Chapter 2899: Virtual Thought Model

The meeting was scheduled in a formal conference room next to the Covenant Hall at the Northland Alliance Headquarters. As Xia Duo walked there, he contacted Ambassador Tili'ao to ask about the general content of this meeting.

Tili'ao only mentioned the Spirit Thought Network, and Xia Duo understood immediately, but his idea of having a standing high-spec Mage team remained undiminished; he just didn't know if there would be a suitable opportunity to bring it up next.

From the lounge to the location of this meeting, everything was within the scope of the Alliance Headquarters. Xia Duo soon saw the familiar Covenant Hall; this was where the Alliance Assembly was held, and it was not used at ordinary times.

Xia Duo had been to the Covenant Hall several times before, but he had never been to the conference room next to it. Returning this time could be considered filling in a domain he had not touched upon in the past.

It was foreseeable that he would become increasingly familiar with this area of the Alliance Headquarters in the future.

……

Opening the door, in the center of the square conference room was a conference table with a diameter of about three or four meters. Seen from the outside, the conference table had no legs, as if it were suspended in mid-air.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo immediately thought that there were two conference rooms at the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory that had this style of conference table. If nothing went wrong, they should all have been donated to the Northland Alliance by Illefarn.

"Consultant Xia Duo, good morning."

"Representatives, and Elder Dewen, good morning."

"That question—" Xia Duo pondered for a moment and answered in more common language, "involves the essence of the Spirit Thought Network; it is not a resonance interconnection in the abnormal sense."

Saiputalisi coughed heavily, then looked at Xia Duo and asked: "Establishing a Public Computing Resource Pool may not be difficult, but whether it can be maintained for a long time is still an unknown. May I ask Consultant Xia Duo, do you have any good suggestions?"

"The Virtual Thought Model of the Spirit Thought Network is an application in that regard!"

"Consultant Xia Duo's research seems somewhat like the Psionic Technique of the South. I wonder—"

Evereska also had a Psionic School. Xia Duo just mentioned it casually and did not intend to madly diss Psionic Magic there. In fact, he had no prejudice against Psionic Magic itself.

"Before explaining the Virtual Thought Model, I must first introduce the thinking mode of intelligent creatures. It is not the soul as commonly believed, but consciousness. The soul is merely the carrier of consciousness and cannot be equated with consciousness."

Now that Tiao took the lead in speaking, it could dispel some of Xia Duo's concerns to a certain extent, and at the same time, it gave a relatively clear hint: as long as this meeting went smoothly, the Alliance would very likely pass the resolution to establish the Public Computing Resource Pool.

"Doing so can also attract higher-level Spellcasters to invest in it to a certain extent. Specific fees and rewards can be determined according to the access status of the Spirit Thought Network. As long as it is set properly, there is no need for the Alliance to invest in the long term; it can be self-sufficient and can even become a long-term income point for the Alliance."

"Yes, I did gain some inspiration from Psionic Magic, but this is not a Psionic Technique, but pure Arcane Magic. In addition, I think the path of Psionic Mages has gone astray, being too obsessed with self-consciousness while ignoring the foundation of reality."

"Although the computing power that different accessors can provide per unit of time is different and difficult to quantify, it is basically directly proportional to their Magic attainments and the proportion of shared Subconscious. Just provide rewards accordingly."

"In the final analysis, it is still a matter of money."

"Good, then let's start today's consultation!"

"No problem. Whatever the representatives want to know, please feel free to ask. As long as I can answer, I will definitely not hide anything."

"Moreover, the more accessors there are, the higher their own Wisdom, and the higher the proportion of shared Subconscious, the more powerful this Virtual Thought Model formed will be, so you don't have to worry about the problem of too many accessors."

This should actually be considered relatively confidential content, but considering the help that establishing the Public Computing Resource Pool would provide to himself, Xia Duo did not mind revealing more.

……

Tiao glanced at the other representatives and asked the first question of the day: "The Mind Link Spell that Consultant Xia Duo previously provided to the Alliance has been confirmed by the Alliance through actual experiments to be able to form a Spirit Thought Network, but past experimental scales have all been very small, at most no more than a hundred people or so. If a Public Computing Resource Pool is to be established, the number of Spirit Thought Network accessors might go directly to tens of thousands. So, can this Spell still be applicable? If it is not applicable, are there any improvement plans?"

Just hearing Xia Duo mention Psionic Magic, several representatives' eyes flickered, as if they had grasped the key point. Xia Duo could understand their thoughts; it was nothing more than wanting to obtain a source of the Spirit Thought Network that was different from his.

The conference room fell into silence again. After the representatives pondered for a long time, Saiputalisi from Illefarn tapped the table with his finger joints, and the sound attracted the eyes of all the other representatives.

Or rather, they wanted to try to master all the technologies related to the Spirit Thought Network by studying Psionic Magic themselves.

"Of course, the brain of the physical body also provides a partial carrier function, but that is not the key. I won't go into depth here; let's talk about thinking."

"It's my turn."

"As for the use of computing power, because it uses the computing power resources of the virtual thought constructed by the entire Spirit Thought Network, it cannot be simply graded and charged according to the different users. My suggestion is to charge by duration."

"In my view, thinking is the basis of conscious activity or even existence. Decomposing consciousness is a series of thinking activities with specific patterns. I call these thinking activities 【Meta-Thinking】."

After Xia Duo finished speaking, the conference room was silent for a few seconds, and then the Keman representative Youfunisi asked again: "Can you briefly explain the concept of the Virtual Thought Model?"

"In essence, it is the accessors contributing or sharing a part of their Subconscious, and then this part of the Subconscious forms a more transcendent Virtual Thought Model. Theoretically, there is no upper limit to the number of accessors!"

The representatives were all Mages by background. After listening to Xia Duo's narration, it was as if a door to a new world had been opened. At this time, Elder Dewen of Evereska interjected:

Regarding this question, Xia Duo had long considered it; now it was just stating his existing thoughts: "Those who provide computing power can receive rewards, while those who use computing power need to pay."

"Consultant Xia Duo, inviting you here this time is mainly to conduct some consultations on issues related to the Spirit Thought Network. This relates to whether the Alliance will eventually establish a Public Computing Resource Pool. If it is convenient, please answer as much as possible."

"Since we know that the thinking of intelligent creatures is composed of 【Meta-Thinking】, then by artificially combining specific Meta-Thinking, can we create some kind of intelligence that approximates intelligent creatures?"

After simple greetings, Xia Duo sat down in his seat. Although the conference table was circular, the five representatives and Elder Dewen were not sitting very far apart, and because the conference table was quite large, it looked as if they were sitting opposite Xia Duo.

The first to speak was Tiao. It was to him that Xia Duo had previously suggested that the Northland Alliance establish a Public Computing Resource Pool, and it was Tiao who later proposed to discuss it with the representatives at the Alliance Assembly.

Anyway, now that a start had been made, it would not be difficult for the Northland Alliance to conduct in-depth research; it was nothing more than a matter of time.

Although it contained too many idealistic components, it was after all an objectively existing fact, and there was no need to deny it.

"The answer is certain, but the relevant research is very limited. The knowledge I currently possess does not allow me to construct intelligence out of thin air, but strengthening some thinking modes is not difficult."

"Of course you can!"