Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 417: Trapped in a cocoon
The following description mainly revolves around the love life of "Luo Zhi" and "Liu Ying", interspersed with the accidental intrusion of "Zhou Yingying" into "Luo Zhi's" life.

It is these accidental intrusions that make the cracks in the concept of "Luo Zhi" grow wider and wider——

【Luo Zhi and Liu Ying were sitting in a cafe called "Afternoon 2 Hours", with the light just right on Liu Ying's long black hair. She was whispering about a project she was working on recently, her voice soft and her words carefully chosen. Luo Zhi stared at her, feeling a sense of satisfaction in his heart - this was exactly the perfect date scene he had dreamed of.

"What do you think?" Liu Ying asked, looking up.

"Very deep," Luo Zhi replied, although he had been distracted for a few seconds.

At this moment, a hearty laugh came from the next table. Luo Zhi turned his head subconsciously and saw a young girl discussing something with a friend, dancing and gesticulating, with a twinkle in her eyes. That kind of undisguised happiness was like a language he had forgotten. She was wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans, but she attracted Luo Zhi's attention.

"Someone you know?" Liu Ying asked softly.

"I don't know them," Luo Zhi retracted his gaze, "They are too noisy."

...]

[On Saturday morning, Luo Zhi went to the park for a run as usual. Liu Ying said that she had to finish a manuscript on the weekend and could not meet, which made him feel a little disappointed, but also relieved. According to the "Love Cat", before having sex, occasional missed dates will make the two people more certain of their longing for each other, and will also make the next date more intimate.

As soon as I went downstairs and before leaving the community gate, I saw Zhou Yingying sitting cross-legged on the open space of the community's amusement facilities, with a colorful picnic blanket under her body and a pile of brightly colored beads and strings in front of her, her fingers moving flexibly among them.

In front of the picnic blanket was a sign made of cardboard from a packaging box, with a few bold words written on it in marker:
"Lucky bracelet, 10 yuan per string"

Luo Zhi slowed down, hesitating whether to say hello. At this moment, Zhou Yingying looked up and saw him.

"Hey! Luo Zhi!" Her smile contained some dangerous signals, "I'll give you a bracelet, which I made myself."

"I'm going for a run." Luo Zhi said, but his feet automatically moved in her direction.

"Did you make all of these up yourself?" he asked, pointing at the half-finished product in her hand.

"I made them all by myself. When I went to XZ, I learned from a Tibetan sister who went to the Jokhang Temple for pilgrimage," Zhou Yingying explained with a smile, "She taught me which color rope to use, which stones and beads to put together, which weaving method to use, and what effects they can have. Here, look - this one blesses good health, this one blesses academic performance, and this one attracts good luck in love..."

XZ, Jokhang Temple, bless... He knows every one of these words, but each one is far away from him.

All he could think of was "hypoxia", "altitude sickness", "pulmonary edema", and "death"...

After Luo Zhi ran around the park in a daze, he found that he was wearing a bracelet on his right wrist. Two red strings were entangled together, and it was decorated with small polished shells and other unrecognizable small stones.

"Should I buy one for Liu Ying as well? Give it to her on our next date." He immediately dismissed the idea.

He gave himself the excuse that the bracelet was too rough and did not fit Liu Ying's image. But in order to make up for his guilt, he placed an order for an exquisite clavicle chain - the product image advertisement was thoughtfully displayed at the top of the Taobao app.

...]

"Look, isn't this 'Luo Zhi' becoming more and more human?" a female editor said proudly, "If we had chosen not to help 'Zhou Yingying', we don't know when this egg would have cracked open."

"That's not necessarily true. 'Zhou Yingying' has already moved next door to him, right? Even if 'Luo Zhi' didn't choose to help her at the time, they would inevitably have crossed paths later."

"According to the character of 'Zhou Yingying' in the novel, she must have a 'clear distinction between love and hate', because 'Luo Zhi' showed her kindness, so she gave 'Luo Zhi' the bracelet. If there was no foreshadowing in the beginning, the following plots would definitely not develop in this way, it would be too abrupt."

"But wouldn't the rest of the novel's plot be too 'natural'? It must be that 'Luo Zhi' finally gives up 'Liu Ying' and chooses 'Zhou Yingying', breaking out of his own cognitive cage."

"...From a novel perspective, it's a bit bland - but don't you think it's particularly suitable for film adaptation? There will definitely be audiences who love this love story."

"Yes, yes, yes. I just need to change the plot a little bit... Change the information on the Internet into books, magazines, newspapers, and discussions among people around me..."

"Then this story doesn't make sense. The biggest feature of 'online information push' is 'catering to people's tastes', but books, magazines and newspapers don't always have content that you like."

"That makes sense...but are there any more adaptations of Boss's works? How many are in the queue now?"

"The movie that will be screened soon is Gone Girl, which will premiere simultaneously in China and the United States. There are also Glory of the Police and Dwelling Narrowness..."

"Stop chatting. Look down and guess what 'Luo Zhi' does."

"Hmm?" Everyone stopped discussing and continued watching.

【Luo Zhi sat in front of the computer, typing away on the keyboard. On the screen was the recommendation algorithm he was responsible for, which pushed content based on user behavior, locking everyone firmly in their own information cocoon.

"Mr. Luo, the click-through rate has increased by another 2% this month," a colleague patted him on the shoulder. "How did you do it?"

Luo Zhi mechanically explained the technical details, but his thoughts drifted to his phone. Last night, he habitually opened "VideoCat", but found that the content pushed to him had quietly changed - more and more videos about "what good luck agate can bring to people" and "shells on the plateau hide the secrets of people's past lives" appeared on his homepage.

He was a little annoyed. He knew that this was the result of an accidental search the night before, and the algorithm had detected his change of interest. As an algorithm engineer, he understood this process better than anyone else, but he still couldn't resist its influence.

...]

"What? He is some kind of 'algorithm engineer'?" an editor exclaimed.

"This...isn't he just tying himself up in knots?" another editor questioned.

"We feel like we are 'trampling our own cocoon', but others may feel like they are 'enjoying it'?"

"What's so funny about this?"

"Think about it, everything you see is what you want to see and what you like to see. Isn't that a kind of happiness for many people?"

"But, but..."

"How can there be so many? But don't most people just live their lives in a muddle-headed way in their big or small circles? As far as I can remember, my mother has been going back and forth between work and home every day.

Even the vegetable market, grain and oil store, hospital, mahjong hall... are all on this "line". She has never thought of leaving this "line" in her life. When we sent her out to play after retirement, she would not go.

You say, daily life is like this, and you just want to watch what you want to watch and what you like to watch, isn't it very happy? We should not judge people's life philosophy rashly, everyone has their own way of living. "

These words were said by an older male editor. Judging from the time, his mother probably retired in the late 90s.

At that time, there were indeed many employees of state-owned enterprises and government agencies who lived such a monotonous life, quietly spending the most precious years of their lives in trivial matters and going from one place to another.

So everyone fell silent upon hearing this.

Luo Zhi is an "algorithm engineer" himself, but he is calmly immersed in the information world built for him by the algorithm. He does not feel any discomfort, and it even makes his life orderly and simple.

Isn’t this kind of life what many people yearn for?

At this time, Lan Ting whispered: "Is 'Liu Ying' really not a good partner? Intelligent, gentle, beautiful... Without the algorithm's 'recommendation', can't 'Luo Zhi' fall in love with her?"

At this time, Shuang Xuetao said: "The scary thing is that this is recommended by an 'algorithm'! Emotions are the fuel of the human soul and were once considered the most indestructible. Now, it only takes some programmers to write thousands or tens of thousands of lines of code to easily influence the choice of love.

Don’t you find it scary?”

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. No one could imagine that Shuang Xuetao was so profound at first, but after he said that, they did feel a chill down their spine.

If it is about reading, eating, drinking, playing... you can barely accept the results recommended by the algorithm, but when it comes to emotions, especially love, everyone still has some persistence.

To some extent, "love" is the highest manifestation of free will!
In literature, love often appears as a "deviant" that challenges the shackles of social order. Although rationalists often simplify love to hormonal impulses, literature reveals its deeper nature:

By choosing specific objects, humans are able to transcend the random attractions of animal nature.

Just like the girl and the Chinese man in Duras's "The Lover", in the forbidden love in the colony, desire gradually sublimated into the confirmation of the essence of each other's existence. Physical pleasure became the carrier of free will - "I love her old wrinkles more than her young face."

The most profound love in literature often ends in destruction, but this just proves the purity of free will - it is better to have the pain of freedom than the happiness of being dominated.

In Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, the writer Aschenbach died for gazing at the beautiful boy Tadzio. His death was not a succumb to desire, but a free choice of the ultimate value of "beauty" at the cost of his physical destruction.

In the novel "The Man in the Shell", Zhang Chao subverts all of this.

As a free individual without any actual constraints, "Luo Zhi" is happy to accept the girlfriend chosen for him by a computer program.

But choosing to let his ideas, consciousness, and life be wrapped up in specific information recommended by the "algorithm" is the result of his "free will".

Therefore, even Shuang Xuetao, apart from the instinctive fear of this kind of "future life", was left with only confusion and bewilderment.

None of them can be sure whether they will be happy to accept such a life if such a future really comes.

With this in mind, the editors of Youth held back the various thoughts surging in their hearts and continued reading.

The novel then goes on to describe that "Luo Zhi" is going to attend a high school reunion. He attends because there is an article on "Dahu" that talks about the principles and methods of expanding personal connections through alumni reunions. "Luo Zhi" has not been promoted in the company for several years, so he wants to try his luck at the reunion to see if he can find any opportunities.

After all, his high school is a provincial key school, and many of his classmates are doing well.

But at the class reunion, a person and a memory suddenly broke into his life——

[… Luo Zhi shook hands with his classmates one by one, smiling appropriately. Class monitor Wang Yong handed him a glass of wine, and he took a sip, looking around, trying to match the faces of these adults with the boys and girls in his memory.

"Luo Zhi, do you still remember Huang Tiantian?" Wang Yong suddenly asked, "She will be here soon! Are you looking forward to it?" Wang Yong showed a slightly obscene and ambiguous smile on his face.

Huang Tiantian? Luo Zhi searched for this name in his mind, but only a vague outline emerged. There were more than 50 people in his high school class, and he really couldn't remember every one of them.

"Huang Tiantian...who is she?" Luo Zhi asked tentatively.

The table suddenly erupted in laughter.

"Oh, you're good at pretending!" Wang Yong patted his shoulder, "Didn't you stare at me every day in high school? Stop pretending you don't know!"

Luo Zhi was even more confused, as he had no such memory. In his impression, he was a "three-good student" who devoted himself to study in high school. How could he "stare at" a girl every day?

At this moment, the door of the private room was pushed open, and a woman walked in. She was wearing a simple white dress, tall, with short, neat hair, and delicate but not exaggerated makeup. Her appearance reduced the noise in the private room a little.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Something happened at the company." She said with a smile, her eyes swept around and finally landed on Luo Zhi, "Luo Zhi, long time no see."

Luo Zhi was stunned. This girl looked familiar, but he just couldn't remember her name. And why did she go out of her way to greet him?
"Who is this...?" he asked Wang Yong in a low voice.

"Oh my god, you really don't remember?" Wang Yong's eyes widened. "Huang Tiantian! Your secret crush in high school!"

Several classmates around me laughed, and there were bursts of booing:
"Luo Zhi is pretending to have amnesia!"

"I don't even remember my crush!"

Huang Tiantian came over and sat down in the empty seat opposite Luo Zhi, with a smile on her face: "It's okay, it's been so many years, it's normal that I can't remember it."

Luo Zhi felt awkward. He really had no recollection of this so-called "secret love", but his classmates' reactions made him embarrassed to deny it directly.

"Tiantian is now the design director," Wang Yong introduced to everyone, "and she was even featured in Entrepreneur magazine a few years ago!"

The topic at the table soon turned to their work and life, and Luo Zhi was able to temporarily get rid of the embarrassment. But he found that his eyes were always unconsciously attracted to Huang Tiantian. Her hearty laughter, neat short hair, and confident demeanor when speaking all made her stand out among her classmates.

Strangely, this feeling is familiar.

"Remember the spring outing in the second year of high school?" Someone brought up the past. "In order to be in the same group with Huang Tiantian, Luo Zhi took the initiative to ask for logistics support, but he got burned by the sun and his skin peeled off!"

There was another round of laughter. Luo Zhi was even more confused, as he had no recollection of this happening.

"And on graduation day," another female classmate continued, "Luo Zhi mustered up his courage for a long time to ask for Huang Tiantian's contact information, but he backed off halfway!"

Huang Tiantian chuckled and shook her head: "Don't be like that, Luo Zhi is embarrassed now." She turned to Luo Zhi, "But you were really cute in high school. Every time I went to the library, I would always 'run into' you."

Luo Zhi felt dazed.

……

As dinner was drawing to a close, someone suggested looking at the high school graduation album. A thick album was passed around and finally landed in Luo Zhi's hands. He flipped through the album and suddenly his eyes lit up - in a group photo, his younger self was standing in the back row, but his eyes were clearly fixed on a short-haired girl standing in the second row.

That girl was Huang Tiantian.

Luo Zhi flipped through the photo album quickly, and the more he looked, the more shocked he became. In almost every photo of a group activity, his eyes unconsciously turned to Huang Tiantian's direction. In the spring outing photo, he was indeed standing in the logistics group, distributing drinks with Huang Tiantian; at the sports meeting, he sat in the audience, but his eyes were locked on Huang Tiantian running on the track and field; even in the graduation photo, he stood closest to her.

These photos seemed to come from another parallel universe, recording a period of youth that was completely unfamiliar to him. 】

"Is this... true or false?"

“That is to say, the ‘algorithm recommendation’ not only changed his hobbies, but even erased his memory?”

"is it possible?"

"Why is this impossible? I can't even remember the name of the girl I had a crush on in high school!"

"Bah! Scumbag!"

"I'm just telling the truth!"

"That's not right. You forgot the name of the girl you had a crush on, but you didn't forget the crush! Love is one of the strongest emotions of human beings. Even a crush from a young age will leave a deep mark in the heart."

"The novel means that the 'algorithm' can not only 'cater to one's preferences', but can even subtly modify one's memory?"

"Isn't this 'Yuri' from Red Alert?"

"It is indeed possible. Because in any previous era, humans have never been able to access such a large amount of information so conveniently and freely. The human brain is a machine that processes information. When the information in this machine is overloaded, it will selectively delete those unimportant information in the subconscious mind."

"It seems... that's the truth!"

"Does it make sense? I just made that up!"

"cut!"

"roll!"

"Okay, there's only a little left, keep watching."

The subsequent part of the novel is relatively bland. The intrusion of "Huang Tiantian" makes "Luo Zhi" begin to question whether his "information immersive life" is correct.

But he also found that he seemed unable to give up this kind of life.

[On Monday morning, Luo Zhi came to the company with dark circles under his eyes. It was the usual morning meeting.

Mr. Lin, the head of the IT department, stood at the front of the conference room with a serious expression: "The company's latest strategic direction is to further improve user retention and usage time. After analysis, we officially launched the next-generation recommendation algorithm project."

Luo Zhi cheered up.

A set of data charts were projected on the screen, showing that the average user stay time increased by 23% when they received "high matching" content.

"23%? That's not enough, far from enough! Therefore," Lin continued, "we decided to name the next generation recommendation algorithm project 'All-Seeing Eyes', with the goal of making every push notification relevant to users and not offensive, thereby increasing click-through rate and dwell time."

"The first generation of recommendation algorithms matched product advertisements based on users' search history; the second generation of algorithms predicted what users wanted to watch and what they loved to watch based on their browsing content, and created an immersive information push service for them. 'All-Seeing Eyes' is the third generation of algorithms - it will match users with more precise content, including recommendations for products, businesses, videos, articles, and friends, by collecting users' geographic information and their intersections with other users in spatial and temporal coordinates.

This time, we want to make ourselves the users’ lives themselves! ”

After Mr. Lin finished speaking, applause broke out in the conference room.

Only Luo Zhi clapped slowly and lightly, which seemed very perfunctory. Mr. Lin saw him at a glance and asked, "Xiao Luo, what do you think?"

Luo Zhi stood up, cleared his throat, and thought of the "Ten Secrets to Communicating with Your Boss". "The company's idea is great, and Mr. Lin's explanation is very clear. I believe that once the 'All-Seeing Eye' is successfully developed, it will definitely achieve the goal of 'becoming the user's life itself'. However, you said that you need to collect the user's geographic information, as well as spatial coordinates and time coordinates... Is this a bit sensitive? I'm afraid it will cause a backlash from users, who will probably think it's an invasion of privacy."

Mr. Lin quickly replied: "20 years ago, people thought that filling in a phone number when registering a forum account was an invasion of privacy; 15 years ago, people thought that social platforms and software using real-name systems were an invasion of privacy; 10 years ago, people thought that using fingerprints to unlock mobile phones might be an invasion of privacy; 5 years ago, people said that facial recognition and pupil scanning would invade privacy... Haven't you noticed that as long as the product is good enough and convenient enough, people's standards for invasion of privacy are constantly lowering. If we really become the user's life itself, then we are part of the user's privacy!"

Luo Zhi was speechless and could only sit back.

"This project is very important, and the company will invest a lot of resources." Mr. Lin looked around, "I need a team to be responsible for the optimization of the core algorithm. Who is willing to take on this task?"

There was silence in the conference room; Luo Zhi lowered his head, deep in thought.

He clearly felt that General Lin's eyes were on him, burning the back of his neck.

This part of the novel ends here. Zhang Chao left two options:

「Option 1」Luo Zhi raised his hand to accept the task.

"Option 2" Luo Zhi remained silent and refused the mission.

In the editorial office of Youth Magazine, the most violent quarrel since the founding of the magazine broke out!
(End of this chapter)