N-M Chapter 26 Completed
Chapter 26 Completed
In April, Shanghai had already lost all trace of winter.
On the banks of the Huangpu River, the spring breeze carries a gentle breeze.
Yu Zhen rode his bicycle alone, leisurely cruising along the riverside path.
He finally ended his seclusion to create, so he borrowed a bicycle and went out for a walk to clear his head.
That's right, "Brain in a Vat" is finished.
This work, a sequel to "The Truman Show," totals 15 words.
I spent nearly twenty days in seclusion writing.
The difficulty of the creative process once drove him to the brink of collapse, and he almost gave up writing altogether.
There's no other reason than that I overestimated my ability to adapt and create original content before I started writing.
The ultimate reason is that, firstly, "The Brain in a Vat" is not a film or television work, but actually a theoretical research monograph by a famous overseas scholar in the field of classical philosophical thought experiments. It belongs to the category of art theory and is not a general literary creation in the traditional sense.
In other words, it is not a literary work that can be directly copied and used.
Secondly, in the context of the present era, this set of philosophical and theoretical foundations serves as the source of inspiration for the motifs in his subsequent science fiction stories.
We should not make such a series of philosophical concepts and ideas readily known to the general public.
His subsequent works, such as "The Matrix" and "Crimson," which he copied from other works, were less likely to evoke a strong sense of immersion in readers.
It's somewhat like trying to build a sandcastle on the beach.
No matter how beautifully a sandcastle is built, it can't withstand a single wave and will be reduced to its original state in no time.
To put it bluntly, in the current era, China's technological foundation is, after all, extremely weak.
In the eyes of most ordinary people, even things like televisions and telephones are still considered high-end and scarce electronic products.
Other concepts like computers, robots, and artificial intelligence would seem even more abrupt and weak.
Even if I were to force myself to write it, it would seem too sophisticated for the general public.
Few readers can truly appreciate the texture of it.
But he wanted to take advantage of the fact that Westerners had failed to make inroads in the relevant fields, and seize the opportunity to dominate the absolute territory of science fiction, and build a science fiction universe story with a unique flavor of Eastern civilization on a global scale.
The timeframe is too tight for him to wait any longer.
He doesn't have the opportunity to wait ten or twenty years until the country has the necessary technological foundation before creating science fiction stories.
This is fundamentally a chicken-or-egg dilemma.
The philosophical concepts and theories related to "The Brain in a Vat" were not formally defined and explained in another timeline until 1981, when the renowned American scholar Hilary Putnam gave them in her book of the same name.
As for the creation and release of other Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters, he is now planning to include sequels to "The Truman Show" such as "The Matrix," "Criminal," "Terminator," "Source Code," and "Resident Evil."
These works were all created by different writers and screenwriters after the philosophical concepts of "The Brain in a Vat" were first established.
The core concept of the brain in a vat is actually quite simple.
Imagine a person's brain is completely removed by a surgeon and placed in a tank containing life-sustaining nutrient solution, with nerve endings connected to a supercomputer.
Computers continuously input sensory signals into the brain that are completely consistent with the real world, and can also receive the brain's "output" in sync and give corresponding feedback, and can even tamper with memories.
At this point, the brain will be unable to distinguish whether it is in the vat or in its real body.
This is the major technological choice that humanity must now face in the future, with the advent of internet technology and the explosion of AI technology in the new century, particularly in the field of virtual reality.
The original series, "The Truman Show," is a standard Western American TV series and film, a very realistic and satirical story.
In Yu Zhenxin's revised version, the protagonist Truman is essentially the "brain in a vat" used for related scientific research experiments.
Uh……
To be more precise, it should be the digital life consciousness that was born in that "brain in a vat" vessel.
His newly adapted and drastically modified story tells of how Truman, a "digital life form," achieves self-awareness, obtains a true human body, and pursues becoming a real human being, amidst a series of surreal events.
Furthermore, the biggest difference from the original work lies in the fact that he borrowed the most clichéd online novel writing techniques, added an excessive amount of the core elements of male-oriented online novels, and directly transformed it into a so-called science fiction story.
But he doesn't have the drive or ability to write hard science fiction.
Upon closer examination, the story is riddled with flaws.
For example, how could Truman, under the omnipresent surveillance cameras on the live-streaming island, possibly escape the mastermind behind the scenes and conjure up an armed warship powerful enough to physically destroy the entire island?
If we really want to have a party that does reasonable research and scrutiny, then we should take it seriously.
His entire retelling of the story completely fell apart and became utterly untenable.
Despite his current status, he has already been hailed as the foremost author of science fiction novels in China.
That's all just hype.
To put it bluntly, if you get targeted by people who are jealous and envious, you're likely to be labeled a pseudo-scientist.
As a sequel, the main purpose of "Brain in a Vat" is actually to patch up the previous work.
This will also lead to the subsequent storylines of the entire series, laying the groundwork for future developments.
This is his idea of creating a major IP for an Eastern science fiction story, a virtual reality science fiction universe worldview, all by his own efforts.
……
Today, when I finished the manuscript and announced the end of my seclusion...
Yu Zhen listened to Editor Wu recount a series of recent events.
For example, the issue of his unclear identity has already been publicly exposed by the Sanqin Daily, and newspapers across the country have followed suit with similar reports.
Now the whole country is worried about him, wondering which family's missing son he is.
For example, the Shaanxi province sent an official letter requesting his return to Shaanxi.
In addition, students from the Yenching University May Fourth Literary Society came to discuss licensing the translation of "The Truman Show".
The Shanghai Film Studio's Literature Department wanted to seize all the film and television adaptation rights to those 25 works.
The other seven major film studios, under the private encouragement of Editor-in-Chief He and others, called to negotiate and share the 25 stories published in the Story Club.
Then, the company planned to give him a formal position, and the Shanghai Film Studio also had this intention.
If he is willing to negotiate, other film studios may also have similar solutions to resolve the identity issue for those with formal employment status.
Driven to desperation, President Huang submitted a proposal to the city leaders to convene the "First Shanghai Literary Works Film and Television Adaptation Symposium." His aim was to gather the 25 stories from his "Story Collection" series, as well as works by other domestic writers from the past year or two, to actively discuss the issue of adapting their works into films and television series. He hoped to leverage the strength of the nation's literary and artistic elites to contribute to the national film and television cultural industry and jointly write a new chapter in the new era of reform.
And that special issue of "Story Club," with its two million copies sold—a phenomenal sales figure—has already made him one of the top bestselling authors in China.
Goodness, I only went into seclusion for a short period of twenty-odd days to create.
Before going into seclusion, I was a homeless, rootless drifter.
Now, in the blink of an eye, it has become a highly sought-after commodity.
Yu Zhen felt inexplicably uneasy; he really didn't want to live under the spotlight forever!
Otherwise, wouldn't he also become the protagonist of another "Truman Show"...?