"I know. For example, insects and annelids have very primitive nervous systems, and the speed at which they transmit information is really slow. It's only around one meter per second. But the speed at which human nerves transmit information can reach one hundred meters per second. It's one hundred times faster than the speed of low-grade creatures. It's no wonder then why sparks of intelligence can be born when neural information collides."
"That's right. The reason why the neural information transmission speed of high-grade animals like humans is so fast is because there's a layer of myelin sheath around the axons of our nerve cells. The myelin sheath prevents electrical impulses from being transmitted from one neuron's axon to another neuron's axon. Aside from that, it also uses a skipping conduction mechanism to speed up the transmission of action potentials."
Gao Ye thought about it and made an example. "If the nerves of low-grade animals are like a bumpy village road, and if they're the slightest bit careless, a car will drive off the road, then the nerves of high-grade vertebrates like humans are wrapped in myelin sheaths. It's like the road has been lifted up and sealed off, turning it into an information highway. The transmission speed is naturally one hundred times faster.
"As for superhumans, by absorbing spirit energy and using it to continuously refine their nervous systems, they can gradually form spirit meridians or even crystal meridians in their bodies. It's the same as upgrading a highway to a high-speed railway. The neural information transmission speed of high-grade superhumans can reach a terrifying one thousand meters per second. Regardless of whether it's their logical deduction abilities, calculation abilities, or comprehension abilities, they're naturally ten times stronger than a normal person's.
"But evolving myelin sheaths isn't the only way to give rise to intelligence.
"Many animals choose another path of evolution, and that's to continuously increase the diameter of their nerve fibers.
"Scientific research has proven that the diameter of nerve fibers is directly proportional to the transmission speed of neural information.
"The best examples in this regard are octopuses and squids.
"The thickest axon fiber in a human's body is no more than twenty microns in diameter. When fifty of them are placed together, they can barely reach a diameter of one millimeter.
"And some squids have huge axons with diameters of one millimeter, which is fifty times that of a human's.
"Even if they don't have myelin sheaths, these thick nerves give octopuses and squids great intelligence.
"They're the most cunning creatures in the sea. They even know how to use all sorts of tools. Early on, on Earth, marine biologists discovered that when octopuses hunt oysters, their favorite food, they use their soft tentacles to roll up pebbles on the shore. When the oysters open their shells, they toss the pebbles inside to jam the shells. Then, they calmly eat the soft bodies of the oysters.
"This is intelligence that many vertebrates don't have.
"No wonder many people say that octopuses are the most alien creatures on Earth. Without human interference, they might be able to evolve a different kind of intelligence from humans.
"When we transmigrated to the Other World and saw snakes, insects, rats, and ants that were more than three feet long, especially large insects, arthropods, and mollusks, we were puzzled.
"According to the research on Earth, the organs and body structure of insects are unable to maintain a body size of more than one meter. Even if they are not crushed by their own weight, the fatal weakness of the speed of nerve transmission will make their reactions extremely slow.
"But after we captured and dissected some of the insect-type monsters, we noticed that their nerve fibers are similar to the octopuses and cuttlefish on Earth. The diameter of their nerves has swelled up by one hundred times, which is why they can move agilely and quickly with their large bodies."
Meng Chao nodded with a contemplative expression. "So, when we modify Giant Sandworms, if we insert gene fragments from octopuses or cuttlefish so that the Giant Sandworms' nerve fibers will swell to the max, we can increase their intelligence?"
"Yes. The diameter of the Giant Sandworms modified by Spirit Creations Creatures can reach more than three millimeters. It's enough for them to understand all sorts of complicated commands."
Gao Ye paused for a moment before he said, "If we wrap myelin sheaths around the Giant Sandworms' nerve fibers, their intelligence can increase even further. They can even reach the level of pet cats and dogs."
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath. "What?!"
"There are only two ways to increase intelligence. One is to make the nerves thicker like octopuses, or the other is to wrap myelin sheaths like vertebrates. But if we fuse the two methods together and wrap myelin sheaths around incredibly thick nerve fibers, just how terrifying will the speed of nerve transmission become? Aren't you curious?"
Meng Chao gulped laboriously. "Is your company conducting research in this area?"
"No."
Gao Ye's face was full of regret. "I do want to modify Giant Sandworms with super high intelligence, but Xie Xiaolei doesn't think that there's a need for it, because he can't find any suitable buyers in the commercial market.
"At the end of the day, he's a businessman. He does everything from the perspective of profit. I can only respect his opinion."
"I think …" Meng Chao said.
"It's better if we don't conduct research in this area. Otherwise, if we end up creating Giant Sandworms that are even smarter than humans, don't you think that it'll be very dangerous?"
"I don't know which is more dangerous, intelligent monsters or monsters that are completely ignorant and driven by their killing instincts," Gao Ye said.
"Have you seen an insect horde before? It's a dense horde of pests. They form a mighty black wave that charges at the human defense line. No matter how many of their kind are torn to shreds, burned to a crisp, or electrocuted until sparks fly everywhere, there's an endless stream of them.
"In the end, thousands of insects are reduced to ashes, but the humans also suffer heavy casualties. It's a situation where both sides are severely injured.
"Why is that?
"Because the insect horde doesn't have intelligence.
"Those insect-type monsters are just machines made of flesh and blood with some sort of order sealed in them. They have no consciousness, no intelligence, and they don't have the concept of life and death. When bullets tear through their bodies, they don't feel even the slightest bit of fear.
"I think that's the most terrifying thing.
"If we can give the low-grade creatures some intelligence, we don't need to give them too much. We just need to make them understand how precious life is and how terrifying human weapons are. In fact, we can even make them understand that it's better to become humans' slaves than to become their enemies. It's a simple logic. Perhaps we can use another method to solve the Monster War."
Meng Chao hesitated.
With just tens of millions of people, even if they could conquer it, it was impossible for them to rule over a planet that was filled with spirit energy and could evolve and mutate really quickly.
This was what many people agreed on.
When faced with the question of how to conquer and rule over the Other World, people with different occupations, different factions of power, and different interests gave different answers.
In Agricultural University, which was known as the Monster University, the idea of giving monsters a certain degree of intelligence and turning fierce beasts and monsters into spirit beasts and pets so that they could be the vanguards of Earth's army was very popular. They could serve as cannon fodder, slaves, tools, partners, and allies. In the end, they could conquer the Other World.
If he stood in Gao Ye's shoes, it was normal for him to have such thoughts.
However, when he remembered the damage the Nine Great Supernatural Entities had caused to Dragon City in his previous life, Meng Chao still felt a little uneasy.
"I still can't imagine what sort of impact and change it will bring to our civilization once monsters that are smarter than humans appear," Meng Chao mumbled.
"Meng Chao, you're thinking too far ahead," Gao Ye said.
"The speed of nerve transmission is just the foundation for intelligence. It doesn't mean that as long as you wrap myelin sheaths around thick nerve fibers, you'll instantly gain intelligence.
"On one hand, the brain structure of Giant Sandworms is very primitive, and it's completely different from the highly developed brains of humans. Even if information flows can move about quickly in their complicated and huge neural networks, without a real brain to analyze and integrate the information, it's still impossible for the information to turn into intelligence.
"Even if we modify our genes so that Giant Sandworms have a larger brain and a real brain, it's just hardware.
"If we talk about hardware, the brain volume, number of neurons, and brain circuits of ancient humans during the Stone Age millions of years ago were about the same as modern humans.
"But it's impossible for the humans of the Stone Age to have modern humans' intelligence.
"Because intelligence isn't just the collision of electrical sparks. It's also the accumulation of thousands of years of history and the sum of complicated social relationships.
"If you throw a normal and healthy modern human baby into the wild, even if he doesn't die and grows up to eighteen years old, he won't be able to gain any intelligence.
"If you send a strong primitive from the Stone Age to the current Dragon City, he won't be able to pose any threat.
"So, if you think that Giant Sandworms will instantly gain intelligence and a deep understanding of human civilization once they have sufficiently developed nerves and brains, then you'll think that they'll have emotions and great ambition like humans, then you'll think that you're worrying for nothing.
"At the end of the day, intelligence isn't necessary for survival. If Giant Sandworms can live comfortably by eating trash and rocks, there's no need for them to gain true intelligence. They won't be interested in them, and it's impossible for them to gain true intelligence."
Meng Chao thought about Gao Ye's words seriously.
He had to admit that the Giant Sandworm expert was right.
Then, what was going on with the Giant Sandworms that had evolved into Supernatural Entities in his previous life?
While he was thinking about it, two researchers in negative pressure protective suits sent the test results to him in the lab.
When Gao Ye saw it, his expression turned dark, and he cursed under his breath.
"How is it?" Meng Chao asked quickly.
"I knew it," Gao Ye said.
"Someone injected a virus into the Giant Sandworms!" Gao Ye said.
Meng Chao thought about it. "Are you sure it's man-made and not a virus infected in the wild?"
"It's definitely not," Gao Ye said.
"There are more than ten natural subtypes of mutated rabies, and all of them can be transmitted between humans and animals, but the new mutated rabies found in Giant Sandworms can't be transmitted to humans. It's not a product of natural mutation, but a product developed by humans in a lab." Gao Ye said.
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