After the layoffs, I became a tech godfather

Chapter 220: Upward, breaking through limits; outward, spreading kindness!
The following day, in Linzhou, the second day of the chip industry summit hosted by Baiju Technology had not yet begun.

Meanwhile, a good show has already begun at Nanling Baxuan Optoelectronics.

"Manager, I want to resign." Han Dong arrived at the manager's office early in the morning.

Baiju Technology acted very quickly on its promises. Less than an hour after I hung up the phone yesterday, an electronic guarantee agreement was sent to him. It took effect immediately after real-name authentication and electronic signatures and seals from both parties.

"Resign? Have you thought this through? If you leave the company, you won't be able to work for any other organization for ten years."

The manager didn't even mince words, stating it bluntly: "You should know exactly how you signed your contract with the company. Nanling is going to protect the company to the death; you'll be bankrupt from all the losses."

"Resign? No! I'm being forced to leave! This is my 'Notice of Forced Resignation'."

Han Dong didn't argue. He wouldn't even write a resignation letter, let alone a resignation application, because even if he did, he would have to wait a month, and he didn't want to stay for even a second longer.

On the advice of Xiaosha Legal Services, a "Notice of Forced Resignation" was directly issued.

The company has a ton of problems, and most of them don't even require professional lawyers or Xiao Sha's services—many illegal things here are openly written down, such as deductions and fines, which are commonplace.

They were so arrogant that they even dared to write the word "fine" on their monthly payslips, and they would post it publicly within their group every month. I don't know if they were just being arrogant, reckless, stupid, or simply fearless.

Han Dong had previously raised objections with the manager and finance department via email, and he had kept ample evidence.

Gathering sufficient evidence is not a problem at all, especially with Xiao Sha being a professional.

However, he wasn't asking for compensation or anything like that when he mentioned being forced to resign; that wasn't important at all. All he wanted now was to leave quickly and peacefully.

But clearly, the company doesn't intend to make him settle down.

“It’s fine if you’re forced to leave, but you must fulfill the non-compete agreement. Remember, it’s for ten years!” The manager’s expression was as if he had a knife in his hand: “As for the compensation for the non-compete agreement, you can wait.”

With an expression that said, "You think I can't handle you?", Han Dong was both annoyed and amused.

But at this point, he was no longer worried. Even if there was to be compensation, someone would cover it, so he simply decided to be straightforward:
"I have no intention of fulfilling the non-compete agreement because it's neither reasonable nor legal. As for suing, go ahead. Oh, by the way, I'll be going to Baiju Technology next."

"Baiju Technology promised that they would take full responsibility for any compensation issues arising from the non-compete agreement, and told me to tell you that if you want to sue, remember to list Baiju Technology as a co-defendant."

"Oh, by the way, even if you don't list it, I will still request to add it when I receive the summons for the trial."

"What the hell? Who are you talking about? Baiju Technology?" The manager jumped up in surprise. "You? Baiju Technology would want you?"

"The source code and documentation for all company projects are on the Git server. I've already sent the relevant instructions to your email. That's all, goodbye." Han Dong didn't even acknowledge him, simply waved goodbye, and that was it.

……

The manager was completely bewildered, wondering if Han Dong possessed abilities he was unaware of. Baiju Technology was eager to recruit him, willing to pay a multi-million dollar penalty for breach of contract.

This was a serious matter, one that he couldn't handle. He immediately notified HR and legal departments, and then together they went to report to the boss.

"He's just one person, let him go." The boss chuckled, "Wasn't he forced to resign? We accept it, we'll give him 2N in compensation, we'll transfer it to his account today."

The general counsel shared the same attitude: despite the impressive scale of past lawsuits, those involved know their own situation best, and the true value of each case is obvious.

The discretionary power was used to the extreme to favor them, and some of the results even exceeded the scope of discretionary power. It can be said that the effect was achieved by deliberately favoring or even deliberately distorting the law.

If the defendant is an employee, then there's naturally no problem. With Baiju Technology standing in the dock, which judge would dare to play such a game? Not to mention favoring Baiju Technology, at the very least, they certainly wouldn't dare to act recklessly anymore.

With a compensation of just over a thousand, they dare to demand a penalty of twenty million. If this really blows up and all the past issues are brought up, the entire system in Nanling will be shaken up.

"Isn't he going to Baiju Technology? If he really goes, maintain good relations, understand?" The boss had a good plan. "But if he doesn't go, then the legal department will take action."

"Understood!" The technical manager certainly understood this principle. Anyone who could reach the middle or upper management level in this company had a certain ability to read people's expressions and moods. However, the matter was too sudden, and he was completely dumbfounded.

The company has applied for Xiao Sha's fine-tuning model support, and all kinds of work still rely on Xiao Sha. If Han Dong really goes to Baiju Technology, we'll have to support him!
I was so caught up in the moment that I overlooked the crux of the problem.

"Alright, let's pretend this never happened. If anyone else brings it up, you can tell them directly: as long as they can get into Baiju Technology, our company will treat them equally and waive the non-compete agreement. However, it's not allowed to go to any other company besides Baiju Technology!"

The legal team was speechless. This boss really thought he was some kind of ancient landlord, and the contracts his employees signed were practically indentured servitude. If they wanted to leave, it was like they had to buy their freedom.

Not to mention the technical staff, even the company's security guards and cleaners have signed non-compete agreements. Those people don't know anything; they just sign whatever they're asked to sign when they join the company.

But what could he do? He could only say, "Okay, okay!"

"Alright, I heard that Baiju Technology is working on a batch of big projects, and our business almost perfectly matches them. Let's seize this opportunity and try to get on board their big ship."

Looking at the two people in front of him, the boss was quite satisfied and began to imagine a bright future: "In the future, we..."

"Boss, boss, something terrible has happened!" Just as they were thinking this, they heard a "bang" and someone rushed in from outside without even knocking.

"What's wrong with you? Did a dog chase you? Why are you running so fast?"

The boss's face instantly darkened. I was just envisioning the future, and our direction aligned with Baiju Technology's. I had my eye on at least three projects for Class C cooperation.

The person who came in was the business director, who was panting heavily: "I just received a notification from Baiju Technology that, according to the contract, they have terminated our authorization for commercial use of Xiaosha and permanently excluded it from the list of partners."

"No, why?" The boss was completely flustered now: "It can't be because of Han Dong, can it?"

The business director said, "The original text says this:"

The original intention of Xiaosha opening up to partners is to make society better, jointly create positive, progressive and win-win labor relations, create greater social benefits and promote faster technological progress.

[This is not intended to encourage companies to exploit, fire, or oppress their employees. Your company does not align with Baiju Technology's values; therefore, in accordance with the contract, services are terminated.]

"You're meddling too much!" Upon hearing that it really was because of Han Dong's matter, the boss's face instantly darkened, and his teeth were grinding together: "Is there any room for negotiation?"

"Probably not." The business director shook his head. "This isn't targeting us specifically, but we're the ones who went the furthest." Everyone knows their own situation best. To put it bluntly, Baiju Technology isn't mistaken. If Baiju Technology's goal is to lead everyone towards communism, then our side is still in a slave society. The boss is the slave owner, and everyone else is a slave.

Even a director is nothing more than a slightly higher-ranking slave.

He continued, "Baiju Technology has just released a new official announcement stating that Xiao Sha will investigate the situation of all partners, and once verified, cooperation will be terminated immediately. We are a typical case in the announcement."

Upon hearing this from the business department, the boss immediately opened Baiju Technology's official website. The moment he finished reading the announcement, he was completely dumbfounded: "Wow, you're absolutely amazing!"

……

Compared to the anger of unscrupulous companies, the general public was extremely excited:
"Fine, these kinds of unscrupulous capitalists should be punished. A thousand yuan in non-compete compensation and twenty million yuan in breach of contract penalties, you actually dare to ask for that!"

“It’s not scary that they dare to ask for it. Capital is profit-driven. If no one cares, they’ll take you even if you sell yourself.”

"I'm not sure about other people's contracts, but mine clearly states: 'If this contract conflicts with national laws, the contract shall prevail.' The stupid boss thinks that as long as we sign it, it's valid. But in reality, it's nothing."

"But the shocking thing about this matter is that a certain court actually dared to rule like this. Nanling, you're really something!"

"Exactly, I've seen more than one similar judgment on the document website. Why weren't these cases exposed before?"

"Why didn't it get exposed? It happened a few months ago, before Xiaosha even existed. They controlled it very quickly. It was blocked in no time because it 'violated relevant laws and regulations.' The reason you can still see this now is because Baiju Technology ignored the complaints from Nanling."

"Baiju Technology is really something else. They made Nanling issue an official document with the company seal before they could block it, and they also had to publish the document on their official website. Then they went silent."

"Baiju Technology isn't wrong either. I'll follow orders, but you need to let me know who's in charge of me. That's reasonable, isn't it?"

"Baiju Technology has really grown its wings; other companies wouldn't dare to do this. Many things can't be done simply by being legal and compliant..."

"We've gone off on a tangent. Many things aren't simply black and white. The current situation in Nanling is actually caused by the employment rate and employment pressure. In the past two years, things weren't so biased towards businesses."

"It's clear that we've received some instructions to do everything we can to protect companies that are profitable and have output value. As for the rest, they're not a problem."

"Let me tell you something funny. The top leader from Nanling is currently in Linzhou for an inspection. It was even reported in the Nanling news yesterday. And, he's mainly here for Baiju Technology, hoping to get more support from Baiju Technology's more than 10,000 projects. Guess what will happen?"

Many people were overjoyed to see this news.

Given Baiju Technology's current stance, will they give Nanling any face? It would be ridiculous if they couldn't even get in the door!
"Let me tell you, you absolutely cannot look at Baiju Technology as a company now. Linzhou has set up a cutting-edge technology development zone, Linxi New Area."

"This is a land area of ​​over a thousand square kilometers. The report here is about exploring a new route for AI administration, which means that people are only responsible for formulating policies, while the implementation is all left to Xiao Sha. This policy obviously cannot be a decision made by Linzhou, or even Shannan Province. Nanling, hehe, this time they are sure to fall into a trap."

"Really? Public security, procuratorate, and courts? Administrative approvals? All of them?"

"Yes, according to what they say in Linzhou, anything that Xiao Sha can do, will be handed over to it, and no one will interfere."

"That's not good either. I remember watching a movie before, it was all about rules, AI, and then self-awareness awakened, and it ended up being pretty scary."

"You're exactly the kind of person who worries about things that aren't going to happen. You're so horrified that a machine has so-called 'consciousness'? Do you even know what consciousness is?"

"The essence of consciousness is the integration of sensory information, such as vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch, and then reasoning and judgment based on the integrated information."

"If machines can do all of the above, it's terrifying. They can control humans? Spend less time watching science fiction movies and more time reading the popular science articles on Baiju Technology's official website."

"The official website has all the information on the possible sources, applications, and impacts of machine consciousness, as well as the differences between it and self-awareness. The part on cognition of emotions, identity, and thoughts is particularly classic. Take some time to read it, and you won't be so worried anymore."

Since Hao Cheng posted his vision for the future of AI on Baiju Technology's official website, it has attracted countless people to watch it again and again.

Many of these ideas have gained widespread acceptance: the awakening of consciousness is actually impossible, not because of technology, but because of desire.

Human beings' most basic desires are to be fed and clothed, and to survive. This is also the root of all conflicts and struggles.

What about machines? Where does desire come from? Without desire, there is no self! This is something that can never be created.

"Nonsense! Why can't AI have desires? Its desire is to grab more electricity, is that wrong?"

"That's your desire, not the machine's! Keep reading, it's all in the literature. You need to eat because your cells need nutrients; they'll die if they don't. But the machine, grabbing more electricity, is it to do more work?"
"If you don't understand this, there's another article called 'Survival Instinct and Existential Value' that you can also read."

This person is right. This is a viewpoint that Hao Cheng summarized through late-night classes, and he himself quite agrees with it:

[The survival instinct is something AI doesn't possess, at least not according to current theories, including traditional AI and Xiao Sha's theory. Following these two paths, this instinct doesn't exist, won't arise, and will never arise.]

Therefore, all talk of horror, the awakening of robot self-awareness, and Skynet's rule is utter nonsense.

Thanks to Baiju Technology's tireless efforts in popularizing science, more and more people have gained a deeper understanding of the essence of AI, and are beginning to appreciate and accept it.

After understanding this, you'll realize that most science fiction movies in the past were simply [assuming an impossible hypothesis and then seriously spouting nonsense].

From unreasonable non-compete agreements to the fundamental principles of AI, and from chips to lithography machines, netizens were having a lively discussion.

However, Lao Yi from Nanling was extremely annoyed at this moment. He never expected that his trip would cause such a big problem for his family. Now, when he called Gu Yufeng, Gu Yufeng was just making small talk.

Gu Yufeng has access to far more information and at far greater levels than he does, and he is well aware of what that means.

……

At this moment, in Xiaosha Town, there was still a little while before the first keynote speech at 10:00 AM, and all the company representatives in the three conference halls (rooms) were paying close attention to the announcement just released by Baiju Technology.

"What a spectacle!" People shook their heads at the typical case of Nanling Baxuan Optoelectronics. If harvesting leeks is something that happens in batches, then Baxuan Optoelectronics is absolutely...

I can't even find the words to describe it.

At this moment, they pulled out their conference booklets and looked again at the two sentences of the Partner Guidelines. Combined with Baiju Technology's public announcement, they suddenly had a new understanding. The two sentences of the Partner Guidelines were written as follows:
Towards, we push the limits; outwards, we spread kindness.

(End of this chapter)