Questions about "Sword Art Online"

That’s another story about another worldview

To be precise, it tells the story of Kirito’s adventure in Underworld

Initially, he was regarded as The baby was born in UW, so there will be the part about Alice and Eugil

When the three days came and the trial period expired, the data about him and the memory in his head were deleted

p>

Later, Kirito encountered the remnants of the Death Gun Incident and was seriously injured and on the verge of death, so he was transported for testing and treatment on the way

And this is the only technology that can save him, but this time there was no cure Let him be born again as a baby

As for why UW is more realistic, the original article said:

"Then, let's start from the most basic point. About that..." "It's a matter of technology."

"The entire network of brain cells is the heart. I think this is the correct answer based on current science. But...for example, what you just said. There should be many answers to the question "What is the Internet?" The network built by all computers in the world based on the standard is also called the Internet——"

Then he tapped the table with his finger. On the portable terminals of Kazuto and Asuna placed side by side, he said:

"Like this, the Internet is also called the Internet that uses computers as its constituent elements. Furthermore, the users themselves in front of the computers It can also be regarded as a part of the network. Adding all these together is the Internet itself."

"Well. - You see, whether it is a server, a router, or a mobile phone, put these together. The connected structure can only be said to be the "form" of the Internet, right?"

"Form..."

"Then, what is the "essence"?"

After thinking for a while, Shino said:

"In that form...what flows in the network structure...? Electronic signals...?"

p>

"Electronic signals and optical signals are just media. The essence of the network should be the verbalized information conveyed by that media... Let's assume this for now."

Kazuto put it His bony hands were clasped tightly and resting on the table.

"So, according to what I just said, if the network connecting tens of billions of brain cells is regarded as the form of the heart...then where should we find the essence of the heart?"

"Media...that is to say, the information carried by the electronic pulses flowing in the brain cells?"

"No, the so-called electronic pulses are like this..."

Kazuto made a fist with his right hand and approached the open palm of his left hand.

"It's just a matter of letting the synapses between neurons send out triggers to transmit substances. The continuous triggering of brain cells through a certain path - this kind of formal thing cannot It's the essence of the heart."

"Eh... this..."

While Shino frowned, Asuna spoke with a troubled smile.

"I don’t understand if I go on, Kirito~ Besides, current science can’t answer the question of what the heart is, right?"

"Well, it is. Ah."

Kazuto finally smiled and nodded.

"Ha, ha!? Let me tell you, it's too much to say that I don't have an answer after thinking about it for so long."

Sinon let out a strong voice. of protest. Kazuto slanted his gaze toward the water-stained window and continued as if talking to himself:

"But some people are trying to find the answer using a certain theory."

"A certain...theory?"

""Quantum Brain Mechanics". Originally it seemed to be a theory proposed by a British scholar at the end of the last century. It was originally just a theory that was regarded as a theory for a long time. It’s a joke theory, but based on that theory, “Las” succeeded in creating that monster... ——I can’t figure out what happened next. Didn’t I just talk about the structure of brain cells? /p>

Shino and Asuna nodded at the same time.

"The cells also have a skeleton that carries that structure. It seems to be called "microtubules." But the skeleton seems to be not only for carrying, but also inside the skull. It can be said to be the brain of the brain cells. "

"Ha, ha...?"

"The skeleton is a tube - that is, a hollow tube. Of course it is ultra-fine...with a diameter of only a few nanometers. Something, but it doesn't seem to be empty inside. There is something sealed inside the tube."

Shino couldn't help but look at Asuna, then looked at Kazuto at the same time, and asked in a low voice.

"What is there...?"

"Light."

Kazuto's answer was extremely brief.

"Photon... seems to be officially called "evanescent photon", which is actually a type of quantum. Its existence itself is the embodiment of the theory of free will, and it is always carrying out the theory of probability. The irregular shaking. According to that theory, it is the human heart."

While listening to his words, Shino felt an unknown sensation from his back to his hands. Aversion to cold. The heart is the swaying light. This imagination is full of a certain mysterious beauty, but at the same time, it also reminds people involuntarily that this is the true realm of God.

Asuna seems to have the same feeling, as there seems to be an uneasy look in her light-colored pupils. Then she whispered in a weak voice:

"Kirito, the new stealth machine you mentioned just now is called..."Soul Translator", right. Soul, soul...that kind Is the collection of light the human soul...?"

"The engineers in Lars used the term "quantum field". However, since they have given the machine such a name, At least that's what they think... That quantum field is the human soul."

"But that's what it means? The soul translator is not connected to the human brain. , but a machine that connects to the soul itself...?"

"This statement is no longer a machine, but a magic prop in the game."

Like As if wanting to ease the tension around him, Kazuto smiled nonchalantly and continued.

"However, it is not actually driven by magic or miracles. To explain further...the microtubule photons that construct brain cells are all based on "Qubit", The data in units of length remains vector. In other words, brain cells are not just simple valve switches as previously thought. They can be said to be a quantum computer in themselves... But I have no idea about this. The topic is completely incomprehensible..."

"Don't worry, I've already reached my limit."

"Me too..."

Sinon followed Asuna made a declaration of abstention, and Kazuto seemed to be relieved.

"For this - a collection of photons that is both a computer and a memory, maybe it is the human soul... That is how it is named internally in Lars. The shaking light, in English, is "Fluctuating" "Light", abbreviated as——"

Then he paused briefly——

*

""Brackett's Light Note: From now on it will be written as Fluctlight" "."

*

"... Fluct, light..."

Sinon silently repeated this mysterious sound. Words. If all the theories mentioned before are true, there must be something called Brackett's Light in his head. No, it should be said that what exists is the "self" itself that is thinking about this kind of thing...

Just as the trembling just now revived again, Shino touched the wrist stretched out from the sleeve of her summer dress. . Asuna next to her also looked like she wanted to hug her body, but she still spoke in a lower voice.

"——Reading Fluctlight... No, it is the "Translation" machine, the soul translator. In this case... this translation is not one-way, right?"

I didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence for a while, so Shino tilted her head and peeked at Asuna. There was obvious uneasiness in her eyes.

"Shinono, you see... the AmuSphere we use does not just read the movement commands sent by the brain to the body. Vision, hearing... also sends information from the five senses to the brain. It allows us to feel the virtual world. It should be said that this function is the core of stealth technology, right? If the soul translator cannot do the same thing, it cannot be called a next-generation machine. "

"...In other words...send information to the soul of the connector...?"

After saying that, the two of them looked at Kazuto's eyes at the same time.

The black-haired boy seemed a little hard to speak, but in the end he nodded and admitted.

"Yes... the translation skills of the Soul Translator - referred to as "STL" in Lasli - are two-way. Read the tens of billions of cubits of data stored in the human Fluctlight. After translating it into a language we can understand, we can also translate the information written in our language and send it in again, just like Asuna said, we can't even sneak into the virtual world. . Specifically, it can connect to the part of Brackett's light that stores and processes five-sense information, and sends in information about the things you want to see or the sounds you want to hear."

Hear this. Asuna leaned forward as if to emphasize that this was the point, and continued to ask:

"Could it be that... this function can also be used on the memory in the soul? Kirito, you just said Well, there is no memory during stealth. In other words, the soul translator...STL can erase the memory or even rewrite the memory?"

"No..."

As if trying to calm her down, Kazuto gently held Asuna's left hand and shook his head.

"The part that holds long-term memory data is not only too large, but also has too complicated a preservation method. It seems impossible to intervene in the current situation. The reason why I don't have the memory when I was sneaking is simply because of the access to that part. The path is just blocked. In other words, it's not that I have no memory at all, but I can't remember..." "But I'm still... scared, Kirito. The memory may be manipulated or something..."

But Asuna's lowered face still showed uneasiness.

"Besides, it was Chris Height who proposed this part-time job to you...no, it was Mr. Kikuoka from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, right? Although I don't think he is a bad person, I still feel that... The feeling of not being able to see clearly what he was thinking was very similar to that of the group leader. I always felt that something bad was going to happen again..."

"...Indeed, there is something unbearable about that man. The reassuring part. I still haven’t figured out my true identity or position, but..." After a pause, Kazuto turned his attention to the void. somewhere in.

"I, when the first-generation commercial full stealth aircraft was held for the first time at a fairground in Shinjuku, I had already lined up to enter the venue a few days in advance. Although I was only an elementary school student at the time... I immediately thought "this is it". The world that has been calling me is here. Since then, I have been saving my pocket money and bought NERvGear on the day it was released... and then played in various VR games. I don’t know how much time I went through. At that time, I really felt that things in the real world didn’t matter. Then I was selected as a test player of SAO and that incident happened...many people died. After I came back two years ago, the Sugou incident and the Death Gun incident happened again... I... I want to know.

In which direction will VR technology develop... What is the significance of those events... Although the technology of this soul translator is brand new, the basic design still comes from the medical machine Medicuboid. ”

Asuna, who had her head lowered, suddenly shook violently on her shoulders after hearing Kazuto’s words. Kazuto, on the other hand, continued speaking in a low but firm voice.

"I have this hunch. There is something inside the soul translator. Something that makes it more than just an entertainment machine...maybe it does have some dangerous aspects. But..."

p>

"But, Kirito. From the results, doesn't that STL function the same as AmuSphere? It uses polygons to generate a VR world, and then allows people connected to infiltrate it. But in this case, such an exaggerated system is used Does it make sense?"

"Oh, good question."

Kazuto straightened up from his chair and nodded.

"What you were talking about just now was "generating a VR world using polygons." The so-called polygons are a collection of coordinates and surfaces... They are all digital data. Although the current simulation technology has It has developed to an extremely high level of detail, and it is difficult to distinguish between real and fake trees and furniture, but it is still essentially the same."

He picked up the portable terminal on the table and quickly picked it up. After a few simple operations, the machine's built-in mini-game started. The futuristic racing car slowly spinning on the demo screen has an extremely crude interior and a rather rigid body surface, exactly what a typical polygonal model should look like.

Shino raised his gaze and tilted his head slightly.

"Well... whether it's ALO or GGO, if too many people gather in the same place, object rendering delays may sometimes occur. However, fundamentally speaking, AmuSphere is the same as Isn't STL the same? They both allow users to see or touch things that don't exist in reality, and build 3D models from scratch."

Kazuto fell silent for a moment, and then raised his hand. He shook the empty cup of Dynamic Coffee and motioned Shino to look there.

"Sinon, this cup exists in reality, right?"

".........exists."

It is very suspicious at first glance. But Shino still nodded in response. Then Kazuto leaned the cup against Shino's face and said something very difficult to understand.

"Let's put it this way, this cup is now in my hand and Sinon's consciousness...in Lars's terms, it exists in "Fluctlight" at the same time. To be more precise, it comes from the glass. The reflected light was captured by Sinon's eyes, and then converted into electronic signals in the retina, and then formed an image of the object glass in his consciousness. Then, next, like this..."

He suddenly. He stretched out his left hand and covered Shino's eyes. She closed her eyes reflexively, and her vision was suddenly filled with dark gray with a reddish tint.

"How about it? Did the glass in Sinon's consciousness disappear completely at once?"

I didn't understand what he wanted to say at all, but Sinon still answered directly. .

"...You can't be that forgetful, right? After staring at it for so long, I can remember the color and shape of the glass. Ah... However, it seems to be getting blurry. "It's..."

"That's it."

Finally the hand in front of her moved away, and Sinon opened her eyes, half-glaring at Kazuto's face across the glass.

"What the hell."

"You know... when we look at this glass, the table, and each other's faces, we also know how to record and reproduce them." That data is stored in Fluctlight's visual processing field. It's not just a simple character screen that disappears when you close your eyes. If you can't see the cup like this, Sinon is right. The impression will gradually fade..."

Kazuto hid the cup in his right hand under the table.

"Then enter Sinon's Fluctlight visual field and input the same information and the same shape as when he saw the cup just now. In this way, Sinon can see the cup that does not exist on the table in reality. It's far more precise than a polygon... It should be said that it's no different from a real cup. "... Well, in theory, that might be the case... However, the data stored in human consciousness is "memory", right? Using external manipulation to reproduce it is not hypnotism, so what should we do..."

Speaking of Here, Shino stopped talking as if she remembered something.

But just ten minutes ago——Kazuto just said that this is exactly the machine that can do this. Asuna, who had been silent until just now, whispered for Shino: "AmuSphere allows users to see polygonal data in their minds... and STL inputs it into people's consciousness. Short-term memory...that is to say...is not a man-made object. Everything we see, hear, and encounter in the virtual world created by STL is...the real existence that we understand at the level of our own consciousness. , is that what happened...?"

Kazuto nodded heavily, put the cup back on the table and continued.

"Memory visual information... internally in Lars is called "mnemonic visual data". I also remember the early days of testing stealth... It's really different. Completely It’s different from the VR world created by AmuSphere. Although it’s just a space the size of a narrow room, I——”

After suddenly stopping the topic and showing an obviously forced smile, Kazuto continued.

"...At the beginning, I didn't know it was a virtual world."

"Whether it's Fluctlight or mnemonic images, even though they are just based on word creation, These are extremely weird technologies... However, the virtual world created by STL should actually be more acceptable to us than the one created by AmuSphere. After all, it is something like "Real Dream"... "

"Dream...?"

The unexpected words made Sinon blink, and then the guard elf swordsman who was internally recognized by ALO as being able to release pajamas to the surroundings. He nodded seriously.

"That's right. Summoning a group of objects stored as memories, and then combining them to create a world for people to move around in... Isn't this almost exactly the same as the structure of dreams? In fact, in The brainwaves of people sneaking in STL are very similar to those during sleep."

"So, you are working in a dream? You have been working there for three days. Then lie down, and then the hourly wages will come rolling in?"

"So, so, I said it from the beginning, right? Just lie down like that without eating or drinking. Of course, nutrition The water and water are all injected through intravenous drip.”

It seems that Kazuto said this when he first came to the store. But I didn’t expect that real work itself would mean lying motionless on a laboratory bed in the real world, dreaming of long, long dreams. Shino raised her eyes and looked at him, and then whispered with a sigh: "Is it a dream that lasts for three days... If it is that long, it seems that it can do a lot of different things. "At least I won't wake up before eating the cake."

"It's a pity that I can't even remember what I ate there. Well, even if I could eat cake there every day." …”

Let’s stop joking here—it seemed like what he wanted to say, but Kazuto stopped mid-sentence. Shino moved her gaze and found that Kazuto's brows seemed to be frowning under his longer bangs.

"What's wrong, Kirito?"

He didn't even react immediately to Asuna's question. He just put his hand to his mouth as if he wanted to catch something. .

"...Cake...no, not....

It's harder...salty...but very flavorful. That was..."

"Remember, do you remember? In the virtual world, what did you eat?"

"...No, I can't remember. It tastes like I have never tasted it in real life... It should be like this..."

Kazuto spent a few more seconds racking his brains to think about it, but finally gave up. Let out a breath. Then Shino finally couldn't help it anymore and asked the question that had been hanging in her heart:

"I said Kirito, is this really possible? It's something I've never eaten in real life. , what to eat in STL. After all, the virtual world created by STL is composed of various fragments summoned from the memory of the sneaking person, right? So, fundamentally speaking, it is impossible for that person to see it. This should be true for things you have seen and things you have never eaten before, right?"

"Ah...yeah, that's right. Just like what Shinono said...if If this is the case, although the world of STL has the ultimate degree of realism, the degree of freedom is also extremely low, right? It is impossible to create a different world that is very different from the real world like Aincrad and Alfheim. Yes."

In response to Asuna's point of view, Kazuto nodded slowly at first, then immediately shook his head and spoke with a smile.

"You are so perceptive, what you said is so good. When I first heard about this mnemonic image, I didn't notice it at all. Then I finally realized it during this long-term stealth experiment. After thinking about this, I asked the staff of Lars and found out that this aspect is the core of STL technology - so it is a core secret and cannot be explained to me in detail... However, if you want to say... the employee said The thing is that the virtual world is constructed from memory, which means it is not limited to the memory of the stalker himself."

"Hey...what does that mean...?"

Shinon struggled to figure out the meaning of this sentence, but Asuna next to her took a breath.

"Could it be...other people's memories? No...could it be that it's not someone's memory, but a memory created from scratch...?"

After hearing the half of the words that he was talking to himself, Shino finally understood.

What if the visual information in the memory...that mnemonic image has norms that apply to people other than myself? And if that kind of normativeness has been analyzed...? In principle, it is entirely possible. There are things everywhere that I have never seen, food that I have never tasted, and scenes that I have never even imagined - creating such a real "dream".

The subtext of this idea came out immediately from Kazuo's mouth.

"...I, it has been almost two months since I started working in Lars... The initial test stealth did not limit my memory, and there are only a few VR worlds that I can recall. One of them was just looking at a large number of cats squeezing around in a large room. There must be hundreds of them."

For a moment, Shino imagined a paradise filled with cats. He relaxed his expression, then shook his head slightly to get rid of this delusion. Then he urged him with his eyes, and Kazuto put on a recalling expression and continued:

"...Looking back now, there are many cats of various breeds in that room that I have never seen before. It's not just that... there are also things that fly in the air and bounce around the room in an almost circular shape. It's impossible for that kind of thing to exist in my memory."

"...And similarly, it can't be someone else's memory, right. Because no one in the real world has ever seen a cat with wings."

Asuna said this, and then continued with "If so."

"That cat flying in mid-air was created by the staff for you to see, Kirito...or was it created from scratch by the STL system itself, right?"

"If it's the latter, that would be awesome. If we can do this, not just individual objects, but eventually the entire world may be created by the system."

”

Hearing what Kazuto said, the three of them stopped talking for a moment.

A virtual world created without artificial adjustments——

The existing VR world is, of course, a world created from the beginning to the end by the 3D designers of the development club. Buildings, forests, rivers, etc., even if they seem to have no characteristics, are actually terrains created by someone arranging objects according to their own preferences.

『Shinono, I think in this regard, the real world is the same. The environment we live in now, whether it is our home or the street, our status as a student, or even the social structure - everything is designed by certain people... I think, what is called being strong , probably means being able to move in the direction you want to go in this environment. 』

Then after a while, Asuna continued with a smile:

『But, I really want to see it once. The VR world was not designed by anyone. If that kind of thing can really be done, it must be a Real World that is more realistic than reality...』

*

"Real World..."

Shinono said this word unintentionally, and Asuna seemed to have remembered the same thing and nodded beside her.

"Kirito... So, according to you... using STL, you can subjectively create a reality that is equivalent to or even more realistic than the real world, right? There is no designer. , a real different world?"

"Hmm..."

Kazuto thought for a moment, but finally shook his head slowly.

"No... it should be difficult given the current situation. A simple forest or grassland should be able to be generated as long as the system does it, but it is necessary to create an organized and large-scale It would be impossible to do things like streets without relying on human designers. If we talk about other possibilities...for example, prepare hundreds of test players to build streets, civilized societies and the like from scratch. , maybe it can evolve into a world without a god-like creator..."

"Wow, that's a really long plan——"

"If you want to complete the map, at least It will take a few months."

Assuma and Shino laughed at the same time, thinking that Kazuto was joking. But the person speaking still had a frowning expression on his face, and then whispered something like a guess.

"Is this how to simulate a developed civilization? No... that kind of thing is not necessarily impossible. If STL's FLA skill can be improved... Moreover, it is necessary to limit the memory brought in... …"

"S-T-L's F-L...what's that?"

Seeing the abbreviations he said in succession made Shino grimace, and The man quickly raised his head.

"Ah...that's the second magic based on soul translation technology. Didn't you just say that the virtual world created by STL is almost like a dream?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes I have very long dreams, and I feel exhausted even after I wake up. Especially if they are scary dreams..."

"Ah - yes Yes."

Shino still had a straight face and nodded.

"I was running away from something. Halfway through I thought it must be a dream, but even if I thought about it, I still couldn't wake up. After running away for a long time, I thought I finally woke up. , it turned out that even the waking up part was a dream."

"How long does it feel like to have this kind of dream?"

"Eh? Two hours... About three hours."

"This is it. If you display the brain waves on the screen, you will find that although I thought I was seeing a long, long dream, it was actually a dream. The time is only a few minutes before waking up."

"That's it, time is actually a very subjective thing. Not only in dreams, but also in the real world.

If an emergency occurs, adrenaline will rush to you, and the passage of time will slow down. On the other hand, if you relax and concentrate on the conversation, time will fly by in the blink of an eye. In the process of studying human consciousness... Fluctlight, Lars also came to a vague conclusion as to why this happened. In general, the mind, a key part of consciousness, has an electron flow that can be called a "thinking clock oscillator." Although I still don’t know where this came from. "

"Clock...?"

"Look, it is often said that the CPU of a computer is tens of hertz. That's it."

"That's the number of calculations per second, right?"

After nodding to Asuna who said this, Kazuto tapped the "dong dong" with the fingertips of his right hand placed on the table. sound.

"That thing is the same. Although the maximum value is recorded in the description, it is not actually a fixed value. It usually moves slowly to suppress the heat, but if it is ordered to perform a large amount of processing— —"

Dong dong dong, the beating speed of his fingers gradually became faster.

"Forcibly driven by an action clock to increase the calculation speed. The same goes for Brackett's Light, the quantum computer in human consciousness. In the event of an emergency, the data that should be processed will be processed in one go. Increase, let the thinking clock speed up to correspond to the situation. In short, the thinking clock is what affects the perception of time. When the clock speeds up, humans will feel that the passage of time slows down even more. Remarkable. Because of the huge amount of memory data to be processed, the clock was accelerated to near the limit, and as a result, the equivalent of several hours of dreaming occurred in those few minutes."

" The reason why real dreams are fragmented is because they are the leftover products of memory sorting. The dreams produced by STL are more lucid... It should be said that the only structure of the VR world is similar to that of dreams. By interfering with the electron flow that determines the thinking clock, it is forced to speed up, and at the same time, the time base of the virtual world will also be accelerated. As a result, the user can live in the virtual world several times longer than the actual stealth time. It’s time. This is another key function of STL, "Fluctlight·Acceleration Bracket's Light Accelerator", referred to as FLA... That's it."