THE FINAL EVOLUTION
Part One
Mental patients vary widely in type and temperament, but they all share one trait in common—they all believe they are normal. Understand this, and you've grasped the essence of mental patients. So no matter how tightly reasoned a patient's logic or how clear their thinking may seem, don't be too surprised.
I am a psychiatric evaluation specialist. The words above were my mentor's parting advice when I graduated, and they have always been my professional credo.
But everyone has their own private dark corners that they don't share with others. Mine is a pursuit of a particular kind of thrill—because truly, no matter how meticulous a mental patient's reasoning may be, there's always a flaw to be found. Finding that flaw, demolishing their theory, and then watching their dumbfounded, bewildered expression gives me an undeniable sense of accomplishment.
This small pleasure is what has kept me in this line of work. After all, dealing with mental patients isn't exactly a glamorous profession. Like this current assignment—I'd been dispatched to work with the public security department, and everything was conducted under strict confidentiality, entirely out of the public eye.
Captain Logan Knox of the Cyber Surveillance Division handed me a file, which I promptly tossed onto the table.
Anything too technical was beyond my understanding, and I had no need to understand it anyway.
Logan Knox had no choice but to present the case orally: "The suspect, Cody, conducted a series of destructive activities online under the ID 'FE,' using backdoor programs to attack operational servers and tamper with their normal operating procedures. This person also distributed a malicious virus called 'FE' across the internet. Once a computer runs the code contained within, it triggers massive file self-destruction and automatically generates new files unrelated to the user—the destructive power is extreme."
"Fortunately, we discovered it in time and made the arrest, halting the virus's uncontrolled spread. If the 'FE' virus had been allowed to develop unchecked, the damage it would have inflicted on the world's networks would have far exceeded that of the worm virus."
After hearing Logan Knox's introduction, I found it strange. "Isn't this just a hacker? What can I do?"
"Although the suspect carried out a series of destructive activities, since nothing involved state apparatus or military secrets, and no financial losses occurred, there's no reference for sentencing—she can't yet be formally charged..." Logan Knox scratched his messy hair and added, "The important thing is that through technical interrogation, we've preliminarily assessed that this person has severe anti-human tendencies. But that requires an expert evaluation, which is why we've called you in."
"Anti-human tendencies?" I couldn't help but laugh. "That impressive? What does this Cody do?"
"Top student from the biology department at Northwest University. After graduation, she moved into the IT industry, doing software development. A genuine high-IQ talent."
I gave a wry smile. In my professional experience, the higher a person's IQ, the more likely they have a fatal character flaw—perhaps this is the Creator's idea of fairness. I said, "Since this is such a serious public safety matter, rest assured, I'll provide the evaluation results as you require."
Logan Knox added one more instruction: "I want you to understand... we're not looking to know whether this person is healthy or not. We need to understand what kind of threat she actually poses to society."
I indicated my understanding, and then, escorted by staff, I walked into the pre-arranged isolation interrogation room.
To my surprise, the suspect "Cody" turned out to be a woman. It seemed that reading the file in advance might have been useful after all.
She had short hair and sat with her chin propped on her hands, beaming at me. "Ooh, the expert the police brought in has arrived?"
My expression remained composed as I calmly pulled over a chair and sat across from her. Even though she was a young woman, the fact that the suspect wasn't wearing handcuffs still made me a bit uncomfortable.
Before I could speak, she jumped in first. "Those people outside say I have anti-human tendencies, right?"
I nodded.
She gave a "heh" and curled her lip. "Stupid humans."
I asked, "So you're admitting you have anti-human tendencies?"
She pursed her lips. "Of course not. I am human myself—why would I be anti-human? Everything I've done has actually been to help humanity."
Me: "Help humanity? What do you mean?"
Her: "Never mind. Even if I told you, would you believe me?"
Me: "If there's anyone left in this world who might believe you, it's me. You can treat me as a friend."
Cody narrowed her eyes with a smile. "You look about my age, so you should be able to understand what I'm saying. Alright, I can tell you, but..." She glanced around the room. "There aren't any listening devices in here, are there?"
Me: "Relax, no listening devices. They won't be interested in the content of our conversation—they're only interested in my final evaluation results."
Her: "Good, I don't want anyone else to hear our conversation."
Me: "Why?"
Her: "Because... that would harm them."
Me: "Oh? And you're not worried about harming me?"
Her: "One more person means one more shred of hope."
From the moment I'd entered, every sentence Cody spoke had been utterly absurd. But the more nonsensical her words, the faster I could find her flaw. I patiently said, "Alright, let's get back to the main topic. You say you were being a hacker to help humanity—how so?"
Cody paused, then said, "Let me start with something else first. By the way, do you understand Buddhism?"
Me: "A little. I've studied it somewhat."
Her: "Then let me ask you—what is 'Buddha'?"
Me: "'Buddha' means one who has attained enlightenment."
She smiled. "Not bad. And what has the Buddha become enlightened about?"
Me: "There's a line in the Diamond Sutra that captures it well: 'All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows.'"
Cody nodded approvingly. "Not bad—we seem to have a common language. Do you think the Buddha's enlightenment is correct?"
Me: "Buddhism is just one religion among many. Its emergence had specific social and historical causes. The concept of 'all is emptiness' is an idealist view—I believe it's incorrect. Just as the earth is composed of matter, that's beyond dispute."
Her: "You think it's incorrect, but doesn't 'you think' count as idealism? I also think the earth is made of dog shit—what about that?"
I frowned, not expecting this girl to be not only contentious but foul-mouthed as well. I said, "Let's not discuss Buddhism anymore—let's talk about your own issues."
Cody looked at me. "I don't have any issues. It's all of humanity that has issues."
Me: "What issues does humanity have?"
She gave a half-smile. "Humanity has no issues? Let me ask you—where did humanity come from?"
Me: "Darwin said we evolved."
Her: "So you're an evolutionist?"
Me: "Are you a creationist?"
Her: "Neither. I lean toward what you might call a technologist version of evolution."
I chuckled to myself. This so-called high-IQ talent seemed less than impressive—nothing but quibbling and mystification. Through our conversation, I was confident I'd soon find her fatal flaw. I was already itching to see the dumbfounded expression on this cocky young woman's face.
Perhaps sensing the shift in my attitude, she grew more serious. "What I'm about to say requires some very large leaps in logic. If possible, I hope you can keep up with my thinking."
Me: "Rest assured, programmer comrade."
Her: "If you're a proponent of evolution, you should know about the contradiction between the Cambrian explosion and evolutionary theory, right?"
She extended her index finger and drew a slow, steady line on the table. "In the billions of years of evolution on Earth, the pattern was always like this—species were sparse, changing steadily and slowly." At this point, she suddenly drew an upward diagonal from the line, like a step appearing out of nowhere. "But during this long and monotonous evolutionary process, there were several sudden species explosions. Take the Cambrian as an example—350 million years ago, in a relatively brief period, Earth suddenly saw the emergence of new species of unprecedented complexity, like predatory organisms. China's Chengjiang fossil beds are an example of this. From jellyfish, worms, tentacled creatures, brachiopods, and various arthropods, all the way to the highest chordates or hemichordates, there were a total of fifty-eight phyla."
"According to Darwin's theory of evolution, organisms should undergo long, slow transformation, accumulating minute variations, and with natural selection, first forming new 'genera' and new 'families' before gradually evolving into a new 'phylum.' The appearance of so many organisms in the Cambrian would require a lengthy evolutionary process, yet no traces of evolution or transformation were left in between."
I was struck by her depth of knowledge regarding the history of paleontological evolution—truly the product of formal academic training. I countered: "I know about the Cambrian species explosion. The reason no evolutionary traces were left is due to gaps in the fossil record."