hsntnovel Chapter 51: Irreconcilable Conflicts
Chapter 51: Irreconcilable Conflicts
Because Wen Shu is almost omnipresent in the shipyard, people at the shipyard usually just find a comfortable place to sit and chat when they have a meeting, and rarely use formal meeting rooms.
Therefore, the shipyard has an unwritten rule: if a meeting is held in a conference room, it must be something important!
Therefore, when Yue Mingyuan and the others realized that Guo Yi was taking them to the formal conference room for the meeting, their expressions involuntarily became serious.
When Yue Mingyuan and his group entered the conference room and saw that the elders were already waiting with the video call on, they felt both solemn and puzzled: was such a big show really necessary for the solution to the intelligent prosthetic limb?
"Everyone, have you finished looking at the information on the intelligent prosthetics?"
"Um."
The Grand Elder nodded, then asked疑惑地问道：“Chief Engineer Guo, is there a problem with this intelligent prosthetic limb?”
"Smart prosthetics themselves are not the problem, but the social impact they bring is very problematic."
I worry that once smart prosthetics become widespread, society as a whole will face major and irreconcilable conflicts because of them.
Therefore, I'm unsure whether to completely ban this technology or continue to release it to the public as usual.
After Guo Yi finished speaking, everyone began to ponder his words, following his reminder.
As everyone pondered the matter more deeply, they gradually understood what Guo Yi was worried about: there was an irreconcilable conflict between ordinary people and "prosthetics".
People equipped with intelligent prosthetics completely outperform ordinary people in terms of strength, speed, endurance, balance, fine motor skills, and more.
Therefore, whether in the workplace, in competitive sports, or on the battlefield, prosthetics are superior to ordinary people.
As a result, many people will definitely give up their healthy limbs in order to have smart prosthetics.
If the pie doesn't expand, the more people with prosthetics there are, the less the pie ordinary people can get. Naturally, some people who are unwilling to give up their limbs will resent that prosthetics are taking away their share and disrupting fairness.
On the other hand, there will inevitably be prosthetics who, out of regret, inferiority, resentment, or a sense of superiority, ridicule, discriminate against, or even cyberbully those with all four limbs.
Over time, the two will evolve from simple emotional conflict to a clash of values, and eventually solidify into a class conflict.
This is the contradiction Guo Yi mentioned.
The reason this contradiction is considered irreconcilable is that there is no way to prevent the emergence of prosthetics, nor is there any way to prevent the two from being opposed.
When someone successfully turns their life around with a prosthetic limb, it creates a demonstration effect.
When a group of people achieve wealth growth and social status improvement through prosthetics, many others will blindly follow suit.
As more and more people undergo transformation, those who remain are forced to follow suit in order to avoid being completely left behind.
This is not something that morality and law can restrain, nor can education persuade people to stop; it is an inevitable result forced out by the pressure of survival.
It can be said that as long as the advantages of intelligent prosthetics truly exist, it will never be possible to completely eliminate self-harm behavior in order to obtain intelligent prosthetics, and naturally, it will be impossible to prevent the emergence of prosthetics.
As for the conflict between the two, it is equally unstoppable.
This is not a simple misunderstanding or prejudice, but a conflict of interest rooted in survival resources, with no room for compromise.
Jobs are stolen, opportunities are taken away, and upward mobility is blocked. The resentment of ordinary people towards prosthetics is etched into their very survival. It cannot be erased by a few words about "equality," nor can it be controlled by morality and law.
On the other hand, some people suffer psychological imbalance due to the physical cost they pay, some develop a sense of superiority due to their increased strength, and some develop a desire for revenge after being ostracized by ordinary people. This leads them to look down on their "fragile original bodies," which inevitably results in discrimination, exclusion, ridicule, and so on.
Therefore, both sides will inevitably become hostile and label each other, which will gradually lead to a conflict of identity: ordinary people will band together to reject prosthetics, while prosthetics will band together to protect their own interests, and they will no longer trust or empathize with each other.
Over time, this antagonism will gradually permeate education, marriage, social interactions, law, policy, and other aspects, eventually leading to de facto class division.
Even more fatal is that there is no way to bring both sides back to the same starting line: it is impossible to discard all prosthetics, it is impossible to force everyone to wear prosthetics, and it is impossible to make social resources increase out of thin air.
Therefore, as long as intelligent prosthetics are superior to the original body, there will inevitably be a conflict of interest between the two, and the emotional antagonism will never be quelled.
What about a blanket ban on smart prosthetics?
In the long run, we should trust the wisdom of future generations.
From a broader perspective, intelligent prosthetics can both expand the social workforce and enhance individual value.
From an evolutionary perspective, this is more like a natural selection process at the social level.
From a personal perspective, what if one day you or a close friend or relative becomes disabled due to an accident?
In conclusion, a one-size-fits-all approach is the worst thing to do.
"Chief Engineer Guo, is it possible to limit the performance of the intelligent prosthesis to make it function like a human body?"
"It's impossible to restrict it."
Guo Yi shook his head and explained, "The core technologies of intelligent prosthetics are only two: global neural coupling and reverse neural programming."
The former allows for seamless integration between the prosthesis and the human nervous system, achieving imperceptible delay and mind-hand coordination.
The latter directly reads and translates the biological movement signals, allowing the prosthetic limb to perfectly replicate or even surpass the original limb.
Therefore, neither of these technologies inherently possesses a structure that "forcefully locks in the performance limit".
And limiting the performance of intelligent prosthetics in other ways...
At this point, Guo Yi spread his hands helplessly and said, "Adjusting power, changing materials—these methods can't even fool a junior high school student, let alone stop researchers and underground modifiers?"
"What about the built-in anti-tamper system that completely locks down the power and material parameters?"
"There's simply no space for it."
Before Guo Yi could speak, Old Feng stared at the projection diagram of the intelligent prosthetic limb structure in front of him and gave his answer: "Whether it is the fingers, toes, or the entire limb, the internal space is extremely compact, and there is simply no way to fit the complex anti-disassembly module."
After answering his question, Mr. Feng suggested, "How about we link the intelligent prosthetic limb to a job position, limiting its use to work hours and specific locations?"
"Xiao Feng, aren't you trying to force someone to insult your entire family?"
As soon as Old Feng finished speaking, he was surrounded by a crowd who took turns criticizing him: "Old Feng, not only can you not control people, but you're also driving them to take risks, to steal, to rob, and to modify things on the black market."
"Smart prosthetics are meant to help people with disabilities live good lives again, not to be used as tools for exploitation and control."
"Why don't you just develop equipment specifically for disabled people and use them as batteries?"
"..."
Old Feng shrugged and admitted helplessly, "To perfectly resolve the conflict between ordinary people and prosthetics, I can only think of five ways:
The goal is to make the performance of native limbs and intelligent prosthetics equal;
Either it can monitor every able-bodied person in the world around the clock and with full coverage;
Either allow native limbs to be easily attached, detached, and plugged in like smart prosthetics;
It must either possess a nanometer-level, uncrackable, and tamper-proof system;
Either force the entire population to undergo reform.
As for whether there are other ways...
At this point, everyone turned to look at Guo Yi.