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Parallel Worlds pro et contra - стр. 29

– It didn't work, esteemed luminary of science. So why don't you try it out here in the virtual reality room?

– It won't work there. It's the wrong setup. I'll go to my room for an additional program module. Now we can admit it: His Majesty the Grand Inquisitor is in our ranks, or rather, in the conspiracy with us," he said with pathos, more to his colleagues than to Ruthra, even with a bit of snicker, emphasizing the jocularity with funny notes.

– I can see why Irene left this situation unaddressed. Well, well, well, well.

– Oh, come on. Let's get down to business. There's a big event coming up, and you're getting suspicious. I'm outta here.

After the scientist had left, Rutra looked closely and really suspiciously at the scientist who was engaged in methods of completely rewriting the content of the human brain and embodying it in artificial form, that is, in a supercomputer. And he did it so clearly and accurately that even people who knew the man very closely could not distinguish a dialog with a computer from the real one. To be more precise, the scientist could embody a person in a computer, preserving all subsequent processes of thinking development, reactions, intonations, age and emotional changes. The technology allowed copying all chemical reactions that took place in the brain and using their decoding to learn what the human consciousness itself could not remember.

– What's he got in store for me, confess? Why can't this be tried on a standard virtual reality setting?

– You know, not only does every mystery come true, but every miracle also comes true. I confess: just as the inventors of atomic weapons were afraid of their invention, we are afraid of ours.

– So tell me, what is it?

– We need to go to the special lab.

– Come on, is that a trick you're doing?

– They're waiting for you. Well, not just you.

Rutra was, of course, overcome with curiosity: not just from the experiment, but from "not just you."

– I'm ready," he said confidently. – I was already curious.

– Come in, please.

The medic headed for the exit, and Ruthra followed suit. They walked down the corridors to the medical sector, entered the elevator, which took them to the deeper depths of this mystical realm of mystery and secrets. They came out into a semi-dark corridor, eerily cold, walked down it for a while and began to descend the stairs. Soon they found themselves in front of the only doors. Suddenly, something like something Ruthra had seen before appeared ahead, in the place where the door had been. It had been there, in the exit from the secret laboratory of a scientist no less mad and talented than the one with whom Ruthra was now doing the project and was now involved in it, in the passage from the laboratory to the stairs leading to the super-secret Polygon facility. Ruthra thought, "And this one, like the other one, is in the business of transferring consciousness from one body to another. It's a similar moment right now. Isn't that a sign?" Of course he didn't believe in superstition, but he did believe in a theory of his own devising. And according to this theory – nothing can be unreasonable for the consciousness, and if the consciousness is unable to explain something to itself, it regards it, for example, as a miracle. The scale of events that were subject to interpretation was very wide – from a cat that ran across the street and a broken mirror to dreams and divine revelations. Everything that could not be explained by reason – consciousness considered from any position, but certainly did not leave without explanations. Not god – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so evil fairy, not evil fairy – so hand of fate, not hand of fate – so regularity of horoscope and so on. It was both scary and curious at the same time.

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