Abyssal Wanderer.

Compared to Hanell's "500-year plan," Jim was more surprised that they were willing to tell him the whole plan.

Putting everything else aside, if he contacts the emcee now and sends the recording of the current conversation... if the "Great Thunder" doesn't come down immediately, it can only mean that these superhumans have fully infiltrated the Jupiter Group's board of directors.

But to this question, Hanel simply smiled and said:

"You can make a decision about this after you've heard what we have to say. Don't worry, I'm not trying to stall for time."

Jim gestured for him to proceed.

"So let's start with the conclusion that 'self-awareness is a parasite'."

Jim said directly.

Although he was already aware of the enormous intellectual gap between Superman and the old humans, he still wanted to hear their evaluation of self-awareness.

Hanel nodded.

However, instead of immediately explaining the reasoning to Jim, she began to tell him a parable:

Long, long ago, there was a centipede dancer.

It can use its hundred feet to perform a variety of complex yet incredibly graceful dances.

Whenever it dances, all the animals in the forest come to watch. Birds perch on branches to watch, and other animals and insects gather around to admire it.

Almost all the animals applauded its beautiful dance. But one tortoise disliked watching the centipede dance—it was jealous of its moves.

So the tortoise thought to itself, "How can I stop the centipede from dancing?"
It couldn't openly say that it disliked watching centipedes dance, nor could it claim that it danced better. Therefore, it devised a very wicked plan.

It sat down and wrote a letter to the centipede. In the letter, it wrote:

"Oh, great centipede, I am truly in awe of your exquisite dance. I would love to know how you dance. Do you lift your number twenty-eighth left leg first and then your number thirty right leg? Or do you lift your number seventeenth right leg first and then your number forty-fourth right leg? I eagerly await your reply. Yours truly, the tortoise."

It was this letter that made the centipede dancer begin to think about a question it had never considered before.

“Yes,” it wondered, “how did I manage to do what I was able to do?”

However, as soon as it began to think this, it immediately discovered that its legs were inexplicably tangled together, like the tendrils of ivy. From then on, the centipede would never be able to move its limbs again.

After telling the fable, Hanel looked at Jim and began her speech:

"Intelligence is never the same as self."

"In fact, in many cases, an excessive ego will only suppress intelligence. The best way to ruin a piano performance is to try to consciously control the movement of each finger; and the fastest way to ruin a dance performance is to think about how your body should balance in the next second... just like that centipede dancer."

"Experts in every field actively pursue the state of 'flow,' which is essentially a state where self-awareness becomes diluted. People strive to prevent their consciousness from suddenly interrupting them while they are focused on work, such as by looping memes or recalling a beautiful woman they glimpsed half an hour ago. However, after that valuable work is finished, that parasite called self-awareness takes over the brain again, then smugly attributes everything to itself, claiming it's all its own merit."

Parasites that live on intelligence—that is the truth about self-awareness.

…………

“But you’re wrong… Human intelligence is achieved through the active choice and deliberate practice of the ‘self.’ In the examples you gave earlier, whether it’s dance, piano, or any other skill, if there is no ‘self’ as the initiator, and if one only relies on one’s own will to make the initial choice, there would be no subsequent success.”

After listening to Janus's explanation of "parasites," Jiang Zhou, as a cognitive science researcher, immediately pointed out the problems with the theory.

Humans are not born with skills like dance, repair, or calculus—these skills are not hardwired in the brain, but rather products of conscious reshaping of neural connections. If only that unconscious instinct controlled the body, humans would probably still be picking berries on the African savanna or hunting small animals today.

“You’re right, and Nyx doesn’t actually deny that.”

Janus replied in this way.

"If that's the case, then why does she still believe that 'self-awareness' is just a parasite?"

Jiang Zhou asked in confusion.

“Because in Nyx’s view, after entering the hyper-information age, self-awareness has already completed its mission in evolutionary history—it is just a die that initiates decisions through external stimuli, without needing to be packaged with values ​​such as ‘personality’ or ‘emotions’. Random number generators of this level are everywhere.”

"However, even a hundred years later, the specter of self-awareness still lingers in your minds, haunting you... no, it should be said that it has grown increasingly arrogant and, with the support of dark web technology, has become far more destructive than a single individual."

Janus explained it this way.

Jiang Zhou was in agreement with the last point.

In this era of the dark web and universal printers, one person's malice can easily escalate into a disaster affecting millions, or even threatening all of humanity.

Although he still disapproved of the Olympian Order's practices, he feared that without the suppression of this giant consortium, if humanity were allowed to explore the Dark Web on its own, it would soon perish at its own hands.

But this does not mean he would agree with Nyx's proposal to erase the self-awareness of all humanity.

"What is self-awareness in Nyx's view?"

Jiang Zhou asked.

Janus immediately replied:
According to Nyx, self-awareness is like an auxiliary line or scaffolding for human intelligence, and should be completely erased and dismantled before human intelligence matures—just like the human appendix. Of course, the appendix itself also plays a role in maintaining the balance of gut microbiota. Self-awareness may also leave some traces of degeneration, continuing to provide some auxiliary functions for human intelligence.

"But under no circumstances should it be like this now, where the privileges are so high that a host is driven to suicide by grief simply because of a failed courtship." (End of Chapter)