When Lam saw Professor Zhou again, he noticed that Professor Zhou came to the lab with his hair in a mess, his face full of fatigue. Not only that, but Lam also noticed the exhaustion in Professor Zhou's eyes, with dark circles heavy under them.

It was the first time Lam had seen Professor Zhou like this. So after greeting him, Lam asked, "Professor Zhou, are you feeling unwell?"

Professor Zhou hadn’t noticed Lam at first, but now hearing Lam’s question, he absentmindedly replied, "Oh, Lam. I'm fine, just a bit busy lately. I’ll be alright after some rest." After forcing a smile, he walked away.

In the days that followed, every time Lam and the others saw Professor Zhou, he still appeared the same — even paler, with lifeless eyes, and a spiritless demeanor. Sometimes when they ran into him, Professor Zhou would just nod and quickly walk away, as if he didn’t want to say more.

“Lam, have you noticed that Professor Zhou has been acting strange lately?” Wei whispered to Lam after pulling him aside, watching Professor Zhou’s hurried departure.

“Yeah, Professor Zhou does seem a bit unwell. He’s probably just overworked. I should talk to him when I get the chance,” Lam sighed, thinking Wei meant the same.

“I’m not talking about that! Haven’t you noticed how Professor Zhou has been watching us lately, and his gaze is odd!” Wei explained after waiting for Professor Zhou to enter his office, pointing towards the office as he spoke.

At first, Wei hadn’t thought much of it, assuming Professor Zhou was simply overseeing their experiments and tracking their progress.

But after several instances, Wei noticed that Professor Zhou was absentmindedly staring at them through the office window, his gaze filled with longing, excitement, and guilt. Often, as the staring continued, veins bulged on his face, and his eyes reflected an inner struggle. That’s when Wei started feeling something was off.

“The Nuwa Project has officially begun. Professor Zhou might just be under a lot of pressure recently,” Lam patted Wei on the shoulder, advising him not to overthink and focus on their experiments.

Just as Lam finished speaking, Wei nudged him and signaled with his eyes to look behind them — toward Professor Zhou’s office.

Lam slowly turned around and saw that Professor Zhou was staring at them in a trance, his pale and weary face now bulging with veins. His bloodshot eyes were filled with struggle.

After a while, Professor Zhou seemed to snap out of it and quickly pulled the curtains closed upon noticing that Lam and Wei were staring back at him.

“See? Doesn’t it feel strange?” Wei’s instincts told him that something was definitely going on with Professor Zhou, though he couldn’t pinpoint what.

Lam also furrowed his brow upon seeing Professor Zhou’s behavior. Noticing Wei’s questioning look, Lam shrugged helplessly. He had no idea what was going on with Professor Zhou either, but he resolved to find a chance to talk to him and see if he could help.

“Come on, let’s get back to the experiment!” Lam said, organizing the materials in his hands before heading towards the artificial intelligence system. Wei quickly followed.

Lam had always used the Turing test to evaluate the intelligence level of their artificial intelligence system, but the results had never been satisfactory. So, based on Wei Qiang’s suggestion, Lam decided to change their approach, using the Moravec’s Paradox for reverse testing this time.

Moravec’s Paradox suggests that high-level human cognitive abilities, like reasoning, require very little computational power, whereas unconscious skills and instincts require immense computational resources.

So, by using Moravec’s Paradox for reverse testing, if an AI system could replicate human unconscious skills and instincts, it could be considered truly intelligent.

To simulate these human unconscious skills and instincts, Lam and Wei had already built a human-like robot, installing the AI brain simulation that Lam had previously created for Elaine Chen’s company.

“We’re ready to start. Turn on the entire AI system first, then link the system with the mini-system installed in the robot to synchronize the data,” Lam instructed Wei.

Wei was already waiting by the system’s switch. Upon Lam’s signal, he pressed the start button. The moment the button was pressed, the whole system began to operate silently, emitting a dazzling blue light.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At the same time, the robot beside Lam also began to glow blue. The robot's brain “came to life,” and soon its eyes lit up.

“Lam, start recording the data from the first step of the experiment. We’ll need this for future comparison!” Wei urged Lam, who was still staring at the robot in awe.

“Oh, right!” Lam snapped out of it and quickly took out the experiment log to start recording various experimental parameters.

According to their plan, Lam was responsible for logging the experiment while Wei focused on testing the robot’s level of intelligence.

With the robot fully activated, Wei pressed a button, transmitting the pre-programmed actions from the AI system to the robot.

Wei planned to start with basic human reactions before progressing to unconscious responses. Testing basic human reactions would help verify the robot’s sensitivity and agility, essential prerequisites for unconscious reactions.

After the robot completed a Tai Chi routine, Wei nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that the conditions for physical coordination and agility had been met. He then had the robot perform various daily human actions before pausing it.

“Lam, be sure to carefully log the upcoming actions!” Wei reminded Lam before taking out an axe and walking towards the robot.

The robot stared at Wei, awaiting its next command. Wei instructed it to slowly turn around, and just as it began to turn, he swung the axe at the robot’s arm.

With a clank, the robot’s alloy arm sustained a slight dent. However, the robot didn’t stop turning, continuing to follow Wei’s command.

“When humans encounter an unexpected attack, they instinctively use their hands to block it, which then triggers various emotions such as anger or fear — these are intelligent responses,” Wei explained to Lam while examining the dent on the robot’s arm.

“And it’s not just humans. Cats, dogs, other animals, and even plants exhibit natural intelligent responses when stimulated by external forces. But this,” Wei pointed to the robot, “only reacts based on the instructions we programmed.”

“So, are you saying that the intelligence level of AI isn’t even comparable to that of cats or dogs?” Lam seemed to pick up on the underlying meaning of Wei’s words.

“Remember the topic we discussed at the industry conference last time? What is the essence of consciousness?” Wei knew that Lam hadn’t fully understood his point, so he began to explain further.

From the human perspective, consciousness is a collection of various responses to the external environment, encompassing both reflexive reactions and responses to personal values.

If explained from an anthropocentric viewpoint, one could argue that cats, dogs, and other animals don’t possess consciousness, but they still demonstrate a certain degree of intelligence.

But why, after such long evolutionary processes, did humans develop this specific type of intelligence — what we define as consciousness — while other animals did not? Wei theorized that there might be some kind of rule at play, one which humans managed to break free from, thus allowing the existence of consciousness.

Therefore, Wei concluded that artificial intelligence is fundamentally not operating on the same level as the intelligence developed through natural evolution in humans and animals.

This was why, after much reflection, Wei had abandoned the study of AI intelligence and instead decided to experiment with transferring human memories directly into machines.

Although both paths seemed to lead to the same destination, the underlying logic and starting points were vastly different. Moreover, transferring human memories into machines seemed more like a myth.

“So, what do you think that rule is?” Lam, though initially skeptical of Wei’s somewhat eccentric ideas, now found them increasingly compelling and asked the critical question.

“If I knew that, wouldn’t I be a god? Maybe, as you once told me, there really isn’t much difference between us and ants,” Wei shrugged, hearing Lam’s question.

To further prove his point, Wei entered a response program for his earlier axe-swinging action into the system and synchronized it with the robot.

This time, when Wei swung the axe at the robot, it instinctively raised its arm to block the blow. Once Wei lowered the axe, the robot also lowered its arm, standing still, waiting for the next command.

Wei grinned at Lam as if to say, "See? That’s all it can do. And you expect it to achieve human-level intelligence?"

“Strong, is it possible that,” Lam looked at the robot and then pondered aloud, “the reason humans react is to protect themselves? For instance, when humans block, they do so to avoid further harm, whereas the robot didn’t block because it knew the attack wouldn’t harm it, so it ignored the action.”

“Lam, you're starting to creep me out. If that’s the case, and if humans and robots possess the same intelligence, then humans will eventually be outclassed by robots. Humans are too fragile! But, that’s not likely to happen, right?” After speaking, Wei glanced at the robot standing still, waiting for instructions. Thankfully, it was still just a "dumb machine."

"Yeah, it really does seem impossible for now." Lam shook his head, wondering why he had just entertained such a strange idea. It must have been Wei’s influence. Jokingly, he said to Wei, "I think your idea of transferring human memories into robots is even more far-fetched!"

Wei didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed and casually replied, "Everyone needs a dream. Without one, what’s the difference between us and salted fish? And even if I am salted fish, I want to be the saltiest one!"

Lam couldn’t help but laugh. Wei was still as cheeky as ever. As they joked around, a large eye briefly flashed on the screen. At the same moment, the robot, which had been quietly standing to the side, blinked gently and then looked at the two of them with eyes full of curiosity. It wanted to mimic their laughter, but soon realized it couldn’t.

While the two weren’t paying attention, the robot subtly tilted its head, then refocused on them, its eyes still full of wonder and curiosity. It had no idea why it was there...