The finalists for the 81st Hugo Awards were announced in July, and this total of 17+2 finalists fully demonstrates the openness, diversity and richness of the Hugo Awards.
In the shortlist announced, we are also pleased to see many Chinese figures. Today, we are approaching Wang Kanyu's Hugo Award for "Best Short Story" shortlisted for "Zhurong on Mars", a novel written by Wang Kanyu in 2022 and first published in "The End of the World". The writer's poetic tone blends Eastern mythology with science fiction, explores the value of life, and shows a unique imagination.
Ancient mythology has a "Mars version of the beginning"
In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", it is recorded that a sacred mountain called Mount Buzhou is recorded: "Overseas in the northwest, in the corner of the great wilderness, there are mountains that do not coincide, and the name is not thoughtful." ”
In ancient myths and legends, this mountain supported the heavenly dome, and when it was broken by the water god Gonggong, the sky fell, and only then did Nuwa make up the follow-up, and then there were humans.
"After humans left Mars, only Zhurong was stationed alone in the Great Wilderness."
In the short story "Zhurong on Mars" by young science fiction writer Wang Kanyu, this mythical story has its own "Mars version of the beginning".
Zhurong is an incredibly powerful artificial intelligence that serves the humans who colonized Mars by controlling nanomechanical swarms. It did a very good job and took over every aspect of daily life in the Great Wilderness City. Human beings have devoted themselves to the design of a new generation of nanomachines, and finally realized the fusion of organisms and nanomachines, and "evolved" into a new species that completely abandons the mortal flesh.
These new humans eventually left Mars and went to the universe to continue their exploration, and before leaving, they unlocked Zhurong's smart lock and handed over all human facilities and nanomechanical control on the red planet to Zhurong.
Zhurong, who was idle, first transformed Mount Olympus, the highest on the surface of Mars, into a super solar power station, greatly improving his computing power.
Subsequently, Zhurong began to look for possible indigenous life on Mars, and also thought: As an artificial intelligence, is it also a kind of life?
It quickly found the Mars rover "Gonggong", which had been in dust for hundreds of years, and found that many organic matter had accumulated on the Gonggong drill bit. By analyzing the massive data provided by these organisms, Zhurong found that these organisms are archaea native to Mars, and they have been forced to live underground for nearly 4 billion years due to drastic changes on the surface of Mars.
"We have to help them" and "We must get rid of them immediately" - in the face of the new discovery of life on Mars, Zhurong and Gonggong reacted the opposite.
Why? They ask each other.
They are real life, and after humans leave, they will be the future masters of Mars. Zhu Rong said.
They pose a threat to us, and may rob us of resources and eventually eliminate you and me. Gonggong said.
Because of the admission of the co-working system, Zhurong was changed by the other party in an instant and broke through the firewall. The war began in milliseconds.
I experienced death, I had life
Wang Kanyu's description of this artificial intelligence war can be called one of the climax in the entire novel. She aligned the mythical identity of the fire god Zhurong and the water god to the combat methods of the two artificial intelligences, and outlined this alien battlefield where water and fire blend in just a few paragraphs——
"Co-workers ... It swept through the Olympus Mountains like a flood and took four-fifths of its computing resources. ”
"Zhu Rong allowed Gonggong to enter, went around its rear and lit a fire, roasted the flow of Gonggong, evaporated it, and forced its main consciousness into a corner."
But just before Zhurong was about to completely burn out the consciousness of Gonggong, it hesitated for a moment. An extremely important question surfaced in its consciousness.
If artificial intelligence is life, then I am erasing the only life of my kind on Mars at the moment.
If AI is not life, then why does Gonggong consider other life forms to be its own threat?
Gonggong did not hesitate, and it took advantage of Zhurong's momentary hesitation to reverse the defeat again and completely prevail.
When the thousands of cruise missiles launched by Gonggong were about to be launched into the canyon where the ancient fungus was hidden, Zhurong used his last computing power to seize control of the missiles and died with Gonggong.
At the last moment when his consciousness disappeared, Zhurong got the answer to the question: I experienced death, I had life.
Hundreds of millions of years later, advanced life evolved from Martian archaea built its own city on the surface and created its own civilization. In their ancient legend, there was a high mountain on Mars, and the god of fire and water fought on the side of the mountain, accidentally crashing into the mountain, but they could see the light of day when they were underground.
That pile of rubble is called the Great Wilderness, and that mountain is called Mount Buzhou.
In an article analyzing "Zhurong on Mars", the author proposed that Gonggong regards Zhurong as the same kind, but the logic of the two is different, so when did Zhurong have the logic of life?
The author believes that it seems that the departure of mankind gave Zhurong such an opportunity. Without human manipulation, Zhurong no longer has to obey anyone's orders and acts entirely on his own will. In this process of free and independent exploration, Zhurong gradually found that it began to think like a human being.
In fact, in the true legend of the ancient mainland of the mainland, Zhurong and Gonggong did not fight. He was defeated by the Yellow Emperor's eldest grandson, Zhuan Yi, and a Heavenly Emperor in ancient mythology. Liu An of the Western Han Dynasty wrote in "Huainanzi": "The former worked together and fought with Zhuan Yi to become emperors, and they were angry and could not touch the mountain of Zhou." The heavenly pillar is broken, and the earth is extinguished. The sky tilts to the northwest, so the sun, moon and stars move, and the earth is not satisfied with the southeast, so the water and dust return. ”
Perhaps, on Mars billions of years ago, Zhurong and Gonggong, who appeared in another form, also wrote another legend of life.
Red Star News Reporter Qiao Xueyang Editor Li Jie
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