I participated in the development of EVA

Everyone's eyes fell on Ikari Fumihiko.

"Fumihiko Ikari is the former director of the Artificial Evolution Research Institute and is currently the director of the NERV R&D department. He is mainly responsible for the development of the EVA and Three Sages systems."

"Akagi Naoko was... Team Leader, and is now a member of the NERV R&D department, mainly responsible for the development of the Three Sages system."

Then the rest of the people introduced themselves one by one.

After finishing the work, the representative of the Chinese team spoke again.

"Sorry, we didn't notify you enough, so you still remain the team leader."

After saying that, he spoke again.

"Please, Minister Ikari, please arrange for us to join the original project team."

Ikari Fumihiko asked back in surprise.

"Didn't you have questions about this meeting and need us to answer them?"

The Chinese team members gave a wry smile.

"Minister Ikari, you misunderstood. Those were the people who changed the original charter without authorization. We haven't even started to review the information yet. Even if we have questions, we don't know what to ask specifically. The original plan was that we would be directly incorporated into the original relevant team after we came here, and participate in research and development while learning relevant knowledge in depth."

17:54:51

414. My Turn

"Oh."

Ikari Fumihiko responded.

"So, can we adjourn the meeting now?"

"Yes."

Ikari Fumihiko sneered in an incredulous tone.

"That's all the meeting was about?"

"Yes."

"No way? Just a simple matter of one or two sentences actually took nearly five hours to complete the meeting?"

The Chinese and Russian sides laughed awkwardly, while the US team remained silent.

"This is really unbelievable, but it's good... We discovered it early and eliminated an unstable factor in advance. Otherwise... who knows what kind of trouble it will cause in the future. By the way, the HR department's ability to do things is too poor! Give them feedback and ask them to recruit members in the future. Don't just let in anyone with some ability. It would be bad if someone with bad character came in and bit people randomly."

Ikari Fumihiko dared to say this, but no one dared to respond.

After all, this is a matter of face for the US.

"You guys have no problem, but I still have some problems."

"Minister Ikari, go ahead."

"On my way here, I didn't see any researchers, only some security personnel. Are you implementing controls?"

The Chinese representatives did not hide anything.

"Yes, in order to complete the handover smoothly, we need to temporarily control the situation and find out the situation of the base as soon as possible. If there are no unexpected situations, we expect to lift the control status tomorrow."

After a pause, he asked Ikari Fumihiko a question.

"We also have some information, and I hope Minister Ikari can answer it."

"explain."

"Have the base master network and monitoring network been completely taken over by the Three Sages system?"

Fumihiko Ikari also showed enough sincerity.

"Yes."

"We still have some issues on our side, but it's not convenient to talk about them now. I'll have to take up some of Minister Ikari's personal time after the meeting."

"Oh."

Fumihiko Ikari probably guessed that the issues these people wanted to discuss in private were either about the second apostle, or about the immortality surgery, or about the Seele organization.

"Meeting dismissed."

The team members representing the three parties stood up and left first, followed by the members of the research institute.

In the end, only Fumihiko Ikari and the three representatives were left in the conference room. There was no translator left. It was obvious that these three people all understood Japanese.

"If you have anything to say, you can tell me now."

"How much do you know about the Seele organization?"

"Not as many as you. I've said before that I've always been in contact with those high-level representatives. The only high-level person I've contacted is a person called 'American Consul' who is currently receiving treatment in the Eternal Life Surgery Project Team." That's right! Ikari Fumihiko deliberately led the topic to the Eternal Life Surgery.

Now it was his turn, and naturally he had to play some simple, clear, and irresistible cards to regain control of the situation.

The closer a person is to death, the more he cannot resist the temptation of longevity.

While saying this, he also looked at the US delegation.

The representatives of the three parties were obviously stunned.

There are too many project teams in this base. They have just come here for the handover and know very limited things. Their attention has always been on the EVA and Three Sages System, so they don't know about the Eternal Life Surgery project team.

"Eternal life surgery?"

"Yes, it's a project that was just launched not long ago. It has achieved some results. Well, it can't be called immortality. For now, it can only extend the life of people whose brains are not dead yet."

Fumihiko Ikari continued to explain like a scientific research fanatic.

"In the future, I haven't decided whether to choose the route of uploading consciousness to achieve immortality, or to achieve immortality through further mechanical transformation. Well, compared with these two methods, I prefer to extend life by breaking the functional limit of the human brain through drugs and the like. In this way, if there is a problem with the body's function, it can be solved by replacing the body.

Uh……

Sorry, I said a little too much on the spur of the moment.

correct!

I think if you want to understand the Seele organization, you can start with this high-level 'American Consul' of Seele."

Obviously, compared to the investigation of Seele, everyone is now more concerned about this immortality surgery project.

"You mean, now you have a way to extend human life?"

"It's not an extension, it just allows terminally ill patients to live a little longer temporarily."

“Any disease?”

"Probably. I don't know much about the medical field."

"Aren't you in charge of this project?"

"It's me, but I'm mainly relying on the capabilities of the Three Sages System to conduct research in this area."

"The Three Sages System? From what I understand, it's just a supercomputer with epoch-making performance, right? How can it be responsible for such a project?!"

"It is a supercomputer transformed from biological organisms. During the research and development process, we gave it a certain ability to think. Well, you could say it retained a certain ability to think. That's not right. It's a bit complicated to explain. How should I put it? The biological brain itself has the ability to think, but it doesn't have the ability to think for itself. We have used some methods to give it the ability to think."

The expressions of the three representatives became solemn. This system of three sages was more exaggerated and complicated than expected.

Ikari Fumihiko hesitated for a moment, then gave another example.

"To put it more simply, it's like teaching a pet some specific commands."

Not only did this fail to explain the matter clearly, it made the originally complex and difficult matter even more abstract.

"Your explanation makes us even more confused."

The difference in knowledge made everyone use honorifics unconsciously.

Ikari Fumihiko thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Well, I don't know how to explain it clearly. It's probably about transplanting personality into animals so that they have the same way of thinking as humans."

This more rigorous explanation made everyone even more confused.

"Personality can be transplanted?"

"It's a little different from what you understand. This is just an abstract overview. In fact, it's just a more complex algorithm. You can think of it as artificial AI. However, this algorithm can only work on a specific creature like EVA. It also needs to be used with mind incubation technology to be fully activated."

"Mind hatching???"

Before they understood one thing, another mysterious academic term popped up, and everyone's brains suddenly became more confused.

"Forget it, I won't explain it. You know too little right now. The more I explain, the more I need to explain. You just need to have a general understanding. The Three Sages System is a supercomputer with strong artificial intelligence. Just studying how to use it is a very profound subject."

Everyone is familiar with the concept of strong artificial intelligence, which is why they are even more surprised and understand why Seele has set up such a tight blockade.

17:55:03

415. Feeling Confident

At present, the country with the most in-depth research on artificial intelligence is the United States, followed by Russia. China currently has almost no say in this regard.

And this new representative happens to be an expert in the computer field.

He frowned and thought for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Strictly speaking, this Three Sages System is a living thing, right?"

"Correct."

"Won't it become self-aware?"

"We have considered this aspect. We removed its self-awareness at the beginning of the design. Secondly, it is different from traditional computers. It cannot replicate itself and cannot transfer its core. In this case, even if there is a problem, it can be destroyed by cutting off the network or directly destroying it. Compared with traditional computers, I think biological brains are more reliable."

"What if it becomes self-aware and goes into hiding, rebelling against us humans at a critical moment?"

Fumihiko Ikari could sense that this was not nitpicking, but a normal academic discussion.

"First of all, my attitude towards this kind of problem is that the best solution to technical problems is through scientific research. Secondly, do you think we have any choice?"

He understood the first half of the sentence and agreed with it, but he didn't react to the rest of it for a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Under the current circumstances, the entire human civilization could be destroyed at any time. Do you think we humans have the energy to be afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind? I hope you can recognize the situation and not think that humans can definitely win this war. It's not that I'm too pessimistic, but... I don't want human civilization to be destroyed not by ignorance, but by avoidable arrogance."

"..."

Representatives from the three parties fell silent.

"In this situation, even if we know there are huge hidden dangers, we have to do it. There is no other way... Compared to the enemy, we humans are too small and have no choice."

At this moment, the conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Ikari Fumihiko sighed sadly.

"In fact, there is no need for you to test me. It is very simple for me to step down from this position. Just give me a notice and I will never resist. To be honest, I have never thought about taking this position. I just have no choice. I have long since stopped bearing the heavy burden of being closely related to the fate of all mankind."

This is not a lie.

Although he is a little reluctant to give up the rights in his hands, if he can really step down from this position, he will give up the rights in his hands directly, of course, on the premise that he can save his life.

The meeting room remained silent.

"Sorry, I said some unnecessary words again. Do you have any other questions? If not, I want to go back and rest. Oh, by the way, I am a civil servant now, right? How many holidays do I have in a year? Can I take a week off? Can I take my vacation in advance? If possible, I would like to take some time off to go out and get some fresh air."

The three of them looked at each other, obviously somewhat dissatisfied with Ikari Fumihiko's unconventional thinking.

We were just talking about heavy and serious topics like the mission of mankind and the continuation of civilization, and the next moment he was asking about the holidays.

They had no idea what Fumihiko Ikari was planning, so they could only play it safe.

"I'm sorry, the rules and regulations in this regard have not been formulated yet, and we don't know."

"Can you grant me a few days of vacation?"

"Uh……"

The representative of the Chinese team was stunned for a moment, then answered with a wry smile.

"We still need your cooperation in maintaining order here. If the members here can't see you tomorrow, I'm afraid there will be some unnecessary chaos."

"Okay, after the handover is complete, I can take my leave, right?"

"..."

The representatives of the three parties fell silent again. Why are you suddenly so obsessed with asking for leave?