Chapter 258: The Butterfly Effect

Everything in this world has a cause and effect; every sip and every bite seems preordained.
But what if an unseen hand gently stirs the river of fate?
It's said that a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can create a tornado in North America.
Su Hao understood long ago that his "intuition" for the future was essentially that of a butterfly constantly flapping its wings.
A single thought can change everything.
How many times has his "future-spoiler" intuition, in countless unseen corners, quietly steered others off the right path into a ditch?
And how many trivial matters he casually handled and then forgot about ultimately evolved into massive waves?
The financial market is the wildest stage for this butterfly effect.
A seemingly insignificant candlestick chart, a tiny crack, is often the initial cry of a future global financial storm that wipes out countless giants.
Back then, people were completely bewildered, unable to recall which brick had been left unlaid in the first place.
So, the question arises.
Where did his almost superhuman intuition, this mysterious force that always brought about earth-shattering changes, come from?
In his spare time, Su Hao had also scoured the internet, thoroughly searching through all sorts of unreliable posts.
Among countless bizarre claims, one hypothesis about "human evolution" caught his eye; it seemed rather intriguing.
The theory was incredibly far-fetched, suggesting that if humans continued to evolve, one day they might actually unlock superpowers that only existed in novels and movies—things like telekinesis and precognition were commonplace.
Of course, this was purely the idle imagination of a folk genius, without a shred of scientific basis.
But for someone who had actually experienced "evolution" firsthand, this was anything but laughable.
What if it were true?
However, beyond all this nonsense, he discovered a theory that not only sounded exciting but also seemed surprisingly plausible.
And the one who proposed this theory wasn't some dreamer hiding behind a keyboard, but a team of madmen who had actually established a company, burning through cash day and night on research and development, determined to advance the evolution of all humanity.
And this crazy lab, called "Close AI," happened to be 45% owned by Fang Huan Investment.
"Chairman Su, this company… its approach is a bit wild." Li Huilin's expression was somewhat subtle during her report.
"According to their internal documents and company policy, they believe that the ultimate form of artificial intelligence development is to serve the evolution of humanity."
"AI development… can be related to human evolution?" Su Hao raised an eyebrow, feeling that this chain of logic was somewhat audacious.
"Yes. Their former major shareholder, that madman Elon Musk, didn't he also say something publicly?
He said that in the future, as long as we implant AI chips in our brains, AI can learn and think for us, and humanity will simply win without lifting a finger."
That statement caused a huge uproar back then; he almost got drowned in a sea of ​​criticism.
But Musk's seemingly insane vision surprisingly aligns with CloseAI's goal:
To achieve perfect human evolution through AI technology.
Frankly, this future blueprint seemed incredibly vague and unrealistic to Su Hao, like listening to gibberish.
Given the current level of AI's stupidity, trying to have a conversation with it would make you so angry you'd want to slap it through the internet cable; even basic conversation was a struggle.
In the conference room, the group started discussing it.
"But then again, one day, AI will be able to have fluent conversations, help us read documents, write summaries, and even translate eight languages ​​in real time, right? I just wonder how long that will take."
"Yeah, that day will come, but at the current pace of development, I reckon it'll be at least another thirty years, haha."
"Seriously, I still get goosebumps whenever I think about what Musk said. Inserting chips into their brains! My god, that's terrifying!"
"Don't worry, this technology definitely won't be around before we're buried."
The casual conversation ended there, and the topic returned to CloseAI's business.
"Chairman Su, since we acquired CloseAI's shares, we haven't made any major moves. They seem a bit confused; I guess they're getting anxious and restless."
Su Hao understood. Those people probably thought he was brewing some big scheme, doing something underhanded.
Little did anyone know, Su Hao had been incredibly busy lately, dealing with the Tesla saga and then engaging in a full-blown battle with social media giant Facebook. He simply didn't have the time to deal with a fledgling AI company.
However, both the Tesla controversy and the Facebook war ended somewhat...antic, or rather, too easily.
Right now, Facebook is being universally condemned by users worldwide, with a massive wave of account deletions and account cancellations sweeping across the platform, specifically targeting PicPic.
"Facebook has released several evasive press releases, but they're completely useless; they haven't come up with any effective solutions.
What's worse, their founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is about to be summoned to a congressional hearing. He's probably in a huge bind right now, and can't afford to worry about anything else."
This user data breach is unprecedented in its severity and far-reaching impact.
Hundreds of millions of users' privacy has been completely exposed; it's no wonder public opinion is in an uproar.
Thanks to them, Su Hao's "PicPic" not only escaped all the open and covert attacks unscathed;
on the contrary, riding this wave of success, with the huge marketing budget approved by Su Hao, they've been promoting themselves worldwide as the "safest and most trustworthy social platform," reaping a huge wave of public support.
"In short, CloseAI has indicated that they're prepared to fly to China in person, hoping to meet with you."
Since they've taken the initiative, Su Hao naturally has no reason to refuse them.
He was also quite curious about what these guys who were always thinking about transforming the future actually looked like.
"Okay, you coordinate the time and make the arrangements. Next topic."
"Chairman Su, this next matter will likely ignite public opinion very soon.
This morning, the State Oceanic Administration and the Ministry of Natural Resources jointly released a 'Geological Exploration Report on the East China Sea Continental Shelf.' The report confirms for the first time the discovery of a super-large strategic resource deposit with astonishing reserves deep within the waters disputed between us and Japan."
The report doesn't explicitly state what kind of resource it is, but those in the industry understand that it likely points to a key rare metal that will meet the needs of future high-tech industries—a vast treasure trove capable of reshaping the global industrial landscape for decades to come.
The release of this report is tantamount to detonating a depth charge beneath calm waters.
Its original intention was to demonstrate my country's exploration capabilities and sovereignty, but the Japanese government on the other side reacted with unprecedented intensity. The Chief Cabinet Secretary held an emergency press conference within half an hour, stating that they "absolutely do not accept" it and calling it a "serious provocation that unilaterally changes the status quo."
Their logic was simple: the sovereignty of this area was undetermined, so what right did they have to unilaterally conduct surveys and then publish the results?
Wasn't this blatantly an attempt to legitimize their claim to the territory?
“Friction between China and Japan happens frequently, but this time, the nature is completely different.
According to our intelligence, the Japanese government is very seriously preparing a retaliatory plan.”
Su Hao's eyes suddenly sharpened, like a hawk locking onto its prey: “Oh? How do you plan to retaliate?”