The Savior's Inner Circulation: "22nd Century Murder Network" Read Now

"22nd Century Killing Network" is a sci-fi classic of the millennial era. The first episode was eye-opening in terms of plot, world view and special effects, but there was a big gap between the second and third episodes. In addition to the attitude of the production, the author believes that the first episode and the second and third episodes present two different world views and their struggles. Not without coincidence, the real world today is experiencing the same struggle.

The story of the first episode is very similar to that of many superhero films today, and it mainly tells the path of the protagonist Neo to become the savior. It presents the "Revolution-Messiah" linear time worldview: the world is being enslaved, waiting for a superhuman savior to come. The second and third episodes changed the natural philosophy cycle world view through the dialogue between Neo and the two characters "Oracle" and "Designer". It turns out that the so-called "savior" is just the sum of the mistakes made by human beings when the program is running. Before reaching a certain critical point, it must be "recycled by waste", otherwise the human and the machine will be thrown together. In other words, the so-called savior is not actually a transcendent existence, but a part of the fatal design cycle, and there is nothing to save. The author was impressed that Neo asked the oracle, if she was omniscient, what other options would there be? The oracle's answer was that he did not come to make choices, but to understand the meaning. The classic contradiction between free will and omniscience was broken by fatalism. In the same way, the designer even considered the loss of Neo's choice of man-machine speculation to the machine within the calculation and acceptance range. It can be seen that the machine is also indifferent to his choice, and even ridiculed Neo for being emotional.

Is the above story familiar? In fact, it is the challenge facing the world today.

A series of speeches last month by senior U.S. officials, dubbed the "New Cold War Manifesto," described the historical shift in Sino-U.S. relations. Fifty years ago, China and the United States began to establish friendly relations and established diplomatic relations. The US has always adopted the strategy of democracy and market economy, believing that as long as it helps the North to rebuild its economy and middle class, it can change China and become a member of globalization. The US still insists on this strategy even after 1989, which can be said to be a Western "revolutionary-messiah" strategy. Fukuyama wrote about the end of history after the fall of the Soviet Union based on this argument. However, the Northern Empire has created another set of consciousness to counter the challenge of this set of powerful world powers called "Protestant-Liberalism". To put it bluntly, the ancient empire believed in the naturalistic circular interpretation of history, and believed that in the past, I was the center of the world and a powerful country, and the outside world was barbaric. The decline of nearly two hundred years is just not with me from time to time, but today there is a second revival from time to time, and the dragon has become the center of the world again. This empire asks itself to be unstoppable, because it claims that its emergence today is a historical inevitability. Therefore, everything that opposes it is in vain, and the choices of all opponents cannot reverse the fate. Many insightful people scoffed at this superstition. It was reasonable at first, but they didn’t realize that it was the key to understanding its behavior today. It is not uncommon at home and abroad to agree.

When you come here, you should understand the overlap between "22nd Century Killing Network" and reality. The Northern Empire, like a mother body, enslaves mankind, and sells fatalism to mankind: its own existence is inevitable and beneficial to mankind, any revolution is ineffective, and mankind does not need democracy to save it. Therefore, it believes that today's revival is a debt to it from external forces, and that all plundering and infiltration by external forces are justified and are not ashamed. All means are right for revival. Similarly, all means of resistance, such as staying behind or resigning, 35+ or not, universal suffrage or not, are all in vain, and the fate of the revival is simply insignificant.

So what inspiration does the story of "22nd Century Killing Network" have for today? The first thing to look at is to think about how to understand Neo and machines reconcile or even solve problems for them. By today's standards, isn't the savior becoming a machine to betray "fellow travelers", or "getting to sleep overnight; looking at the four realms, and the Qin soldiers are here again"?

The author believes that Neo demonstrates the principle of using the weak to control the strong, which is to get rid of the sense of despair and destiny instilled by hegemony. The method is to break the seemingly unbreakable plot. The key is two: 1. Insight into the weakness of hegemony, in the story, even if Agent Smith becomes a matrix, the crazy formula cannot be eliminated; 2. Use the weakness to resort to pragmatism. Granted, the bad consequences are all within the machine's calculations and can be waived, so why did it take Neo's advice? It is the pragmatic side of the machine. What if it is not stupid and smart enough to make the fate cycle deserted? Putting it back in reality, it is not impossible for the disadvantaged Hong Kong people to make concessions from the Northern Empire. In addition to the eight strands of "great national rejuvenation", it also has a pragmatic side within it. The key is how to draw it out and use it to the benefit of Hong Kong people. Perhaps after more than a year of fighting, this view seems unfamiliar or even impossible, but this is exactly what this empire wants people to believe that its holy sanctuary will never waver. However, there are too many examples in history where it says one thing but does another according to the times. There is an example of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in the 1970s. We should not be too desperate.

After all, "22nd Century Killing Network" is just a fictional story, and the direction of history can be very diverse. Perhaps the most important message of "22nd Century Killing Network" for today is to provide another set of discourses about empire. Hegemony will fall one day before it can emerge from the pessimistic cycle of fate it sells. Just like the oracle's prophecy of the savior in the story, the designer's calculations are not perfect, and the characters next to Neo are trying to prepare for that person's arrival at that moment. Putting it into today's situation is to use the resilience of civil society to connect everyone to the greatest extent possible to face the difficulties together. Under the dark cloud of despair and pessimism, continue to help Huangdian, support struggling protesters, and participate more in decision-making in public spaces, so that Candle in the Wind can lean against the eaves with his companions until the storm passes. This is not to recognize the legitimacy of hegemony, but to deny its own authenticity in a situation of disparity in strength and interdependence, and then to plunge itself into its despairing fate. As a result, many people go to two extremes: either try to jump to despair and say no, say "the movement will be gone", shout to "be wild" and escalate to more radical actions, which will only become a flash of darkness; or Get out of the savior complex and worship any idol who beats the enemy like a superhero. The author believes that these are all negative and negative reactions facing the pessimistic fate mirror, and cannot carry Hong Kong people to continue.

As for when that day will come, as the oracle who knows everything at the end of the story says, she doesn't know, she can only believe it.