kong Zhaoren wiped off his cold sweat, walked over to pick up Yuan Yuan, and waved to the drivers with a smile.Several drivers drove away with question marks on their foreheads.He handed Yuan Yuan to his wife and the daughter who came after them. They hadn't recovered from the shock, and Yuan Yuan's milk suddenly collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down her face.Yuan Yuan lay down in grandma's arms in fear: "Grandma, don't cry." Grandma held him tightly in her arms, shouting Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan, two lines of old tears kept flowing. Xiao Yuanyuan soon became the focus of sister Xianyun's life.Perhaps because of her natural instincts, the five-year-old Xianyun is already like a little hen with a strong maternal instinct, always hiding Yuan Yuan under her wings.She will generously give Yuan Yuan the best candies and the most fun toys. Yuanyuan has no sleep function, and his brain will never get tired, so every night, after the family members say good night to each other, Xiao Yuanyuan will sleep on the bed obediently, raise his left arm, and ask his sister to press the power switch.Then, his facial expression slowly froze, like ripples fading away on the surface of a lake.In the early morning, Xiao Xianyun jumped out of bed as soon as he was awakened: "Grandma, let me call Yuan Yuan!" She climbed onto Yuanyuan's bed, lifted his left arm vigorously, and pressed the sleep switch.Yuan Yuan slowly opened his eyes, and the dull face gradually glowed with aura, and when the aura extended to the whole face, he immediately became full of vitality and jumped out of bed nimbly.Xianyun said: "Yuan Yuan, go and see Bai Xue, mother said, Bai Xue gave birth to four kittens last night!" The two rushed to the storage room impatiently.Baixue was lying in a rattan nest with soft silk cotton under her body, which was paved for her by her siblings.Four little fleshy balls squirmed and hummed under its body.Yuan Yuan impatiently reached in: "Is it white? Let me see." But Bai Xue, who was usually very attached to the little master, became very violent today. It roared viciously, stretched out its front paws and scratched in the air, and the sharp claws rubbed Yuan Yuan's arm, drawing a shallow bloodstain.Xianyun was frightened and cried. She pulled her younger brother out of the storage room, sobbing in pain.Yuan Yuan howled not to be outdone. But Yuan Yuan immediately noticed drops of water overflowing from her sister's eyes.It was a new thing, his own eyes had never dripped like this.He forgot to cry, caught his sister's tears with his little hands, and asked curiously: "Sister, what is this?" The crying young lady was suddenly amused: "It's tears! Little fool!" "Tears? Sister, why don't I cry?" "Why?" Xianyun thought about how to answer.Dad repeatedly told Yuan Yuan not to let Yuan Yuan know that he was a robot, otherwise he would feel uncomfortable living in a human family. The sensible Xianyun kept his father's words in mind.She suddenly had an idea: "You're fake crying! Yes, you must be fake crying!" Yuan Yuan admitted it embarrassingly, but he retorted seriously: "No, one day I really cried, but I still won't cry. Grandma!" He shouted loudly: "Grandma, why does my sister cry, but I can't?" The grandma who was washing the vegetables in the kitchen smiled and muttered in a low voice: "You little robot, you have to follow my sister's example in everything." She wiped her hands with her apron, came out and said solemnly: "You are a man, a man! No tears." Yuan Yuan seemed to understand and said: "Oh, I am a man, and a man does not shed tears." When Cong Xianyun was three years old, her father taught her to play Go, Chinese Chess and International Chess.Now she dumped all these things to Yuan Yuan.But she soon discovered that Yuan Yuan seemed to be a natural chess player, he quickly surpassed his sister, and soon, even his father was no longer his opponent. When Dad is not at home, Yuan Yuan will pester her sister: "Sister, play another game with me. Only two games, okay? Or, I'll let you win one game, okay?" Unable to resist her younger brother's entanglement, she had no choice but to arrange the chess pieces.But Yuan Yuan immediately forgot the promise of "let you win a game". He quickly killed his sister, and shouted impatiently: "Go! Sister, go! I've been waiting for you for a long time!" Out of anger, Xiao Xianyun secretly reached out and pressed his sleep switch, and Yuan Yuan immediately remained motionless.She held back her smile and took a rook from Yuan Yuan's chessboard, and pressed the sleep switch again, Yuan Yuan's eyes immediately rolled.It was not until many years later that Xianyun realized what a wonderful fetish life force is. It can instantly fill Yuan Yuan's stiff face with spirituality, making this little robot lively and lovable. Yuan Yuan glanced at him, and immediately shouted: "Where's my car? You stole my car again!" Xianyun laughed and shook the chess pieces, and ran away.Yuan Yuan chased after him relentlessly and shouted: "No! You're being stupid! Grandma, sister is being stupid!" Dad just walked over, Xianyun smiled and plunged into his arms.Dad picked her up, and Xianyun leaned into his ear and whispered, "Dad, can you replace me with the smartest robot head, okay? Dad, give me another one." Dad hissed in a low voice: "Shh, don't let my brother hear it. Don't let him know that he is a robot, and tell him when he grows up, you know?" "I know! I already knew!" When Yuan Yuan was 5 years old, her grandmother passed away. Before she passed away, she had already discovered that Yuan Yuan, who had grown up, no longer "attached" to her grandmother and sister.He loves to play with the neighbor's little boy, and his strong physical strength often causes some small troubles.But more often, he is obsessed with computers, almost crazy. He wasn't into computer games or anything like that, he just became friends with the computer.He often sits in front of the main computer in the laboratory for several hours, concentrating on talking with "Brother Wolf" on the keyboard.Later, whenever Yuan Yuan approached, Wolfe's computer would automatically turn on the screen, and a computer-synthesized face would appear on the screen, with love on it.Yuan Yuan no longer uses the keyboard to talk, and it seems that the eyes of the two have connected. When Grandma Yuanyuan was dying, her family all came to say goodbye to her.Xianyun's eyes were red from crying, Xiao Yuanyuan still couldn't shed tears, but intense pain was written on his face.The two siblings cried out in grief: "Grandma, don't go, wake up!" The mother held back her grief and took the two children out.Grandma suddenly opened her eyes slowly, and said in a weak voice, "Zhaoren, come here." Kong Zhaoren leaned down to his mother, and said sadly, "Mom, do you have anything else to say?" The dying old man's gaze was very clear at the moment, and his thinking was also unusually clear.She said intermittently: "Zhaoren, do you know? Yuanyuan is from another world, and he will leave us sooner or later." The son was silent for a moment before answering: "Mom, I know." "Son, when Yuan Yuan really wants to leave, just let him go." The son was silent for a while before answering: "Okay, Mom, I will definitely do what you say." The old man closed his eyes peacefully.She did not expect Yuan Yuan's tragedy to follow.An examination two months later showed that Yuan Yuan's body had suddenly stopped growing.For 40 years since then, he has maintained the height of a 5-year-old, and his mental growth has stagnated since then.The direct consequence of this accident was Yuan Yuan's father's abnormal character, and that happy and kind father disappeared from then on.Until many years later, Kong Xianyun was still asking bitterly in his heart, why all this suddenly happened to her home.