I Have A Super USB Drive
Page 201
Therefore, when he founded his company, Chen Chen had not considered North America at all.
"Then let's offer a reward."
Chen Chen thought for a while and commanded, "Announce a reward on the God's Forbidden Zone forum. As long as a family is willing to help us lobby the authorities, we'll pay them 10,000 information points and the family that's successful in their lobbying will get around 50,000 to 100,000 information points."
"Very well. But recently Rodriguez, Edwards, Munster, your servants Blanc, and several other consortia have provided some updates."
Little X continued. "Dozens of North American council members simultaneously called for investigations into our company at the district council meeting. Because we hold a large part of Osmond Biotech's shares, they suspect that we're stealing the technology for Alzheimer's drugs…"
Chen Chen's steps halted and a sullen look came into his eyes.
"This is why I hate opening a company in the West."
Chen Chen snorted coldly. "Are our members from the plutocratic families useless? They'd better do their best to suppress this proposal. I don't want to see this proposal implemented."
"Understood." Little X nodded.
It must be said that, with the growing influence of Chen Chen's company, it had fully attracted the attention of Western regimes. If Chen Chen had not roped in a large number of European and American consortia with the "mankind anti-aging project", the ax would have fallen long ago in the form of North American sanctions. This was what happened to the company which developed 5G back then.
At this time, it was clear that the ax of sanctions was still hanging over the head of Blacklight Biotechnology. It was up to the financial groups in God's Forbidden Zone to lobby the North American officials and continue to pressure the district council to prevent the sanctions from being issued.
However, in this matter, it was obvious that these consortia could not hold on for long.
"I used to think that we could reach the point where we would be unstoppable before Western regimes such as North America and Europe could react, but now it seems that they still can't take this sitting down."
Chen Chen sighed in a low voice. "Since the other party has already noticed me, then we should do our best to expand. There's no need to keep a low profile for the sake of hiding ourselves. Just let them see that we're not something they can keep under their thumb!"
"Are we going to go all out?"
Little X was taken aback. "We have a lot of technology now in our hands. What technology should we release first?"
Chen Chen thought for a while. "Naturally, AD-001 won't do. I still plan to wait until May next year to see if the plot in the movie will come true by then. Moreover, we have already sold various anti-cancer targeted drugs, and there's no recent biomedicine that is truly essential. In that case, we don't have to stick to the biomedicine industry."
"Then, let's try VR."
After thinking about it, Chen Chen sneered. "Didn't we use Musk's lace electrode technology? In this case, we can go with the flow and claim that we've developed a new electrode technology. Using what we got from the Elysium's dimension as a sample, the new electrode technology will be released and made into a VR device. The VR device's technology can be obtained from Ready Player One."
Chen Chen said as he walked, "In this way, we can quickly earn a lot of money and not be restricted by finances."
"Are you going to change the online landscape?"
Little X was shocked when she heard this. Of course, she had watched the movie Ready Player One. According to the movie, the world was devastated due to a world war. Due to a scarcity of resources and a low quality of life, people's attention shifted to virtual worlds, hoping to find some comfort there. As such, the game Oasis came into being and quickly unified the entire Internet.
From 80-year-olds to 18-year-olds, everyone regarded Oasis as an indispensable part of their lives. Simply put, Oasis was the Internet and the Internet was Oasis.
However, according to current trends, the online world was changing with each passing day. It was probable that once a game like Oasis appeared, it would quickly sweep the entire Internet and completely reshuffle the online landscape without any major changes in reality.
"Even if it changes, what can they do?"
Chen Chen's mouth curled up in a smirk. "I want to change not only the Internet's landscape, but also the structure of reality itself. I've thought a lot during this period. Biomedicine, the aerospace industry, and the Internet are the three major fields of human society that can lead us to the future. Biomedicine can prolong human life and rejuvenate human beings.
"The aerospace industry can lead humankind beyond the earth and colonize outer space. This is also one of the areas that human history can never give up on.
"The Internet, corresponding to reality, represents the second world of human society. If the real world represents human needs on the material level, then the Internet represents human needs on the spiritual level. The Internet will only transform, but it will never be eliminated."
After hearing Chen Chen's analysis, Little X couldn't help nodding. She was just about to say something when Chen Chen's next words stunned her completely…
"The release of VR and the reshuffle of the Internet landscape are just the first step in my plan."
Chen Chen added. "I've divided the future Internet landscape into four sub-eras — the first era: the VR era, namely, the era in which the VR field breaks through the traditional shackles and upgrades from audiovisual to audio, visual, smell, taste, and touch, the five senses!
"This era will inevitably bring about a change comparable to the industrial revolution because it represents the embryonic stage of the virtual world and may even represent the birth of a certain branch of human evolution…
"Next is the second sub-era — the era of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence becomes common in civilian use and robot butlers enter millions of households.
"I've also laid the foundation for this era, and that's Project Xingtian! Next, I'll let Project Xingtian continue to evolve and allow the androids to be born…
"After that, the third era — the Skynet era, when I release new powerful artificial intelligence and let it be formally used by the Earth Federation. At that point, the court will hand over all sentencing and trial work to AI, attaining true fairness and justice!
"As for the last sub-era in the plan, I call it… The era of virtual reality!"
Chapter 383: VR Technology |
"Why is the virtual reality era the final era?"
Little X wondered. "Is this any different from the VR era in Ready Player One?"
"There's a big difference, it's like comparing a self-driving car to a spaceship."
Chen Chen chuckled and explained, "What I mean by virtual reality era is to create a real virtual world. That world will become a secondary world ingrained in human society and also come with a complementary hypersleep chamber. The time inside the virtual world flows at a 1: 10 rate compared to the real world and can house the consciousness of the deceased so that they can gain immortality in the virtual world.
"In the virtual world, everyone will be conventionally attractive and live luxurious lives due to the generous affordability. For the ones who desire it, they can also form their ideal virtual family with, say, a perfect wife — this partner will become a fully conscious being as well and process all human characteristics. The only difference being that they don't possess a body in the real world…"
Chen Chen continued describing this world as he walked, "If the participant doesn't wish to interact with others, the participant is free to travel across the many dimensions inside the virtual world. The possibilities of these dimensions are endless and are procedurally generated by the supercomputer. The objects inside these dimensions may yield insurmountable riches or be worth nothing at all.
"For the ones who look for the social aspect, they can make countless like-minded friend
s inside the virtual world. All it takes is just a simple invitation and hundreds of people who are willing to participate will be able to come together and feast and party merrily in a venue designed by the host.
"Also, the currency inside the virtual world and the real world will be streamlined and used in conjunction. Those who are having difficulties in the real world are free to sail the high seas in the virtual world where limitless riches are awaiting them in every corner. There's always the chance of someone turning into a millionaire overnight, although this possibility is so slim it's close to zero.
"The most important factor…"
Chen Chen considered. "Inside the virtual world, everyone is held on the same level as one another. You can converse freely with the person in front of you even if that person is a billionaire. There's no discrimination, no suffering, not even hunger or death. Anyone is free to become whoever they were never able to become in the real world, even if inside the real world they are down to their last cent and barely scraping themselves by."
"I understand, this is the perfect medium to shift away from the troubles of the real world."
Little X snickered mischievously upon hearing this. "When this virtual reality comes to fruition, the pressure of social hierarchy becomes effectively nulled. When the spending gap inside the virtual world is so insignificant, the separation between the rich and the poor is minimalized and loses its meaning as well."
"Exactly."
Chen Chen nodded. "Inside the virtual world, everyone will be given access to free education ranging from basic foundational education to higher-level studies. All knowledge is free for anyone willing to grasp it. Some may choose to indulge themselves in the virtual world while others may treat it as a platform to excel in the real world. At the end of the day, the choice is in their hands. More often than not, participants will choose the middle option, which is to spend their days working in the real world and spend their nights in the hypersleep chamber. They can reign free in the virtual world at a ten to one ratio."
"But… If the virtual world is as wonderful as you claim it to be, then the capitalists may very well set the entry barrier higher. The act of indulging in the virtual world will become a luxury pastime in of itself, that would depreciate its meaning."
"Would that be possible? I wouldn't allow it."
Chen Chen sneered. "I know it's a tall task to accomplish everything I just described. After all, it's extremely difficult to achieve true balance if it's left in the hands of men since we humans have an ingrained distrust of other people. It's for this exact reason that it's more important that I'm the only one who holds the keys to the virtual world because I'm the only one I can trust."
"…"
Little X could not resist the urge to roll her eyes. This was the same as the bandit's philosophy. You may not see any problem with trusting yourself, but that did not mean others would favor you with the same level of trust…
"Which is why only one virtual world shall be allowed to exist and that's the virtual world manufactured by Blacklight Biotechnology!"
Chen Chen declared, "Once we achieve a certain degree of a breakthrough in the relevant technology, we can make the virtual world extremely affordable. In this aspect, the cost of a luxury hypersleep chamber would only be equivalent to the price of a regular laptop. The nutrients should only cost no more than several cents and can provide a full day's worth of nutrients with just one capsule. This way, the total annual expense for each person should be as low as several hundred dollars. They will have the luxury of never having to step outside their house but still enjoy the finer things in life inside the virtual world."
Chen Chen sighed as he arrived at this mention. "Of course, by the time all this is accomplished, there will only be four professions left in the world — scientific research, art creation, business, and the final one being an elaborate regime system. All of the other professions that require labor would've been substituted by artificial machines.
"This is to say that the premise for the virtual reality era is the formation of the first three sub-eras, no more and no less. It's only by that point when the structure of society can bear the structural integration of a virtual world. If the order of execution is off, not only will the fundamentals of society be affected, it may very well cause a violent backlash and topple the very fabric of society!"
At this point, Chen Chen had left the factory and met Cheng Cao who had been waiting for some time now.
"Boss!"
Cheng Cao immediately exited his vehicle and greeted Chen Chen upon seeing him.
Chen Chen nodded and entered the car with Little X.
Cheng Cao stole a curious glance at the little girl but made no further comment. He returned to the car wordlessly and drove them to Eco Science City.
"Head straight for the Spire Experimental Base."
Chen Chen instructed before getting some shuteye.
An hour later, Chen Chen arrived at one of the electronic laboratories inside the Spire Experimental Base.
Upon his arrival, Chen Chen inserted the USB drive into a computer and downloaded the movie Ready Player One.
Chen Chen became surprisingly emotional when he saw this movie.
"This is the movie where I instantiated you from a few years back."
Chen Chen turned to Little X. "Back then, you were just an artificial intelligence program sequence. Who would've thought that in just a few years, you did not only manage to evolve to an enhanced artificial intelligence, you even modified yourself into fully sentient life."
"I'm miles ahead of what I was when I was born!"
Little X nodded with strong confidence, looking like a tiny adult as she did so.
"Everything started from the string of source code I found inside. To think that after all the twists and turns along the way that I'd come back to where it all began, life is truly full of surprises at times…"
Chen Chen reflected and sighed before opening the movie. He immediately dragged the progress bar to the middle. A gigantic hemispherical device shaped like a throne immediately appeared on the screen.
OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair!
This device was unlike the VR glasses that the poor protagonist of the movie used as it was the top-of-the-line device. By sitting inside this haptic shock chair, one could control their in-game avatar by having their movements read using their brainwaves.
The haptic shock chair was also fitted with fully-developed holographic imaging technology. Upon activation, an arc-shaped virtual screen hovered around the user which was a mirror image of reality. This completely discarded the need for low-end devices such as VR glasses.
With the X1 tactile suit put on after sitting in the haptic shock chair, the user could feel every sensation experienced by the virtual avatars, providing an experience that was just like the real thing.
Chen Chen cast off all hesitation in his mind and stretched the whole of his arm into the screen and pulled with all his might.
"Thump!"
A gigantic OAR9400 haptic shock chair was immediately brought into reality by Chen Chen.
The haptic shock chair was an egg-shaped structure approximately two meters tall, except there was an opening at a portion of it that was designed for someone to sit inside it.
Just like the VR-glasses, the haptic shock chair was no more than a more advanced computer built for playing triple-A games. The device was only responsible for the front-end maneuvering while the source code of the Oasis game was hosted inside the server host machine.
However, Chen Chen's motive was not to acquire the source code for Oasis. The Little X now could effortlessly design a VR game for him at a moment's notice. All he needed to do was to employ a team of artists and game designers to draw up the general framework of the game while the rest can be left up to Little X's computational abilities. Billions of code could be cranked out overnight with Little X's help.
Even the Windows system only contained fifty million lines of code.
In the real world, VR devices had developed to its Nth generation by now. Despite the progress, the need for a lens and screen combination was still inevitable. The omnidirectional image was projected onto the user's retina to simulate an omnidirectional visual effect, drawing the user experience as close to reality as possible.
Still, these devices were generally harmful to the eyes over long-term exposure. It was also very likely to evoke nauseous side effects. The technology was simply not in its mature stages just yet.
This was where the switch to a haptic shock chair would be a game-changer. The OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair could form a holographic projection directly in front of the player. Just like the silver Rubik's Cube that Chen Chen obtained from the Alien dimension, it could alter the surrounding space optics and project three-dimensional visuals into the air, which addressed the issue of long-term fatigue on the eyes and potential nausea.
What Chen Chen had his eyes on was the brainwave manipulation technology that came with it. The OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair could capture and monitor the brainwave activity of the player and translate them into in-game input to control the in-game avatar.
The only flaw of this brainwave manipulation technology implementation was the lack of user feedback.
To attain a higher quality of gameplay experience, the protagonist in the movie had to put on a piece of equipment known as the X1 Tactile Suit.
The equipment was similar to a bodysuit which attached itself firmly to the player's body upon use. All the tactile sensations in the game could be simulated to the player via mild electric currents. This helped to further enhance the immersion factor.