The so-called "catalyst" refers to a substance that can change the chemical reaction speed of the reactants in a chemical reaction, but does not change itself. But in fact, it only changes back to what it was before the reaction after the reaction, not completely
no change.
In the universe of "Mass Effect", "Catalyst" specifically refers to the artificial intelligence created by the ancient race "Leviathan".
"Leviathan", just like its name, is a super huge, long-lived, highly intelligent creature like a lobster. They have powerful psychic abilities and can control other creatures to serve themselves, but these servant species are always inexplicable.
The earth perished. Through the observation of these creatures, the Leviathans came to a syllogism:
Organic life will inevitably be born in the universe, organic life will inevitably create mechanical life, and mechanical life will inevitably destroy organic life.
In order to end this strange cycle, Leviathan created mechanical life forms called "Reapers", allowing them to "harvest" high-energy civilizations in the universe every 50,000 years, preserving these civilized species during the harvesting process.
body, recording all their science and culture to prevent them from being destroyed by the mechanical civilization they created.
This logic sounds as nonsense as "To prevent the young man from committing suicide, the police shot him to death."
Not to mention, Cyberlux is an obvious example. The behavior of "Grox" does not look like it wants to destroy the sloth.
However, when Leviathan was considering solving the syllogism, he apparently forgot that he was also an organic life. The result was that after several rounds of harvesting, the reapers used their accumulated troops to directly "harvest" Leviathan, and then officially
Begins a 50,000-year harvest cycle for the Milky Way.
When the "Doomsday Elements" were shown before, those huge, dark machines that looked like a fusion of lobster and crocodile were what Leviathan looked like after it was harvested and transformed.
[Hmm… Now that we have ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Catalyst’, after solving the problem of ‘First Alliance’, do you want to let them meet and see what reaction will happen? 】
'The catalyst will not react.'
【This joke is so cold.】
"[...untie the knot?]"
Because Malefia started to feel dazed after hearing the little boy's name, the new student Alaya asked in confusion.
"It's a good name," Malefia patted his head again: "You'll be very obedient as soon as you hear it."
[Hey, of course he is obedient. He said he wanted to harvest organisms, even his own creator. 】
'Shut up, it's just the same name, he won't become the catalyst.'
【I feel anxious.】
The catalyst blinked and didn't say anything, maybe because he didn't know how to form words yet.
"Here, answer some questions for my sister." Malefia raised her hand and snapped her fingers, creating several virtual images of "big-eyed monkeys" next to her: "How do you feel about it?"
After looking at them for more than ten seconds, Catalyst said hesitantly: "[To... protect... not... to perish...]"
Hmm... very good, even the new born Alaya has a certain sense of belonging to the ethnic group he was born into.
"So, what are you going to do specifically?" Malefia continued to ask.
"[...]" Catalyst's eyes suddenly became blank.
[Good guy, I scanned all the creatures on the planet in an instant. Although they look dull, they are quite strong. 】
'After all, it is a group consciousness. Even if you can't speak, you still have this ability.'
"[Food...]" Catalyst spoke again.
Very good, straight to the point.
"Food?" Malefia kept listening.
"[Food... not enough... kill them all...]"
"..."
【Hahahahaha——】
Malefia jumped up, turned around and started kicking the mechanical octopus coiled aside.
【It’s none of my business hahaha——】
"[Untie the knot?]" Catalyst stopped to answer and looked at Malefia doubtfully.
"It's okay," Malefia stopped, turned around and touched the catalyst's head: "Although that kind of thing can solve the problem, you can't do that, do you understand?"
"[Can...can't...]" The little boy blinked: "[I don't understand.]"
"'Can' means that if all other races are really killed, the food problem can be solved, but if this decision is really made, it will definitely fail during the implementation process, so 'Can't'," Malefia paused.
, continued to explain: "For example, if you want to protect the 'big-eyed monkey', other beings similar to you may want to protect the 'blue-skinned rat' or the 'big-faced cat'. If you have a conflict with them then,
, no one can do anything, they can only wait for the creatures themselves to decide the winner, and in this way, no matter who wins or loses, the loser and its group will disappear."
[He may not be able to understand what you say so much, and the big-faced cat and blue-skinned mouse must have been born somewhere. 】
'Just remember it.'
"[Then... don't kill them all... and leave some...]" The catalyst said some cold words in that soft voice again.
[Hahaha!] The stupid system is even pretending to be laughing this time.
It's normal if you think about it carefully. As creatures, when encountering a survival crisis, they will give priority to solving direct and visible crises. As for how to solve the root cause of the crisis, it is not something that their simple thoughts can consider at all, and the newborn Ah
Raye is probably like this too.
"Not one of them can be killed." Malefia grabbed the Catalyst's shoulders and stared into his eyes.
"[Then... don't kill...]" Catalyst nodded blankly, and then his eyes became empty again.
[Hmm... This time he started to scan the global resources and the growth range of Mana, but it was useless, because the Gaia consciousness on this planet continued to maintain the status quo and continue to develop, and the First Alliance could only embark on the path of destruction due to famine.
old road.】
'It's really troublesome. Is it so difficult to expand your thinking?'
Malefia sighed, raised her hand to hold the Catalyst's face, and asked him to look at the sky.
The stars and the sea are out there, so why bother with one planet?
"[Ah...]" The Catalyst's eyes returned to normal. After blinking twice, he looked at Malefia again: "[Build a house in the sky...produce food.]"
Although his understanding is a bit different from what I want to express about "developing a new planet", overall there seems to be no problem.
The problem of the "First Alliance" is that as the population grows, food will become less and less. Whether it is the land area for producing new types of food, the area of the land for producing new types of food will decrease, and the production of mana in the sea will decrease. The development of space agriculture or space residence can
solve this problem.
"So, are you ready to guide the Big Eyed Monkey?" Malefia poked his forehead.
