Chapter 1759: Summer in Fool

When Lex arrived at Rodriguez Manor, Merkel greeted him at the door. The butler rarely wore a formal suit, but instead wore short-sleeved casual clothes and a pair of water boots, holding a hoe in his hand, looking like he had just finished working in the garden.

Merkel brought a roll of waterproof blanket to the door, covering the places with more accumulated water at the entrance. Lex and Clark walked out of the car one after another and walked into Rodriguez Manor under Merkel's guidance.

At this time, the sun had come out. After a heavy rain last night, the manor was shining brightly in the sun. The air was full of the smell of good grass. When the temperature hadn't risen yet, the slightly cool and humid air made one feel cool from the nasal cavity to the throat.

When they found Bruce, Bruce was sitting at a table under a sunshade behind the manor, fiddling with a pitch-black laptop.

Lex looked left and right and asked: "Where is Professor Shiler?"

"He went to Cat Getan University to teach, just left not long ago." Bruce stopped his typing, looked up at Lex, and looked a bit surprised when he saw Clark behind Lex.

"Morning, Bruce. Here, the coffee I bought this morning. Lex said he didn't drink it. I was worried it would be wasted." Clark gave the coffee he had previously given Lex to Bruce. The temperature in the morning wasn't high yet, so the ice cubes hadn't completely melted. After Bruce took the coffee and took a sip, he said: "Thanks, I just happened to need to refresh myself."

Clark pulled out a chair and sat down, but Lex asked: "Why are you sitting here? Why don't you go inside the house?"

Bruce nudged his mouth toward the garden and said: "I have to watch the two of them."

Lex looked in the direction Bruce turned his head. Harley was chasing Barry with a garden hose spraying water, and the two were spraying water everywhere, while Merkel was digging out the dead plants on one side while stopping them.

Lex happened to sit down at the table too. He sized up the surrounding environment. This was the porch leading to the back garden. Next to the table was the back door of the manor's restaurant, and further ahead was the floor-to-ceiling window of the restaurant. The glass was covered with a thin layer of dust, but because of the work of taking care of the garden, many mud spots were splashed on the wall enclosure.

"What did you find me for?" Lex asked.

Bruce's hand movements paused. He turned the laptop in front of him over, facing the two, especially asking Clark: "Have you used the Wei En Group's laptop?"

Both shook their heads. Clark recalled and said: "Our editor-in-chief has one such computer. He often shows off his level of using computers to us, but I know he doesn't use a laptop at all. All the work is done by his subordinates."

Lex cleared his throat and said: "It's very likely because he doesn't know how to use it at all. The Wei En Group's computers are very difficult to use."

"What do you mean?" Bruce was immediately interested. He leaned his body forward, looked at Lex, and said: "Where is it difficult?"

Lex opened his mouth, pondered slightly, and didn't answer immediately, but asked Bruce back: "Why did you suddenly start thinking about this problem?"

Bruce sighed deeply, thinking of the situation last night.

He came to visit Shiler, taking the old route, which was to jump from the side wall to the roof, and then jump from the roof to the tree in the back garden. But he didn't expect that even without wearing the Batman suit, the hat of the raincoat would be caught by the tree branch. When Merkel put him down, Bruce could clearly feel that Shiler was angry and had nowhere to vent.

Seeing the laptop on Shiler's table, Bruce was still very happy. After all, that was an electronic device he developed, and the boot animation even had a bat.

But he didn't expect that this was the fuse that made Shiler angry. Shiler brought Bruce to the table and showed him how difficult this computer was to use.

But Bruce felt very inexplicable. He had heard many of his concepts about electronic devices from Shiler before. Bruce thought that the concept was very advanced, so he felt that this professor didn't look like an old fogey who didn't accept advanced equipment, and even less like an electronic idiot who couldn't even figure out a computer.

In Bruce's view, what was difficult about a computer? Entering the interface, inputting codes, jumping to programs—wasn't this already a hundred times more convenient than searching for information aimlessly in the archives?

Bruce and Shiler had some disagreements on this. Bruce thought that a computer was a professional tool, and using tools to complete work required some learning costs. This was the same as learning to drive. Otherwise, why would one need to take a driver's license test?

People always needed to remember some basic rules to use new equipment more smoothly, just like a driver must remember where the brake and accelerator are, the gear position, and road signs, etc. Humans had always lived like this, so it was very normal that the usage method of a computer required some learning.

But Shiler proposed a more advanced concept. Simply put, make the operation of the computer so simple that a three-year-old child could use it, lowering the learning cost to the minimum. Not only should everyone know how to operate it, it would be best if people didn't need to operate it, and the computer operated itself.

Bruce didn't like this concept. He thought that if there was no threshold for the use of the internet, then humans would definitely enter a quite terrible era of information explosion. Humans would be dominated by the internet instead of dominating the internet.

Bruce didn't think that letting everyone access the internet was a good thing. Public opinion was sometimes a sharp weapon that hurt people. And if a three-year-old child could hold this knife, how to ensure that humans wouldn't consume time in meaningless virtual wars?

Finally, Shiler didn't continue to try to persuade Bruce, because this era was like this. People's attitude toward the rapid development of electronic information was fearful, rather than like later generations, where anyone could go online as casually as eating and drinking at any time and place.

Shiler thought that it wasn't that he came from an era of information explosion, so he must beautify that era as having no shortcomings, and then urge Bruce to use his genius wisdom to send humans into that era. This wasn't rational, because the information age did indeed have all kinds of problems.

Where humans in a universe were heading wasn't determined by the established future of another universe. History was the choice of the masses, not something that a prophet could forcibly change by pressing the head of a genius. Every penny of the humans on this earth was their vote, and the technical route that could survive in the end was the direction of humans.

Therefore, Shiler didn't struggle too much, and went to work at Cat Getan University after breakfast. But just like every debate that had happened in the past few years, Shiler didn't care anymore, but Bruce started to struggle again.

Bruce briefly told Lex and Clark about his disagreement with Shiler, and then emphasized his point of view again. Finally, he looked at Lex and said: "I heard that the Luthor Group's user interaction interface is very convenient. I have also used your group's computers before, but I'm not sure whether lowering the threshold for the use of electronic products again and again is really a good thing."

Bruce put his hands on the table and said: "The internet is different from other household appliances. The convenience it provides to humans is not reflected in the material world, but more like providing ready-made information. But all information circulating among human groups will eventually become difficult to distinguish between true and false. The result of developing to the end must be chaos."

"Humans have never been able to understand each other, and if they have an extremely convenient way of communication, they won't understand the other party either, but will only have higher expectations and greater disappointment. Is the dispute and contradiction caused by this really a good thing for a species?"

Lex didn't expect Bruce to come to him to explore this problem. He pondered slightly and said: "The concept of the Luthor Group's electronic products is that we provide a shortcut for ordinary people, letting those electronic products that could only exert their maximum effect in the hands of professionals provide convenient services for ordinary people."

"This will minimize the impact of information gaps." Lex looked at Bruce and said: "Let those information that was once monopolized by the rich become public resources that anyone can browse. The opportunities to profit from information gaps will become fewer and fewer."

"Then can this reduce the class gap? Or intensify the contradiction? Which one is what you want?" Bruce asked.

"Promoting human development is what I want."

"You think this can let ordinary people obtain more opportunities, making every human individual exert greater value, but where does this value eventually flow?"

Lex was silent for a moment. He knew the answer to this question. Bruce was sharp enough. Obviously, if the liberated productivity continued to be harvested, it would be equivalent to not being liberated. And what was worse, the harvesters would have more convenient ways to provoke contradictions and widen the gap.

At this time, Lex and Bruce turned their eyes to Clark at the same time. Clark, who was still drinking coffee, was stunned and said: "Why are you looking at me? Do you want me to be the referee?"

"Don't you have any views to express?"

"Does your discussion have any meaning?" Clark said somewhat blankly: "So if one of you wins, will something be changed?"

"Of course, we..."

Before Lex could finish, Bruce looked at Clark and said: "You reminded me. We are not trying to control humans to walk in the direction we expect. We only need to make choices, and time will give the answer."

Lex opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he didn't want to show that he was not as open-minded as Bruce in front of Clark, so he had to look at Bruce and ask: "Why did you visit Rodriguez Manor in the middle of the night? And get hung on a tree?"

Clark also looked at Bruce and asked curiously: "That's right, your father is not here, don't you need to manage the Wei En Group?"

"I came here to avoid the limelight." Bruce took a sip of coffee and said.

"Avoid the limelight?" Lex frowned and asked: "Who can make you hide to avoid the limelight?"

"A troublesome woman."

At the entrance of Shiler's office at Cat Getan University, Pamela held a flower and looked at Shiler and said: "Professor, I haven't had time to congratulate you on your office's relocation. This is a gift."

Shiler looked at the flower in Pamela's hand and was a bit hesitant. Pamela knew what he was worried about, so she said: "Don't worry, Professor, this is just an ordinary pothos. It won't bite or hit people. It can be placed on the windowsill for viewing."

Shiler finally took the flowerpot from Pamela's hand and placed it on his windowsill. Just at this moment, a harsh ringing sound came from Pamela. Pamela took out a Motorola mobile phone from her bag, pressed the answer button, and said:

"Hello, Lant, what's wrong? Are there plants breaking out of prison again? Okay, I'll go back to the laboratory now... What? It might be man-made?! You saw a suspicious shadow? Don't act rashly, I'll be back immediately!" ===== CHAPTER 1760 =====