Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Welt Yang had thought Noldrei was taking Kiana to "gather inspiration" from the masses. Who could have imagined that this "inspiration gathering" would reach such a level?

After receiving the report from his student, he fell into deep thought.

Theoretically, intervening externally in a cognitive structure to shape an internal personality is how one creates an "android." In that case, using a network to influence androids towards a convergent personality looks a lot like the "chat group member" system of modern internet socializing.

This method was proposed by Mobius, who used Gray Serpent as a successful example to construct the androids.

However, if what his student said was true—if they were using cloned human brains and forcibly controlling their external sensory perception—then it would mean that humans, in the traditional sense, would become indistinguishable from "androids."

If they were people from the future, what method would they use to break this deadlock?

Welt had never thought that the appearance of "androids" would be the final nail in the coffin of humanity's precarious emotional needs.

'I know it's fake, but my need is real. But without the real thing, I have no choice but to create a fake substitute. But if I treat the fake as real, is the android's emotion real? If I treat it as real and give the android real emotional responses, will the android reciprocate my initially false emotional need?'

An almost cyclical, unsolvable question appeared in people's minds.

There was only one way to break this stalemate: to make the emotional exchange between androids and humans equal. That is, to give humans the same kind of thought-network communication model as androids.

Wait, I remember Noldrei saying something like this. He believes that methods like spoken language, writing, and body language are very primitive forms of communication. He seems to use a kind of wave to replace this communication.

Welt's thoughts drifted. He wasn't worried about the safety of Academy City, nor was he worried that the "androids" developed by Heliopolis Life Sciences were fakes made from clones.

The entire Academy City was under the rule of various Stigmas. No one could break through Noldrei's system of governance.

Since he could grant everyone this degree of freedom, it meant that Noldrei believed these people could not escape the new social system he had ushered in.

"Old friend, are you there?"

The communicator in the room suddenly lit up, displaying the face of one of the people Welt hated most.

Otto Apocalypse.

"The Director-General is calling a meeting. It's about the future development of Academy City. Remember to come quickly."

What a man of bad taste.

Welt noticed that whenever Noldrei called him for a meeting, Otto would volunteer to be the liaison, deliberately seeking him out.

He thought for a moment and quickly connected to the data space.

This time, their meeting was held in the consciousness-diving data space created by Schicksal.

Noldrei had summoned all the "immortals," and had even called upon Theresa from the far-off Middle East.

His opening was very simple, and he even had the Crown Princess attend the court to listen in on politics.

"The topic of our discussion today is one word: 'representation'."

"I need you to become local representatives as much as possible, to bind the interests of people from all over the world to yourselves as quickly as possible. Fu Hua's main job is to accomplish this by building public facilities. She can use the advanced production brought by Academy City to bind more people to her interest group."

"In the process of shaping this interest group, Fu Hua will establish an organizational system with her Stigma as the core. So, this time, I will give you all the same task."

Cocolia had not expected Noldrei to bring up a word she had almost forgotten.

'Representation,' a word almost completely forgotten in the late Soviet era.

"I've reviewed the current historical situation. We won't go into detail about the most ancient times; there's no need to discuss it. The universal power in the world today originates from this word, 'representation'."

Worried that Kiana still didn't understand, Noldrei kindly explained, "For example, if I want to use the power that originally belongs to you, what should I do? Of course, I must represent you. If I don't represent you, how can I use your power?"

"This is a process of power granting and interest exchange. Compared to the 'power agency' of earlier eras, which was a top-down class empowerment, the 'representation of the subject' in the Current Era can better reflect the bottom-up fairness of a society. Since we've already understood the current social situation, the only difference left is the 'method of representation' in each country."

"Fu Hua just asked me for leave. She's also in a meeting over there, sorting out the distribution of interests throughout Shenzhou. The method she's using is a rather simple one of production, creating benefits through production. She binds her own interests with others' through strong productivity. In this process of development, people's wills will converge towards a common social value through the effort of joint production. This will make it easier for her to use her Stigma Battlesuit to influence more people to join her team."

"To complete this 'representation' work, there is another angle to approach it from: the organizers of the producers. For example, haven't we often seen shops with signs that say 'Serving the Customer'? But the people who produce for these shops can also become the consumers of the shops."

"This is a form of 'intermediary representation.' By constantly shifting the identities and conflicts between consumers and producers, one can gain their own benefits by acting as an intermediary for platform interaction."

"I need you to become the 'representatives' of your respective countries. Academy City will give you the greatest support in terms of productivity. Can you do it?"

After Noldrei finished speaking, everyone fell silent. They hadn't expected Noldrei to ask them to go back to their hometowns and run for leader.

Everyone was lost in thought. Cocolia, in particular, had never imagined that something like "going down to the countryside to build" would fall on her shoulders.

"hikigaya, didn't you obtain a Herrscher Core? When you return to the Far East, do you have any plans to become a representative of the people of the Far East? Forget it, let me ask you in a way you'll understand. Do you have any plans to become the Prime Minister of the Far East?"

Noldrei picked on the easiest person to bully in the meeting.

Hachiman hikigaya was still reeling from the previous conversation. Although he understood the meaning of "representation" that Noldrei spoke of, he still hadn't fully recovered.

Me? Getting another promotion?!

Kiana waved her hand, signaling to the "Kiana" beside her. It was the Kiana Stigma-Will, clad in yellow, nodding along seriously.

The two of them would need to re-watch the video recording of the meeting later.

Hachiman hikigaya pointed at his own nose, a sense of "heaven is about to bestow a great responsibility upon this man" bewilderment enveloping him.

At this moment, all eyes fell on this true native of the Far East.

He was, so far, the only true native of the Far East to have broken into Academy City.

Even Raiden Ryoma didn't have such a status. The Raiden family was internally affiliated with Anti-Entropy, representing interests closer to those of Japanese-Americans in North America.