THE FINAL EVOLUTION
Part Three
"No matter what kind of pleasure, no matter how vulgar or refined it may appear—the sweetness of love, the hunger for power, the beauty of music, the intoxication of being worshipped, the thrill of a major discovery, even religious fanaticism—in the final analysis, they're all just electrical discharges in the brain! Comrade psychiatric evaluator, just how complex do you think humans really are?!"
In my entire career, this was the first time a "patient" had backed me into speechlessness. It made me feel something akin to fear. Fine beads of sweat began forming on my forehead—I didn't need to wipe them to know; this had been a habit since childhood. Whenever I got nervous, my forehead would sweat.
Long-honed professional instincts kicked in at that moment, and I quickly regained my composure. Facing Cody's aggressive stare, I made a gesture of invitation: "Very well, your insights are fascinating. Please continue."
I understood that I had to do what I'd always done—let the other person lay out all their thoughts, then find the flaw and strike a killing blow. That moment would be mine. So for now, I had to endure this woman's intellectual assault.
Cody sat back down, cast me a provocative glance, and continued: "I know this theory is difficult to accept, but there's no helping it—otherwise humanity wouldn't be in its current state of stupidity."
Me: "It is indeed hard to accept. How should I put it—while brilliantly argued, it's still just your own personal opinion."
Her: "No, it's not just my opinion. This theory was proposed long ago."
Me: "Oh? By whom else?"
Her: "Laozi—not me, the one who wrote the Dao De Jing."
Me: "I've read the Dao De Jing, but I don't see how it relates to what you're talking about. Laozi spoke of only one thing, and that is the 'Dao.'"
Cody held up one finger. "Exactly—that 'Dao'! What is the 'Dao'? Laozi said, 'There is a thing confusedly formed, born before heaven and earth. Silent and void, it stands alone and does not change, goes round and does not tire. It can be seen as the mother of the world. I do not know its name, so I style it the Dao.' He said that before the world was born, something had already appeared. This thing was independent, solitary, without any support. It was this thing that created the world. He didn't know what to call it, so he reluctantly named it the 'Dao'! Isn't this clear? It's simply a difference of language—what he called the 'Dao' is what we'd call the Genesis Program!"
I scratched my head and asked: "If we follow your reasoning that Laozi's 'Dao' refers to the Genesis Program, then how did Laozi explain the origin of the Genesis Program?"
She shook her head. "Unfortunately, Laozi didn't know. He simply admitted: 'I do not know whose child it is.' He said he couldn't figure out the origin of this program either. But given the state of knowledge two thousand five hundred years ago, having this level of insight was already extraordinarily advanced."
Me: "I disagree with your interpretation. I believe Laozi's so-called 'Dao' doesn't refer to a Genesis Program but rather to the singularity before the Big Bang. That was a point of infinite density, and after one explosion, the entire world was born from that singularity."
She let out a snort of laughter. "The singularity—you really are a dyed-in-the-wool conventional thinker. The Big Bang theory itself is riddled with holes and can't withstand any real scrutiny. Let me ask you—where did that singularity of infinite density come from? Did it just appear out of thin air?"
I found myself unable to answer.
Her: "The so-called singularity is actually not a point at all—it's a boundary. It's not a concrete physical object but rather the instant when the Genesis Program was booted up and started running. Let me give you an example—you play World of Warcraft, right? You don't? Well, even if you don't play, you know the game. Imagine at six o'clock one morning, you double-click the icon and launch the program. That moment, for the characters inside Warcraft, would be the singularity of their world."
I was getting irritated. I lit myself a cigarette. "But you have to understand that within a game's program, there are constant settings. Every operation is governed by those constants."
She suddenly burst out laughing. "There are! Of course there are! Why does 1+1 equal 2? Why is the speed of light 300,000 kilometers per second? Why is Earth's gravitational coefficient 9.8? Why is absolute zero minus 273 degrees, and it can go no lower? These are the constant settings of our world!"
My cigarette-holding fingers trembled slightly amid her laughter. I could barely tolerate this madwoman's ravings any longer. Every living thing was just some damn code inside some godforsaken program? I exhaled a long stream of smoke. "Don't you see the unreasonable aspects of your own theory? For instance, if I've always lived inside a program, why have I never felt it?"
Cody gave a disdainful smile. "May I ask—when you play World of Warcraft, do the characters inside the game feel that they're living inside a program?"
My hand shook, and cigarette ash scattered everywhere. I crushed out the cigarette and said, "I think we've strayed too far. Let's get back to the original question. You said everything you've done has been to help humanity—how so?"
She smiled. "Speaking of that, let's first discuss Buddhism again."
I frowned. "Why do you keep dragging Buddhism into this? What does this have to do with Buddhism?"
Her: "How could it not be related? Einstein himself said that science is humanity's verification of Buddhism."
I didn't want to get into a deep debate about the relationship between philosophy and science, so I waved my hand. "Fine, go ahead."
She gave a triumphant little smirk, as if she'd won a victory. "Have you ever noticed that Buddhism actually realized long ago that our world was derived from a program? Since the very day Buddhism was born, it has been incessantly hinting at this to us."
Me: "Impossible. Is that really a thing?"
She looked at me. "Think about it."
I sat quietly and thought for a moment, then my eyes widened. If I followed her theory, what I had just said—"all conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows"—wasn't that hinting at the illusory nature of our world?
Cody tapped the table to draw my attention, then continued: "The Buddha taught that all dharmas are without self, all dharmas are without form. This means that in all worlds of conditioned and unconditioned phenomena, there is no substantial entity of self, nor any substantial entity of the world I inhabit. The so-called existence of self and world are merely relative physiological and psychological illusions. The words have been spoken this plainly—if people still don't understand, then even the Buddha can't help them."
I clutched my head. "That's not surprising. Chinese Daoism held this concept, and so did Buddhism, which originated in India. Any religious faith tends to carry this transcendent, immaterial quality. Marx said that religion is merely illusory flowers that bear no fruit."
At the mention of Marx, she gave a contemptuous smile, as if deeming even a rebuttal beneath her. "In Buddhism, there are the Buddhas of the Three Times. Are you familiar with this?"
Me: "I am. The three times are past, present, and future. The past Buddha is Dipankara, the present Buddha is Shakyamuni, and the future Buddha is Maitreya."
She nodded. "Very good—it seems you really have studied Buddhism to some extent. The future Buddha Maitreya once followed Shakyamuni as a disciple, but passed away before Shakyamuni entered nirvana. According to Buddhist scriptures, after leaving the human world, Maitreya will ascend to the Tushita Heaven, and will not be reborn into the human world until 5.66 billion years have passed, at which point he will become a Buddha and deliver all sentient beings. Are you aware of this?"
Me: "Yes. That's why Maitreya is called the future Buddha."
She gave a sly smile. "In that case, I have a question for you. In 5.66 billion years, no species will have continued to exist for that long. Humanity will have gone extinct long before then. Who is he going to deliver when he comes down?"
I thought for a moment. "That... must be a flaw in Buddhist theory."
Her: "Buddhist thought has always been renowned for its rigorous reasoning and meticulous argumentation. How could it make such a basic error?"
Me: "Well..."
She gave another dismissive smile. "After Shakyamuni entered nirvana, he left behind so many clues, but unfortunately humanity still hasn't grasped the Buddha's painstaking intentions. Oh well—" She shook her head, then suddenly said: "I need a piece of black paper and a fluorescent pen."
I went outside and brought her the paper and pen. She took them and set them on the table, then asked: "Do you know that Shakyamuni said there are three thousand worlds within a single grain of sand?"
Me: "That's just a metaphor in religious philosophy."
She shook her head. "It's not just a metaphor."
Cody picked up the fluorescent pen and began dotting it on the black paper, creating a dense pattern of tiny glowing spots—chaotic yet possessing a certain regularity in their arrangement. Then she held up the black paper and stepped back so I could see. "Look—what does it resemble?"