Chapter 148: The Thinking Being
The Wizard Apprentices gathered around the bonfire, looking up at Ace, who was suspended in the air with his hands raised. Their hearts were turbulent.
Arno immediately stood up and declared loudly: “Although I didn’t understand what Reality is or what cognition is, I am willing to raise the torch! I want to become the next Torch-Bearer!”
Ollie blushed. She understood some parts but not others, but she knew Arno definitely hadn’t understood. She quickly pulled Arno down and whispered: “Brother Arno is a big idiot! You study Elementary Mathematics thoroughly first, then talk about carrying the torch!”
The other Wizard Apprentices also grew excited. Their spirits were lifted. They were a collective, the tinder of the Torch-Bearer, and the next generation of Torch-Bearers!
Warren, however, frowned deeply. After contemplating for a long time, he stood up, bowed to Ace, and asked: “Respected Torch-Bearer, please tell us how to think correctly and rationally cognize?”
Ace looked at Warren with appreciation. Asking questions, thinking deeply, and not blindly following—these are excellent qualities.
He did not rush to answer. He waited quietly for the crowd to calm down and settle into thought before speaking:
“Let us hypothesize that the world is a cave-like cavern, with only one long passage connecting it to the outside world, allowing only a very weak light to shine into the cavern.”
“Some prisoners have lived in the cave since childhood. Their heads and legs are bound, preventing them from moving or turning their heads. They can only look forward at the cavern wall.”
“Above and behind them, a torch burns. Between the torch and the prisoners is a road and a low wall.”
“Behind the wall, facing the torchlight, are other people. They carry various puppets, making the puppets perform different movements.”
“These prisoners see the images projected onto the wall before them and mistake these images for true objects.”
“Then, one prisoner is released from his shackles. He stands up, looks around, and walks out of the cave. He discovers the truth of the matter: everything he saw was merely illusion. Outside is a world full of light.”
“Therefore, he is unwilling to return to that dark life and wants to rescue his companions.”
Ace quietly narrated the story of the cave and the torch. Looking at the people before him, he asked: “How do you think his companions will treat him? How will they treat the first one to see ‘truth’?”
Arno stood up and said: “They will surely respect him greatly and allow him to lead the remaining prisoners to the world of light!”
The other Wizard Apprentices contemplated, not answering immediately.
Bayen thought to himself. Standing outside the story, Arno’s answer seemed correct, but what if he became a prisoner himself?
Since birth, unable to walk or turn his head, only able to look at the cavern wall, only able to see the images on the wall—in their cognition, those images are everything!
Would they truly trust a companion who shattered their entire perception of reality?
“The other prisoners in the cave will not trust the prisoner who saw the world of light. They will not trust him. If that prisoner attempts to free the others, his life will be in danger!”
“Because those prisoners have never seen the truth. They live in illusion. They can only see what the cave presents to them! They are the non-thinking beings!” Bayen stood up and said resolutely.
Ace, floating above the bonfire, looked at the resolute Bayen with some relief.
He said softly: “The prisoners not only disbelieve every word he says, but they think that running up there has ruined his eyes, since he can no longer distinguish the ‘images’ as he did before.”
“Because they are fundamentally unwilling to leave the world they are accustomed to, they end up killing the kind-hearted person.”
“In reality, we may also be in this cave, living in ignorance. If someone reveals a truth that completely overturns our cognition, how will we react?”
The assembled apprentices sank into contemplation. If someone in reality completely overturned their cognition, how should they react?
“Decades ago, in the northern city-state of Milne, the Pythagorean school was thriving! Their cornerstone theory, proposed by Pythagoras, was: ‘The ratio of any two line segments can be expressed as the ratio of two integers.’”
Everyone present had studied Elementary Mathematics and knew that numbers were not limited to integers and fractions. There were irrational numbers and even more extensions. The apprentices debated amongst themselves. It was difficult to believe that anyone had taken this theory as their foundation.
“You may find it unbelievable, but in the view of the Pythagoreans, that was the reality of the mathematical world. Later, a student of the Pythagorean school named Hippasus discovered that the Pythagorean theorem generalized to a2+b2=c2. Assuming a=1 and b=1, then c2=2.
You who have studied Elementary Mathematics know that c=2, which is a non-repeating, non-terminating decimal. But to the followers of the Pythagorean school, this shattered their understanding of numbers. Therefore, they drowned Hippasus!”
“The Pythagorean school was utterly foolish!”
“How could anyone mistake a fallacy for truth!”
“They were the prisoners in the cave!”
The apprentices discussed fiercely. Warren continued to think deeply: what was the connection between the Cave Analogy and the Murder of the New Number to correct thinking and rational cognition?
He seemed to grasp something, but when he tried to hold it, it slipped away.
“My apprentices, if one day, someone among you claims that the current foundation of Magic—the Mana-Mana essence-Rune-Spell Model system—is fundamentally incorrect, what would you think?” Ace asked gently, hovering in the air.
The bonfire was slowly dying down. The sun was gradually rising. Dawn broke in the east.
The apprentices were in an uproar. They had just stepped through the gate of Magic. They were stumbling along the path of the Mana-Mana essence-Rune-Spell Model system. This path was so fascinating, granting them supernatural power. How could it possibly be wrong?
“The Mana-Mana essence-Rune-Spell Model system is a true summarization of the supernatural phenomena in this world. It might be incomplete, but it cannot be wrong!”
“It is hard to believe this path is wrong! If it were wrong, how could it grant us supernatural power!”
Doubt and surprise flashed in Warren’s eyes. Could it be!
“My apprentices, this is the cognitive barrier! If that day truly comes, and all Wizards, including myself, unanimously oppose this question, then we will have become the prisoners of the cave, the followers of the Pythagorean school!”
“Correct thinking and rational cognition demand that we do not blindly follow authority. We must always maintain an objective and neutral mindset and research spirit!”
“As long as we maintain an objective and neutral research spirit and do not blindly follow authority, we Wizards will be a collective of thinking beings. We will be the measure of all things!”
The long night was over. Dawn broke in the east. The sun rose.
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