How the Zergs were Made

Chapter 37 Desire to Survive

After contemplating for a long time, Huogu still made that choice—to create a macro life in the true sense!

The rhizome grows and spreads towards the channel connected with the ocean. This process is very slow compared to the spreading speed of the rhizomes growing in other directions. The resistance caused by the influx of seawater is the biggest difficulty in growing upwards. Each rhizome needs to grow a large amount of water. The roots are deeply inserted into the rock wall to ensure that they will not be washed back by the sea water.

The hard objects involved in the vortex are also obstacles to the spread of the rhizome, such as gravel, stones, glass fragments, lost titanium snails, etc. Under the acceleration provided by the vortex, they will hit the rock wall at a speed of 14 kilometers per hour , the root skin is to them what a hot knife is to cheese, and it has no defense.

For this reason, Huogu had to thicken and strengthen the rhizome specially.

On the other hand, Huogu began to build a specific model framework for designing macroscopic life in his thinking. First of all, he built the core, which is like the foundation of a high-rise building or the keel of a giant steel wheel, an absolutely indispensable part.

What is the core of macro life?

It is the carrier of thinking, that is, the brain, the dwelling place of life, a phenomenon that feeds on entropy.

Of course, it cannot be the calculation amount of 1x10^30 times per second of the human brain, nor can it memorize and store one hundred trillion pieces of information. It is just the most primitive and simple intelligent organ, which can independently respond to external changes.

In fact, in essence, every cell and every microorganism has this self-feedback function. Although there are no neurons, they can have the behavior of making subjective feedback to the outside world through ion channels composed of intracellular proteins.

Ion channels are also a key way for neurons to communicate and send signals. They allow information to be passed between individual nerve cells.

In a sense, neurons are based on an upgraded version of this ion channel, which can transport electrons carrying information per unit distance and time, and obtain an exponential increase in magnitude, which is the feeling of upgrading ordinary broadband to optical fiber broadband.

What Hogu has to do is to enlarge the template in the cell, move the microstructure to the macroscopic level to become an organ, and improve its original performance. Except for the fine-tuning of small details, this process is generally correct.

But things are not that simple, just like now, Huogu has encountered a problem that makes him helpless.

"Intelligent organs are indeed fine, but...how can I make the designed macro-organisms understand the concept of 'I'?"

"I" is the basis of thinking, and when the concept of "I" is extended, emotions such as fear, hunger, anger, liking, joy, etc. will appear, which is the beginning of understanding and thinking, even a beast that eats blood. No exception.

However, it is extremely difficult for Hogu to make the created macroscopic life realize the concept of 'I', because it has no knowledge about this, and neither did the human beings at the beginning, and the concept of 'I' consciousness is still in the The stage of research and exploration.

Obviously, this path does not work.

Huogu rearranged his thinking, it was looking for a new design idea.

"Life is a phenomenon. In order to maintain this phenomenon, they will need to absorb entropy reduction from the outside world, so their internal entropy will be constant or the amount of change will be extremely small, while the external entropy increase will intensify..."

"The concept can be extended from the first article, that is, 'life can do whatever it takes to survive'. This concept can explain why life fears death. This is the root of the 'desire to survive'."

"This kind of desire is above any emotion except the concept of 'I', and it belongs to the instinct among instincts. It is because of this that life on earth can be passed on for billions of years."

After sorting things out, Huogu suddenly realized what was the driving force behind life's continuous advancement. Those two words quickly magnified in his mind—desire.

"...Maybe, I don't necessarily have to let them realize 'I' first, even if they can't even meet the most basic requirements of drinking blood, it doesn't matter. Basically, I need them to be able to actively work, not engage in The 'intelligence' of mental activity."

"So, I can use desire, the desire to survive..."

The thinking gradually became clear, and Huogu began to incorporate this thinking into the design.

"That's right, it's like the so-called symbiotic relationship that can weaken the stomachs of microbial collectors so that they can only digest a certain type of amino acid. In this way, the collected organic materials are essentially useless to them. thing."

"And the output of this specific type of amino acid is given to the rhizome system. In this way, those collectors of organic materials must continuously provide organic materials to the rhizome system in order to survive."

"The feasibility is very high. There are many examples on the earth, such as bees. When they collect nectar, they are also contaminated with pollen. In this way, pollination between flowers is completed."

Hogu chose the gourd as a template for the individual who collected organic materials. The part where the brain existed was placed by Hogu in the area where the original perception cells were. Other functional components remained the same, except that there was an extra stomach at the front of the water storage chamber. , uptake by the inner cell membrane is also limited by screening.

The moment the design was completed, Huogu suddenly felt a strong sense of guilt. His behavior seemed to be very similar to that of slave owners in the old feudal era...

Huo Gu quickly waved away this terrible idea.

"No, how could I be that kind of villain?"

"This is at most just the company's business model. You have to work to get paid. The boss is not a fairy who can make something out of nothing. At least the slave owner doesn't care about the slave's life and death, and even uses it for fun. I have medical insurance here. Among them If anyone is injured or sick, I will provide them with the best medical services, this kind of welfare does not even exist in human society, how can it be the same?"

Even though he knew that only he could hear it, Hogu still defended himself in this way.

A sample of the first forager squeezed out of the cone-shaped creature's flesh cavity.

The collectors who just came out are very small, about one-tenth the size of an adult's palm, and they are motionless, as if Hogu's design failed.

Huogu was not in a hurry, and put a little bit of special amino acid into the water, and the collectors who sensed these amino acids immediately started to move.

It clumsily swayed its fins on both sides, exhausted all its efforts, and finally completed the first feeding behavior in its life.

And this kind of performance of the collector means that Huogu's design ideas are not wrong.