Crossing the World

LVI - Underworld (Karen)

Year 1328 human world calendar after Week of Collapse. Exactly about three hundred years had passed since the Kingdom of Elucia had successfully summoned Deus and ended up being the most influential kingdom in the Holy Land.

The capital of the Kingdom of Elucia, Francif, was right in front of the right foot of Deus so the region was also considered one of the sacred areas. The area itself is not too large, but is the city with the most dense population.

Francif itself is often referred to as the city of academies because there are so many schools built in this area. Of course, due to the reputation of each high school, enrolled students came from all over the country - especially foreign nobles.

The number of young people in Francif is around 70%, which affects the shops and public facilities available in the region. For example, instead of an ordinary conventional market, the market in Francif is dominated by luxurious cafes and restaurants suitable for noble students. There are even so many parks in every corner of the city that have their own distinctive flowers.

Francif's reputation as an academy town made every noble child in the entire corner of the Holy Land dream of coming and studying there.

"Either why the atmosphere is even like a dating simulation game."

Tyraell muttered as the two of us walked past the cafes filled with young people in fancy uniforms.

"Well, please don't ask me anything. The world goes according to the decisions of its inhabitants."

I answered Tyraell's murmur with a reason that came from the facts, but somehow it seemed like it was made up.

Although it is outdated, dating simulation games are still quite popular on earth. The target market of the game is usually girls who are just teenagers. Therefore, the main characters of the game are almost all female. Players will attempt to approach the 'Capture Target' which usually amounts to around five people. Each target must have a handsome face, the son of a rich or influential person, and somehow always have an interest in the main character.

The atmosphere in the game is usually similar to the atmosphere we see now. A clean place with neat medieval buildings, knights guarding every corner of the city, and streets lined with handsome and beautiful students. Certainly, most of them were the children of a noble and wealthy merchant who came from various kingdoms.

"Did they really move according to their own will?"

Tyraell who had since continued to change his gaze in various directions began to ask questions that made him curious.

"of course. Each character is built using Bottom-up AI, they are exactly the same as us in terms of consciousness. They are born as babies and evolve constantly as they grow."

If we talk about AI, there are two types of AI that can be created. One is bottom-up AI, an AI designed to learn on its own as time goes on. They were created with a model of the human brain as the basis.

The second type is referred to as top-down AI. Unlike the first type, this type of AI is equipped with various information in accordance with the purpose they are made. For example, the AI that controls the Shelter and Aura is a top-down type of AI.

Can top-down AI not learn like bottom-up types of AI? Of course they can learn. They can still evolve over time, getting smarter with every piece of information they get and manage.

Well, basically these two types of AI are just to identify whether the AI that is created has information from the beginning or whether they actually start from scratch.

If there were no significant differences, why would all the NPCs in the world use bottom-up AI as a model of their brains?

The answer is simple and is perhaps the most crucial differentiator between bottom-up AI and top-down AI. That is they - bottom-up AI-not aware that they are just an artificial intelligence.

"That's ... really terrible." Tyraell suddenly muttered again, making my daydream fade away.

"Gruesome?"

Hearing my question, he sighed as if he was lazy to explain the thing that made him worry. However, in the end Tyraell brought up something that stuck in his mind.

"It reminds me of something called Brain in a Vat."

That word is a little familiar to my ears. Ever since Tyraell was drunk on raving about the theory of the simulated world, I briefly searched for articles related to it. This article is about Brain in a Vat.

The Brain in a Vat scenario is a skeptical philosophical argument that explains the scenario that we are actually just a brain stored in a fluid-filled tube and connected to a supercomputer. Let's skip the skeptical argument because I don't think it has anything to do with what Tyraell meant. In essence, he was talking about the theory of the simulated world.

"In 2017, Kovrizhin and his team simulated a quantum phenomenon that occurs in metals when they are blocked by subatomic walls. At the time, he concluded that the entire atom in the universe could not even simulate thousands of matrices at once. This is why the world theory of simulation was considered to be collapsing."

What Tyraell said was quite reasonable. The real world is so complex that no entity can create a simulation.

"Now I wonder, if that's impossible, then why was this simulated world created?"

The answer to Tyraell's question is simple ...

Details about the quantum world are not being rebuilt. The smallest part of the world is limited to the atomic stage. You see, if we created it to the quantum level, there wouldn't be enough room to process it even for AI.

"That's the problem."

Tyraell expressed his concerns in a way that was difficult to understand.

That's problem? Whatdoes thatmean? Is there anything I missed here?

Looking at me who seemed confused, Tyraell started to re-express his critical thinking.

"The quantum world, that's what this world doesn't have. However, it is impossible for people here to know about this so far in the future even though, when they can build a supercomputer that can rival your technology, even if they are able to build a supercomputer, they would think that building a simulated world accurately was impossible because the resources in their universe were simply not enough to make it."

I think it's gonna be that way. Since the quantum world does not exist in this world, they will not be aware of it. The absence of a quantum world also means the impossibility of creating a quantum supercomputer. Therefore, rebuilding this world would be impossible because ordinary supercomputers would not be able to do so. But where's the problem? I still can't figure out what's causing Tyraell to worry.

"Now imagine if the real world was like that. In order to create a world that is exactly the same as the real world, they, that is, beings that might create a world that we think is the real world, eliminate a certain molecule that should exist. However, since the molecule does not exist in our world, we will never know if it might actually happen and there is no way to prove it. If that's the case, then Kovrizhin's research can't be considered proof because he excluded the molecules that don't exist."

Although most of his words I do not understand, but I understand what he means. It does sound reasonable, but all this time I never thought about getting far there because the idea was too wild.

Does his penchant for fictional stories drive him crazy to the point that he combines his wild imagination with reality? In the end, he went crazy.

[However, his words just made sense. He explained the concept behind the simulation world well. If there really was a molecule out there that was omitted to build a simulated world, then in theory it could happen]

Even Aura supported him! So you're saying, we could just be a bunch of brains in a tube connected to a computer? Isn't that awful?

[It doesn't have to be like that. It could be that you are just a bottom-up AI, just like the inhabitants of the simulated world around you. If it is like that, then your existence actually really does not exist in the real world]

Oh ... fuck. This really surprised me. My life could have been just artificial intelligence. Even so, there is no way for me to prove it. Even AI is impossible to prove my existence as a real living being and not just a virtual body. So let's just get through this.

"What do you think?"

I said a question to Tyraell that seemed to be still deep in his own thoughts. My question is not very clear, but I am sure he will know the meaning of the sentence.

"The details are very good. The design of the city looks like the beginning of the industrial revolution, but it's kind of funny to see humanoid robots roaming around here without getting people distracted. Actually I was expecting a bit of a surprised reaction of the medieval people when I saw a very advanced technology."

Well, that's understandable. When people living in times where electricity alone is still a luxury to see a humanoid robot, surprise is a very common reaction. However, since for these three hundred years they had coexisted with the robots guarding the city, people had taken it for granted.

It's like we're used to living with a cell phone. We do not know how such a small object could light up and have so many functions, but since it had seen it so often, no one questioned it at all.

"Then," I began to shift the topic to lead him to the next place, "I'll take you to the area where the main scenario begins. To be exact, seeing the first boss raid that 'may' be the cover of the first scenario."

I emphasized the word "maybe" in my last sentence. The reason was obvious, although Aura could create and execute the main scenario, the scenario decision remained in the hands of the NPCs and players involved. Simply put, Aura only placed the needed pawns, a person moving his pawns was none other than the pawn itself.

Tyraell agreed to my invitation after he was satisfied to look at the classic buildings around him. Then, just like before, when we were in a fairly quiet place, Aura sent us towards the place around the first boss raid to be.

...ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ...

Note :

• is our world really just a simulation? If the world Karen and Tyraell live in is clearly a simulated world, a simulated world that I created to make this story work.

• Brain in a Vat

It's easier to show the illustrations than it is to explain them in words