Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 18 The Truth
Have you heard of the placebo effect?

The placebo effect refers to the phenomenon that although a patient takes a pill that has no effect, as long as he believes that "this is a special medicine", he can effectively relieve his condition.

In this case, it is not the ineffective pill that cured the patient, but the [individual subconscious mind].

The effect of the subconscious mind on the individual is enormous.In modern society, the concept of "individual subconsciousness" has been confirmed by many experiments, and has been applied in various aspects such as medical treatment, sports, improving work efficiency, and improving interpersonal relationships.

When the research and application of this emerging direction were in full swing, a famous psychology professor at a certain university thought of something.

[Individual subconscious] is still so powerful, so what about the [collective subconscious] that is further than [individual subconscious]?

If we say that "individual subconsciousness" is the knowledge that is imprinted in the brain of the individual through observation, learning and personal experience during the growth process, but which he himself has not noticed.The [collective subconsciousness] is the knowledge that all primates have accumulated over tens of millions of years, engraved deep in DNA.All people are born with this genetic information, and when the individual is not aware of it, it serves as [instinct] to guide the individual's actions.

Some studies believe that [collective subconsciousness] also has many more mysterious functions, such as that all people are connected with each other at the bottom of the subconscious.

But the professor's next research came from a simpler idea.

Mastering the individual's "individual subconsciousness" can optimize the person himself in all aspects from health to psychology.

So, what about the [collective subconscious] that belongs to all mankind?

If mastered [Collective Subconsciousness], will human society be able to make a breakthrough by leaps and bounds?

……

Shortly after setting up this project, the professor left the university where he taught.He disappeared for ten years.

No one knows where he went, and from whom he obtained those unimaginable knowledge.People only know that when he returned to college ten years later, he brought a piece of software with him.

The professor restarted the project he hadn't finished ten years ago.He claimed that this software can give users psychological hints through specific graphic arrangements, making them lose their individual consciousness and enter the [collective subconscious].

Immediately afterwards, the professor recruited twelve subjects in the university.In order to ensure the objective distribution of the test data, he selected these subjects according to the "Twelve Archetypes" theory in Jung's psychology.

【Innocent】, 【Wise】, 【Explorer】, 【Rebel】, 【Magician】, 【Hero】, 【Love】, 【Clown】, 【Orphan】, 【Carer】, 【Ruler】 ,【Creator】.

Twelve subjects with different personalities, different moral values, different values, and different motivations for behavior accepted the professor's experiment.They fell into a brief slumber, then awoke to tell excitedly what they had found.

The depths of the [collective subconscious] are not filled with unexplained concepts, colors, formulas and rules as everyone imagined.There are infinitely many worlds shaped by the [imagination] of all human beings.

The impression of [sword] of all mankind forms [sword], the impression of [tiger] forms [tiger], the impression of [European village] forms [European village], and the impression of [the future world after 1000 years] ] formed the impression of [the future world in 1000 years].

Inside the collective subconscious, there is actually an [ideal world] created by the realization of all the thoughts of all human beings after countless parallel and endless iterations of processing by countless brains.

Some of the ideas in these ideal worlds have real prototypes.They are highly consistent with their appearance in reality.What is even more surprising is that those [imaginations] about future technology are almost in the same direction as many researches that are still kept secret, unpublished or even only hypothesized in reality.

From this, the professor came up with a bold conjecture.

All the progress of human society is made by geniuses among human beings.

These geniuses learned the knowledge of human beings, exercised their brains with the same structure as all human beings, and finally came to these conclusions leading to progress through a flash of inspiration.

however.

In the [Collective Subconscious], time slows down. Even if the subjects linger in it for months or even years, only a few minutes have passed in reality.Here, all human knowledge can be seen by all, and endless inspiration emerges from endless time for all.

In other words.

Anyone can be a genius.

……

This is an epoch-making discovery.The professor and all the people involved in the project firmly believe that it can definitely lead the future of mankind.The growth of human beings will have an explosive breakthrough, and in just a few years, they will become a group of advanced life that was never imagined before.

However, the optimism for the experiment lasted only a short time.

After several rounds of testing, an accident happened.

At first several subjects did not wake up.Soon, all subjects fell into a coma.

It all happened so fast that no one knew what was going on.In just a few seconds, among the twelve subjects who went to different [subconscious worlds] and accepted different tasks, six died and six became vegetative.

"...And among those people, my brother is included."

The young woman looked at Zheng Zhuo and said.

"If this experiment had stopped here, I could have understood it as the last harrowing sacrifice of humanity's quest for its own progress."

……

This experiment on the [collective subconscious] was quickly ordered to stop by the university because it was too dangerous.

However, the professor did not give up.

He left the university with researchers who fanatically believed in him.Soon after, the [Collective Subconscious] software began to spread on the market.Many of those who got the software said they were directed to download it by someone dressed in black.Their descriptions of these people matched exactly what the researchers looked like.

Naturally, the harm caused by [collective subconscious] software is also expanding.

"As far as I know, more than 3000 people have died and more than 7000 people have been put in a coma around the world. The number of potential victims may be far more than that."

Said the young woman.

Since leaving the university, the research direction of the professor's team has become more radical.Their concept began to change from "discovery" to "expansion", using the world in the collective subconscious to explore human reactions in extreme environmental conditions and extreme mental conditions.

"..."

Hearing this, Zheng Zhuo immediately thought of the other participants who suddenly started to collapse and kill people in the [Small Town World] he entered.

"It took me three years to download this software through a former participant." The young woman said, "Up to now, I have participated in 29 rounds of experiments and won [-] rounds. The more I participate, the more I The more I believe, the research team behind it is completely insane—they drive people into complete insanity, just to collect some completely wrong data.”

"During this period, I have been looking for the headquarters of the research team, trying to find a way to destroy this software. In the end, I finally found that my direction was wrong: their headquarters does not exist in reality, but in [Collective subconsciousness]."

She tapped on the old computer mainframe.

"I found the underlying code... ah."

She looks at the screen.

"The blockade of the entryway is complete. From now on, no one will gain access to this software."

She smiled at Zheng Zhuo.This was the first time Zheng Zhuo saw her smile.

“[Collective subconsciousness] is undoubtedly the direction of human progress. But right now, it’s still a bit too early for humans.”

"I'll take you out."

The young girl said to Zheng Zhuo lightly.Zheng Zhuo couldn't help having the illusion that he was just visiting a friend's house.

"After you go out, I will close the exit passage. This place will return to its eternal appearance for tens of millions of years-only thoughts, no consciousness."

"No one will be killed until humanity is fully prepared."

……

Zheng Zhuo stared at the young woman.He saw her start to operate the keyboard.

"...What about those who came in before me? Those who are still alive..."

Zheng Zhuo asked.

"Have they been sent out yet?"

Before asking this question, he probably already guessed the answer.But he said it anyway.

The young woman pointed down.

Zheng Zhuo looked down, only to see endless white.

"The ones who entered earlier... in reality there are still 10,000+ people. They have fallen into the deepest sea of ​​collective consciousness - there is a high probability that they will not be saved. Before the shutdown, they only had a theoretical return Hopefully, with the shutdown, they're just facing the inevitable death."

"The 11 people who entered before you were only a little short... I regret that I didn't catch them in time. They have fallen into the next subconscious world. Next, they will continue to fall because they stay too long, and finally become Be one of those 10,000+ people."

"All of these people... died in reality, what will happen to their consciousness?"

Zheng Zhuo heard a sound from his throat.

"Soon you will lose yourself completely and melt into the ocean of subconsciousness."

The young woman answered.

　There is no voting session for this chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)