Chapter 145: One Entity Changing the Fate of a Civilization
Chapter 145: One Entity Changing the Fate of a Civilization
“Friend of Human Civilization. ‘Sacred Decider’ was always present.”
“It was in this city of Stuo Civilization, in every place within Stuo Civilization.”
“It observed our entire meeting with Human Civilization; it listened to every word spoken during our communication. Every decision about Stuo Civilization was made by the ‘Sacred Decider’.”
Sies, the representative of Stuo Civilization, paused for a moment before giving this reply to the Human Civilization delegation.
“Your Excellency Sies of Stuo Civilization, I do not know if asking this will offend, but please forgive the ignorance of a closed-off civilization that has not traveled far or contacted too many civilizations in the universe. If you feel it is truly offensive, you need not answer this question…”
“Your Excellency Sies, can we know just what kind of entity the ‘Sacred Decider’ of your civilization actually is?”
Deciding to inquire directly about the Sacred Decider was a decision made beforehand by the research teams and leaders at the Negentropy Research Institute.
From the information previously revealed by Stuo Civilization, it could be understood that a series of decisions in Stuo Civilization were entirely made by the Sacred Decider.
This ‘Sacred Decider’ appeared more like the consciousness of this civilization, while the other intelligent beings of Stuo Civilization seemed like mere bodies governed by it.
The situation concerning this Sacred Decider would directly affect the future communication between Human Civilization and Stuo Civilization.
Additionally,
previous doubts about the existence of Genetic Memory in Stuo Civilization also seemed directly linked to this Sacred Decider.
The people of Human Civilization, those at the Negentropy Research Institute, were indeed also quite curious about it.
“…”
The representative of Stuo Civilization, Sies, paused briefly when faced with this question from the Human Civilization delegation.
Then, he still chose to provide an answer to Human Civilization on this matter,
“Communication between two civilizations inevitably brings deeper understanding between them. The foundation for mutual trust between civilizations arises from this. This question is not offensive.”
“… The Sacred Decider is a Strong Artificial Intelligence. The direction of Stuo Civilization’s development, its social form, where our civilization goes… all this is decided by it.”
From the content of Sies’s reply to Human Civilization, one could sense his reverence for the Sacred Decider,
“It was impartial and fair, always able to make decisions beneficial to our civilization, free from the restraints of biological instinct. It is the perfect ruler of a civilization.”
This answer directly resolved many questions Human Civilization previously had about both Stuo Civilization’s societal structure and the Sacred Decider itself.
Previously, Stuo Civilization mentioned that their ‘Sacred Decider’ had never been replaced. Related personnel, including Qin Yu, had already harbored suspicions.
This confirmation solidified those guesses.
Simultaneously, the prior confusion at the Negentropy Research Institute – why Stuo Civilization had not become rigidified after entering the Intelligent Era, despite severe issues with Genetic Memory and lineage inheritance – now seemed to have a direct answer.
Under the supervision of this Sacred Decider, this Strong Artificial Intelligence, the society of Stuo Civilization still maintained open channels for upward mobility in its hierarchy.
“Your Excellency Sies, thank you for your answer. However, on this topic, even more questions have arisen for us.”
“You stated that Stuo Civilization’s development path is dictated by the Sacred Decider, and it always makes choices beneficial to the civilization.”
“Then, within Stuo Civilization, who determines how the Sacred Decider should act? Who sets the standard for the Sacred Decider’s benefit-risk assessments, its judgments of right and wrong?”
The Sacred Decider is merely a Strong Artificial Intelligence. Although its level of intelligence surpassed the conventional, fundamentally, everything stemmed from human programming.
A Strong Artificial Intelligence could indeed be impartial. Yet, impartiality itself required a defined standard.
If individuals existed who could alter the decision-making criteria of the Strong Artificial Intelligence,
then those individuals would effectively possess the ultimate power in Stuo Civilization.
The Sacred Decider would merely be an additional layer in the execution of that power.
“Friend of Human Civilization, the Sacred Decider is the Ultimate Decision-Maker of Stuo Civilization. No one determines how it should act.”
“We have no means to, nor do we attempt to, adjust the Sacred Decider’s standards for weighing benefits or judging right and wrong. Its decisions are completed entirely independently.”
“We do not, nor could we, constrain or oversee the power of the Sacred Decider as the Ultimate Decision-Maker.”
“Not us defining the Sacred Decider’s sense of right and wrong, but the Sacred Decider defining right and wrong for Stou Civilization.”
After this response from Sies, the representative of Stuo Civilization,
a brief silence fell over the Human Civilization delegation.
This Sacred Decider Strong Artificial Intelligence in Stuo Civilization was absolutely distinct from the Brain Intelligence Project within Human Civilization.
In Human Civilization, while Strong Artificial Intelligence participated deeply in societal operation and managed production activities,
it primarily functioned as an executor.
The direction of Human Civilization’s development was still determined by humans themselves.
For example, the development and construction projects on other extraterrestrial planets within the Solar System –
the decisions were made by the Negentropy Research Institute, by Human Civilization itself.
Although Strong Artificial Intelligence participated significantly in the process, it did not decide whether Human Civilization should undertake these projects.
The core of Human Civilization remained Human.
In Stuo Civilization, things were entirely different.
The Sacred Decider Strong Artificial Intelligence of Stuo Civilization completely determined the civilization’s future path based solely on its own internal standards.
The intelligent beings of Stuo Civilization became the executors.
The entire civilization acted upon the will of the Strong Artificial Intelligence.
It was genuinely difficult to say whether the entity communicating with Human Civilization now,
should be called the Sacred Decider Civilization, or was it still Stuo Civilization?
Stuo Civilization was akin to having artificially created a ‘Philosopher King’, and then granting this ‘Philosopher King’ absolute, unconstrainable power to rule over their entire civilization.
Yet crucially,
this Strong Artificial Intelligence was just that – artificial intelligence. How far removed it truly was from an Intelligent Lifeform was unclear even to Human Civilization.
This much, however, was clear: no matter how intelligently a Strong Artificial Intelligence behaves, it lacks consciousness.
Therefore,
the will of the Strong Artificial Intelligence that Stuo Civilization constantly followed was, in essence, a non-existent entity.
Nevertheless,
observed from Human Civilization’s perspective, the current state of Stuo Civilization did appear to be operating and developing quite effectively.
“… Your Excellency Sies, we do not know how much difference lies in our respective developments of Artificial Intelligence technology.”
“Based on Human Civilization’s current understanding, Strong Artificial Intelligence lacks the self-motivation akin to that of an Intelligent Lifeform.”
“If the Sacred Decider defines the standards of right and wrong within Stuo Civilization… where did the original standard come from?”
After a period of silence, a core Researcher from the Social Philosophy Department within the Human Civilization delegation posed this question to Sies of Stuo Civilization.
An implicit question lurked beneath: how was the Sacred Decider’s initial standard of impartiality actually established?
Sies of Stuo Civilization listened to the question from the Human Civilization delegation.
He did not attempt to discuss the matter further with them at this time.
“This touches upon a rather complex piece of Stuo Civilization’s history.”
“As a foundation for deeper mutual understanding, we are willing to share this chapter of our history with Human Civilization.”
“We have already transmitted the content concerning this history to Human Civilization via electromagnetic signals. Human Civilization can review it for themselves.”
Since Sies responded this way,
the group of researchers from the Human Civilization delegation naturally did not press further.
“We thank Stuo Civilization for its generosity and openness. May the exchange of our respective histories also provide mutual enlightenment.”
There was no more discussion about the Sacred Decider for now.
The Human Civilization delegation’s visit to the Stuo Civilization city thus came to a natural end.
After exchanging courtesies representative of their respective civilizations,
the Human Civilization delegation returned to their starship and departed from the Stuo Civilization city.
However,
the information about Stuo Civilization’s history that the Stuo Civilization shared with Human Civilization
naturally arrived much earlier than the returning Human Civilization delegation.
On the ground,
Qin Yu of the Negentropy Research Institute, along with the entire research team and the head of the institute, had already begun reviewing it.
…
In this meeting room at the Negentropy Research Institute,
as the information sent by the Stuo Civilization was displayed before the researchers, an intelligent program had simultaneously completed the translation of its content.
The content itself wasn’t particularly lengthy.
Just as the Stuo representative, Sies, had said,
it was a record of a certain period in Stuo Civilization’s history.
Moreover, it wasn’t overly detailed or exhaustive,
providing only a general outline and progression of that historical period.
Still, it directly answered many of the questions people had about the Stuo Civilization’s Sacred Decider.
In the meeting room,
the research team and the head of the institute watched quietly.
Qin Yu also picked up the historical record and read it from beginning to end. After finishing, he remained silent for a moment.
This piece of Stuo history occurred on the eve of their entry into the Intelligent Era.
The matter itself was actually quite simple.
At that time, the Stuo Civilization had been in its technological age for thousands of years,
yet their scientific and productive capabilities remained within the planetary civilization stage.
As the entire civilization had already achieved integration at that stage, lacking external threats while experiencing relatively slow development,
the Stuo Civilization faced a significant problem of solidified social hierarchy on the cusp of entering the Intelligent Era.
If nothing unforeseen happened,
things would unfold as Human Civilization had predicted: upon entering the Intelligent Era,
Stuo society would become even more rigid, with completely blocked upward mobility between social classes.
The upper class, controlling the intelligent means of production, would find it nearly impossible to fall in social status,
while the lower classes, no longer the main force of production, would lose their capacity for resistance.
Yet clearly, the subsequent development of the Stuo Civilization didn’t follow this path.
Perhaps by this stage of civilizational development, the overall environment provided an opening for an unusual possibility.
From an observer’s perspective, a random event had occurred within the Stuo Civilization during that era.
This random event was the emergence of a great scientist who would lead the Stuo Civilization into the Intelligent Era.
This great scientist was also named ‘Sies’, or more accurately, known as ‘Sies I’.
Within Stuo Civilization, it was believed that offspring were the continuation of their progenitor’s life.
Coupled with the existence of genetic memory, a tradition of ‘name inheritance’ existed.
This great scientist was the origin of the name ‘Sies’ in Stuo Civilization.
He was the creator of the strong artificial intelligence for the Stuo Civilization, and simultaneously, the creator of the ‘Sacred Decider’.
After creating the strong artificial intelligence, just before the Stuo Civilization transitioned into the Intelligent Era,
this great scientist had already keenly foreseen the potentially severe problem of social rigidity.
Therefore, he transformed the ‘Strong Artificial Intelligence’ into the ‘Sacred Decider’.
He created this ‘Philosopher King’ for the Stuo Civilization
and used it to govern the entire civilization, determining its developmental trajectory.
By placing the strong artificial intelligence in the position of ultimate power within Stuo Civilization,
he ensured the fair operation of their society,
preventing rigidity and keeping the pathways for upward social mobility open.
Just as Human Civilization researchers had previously wondered,
the initial settings defining concepts of right and wrong, benefit and detriment, for this Sacred Decider AI must have been established by someone.
That someone was this great Stuo scientist.
As the strong AI came into being under his guidance and began leading the Stuo Civilization into the Intelligent Era,
he even had the potential to personally control the AI and become the ruler of the entire Stuo Civilization.
However, with a great will that transcended ordinary creature instincts, he granted the strong AI judgment standards designed to benefit the Stuo Civilization as a whole, not any small group of individuals—including himself.
He was the one who gave the Sacred Decider the command:
to obey no one and to autonomously decide the path for Stuo Civilization’s development.
He also gave it the command guiding its choices: always aim for the development and progress of the Stuo Civilization.
For the long ages that followed, the strong AI, the ‘Sacred Decider’, was essentially executing the mandate of this great scientist.
Yet, if matters had stopped there,
even though the Sacred Decider could autonomously decide the civilization’s development trajectory,
there still existed within the Stuo Civilization one individual who could give it commands and alter its judgment standards and decisions.
This great Stuo scientist, ‘Sies I’, clearly recognized that his desired ‘Philosopher King’ was still missing one final step.
“I believe, at this very moment, I must be great. Yet I cannot guarantee that Sies in the future will not falter.”
“Stuo Civilization’s long history has taught me time and again that greatness transcending creature instincts might exist, but often only for fleeting moments.”
“I am willing to crystallize this moment of greatness into eternity, in a unique way. I hope Stuo Civilization can journey farther.”
For a civilization to develop to a powerful stage,
its history must inevitably produce some heroic figures.
These were the final words of the great Stuo scientist Sies before his death.
His last command to the Sacred Decider was to kill him.
At that time, according to the typical lifespan of a Stuo individual, the great scientist Sies had only just reached middle age.
From that moment, Stuo Civilization lost its ‘King’.
The Sacred Decider, as the eternal extension of that single moment of surpassing greatness,
wrenched Stuo Civilization out of that state of societal rigidity.
In a way,
the entire fate of the Stuo Civilization was altered permanently, thereafter, because of one person.
In a sense, the Sacred Decider of the present age is the continuation of that great scientist’s supreme will throughout the ages that followed.