Chapter 646
Unbelievable Speculation
Chapter 646 Unbelievable Speculation
Inside the laboratory, Lin Xiaohe rubbed her eyes.
If nothing unexpected happens, she has figured out what this thing is and how it causes the disease.
"Xinbao, notify the expert team to convene a meeting immediately."
"Okay." Xinbao was incredibly efficient, notifying everyone in less than 10 minutes and compiling Lin Xiaohe's research findings into a booklet.
Outside the conference room window, the cold wind howled and snowflakes fluttered.
In the conference room, the cold light from the projector illuminated the focused faces, and the air was filled with the slightly bitter smell of coffee and the scent of whiteboard marker ink.
As soon as the experts received Xinbao's notification, they immediately put down what they were doing and rushed over.
Some people crossed their arms and leaned back, while others bent forward, and there was only a sparse, quiet discussion.
The water droplets that had condensed on the rim of the glass slid silently across the surface, casting tiny spots of light on the ground.
The air fell silent instantly, and everyone looked up at the figure appearing at the doorway.
Lin Xiaohe strode in, and her research materials appeared simultaneously on the projector in the conference room.
"Enough with the small talk, let's get straight to the point."
Xinbao sent the meeting summary to the experts' wristbands.
Lin Xiaohe sat down at the front of the class, her voice sounding a little muffled because she was wearing a mask.
"After our tireless observation day and night, we have finally found the culprit behind this illness. This mysterious element is not naturally formed; it is essentially a molecular machine. I will tentatively name it X-47 Recombinant Factor."
The conference room erupted in a roar.
Man-made?!
Can human technology achieve this level?
It's not that they lack confidence; it's that they are extremely self-aware.
Ignoring the astonishment and doubt of the crowd, Lin Xiaohe continued, "Its structure can be understood as a highly compressed nucleic acid-like backbone, wrapped in a lipid bilayer membrane similar to an exosome, with a diameter of about 30 nanometers, which is smaller than most viruses and more similar in shape to artificial nanoparticles."
"After X-47 enters the human body, it does not replicate itself, but rather acts like an exogenous editor pre-programmed with a program, using existing CRISPR-related proteins and polymerases in the host cell nucleus to target and knock out or silence specific gene loci."
Mr. Yuan opened his mouth wide enough to fit a large goose egg.
Artificial nanoparticles? Has our motherland developed to this extent?
And then there's targeted gene knockout... Even the latest science fiction novels wouldn't dare to write something like that!
Lin Xiaohe's next words, however, were perfectly logically consistent.
"X-47 targets a highly specific set of genes that are regulatory on glutamate metabolism in the central nervous system and the expression of tight junction proteins in the blood-brain barrier. Key genes include the EAAT2 gene and the CLDN5 gene."
Ah? ?
They even found the gene location points?
Weren't we in the lab together, doing experiments together?
Why is there such a huge difference between people? It's even greater than the difference between species!
Let's not say anything more, let's just quietly watch the big shots show off.
Regardless of whether Lin Xiaohe is right or wrong, at least she gave us a clue, while the others couldn't even find a clue.
Everyone listened attentively.
Lin Xiaohe: "After X-47 enters the neural cell precursor, it guides the host nucleus Cas9 homologous protein to perform hypermethylation modification on the CpG islands in the promoter regions of the two genes mentioned above. The result of this modification is not cell destruction, but rather the continuous silencing of these two genes, preventing the transcription of their corresponding functional proteins..."
After a long and well-reasoned analysis, Lin Xiaohe drew a conclusion.
"What has been said above ultimately leads patients to the same end point: the complete separation of consciousness and body. Now, please feel free to speak your minds and share your opinions."
The meeting room was eerily quiet. The complete separation of consciousness and body—what an unfamiliar concept.
There is no standard answer to the question of what consciousness is in the scientific community; there are huge disagreements, and even the research paradigms themselves are in fierce conflict.
The most intense theoretical battleground is the clash between the two major models.
One theory is the global neural workspace theory, which posits that consciousness is not a product of a particular brain region, but rather arises when information is broadcast to the entire prefrontal cortex and enters higher networks such as the prefrontal-parietal lobes.
The second theory is the integrated information theory, which posits that consciousness is essentially the degree of information integration within a system, and that the physical mechanism of consciousness is locked in the hotspot area at the back of the brain.
Lin Xiaohe's words suggest that she is very clear about what consciousness is.
The organization that produces the X-47 gene recombinant factor not only understands what consciousness is, but can also separate consciousness from the body.
This……
This is no longer just wishful thinking; it has reached the point of absurdity.
Out of respect and awe for Lin Xiaohe's abilities, the experts generally disagreed with her statements, but were powerless to refute them and could only remain silent.
Lin Xiaohe took this silence as agreement.
After all, Lin Xiaohe is quite experienced in playing mind games.
Before she even understood the various scientific theories of the Interstellar Federation, she was already a master at the level of consciousness.
In the scientific community, she was merely a porter for the interstellar federation.
On a conscious level, she is the ancestor! Within the known star regions, she is invincible.
Lin Xiaohe: "Based on the pathogenesis, we have revised the three stages of the disease and added an incubation period, a middle period, and a late period. The only possible prodromal signal in the early stage is a transient decrease in the sense of smell or a brief phantom smell, which most people will not notice."
"In the middle stage, the patient's behavior regresses and language function disintegrates. Although perception exists, it cannot be translated into identifiable responses. During this stage, the waveforms of wakefulness and slow-wave sleep are chaotically overlapping and cannot be classified into any known state of consciousness."
"In the late stage, the patient fell into a deep coma again, his heart rate slowed down, his blood pressure dropped, and he was trapped in a body that could hear and feel, but could not respond in any way."
Until this perception disappears, consciousness and body are completely separated.
Can a body without consciousness still be considered alive?
The meeting room fell silent again for a long time.
It took everyone more than half an hour to hurriedly and barely digest Lin Xiaohe's research results.
Unable to contain himself any longer, Yuan raised his hand and asked, "What exactly is awareness?"
All of Lin Xiaohe's inferences are based on the concept of consciousness.
If she cannot clearly define consciousness, or if the consciousness she speaks of is not true consciousness, then the entire conclusion is wrong.
Lin Xiaohe thought for a moment and organized her thoughts: "Consciousness is not simply a collection or integration of information. It exists from the moment of conception. It's like a large lump of clay, and an individual's growth experience and the information they receive shape the clay into different forms. However, because humans haven't fully developed their consciousness, the shaped clay only accounts for a small portion of the original clay."
Everyone was shocked, and a heated discussion broke out in the conference room.
"This is absurd. This theory completely contradicts both models."
"It's like going from the science channel to the theology channel all at once."
"A fertilized egg has no consciousness!"
How could a brain have consciousness if it hasn't even grown yet?
Lin Xiaohe's understanding of consciousness completely defied common sense. The crowd simply couldn't accept it.