Lovi, attending as an assistant, repeated the proposal with curiosity: "Reconstruct the auxiliary calculation magic circle based on normal thinking and computational logic? Lord Evans, thinking and reality are both extremely complex — that doesn't align with the requirement for popularization either."
During regular meetings, Lucian allowed everyone to speak freely, though they had to raise their hands first. The purpose was to cultivate a brainstorming environment where ideas could clash and spark, and also to push himself forward. After all, when it came to research achievements that were truly his own creation, Lucian was very clear about what existed — he couldn't afford to ease up on self-improvement. On the other hand, when it came to improving Arcane Magic and alchemical items, he considered himself genuinely outstanding.
"Complex processes can be simplified. Every calculation is broken down into individual steps, and the process of thinking works the same way. I have this idea: decompose the everyday processes of thinking, control, and calculation, identify the most fundamental simplified steps they share in common, and store those steps in advance as commands within the auxiliary calculation magic circle. Then, during application, they would reassemble into a complete process — this way, the vast majority of scenarios could be simulated." Rather than guiding his students, Lucian proposed this line of thinking himself, since it was fairly beyond the current foundation and mainstream of the field.
Cherie listened with rapt interest: "That sounds fascinating. If the auxiliary calculation magic circle can only simulate the vast majority of scenarios, could it simulate intelligent life relatively realistically? If you didn't know, and you were having a conversation with 'it,' would you be able to tell the difference?"
"You're going to simulate intelligent life without a soul?" Sprint thought Cherie was overthinking it.
Hetty shot her a glare, defending her research partner: "What's impossible about it? It's only a simulation. If the pre-set responses are numerous enough, it would be very hard to tell apart."
Leilya furrowed her brows: "But a person's reaction to any given event depends on an incredibly complex combination of factors — it's not certain that it could truly be simulated."
At that moment, Lucian nodded gently: "An interesting idea. If any of you are interested, you could explore this direction. If the auxiliary calculation magic circle were truly improved to something resembling artificial intelligence, and then an alchemical life form were integrated into it — what do you think would happen?"
As he said this, a flicker of fervor passed through the black pupil behind Lucian's monocle. *Would it become Skynet?*
Katrina, who had been listening quietly nearby, posed a timely question: "Teacher, isn't it too cumbersome to break a complex process into individual steps and then rapidly reassemble them in a specific order? The time the auxiliary calculation magic circle needs to complete such a process would be enough for us to do the same thing several times over."
The term "artificial intelligence" was self-explanatory from its literal meaning, so there was no ambiguity.
"That is the research project I'm leaving to you." Lucian smiled. "I have a preliminary idea. Since we can control different combinations of lit lamps through circuit design, could we similarly apply that to improving auxiliary magic circles? Circuits have two states — on and off. Could we use just these two states to represent information, much like the bizarre ciphers many mages have devised before?"
Since the electromagnetic branch had split off from the elemental branch, circuit design was no longer a novel concept. Many mages had already applied it to improving the arcane energy channels in their magic circles. And as magic circles for converting water energy into electrical power were increasingly deployed, large-scale infrastructure for laying electrical wires was being rolled out. With the invention of arcane crystal lamps, the emergence of numerous alchemical items requiring electrical power, and even new professions born in service to this technology — such as "circuit maintenance technicians" — the concept had become common knowledge even among ordinary civilians.
The rapid development of electromagnetic communication arts had also led to ever more sophisticated encryption methods.
Hetty spoke up excitedly: "The speed of electrical current is very fast — it might actually be possible to complete complex processes in a short span of time. But how do you control the on-off state of each individual circuit?"
"Using only two states — on and off — to represent all information…" Cherie, meanwhile, was contemplating the concept of binary.
Lucian shook his head at Hetty's question: "How to control it? That's what you need to research. I believe you could approach it from both the Arcane Magic and alchemical materials angles. Some of the newly discovered elements have rather special electrical conductivity properties — you should look into them. In that regard, Katrina and Leilya are the authorities."
The two young women had been conducting research on superconducting materials and the behavior of various substances at ultra-low temperatures, and had incidentally completed the discovery of properties for quite a few new elements.
Hearing the teacher's remark, both Katrina and Leilya blushed and shook their heads: "We're not authorities yet — we've just worked with a larger volume of experimental materials…"
"Modesty is a virtue, but you should also have confidence in yourselves. Who wants to participate in this artificial intelligence research project?" Lucian asked with a smile.
The shift from "improvement research on auxiliary calculation magic circles" to "research in the direction of artificial intelligence" had instantly made the project sound high-end and sophisticated — an essential "specialty" of every expert skilled at securing research funding.
Hetty and Cherie, who had already been working in this direction outside their primary focus on elemental and atomic fields, were quite intrigued upon hearing the name "artificial intelligence," and both raised their hands eagerly. Katrina and Leilya wished to participate as well, but their ongoing research projects demanded enormous numbers of experiments — repeated trials yielding only modest results — and they also needed to study new alchemy, the theory of relativity, and other knowledge to enhance their magical strength. They simply couldn't afford to divide their attention.
Sprint and Anik had no interest in this direction whatsoever. They were completely immersed in the micro-level domain of "new alchemy" — the field closest to the true nature of the world — and the macro-level domain of the "theory of relativity." What could possibly be more interesting than exploring the mysteries of the universe?