Lu Ran was shocked by what he saw.

He was speechless.

"Yes, you have seen it, and that person is yourself. So I just said, how can you be sure that this is not a mirror?"

Mirror, how can this be a mirror?

What is going on, why do you see yourself in another picture?

Lu Ran felt inexplicable and anxious, "What the hell is going on?"

The man in black seemed to be ready to answer the question, and he kept smiling and said:

"The mirror is an item like no other.

It can replicate the existence of other items at the same time, and it can even replicate the space itself where these items are stored.

It is confusing, and for a moment one doubts the reality of existence.

Is the me in the mirror my own in another dimension?"

The man in black asked Lu Ran a question, he took two steps towards Lu Ran, stopped again, and continued:

"Which one is you in the mirror and which one is the real you, can you really tell the difference?

Today, you are fortunate enough to see the one on the other side of the mirror, the one who is likely to be the real you.

Lu Ran, have you ever heard of 'Brain in a Jar'?"

He asked another question, and Lu Ran began to think, "This seems to be a scientific concept. ”

"Yes, it's the philosopher Hillary . Putnam, in his book Reason, Truth, and History, hypothesized that a man had been operated on by an evil scientist and that his brain had been cut off from his body and placed in a vat containing the nutrient solution that kept the brain alive.

The nerve endings of the brain are then connected to a computer that is programmed to send information to the brain in order to keep it all illusionary.

Well, for him, it seems that people, air, and the environment are still there, and they have not changed. His own movements and bodily sensations can also be inputted.

His feelings about everything are real.

I want to ask, how do you make sure that you're not in that situation?"

The man in black looked directly into Lu Ran's eyes.

Lu Ran suddenly had a strong feeling that this theory sounded so familiar, as if a thing hidden deep in his memory had been awakened at this moment.

"I've heard this theory, I must have heard it somewhere. He muttered to himself as he looked back at the picture in front of him, "Brain in a vat, surgery, one person...... Could it be?!"

"Let me tell you a story," the man in black said unhurriedly, "There is a cognitive neuroscientist who has always been interested in the theory of the brain in a vat, and he has always believed that with the improvement and advancement of brain science, they will be able to realize this hypothesis, so that it can be born from the laboratory and into people's daily lives."

He was very persistent, and finally proposed his own experimental project to the institute with his continuous efforts and efforts.

The name of the object is called Brain in a Jar.

When the project was first proposed, an important ethical question was raised: who should be asked to conduct the experiment? No one would agree to cooperate with the study, and it is unreasonable and illegal to conduct this experiment on a human body.

So, he chose to back down and chose some animals for experiments first. Until one day, he had an accident.

On his way to the laboratory, he was in a car accident and fell unconscious on the spot, and after being taken to the hospital, he was told by the doctor that his spine had been violently impacted and that it was impossible to recover in a short time, and that it would be difficult for him to even sit and have to lie in bed every day.

Scientists can't accept it.

He locked himself in his room, not wanting to see anyone.

There was silence for three days, and on the fourth day, he offered to see his leader.

When he met the leader, he proposed to use himself to conduct an experiment on the brain in a vat.

The leader immediately objected, but the scientist said that he was now a cripple and would probably remain a cripple forever.

He will never experience the joy of walking, running and traveling again.

This is not the life he wants, and instead of that, it is better to devote him to his own experiments.

If the experiment is successful, then he will continue to experience the joy of survival under the control of the machine, even if it is not real. However, he prefers virtual happiness to real pain.

Happiness is the ultimate goal of life, and everyone is pursuing higher happiness.

In that case, why not spend the rest of your life on happy things?

He was confident in his experiments, and he believed that he would be the first to live in Elysium.

The leader couldn't twist his determination and had to agree to his request.

Finally, with the help of his assistant, he lay down on the experimental equipment.

He told his assistant that he hoped that he could regain his youth and regain his youthful vigor and happiness.

So, the computer program made him return to his twenty-year-old self, which is now you, Lu Ran.

There is indeed a mirror in front of you, but the other side of the mirror is real, and you, not. ”

Lu Ran listened to him finish the story like a book from heaven, which could be said to be incredible, but when he looked at the face that was exactly the same as himself again, he suddenly found that the person lying in the "tank" did look similar to himself, and he was older than himself.

"No......" Lu Ran shook his head slowly, he already understood what the man in black meant, what he meant was that the scientist in that story was the real Lu Ran, and he was just a virtual consciousness in his brain that was taken out and set by a computer program.

Whether it is consciousness or thinking, Lu Ran still doesn't know how to define himself.

It was a bolt from the blue.

It was a truth he wasn't ready to know.

He instinctively resisted, he felt it was impossible.

"It can't be. You're kidding. Lu Ran smiled awkwardly.

"I know you're having a hard time taking it. However, if you think about it carefully, why are you being choked by your own past life in the hypnosis of your past life?

What is he doing? He's protecting you. In your previous life, weren't you the same person who used to be a scientist?

He is reminding you not to approach your former self, let alone wake up, because once you wake up, your dreams will be shattered, and you will return to that life paralyzed in bed and hopeless. ”

The words of the man in black shook Lu Ran's heart.

Is that really the case?

It turns out that it was my self-preservation, so that I did not get close to the truth, and kept me away from pain?

The man continued, "Also, do you know why your teachers pay special attention to you? Just like you, they are not real beings, they are products of this conscious world.

They may be Lu Ran's friends in the past, images in his memory.

Some of them can feel that you are special, because you come from Lu Ran's memory of yourself, you are a projection of Lu Ran himself, and you are the core of this world.

As long as you are living a normal life, the world will function normally.

But once you get to the core, you know what you are, then you become unstable, and you risk destroying yourself and making everything here non-existent.

That's why the Elder will feel that you are in some danger, but he doesn't know where you are in danger. ”