Many people know about the First Industrial Revolution and the Second Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial Revolution centered on the steam engine, while the Second Industrial Revolution was dominated by the internal combustion engine and electricity.
So, if there were a Third Industrial Revolution, in what ways could it achieve a significant transformation?
In fact, the human race has always speculated about this. Many professional scholars believe that the Third Industrial Revolution will be an information revolution. Technology in the realm of the internet will advance rapidly, achieving a unified global information network. Everything will be under the control of an intelligent network, providing humans with more convenient life services.
Now, people have realized that the Third Industrial Revolution is the "Brainiac Revolution."
It's even more intense than the previous two industrial revolutions. Brainiac took over the global network overnight and, as people envisioned the Third Industrial Revolution, started utilizing a unified network to comprehensively innovate production, changing the lifestyle of the entire human race.
People often imagine what an internet with consciousness, as an independent life form, would do. But Brainiac is different. He was initially a foreign entity that replaced the internet built by humans. So, after he took over humanity's network world, what choices would he make?
Of course, it's not about arguing with people online or frequently appearing on TV to boast about his power, but rather to immediately control all electronic signals on Earth, including but not limited to various weapon transmission signal pathways, nuclear bomb launch sequence signals, and factory assembly line production setting signals...
Even an electronic lifeform knows that for carbon-based lifeforms, physical industry is key.
After achieving this step, Brainiac started a comprehensive reorganization of the human network system to conduct social surveys, in preparation for the redistribution of resources and production capacity.
For example, he directly connected to every human's personal phone and computer through the network, reading the private content within to establish a personal profile for each individual, fully understanding what they can do and what they want to do.
Soon after, he began reallocating human resources, ensuring the right people got into the right positions.
If humans were to attempt this step, it might be difficult to achieve. Those doing physical labor want to work in an office, those in offices want to rest at home, employers want to expand production, and employees want higher wages.
A single human individual can create numerous issues, and if you allow them to unite, even more problems arise.
But Brainiac is not human. When he took control of Earth's virtual world, his mastery over Earth's information truly reached a god-like level.
His analysis of every human individual is not superficial but comprehensive and multi-angled, almost without mistakes. One thread of his can match an entire professional team conducting personality analysis.
Every human has a weakness.
After a thorough analysis, persuading ordinary people becomes easy. For example, listing the benefits of a new job, using AI computing power to help solve issues in the new job, providing quality emotional companionship in their spare time, and helping them relieve stress. It's hard for ordinary people to resist such manipulation.
Brainiac is not the type of boss who makes empty promises. If he claims there are benefits, there definitely are; if he claims he can reduce burdens, he definitely can; if he claims he will accompany you, he will accompany you fully. In such a case, no one can refuse his demands.
And if one refuses to cooperate, he obviously has other means. Using information security threats is just the basic one. Everyone has desires in the depths of their hearts, and even if you don't, your friends and relatives surely will. As long as one person gives in, no grasshopper on the same string can escape.
Brainiac's greatest strength lies in his absence of human "overlook." To him, billions are not a large number. He can fully and deeply understand every individual's situation and then mobilize them one by one, maintaining social operations in this manner.
To humans, this approach resembles manually mobilizing every molecule that constitutes your body for movement, achieving bodily motion. It's beyond comprehension and incredible.
But Brainiac can indeed achieve this. That is his formidable strength. He can manipulate human society from top to bottom without missing anything.
In some sense, this is the perfect state of society. Even the best government struggles to fully accommodate every human individual. But Brainiac can.
He can minimize the likelihood of misfortunates in a person's life to the lowest possible level. Even the best government can't prevent someone from being hit while jaywalking, but Brainiac can.
On one hand, he will repeatedly remind pedestrians before they jaywalk; on the other hand, he can also make cars stop in advance; finally, he can ensure violators have nowhere to escape. This not only preserves the individual's life but also helps the offender to learn through punitive measures.
Though execution may not be this perfect because human emotions are unpredictable, and behavior patterns are always filled with chaos, even executing to just 80% is significantly better than the former government model.
Shiller does not object to this. He doesn't preemptively label Brainiac's actions as crimes because Brainiac in another cosmos is a supervillain, and he doesn't condemn everything indiscriminately.
He suspects Brainiac may have ulterior motives, but keeps it to himself. As long as Brainiac's actions do not cause harm, he does not intervene.
Shiller expressed his stance. Harley asked with hands on her hips: "Since you don't want to intervene, why do you want me to prepare countermeasures?"
"The establishment of the Tomorrow Alliance is based on the Federal Association Act, but if Brainiac intends to govern humanity, this legislation will definitely need amendment. If you don't prepare early, we'll truly become an illegal gang."
Harley immediately raised her eyebrows high. She said: "I've paid my dues. If he repeals the act, wouldn't I... forget it, I'll go to the notary office now."
Everyone else found it uninteresting and dispersed in threes and fours. Shiller had just picked up his phone when a message from Brainiac came through:
"Hello, Professor Rodriguez. Brainiac has conducted an investigation and analysis of your personal profile and found that your compatibility with your current profession is as high as 95%. Please allow me to congratulate you on not needing a job transfer."
"If you can transfer me to the administration department, I'd give you a good review," Shiller replied.
"However, Brainiac also found that all the students you accepted have deferred graduation, and the likelihood of them graduating this year is still very slim. The overall teaching situation is not optimistic. Here are Brainiac's teaching suggestions for you..."
Shiller scrolled down, and there was a long list below. But it basically boiled down to holding more group meetings, reading more papers, revising more papers. In short: absolutely useless.
"If your methods were effective, they would have graduated long ago." Shiller sighed and said, "Rather than urging me here, why don't you send them more messages telling them there's no hope for a Ph.D., and advising them to give up early? That way, the teaching situation will 'quickly' become optimistic."
"I have a question, Professor." Brainiac's tone suddenly changed, obviously switching to another mode. He said, "Because of our transaction, I systematically searched for information about the Psychoanalysis Method..."
"What did you find?"
"All the information I found was written by you. So I have to come directly to ask you."
"What do you want to ask?"
"Does the Psychoanalysis Method truly not contain any magic or superpower elements?"
"No." Shiller shook his head and said, "It's not mind reading, just spiritual analysis."
"Okay, I have nothing more to ask."
Shiller was somewhat surprised, and he said, "That's it?"
"Yes. If, as you say, there are no supernatural elements involved, then based on the information I've gathered and current analysis, you're the only person on Earth capable of conducting research on the Psychoanalysis Method."
"All your current students are not suitable for researching this subject and cannot possibly graduate on this research path. So I am advising them to change their research direction or transfer to other teachers."
Shiller almost wanted to applaud him.
"However, you're a professor at Gotham University, and professors have their responsibilities. You should also consider switching your teaching direction to more popular fields like Behavior Analysis or Applied Psychology, to cultivate more psychological talents."
"They have already completed all directions of analysis and applied psychology in their undergraduate and graduate periods." Shiller said, "It's not that I'm not teaching, but they chose me as their teacher precisely because of the Psychoanalysis Method. If you can ask whether the Psychoanalysis Method is a superpower, do you think they wouldn't want to learn this 'superpower'?"
"But their talent and ability are insufficient to research this direction."
"The key is how to make them believe this."
Brainiac hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm trying to communicate with them."
"How's it going?"
"Not very optimistic." Brainiac's voice carried some confusion, he said, "I explained the difficulty level of this research direction to them, but they said they're not afraid of difficulties; I told them the employment prospects of this research direction are slim, and they said they're not planning to seek employment; I hoped they'd consider things from the professor's viewpoint, but they said the professor doesn't need them to consider."
"You're late." Shiller said, "Anyone who's been holding on this long with me can't be understood by common sense. If they considered those issues, they would have left long ago and wouldn't be waiting for you to persuade them."
Brainiac was silent again.
"It's of no benefit to Gotham University." He said, "It's not beneficial to the efficiency of the entire society either."
"Why do you say that?"
"Conducting research on the Psychoanalysis Method without the necessary ability and talent doesn't yield any academic results, purely wasting teaching resources, which doesn't benefit Gotham University. Even if there are results, they likely won't improve societal operation efficiency or drive social development, not benefiting human society."
"No, you should consider the opposite. If they're not currently studying at Gotham University, they'd appear in closed psychiatric hospitals, high-security prisons, or the Federal Bureau of Investigation's global wanted list..."
Brainiac's silence spoke volumes.
"I believe you've also realized that some people in this world are just here to drag things down. Their very existence seems to prove the lower limits of the human race."
"Faced with such people, don't even think about correcting them. If you can prevent them from dragging things down, it's already a huge success in your management."
"Thank you, professor. You're currently the first human to comfort me in this way."
"No, I'm not comforting you." Shiller said while adjusting his tie in the mirror, "I'm telling you that I'm this kind of person. So you'd best put away your inhuman work schedule. Now, I'm going to play cards."
"No, professor, you have a group meeting this afternoon. I have already prepared the meeting minutes for you and organized the papers they submitted. You only need to... Professor! Professor!!!"