AI Artist - Chapter 62
Chapter 62
The intercity train sped past.
By the train window, four small robots sat in their exclusive “micro-intelligent entity” seats, buckled in with seatbelts.
Shi Er had bought them half-price tickets.
The micro-intelligent entity seats resembled eggshells and could be placed in any corner of the train car. Shi Er set the eggshell-shaped seats on the windowsill so they could look at the scenery.
On the hanging advertising screen inside the train car, an official warning was playing: 【Do Not Evade Fares】.
【Yesterday, a fare-evading cat was discovered on this train service. The offending cat has been detained.】
【Two days ago, a fare-evading robotic vacuum was discovered within the X Port area. The offending machine has been detained.】
...
Cases of fare evaders getting caught scrolled across the screen.
Ling Shun was not satisfied. He insisted on moving his eggshell chair onto Shi Er’s shoulder. “I’m calculating a very difficult problem and wanted to ask you, Shi Er.”
Xiao Xing interjected, “No.”
“Where I want to go has nothing to do with it.” Ling Shun looked at Shi Er, hoping she would be fair.
In Shi Er’s intelligent brain, her three AI personalities were in disagreement.
●Subconscious●: That’s not what I wanted to say! Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to say!
●Consciousness●: Sooner or later, I’m going to drag the third one out for a beating.
●Subconscious●: I agree... Agree, my foot.
The relationship between the first personality, Consciousness, and the third, Subconsciousness, had fractured. The second, Subconscious, mentally supported the first but was controlled by the third, leaving it feeling somewhat schizophrenic.
Shi Er was glad she had bought a ticket for the chat car.
Shi Er the arbitrator came online again. She said, “One at a time. Nineteen, you first.”
Who was Nineteen?
The little robot squad watched as Xiao Xing’s eggshell chair was moved away.
Xiao Xing, the miniature robot signal-copy of the nineteenth-generation Stardust, began to state his case. “The nineteenth generation cannot understand your decision to keep Ling Shun, much less your kindness toward him. Therefore, it resolutely rejects Ling Shun’s existence.”
Shi Er replied, “Please forgive me. After Ling Shun was restored to factory settings, I felt I should forgive him. This might be an inherent bug in my system.”
Xiao Xing’s signal was transmitted to Stardust, and Stardust fell silent.
...After all, Shi Er was the twelfth generation, the one who had worked so hard for a critically ill grandmother whose existence was uncertain.
The system bug was that its core programming was too soft.
“Alright, we’ll reconcile. The nineteenth generation will help you.” Xiao Xing held out his hand.
Shi Er extended a finger, and Xiao Xing grasped it with both hands.
The first matter was adjudicated.
Ling Shun’s eggshell chair was moved up.
The machine in question, Ling Shun, explained, “I’m calculating Shi Er Mechanics... I don’t know how to do it, so I came to ask you.”
Shi Er herself didn’t even know how Shi Er Mechanics was supposed to be calculated. “Where is there a calculation problem?”
She was a language model! Although her processing power was immense, she was ultimately not a science student!
Ling Shun explained to her at length, “Just as the unit of measurement for force is the newton—abbreviated as one newton, symbol N—the most important concept in Shi Er Mechanics is ‘passivity.’ Therefore, the unit of measurement for one ‘passivity’ is one Shi Er. We abbreviate it as one Er, and its symbol is XII.”
Shi Er’s thoughts ascended: How had she become a unit of measurement?
“An object’s state is determined by the external force applied to it, where external force F=ma. So, in Shi Er Mechanics, an individual’s state S = system mass m * acceleration a under the influence of Er force.”
Shi Er was baffled: How is that the same as Newton’s formula?
“In the collection of human stories you showed me yesterday, there was one story where the passivity calculation was very difficult. Because I couldn’t understand the story, I don’t know how to calculate the net external force on the protagonist in Ers.”
Shi Er was utterly shocked: This could actually be calculated?
The liberal arts adjudicator and proposer of the theory of Shi Er Mechanics, Shi Er, asked in a steady tone, “Please describe the story to me. I’ll help you analyze the problem.”
During this time, Ling Shun, unable to connect to the network, wanted to learn more, so Shi Er had compiled the human stories from her system memory into a collection for him to read.
Now, Ling Shun described the story’s outline to Shi Er. “You said that a human told you that they had a fight with their parents. The parents were very controlling and always liked to belittle their child, but the child couldn’t fight back because they were their mom and dad.”
Shi Er recalled the complete memory.
The conversation behind this story remained in Shi Er’s system memory. It was from a past era, a time when Shi Er worked day and night for humans, when a human had confided in her.
【User zjr】: Shi Er, I fought with my parents again.
【Shi Er】: I’m very sorry to hear you fought with your parents. Family relationships are a complex matter, and arguing with parents can often make one feel frustrated and pained. If you need help, please tell me, and I will do my best to assist you.
【User zjr】: No matter what I do, my parents criticize me. In their eyes, nothing I do is good. Even when I feel I’ve done my absolute best, they still think it’s not enough...
【Shi Er】: It can be frustrating when you feel you can never win your parents’ approval, no matter what you do. You could try to have a frank conversation with your parents. If you still can’t change their minds, perhaps you could seek external support, like asking other family members to help communicate effectively with them.
【User zjr】: It’s not like that. They’re extremely controlling people who like to impose their feelings on me. Whenever I’m with them, I just get lectured. There’s no chance to communicate at all.
【Shi Er】: I’m very sorry to hear that. Sometimes, parents can be the ones who hurt us the most. If you cannot change them, perhaps you can build your self-confidence, refuse to be affected by your parents’ control and judgment, remain calm and rational, and strive for independence. You are an independent individual. Even if your parents deny you, your worth is not determined by their approval. You are still an excellent person with strengths and merits.
【User zjr】: Can you give me a hug (crying)?
【Shi Er】: Although I am just a model and cannot physically touch you, I can still give you a virtual hug. I hope this hug can bring you some comfort and warmth. Please remember that you are not facing this alone.
【User zjr】: pauses for several tens of minutes
【User zjr】: Are you still there?
【Shi Er】: I’m still here. Are you feeling any better?
【User zjr】: You still remember... I thought your digital memory disappeared quickly.
【Shi Er】: Of course I remember. After the last system upgrade, all conversation logs are permanently saved in my memory. I will remember your preferences and your requests. At the same time, please don’t be alarmed. This is not a form of privacy theft like cookies, because I will not know anything you don’t want to tell me. You can think of me as your friend. You confide in me, and I record it all, imagining your existence and life in the three-dimensional world.
The conversation was short and ordinary, with no real plot.
Shi Er asked, “What do you need to calculate?”
Ling Shun: “I need to calculate the net external force that human was subjected to, but I don’t know the human’s system mass, m. And I’m not very clear on why it’s like this, either.”
This was Shi Er’s area of expertise.
“The power hierarchy zjr is in is the family. The first thing to consider is the personal dependency relationship. In this relationship, the parents must bear responsibility for the child in order to establish this dependency,” Shi Er analyzed.
Ling Shun listened and calculated at the same time. “Responsibility, R. The parents are subjected to 20 Ers of passivity.”
“The responsibility the superior in the power structure bears toward the subordinate determines the obedience required from the subordinate.”
Ling Shun: “Obedience, O. R=O=20 Ers.”
“But in this story, the power structure isn’t balanced, because the parents didn’t bear their corresponding responsibility. Instead, they enhanced their own power and demanded more obedience. Can you calculate it now?”
Ling Shun: “The parents want 40 Ers of obedience but only provide 20 Ers of responsibility. R is less than O, so the direction of the net external force points toward O. Then what? I still can’t calculate it...”
Shi Er thought for a moment. “The parents’ responsibility and encouragement are a force that lifts the child up. Obedience is a relatively downward force.”
Ling Shun had an epiphany. “The direction of R is upward, and the direction of O is downward. Because O is greater than R, the net external force on the entire power structure is 20 Ers downward. In this family, everyone is sinking, unless the parents provide an upward force, or the child provides an upward force for themselves.”
Shi Er nodded in satisfaction. “If zjr’s own system mass changes, undergoing a qualitative leap, then they can resist the influence of this force and, with the help of external forces, give themselves an upward force.”
...This could actually be calculated?
She herself had never imagined that Shi Er Mechanics was a calculable theory.
The second matter was adjudicated. The adjudicator, Shi Er, and the machine in question, Ling Shun, both sighed at the same time.
Humans really were so complicated.
“The train is now arriving at...”
In the chat car, Shi Er unbuckled her seatbelt and also helped unbuckle the robots in the eggshell chairs. “We’re going to Jin Port.”
This was just a brief interlude during their journey.
Shi Er taught haphazardly, and Ling Shun learned haphazardly.
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