Chapter 1169 — The Technical Frontier

After listening to the technical director's explanation, Selena was silent for a few seconds before answering with a blank expression: "...A simple and effective approach."

Then she stepped forward a couple of paces and came to the hemispherical crystal apparatus that housed the "Prime Brain." Inside the transparent shell floated an artificial brain that resembled the organ of a giant, a sight that was more or less a mental shock for an ordinary person—yet for Selena, who came from the Eternal Sleepers, what lay before her was merely an ordinary object of study.

Her gaze swept over the metal poles and the various conduits fixed within the grooves of the brain tissue. Ropney came over as well and began explaining the details of the apparatus: "Biomass pipes connect to the vessel from below, continuously delivering nutrients from the fission pool to the servo-brains at every level. Three independently operating pump groups keep these fluids circulating; even if one or two groups should fail, the servo-brains will not stall for lack of nutrients. At the same time, each vessel has its own filtration and alarm devices at the bottom—should toxic substances enter the circulatory system, or the metabolic waste in any given pipe exceed the threshold, the control center knows at once."

"And if the toxic substances exceed what the system can handle?" Selena asked without turning her head. "Or some other disaster cuts off the entire 'Tower' from the outside world... Please don't think I'm being deliberately difficult. In the real world, anything can happen—over the past seven hundred years I have witnessed far too many inconceivable, system-wide disasters."

"Of course. Your concern is entirely warranted, and we do indeed have an ultimate safeguard," Viscountess Ropney said with a faint smile, looking full of confidence. "Considering that the most delicate and expensive part of the whole system is these servo-brains, our final damage-control design is built around preserving them. If an irreparable disaster strikes the factory, the servo-brains will immediately shatter these vessels and retreat on their own through the reserved escape routes. They fly quickly, and the muscle strength of their neural tentacles is enough to deal with a jammed ventilation grille or a sewer opening—their survival skills are quite formidable."

As Ropney finished speaking, the technical director beside her added a couple of points: "In addition, to ensure the factory's main units maintain a certain escape capability over the long term, we arrange for these servo-brains to take turns leaving their wetware slots for physical training every week—long- and short-distance flight, weightlifting and pulling with their tentacles. We also plan to conduct fire and toxic-hazard drills with them once every six months—training together with the factory workers."

Ropney nodded. "All workers receive basic training about the servo-brains and are gradually familiarized with them, so that they can deal with the servo-brains as they would ordinary colleagues. His Majesty's reminder is engraved in our minds—the mental health of every employee is something Ghelan Heavy Industries has always kept in view."

Selena: "..."

"Lady Selena?" Noticing that the Node Scholar's expression had turned a little strange for an instant, Viscountess Ropney could not help speaking up. "Is there still a problem?"

"...No, I just thought... well, it's all quite reasonable," Selena said, rubbing her forehead with a peculiar expression, then muttered as if to herself, "The things Beiyila comes up with are getting stranger and stranger... And it's really something that ordinary people like you, with perfectly normal worldviews, can just adapt to the bizarre things she produces..."

Hearing Selena's low murmur, Ropney smiled. "However strange a magical product may be, it is only a tool. To a generation encountering magitech products for the first time, a steel monster that rumbles and a giant brain floating in liquid are not essentially different—in fact, thanks to the eerie impression some traditional dark wizards have left on the world, the latter is probably a little easier for the public to imagine."

Selena gave a slight nod and did not press further on the subject. Instead she raised her head to look at the servo-brains soaking in their vessels, and for a moment seemed lost in thought—until a few seconds later, when Viscountess Ropney's voice came again: "In truth, many people are still perplexed by these servo-brains. The main reason is that everyone assumes these artificially made brains must think like humans—especially when they see them 'in their living posture,' that feeling of facing an intelligent individual becomes particularly strong..."

Selena turned back and gave the lady governor a look that was half smile and half something else. "Do these people include you?"

Ropney's face was blank. "I am a mage. I trust only the data that research yields. I pay no mind to that sort of intuition-based prejudice."

"Lady Governor, even mages waver the first time they see cutting-edge technology. There is nothing embarrassing about that," Selena said with a faint smile. "Every new technology stirs up all sorts of worries, and in fact they do carry all sorts of hidden risks—there is no absolutely safe technology in this world, only ever more rigorous safety measures, and the trial-and-error costs paid to obtain those measures.

"The servo-brains do not possess intelligence the way humans do. Although they are an important link in the 'era of intelligentization' His Majesty has planned, the 'intelligence' of these brains is not the same thing as what ordinary people understand by the word. Physically, their neural structure simply cannot produce complex thought processes; they can only handle heavy data-computation tasks. Of course, they do have some basic thinking activity—feeding, and... cooperating with your physical training, and the like—but that sort of thinking is closer to an animal's than a human's.

"In the end, the Great Druid Lady Beiyila never designed any foundation of intelligence for these brains, still less left them room to seek genetic mutation through reproduction, so rest assured, they are merely more advanced tools... Perhaps you might regard them as loyal 'animal companions'?

"But as I said just now, there is no absolutely safe technology in this world—no one knows what problems these servo-brains may develop in the future, or in what form. The impact they will have on society once widely deployed is also hard to estimate. Just as magitech once changed our way of life, these servo-brains will surely bring about similar impacts and changes—and that is a problem that administrative officials like you and technical people like me must face together."

"You sound exactly like His Majesty," Viscountess Ropney said with a laugh and a shake of her head. "That is how he describes the problems we face in the course of development too."

"I am a devoted reader of The Emperor's Sacred Words," Selena said, suddenly giving a little wink. "I have read every volume."

Then she waved a hand, not letting the conversation slide in that direction, and instead lifted her chin toward the "Prime Brain" still in standby mode. "I have a general understanding of this system now—so should we wake this sleeping... friend of ours, as planned?"

"Of course." Ropney immediately returned to form, nodding seriously, and then instructed the manager beside her, "Ring the bell. Tell everyone to take their posts."