# E6 - Project Alicization
Source: [Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/watch/GY8D1181Y/project-alicization)
Translator:
Editor:
Timer:
QC:
(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
**[00:04] Asuna**
Where's Kirito?
**[00:08] Higa**
What'd I tell you?
**[00:10] Higa**
That kid's this project's biggest security hole.
**[00:14] Kikuoka**
Yes. You were right.
**[00:17] Asuna**
Is Kirito safe?
**[00:18] Asuna**
Were you lying
when you said you could treat him?
**[00:21] Asuna**
Please answer me, Mr. Kikuoka!
**[00:26] Kikuoka**
Because of the attack by the fugitive
from the Death Gun incident,
**[00:29] Kikuoka**
Kirito's brain sustained damage
that modern medicine is unable to heal.
**[00:35] Kikuoka**
However...
**[00:36] Kikuoka**
Rath is the only place in the world
that has the technology to treat him.
**[00:42] Kikuoka**
I'm sure you've heard of it.
**[00:44] Kikuoka**
The STL... the Soul Translator.
**[00:48] Kikuoka**
If we use the STL
to directly stimulate his Fluctlight,
**[00:51] Kikuoka**
we can induce the generation
of a new neural network.
**[00:55] Kikuoka**
But it takes time.
**[00:57] Kikuoka**
Right now, Kirito is inside a full-spec STL,
which can only be found here.
**[01:02] Kikuoka**
The treatment he's getting
rivals that of any major hospital.
**[01:06] Kikuoka**
He even has his own personal nurse.
**[01:09] Asuna**
I understand. I'll believe you for now.
**[01:13] Rinko**
All right, if we've come this far,
why don't you just tell us everything, Mr. Kikuoka.
**[01:19] Rinko**
Such as why an SDF official like you
would use the Ministry as a front,
**[01:23] Rinko**
what are you plotting here,
**[01:26] Rinko**
and why you needed Kirigaya?
**[01:30] Kikuoka**
If you're asking that,
I'm going to have you help me.
**[01:32] Rinko**
I'll decide after I hear your answer.
**[01:35] Kikuoka**
Well, then, may I assume
you're both familiar with the concept of the STL?
**[01:41] Asuna**
It's a machine that reads a human soul,
their Fluctlight,
**[01:45] Asuna**
and allows them to dive into a virtual world
indistinguishable from reality.
**[01:49] Kikuoka**
Correct.
**[01:50] Kikuoka**
But I don't think you know
what this project's objective is.
**[01:54] Asuna**
Objective?
**[01:57] Kikuoka**
To create a bottom-up
multi-purpose artificial intelligence.
***SIGN*** Project Alicization
**[03:36] Asuna**
A bottom-up multi-purpose artificial intelligence?
**[03:40] Kikuoka**
There are two approaches
to developing artificial intelligence.
**[03:43] Kikuoka**
One is top-down.
**[03:45] Kikuoka**
Wherein you program the artificial intelligence
with experience and knowledge,
**[03:48] Kikuoka**
so that in the end
it will learn to replicate true intelligence.
**[03:53] Higa**
Including the research of Dr. Shigemura,
who'd been working with us here,
**[03:58] Higa**
almost everything considered an artificial intelligence
right now uses the top-down approach.
**[04:03] Kikuoka**
But a top-down type can't react appropriately
to anything it hasn't learned about.
**[04:08] Kikuoka**
In other words, at this time they haven't
evolved enough to be called true intelligence.
**[04:14] Kikuoka**
Next, bottom-up artificial intelligence.
**[04:18] Kikuoka**
This is the human brain.
**[04:20] Kikuoka**
It involves artificially replicating the construct
**[04:23] Kikuoka**
of a biological organ comprised
of one hundred billion linked brain cells,
**[04:26] Kikuoka**
and generating intelligence there.
**[04:30] Asuna**
Is such a thing possible?
**[04:32] Kikuoka**
Until now, it was thought to be impossible.
**[04:34] Kikuoka**
But the Soul Translator can scan a human soul,
**[04:38] Kikuoka**
the quantum field we call the Fluctlight.
**[04:43] Higa**
And to store almost the same amount of data
as a human brain,
**[04:48] Higa**
we've developed the Light Quantum Gate Crystal,
aka the Lightcube, as a medium.
**[04:53] Rinko**
Which means it can be used to copy a Fluctlight?
**[04:57] Kikuoka**
Correct.
**[04:59] Kikuoka**
We have, in fact,
succeeded in replicating the human soul.
**[05:04] Rinko**
Then why did you need to summon me
at this point?
**[05:09] Kikuoka**
Because, foolishly enough, we'd missed something.
**[05:12] Kikuoka**
The fact that an unbelievably vast
and deep chasm exists
**[05:15] Kikuoka**
between a copy of the human soul
and a true artificial intelligence.
**[05:19] Kikuoka**
Higa.
**[05:21] Kikuoka**
Show them "that."
**[05:24] Higa**
Huh? We're doing that again?
**[05:33] Higa Clone**
*Is the sampling done?*
**[05:35] Higa**
Yeah. Everything completed with no problems.
**[05:38] Higa Clone**
*Glad to hear it. But it's pitch-black,
and I can't move my body.*
**[05:43] Higa**
*Is this a glitch with the STL?
Sorry, but can you let me out of the machine?*
**[05:47] Higa**
Unfortunately, but I can't do that.
**[05:49] Higa Clone**
*Hey, what the hell?
What are you talking about?*
**[05:52] Higa Clone**
*Who are you?
Your voice doesn't sound familiar.*
**[05:55] Higa**
I'm Higa. Takeru Higa.
**[05:59] Higa Clone**
*No way! What do you mean? I'm Higa!
You'll know once I get out of the STL!*
**[06:03] Higa**
Calm down. Don't get worked up.
**[06:05] Higa**
That's not like you.
**[06:07] Higa**
You may be a copy, but you're Takeru Higa.
**[06:09] Higa**
You calmly accept situations—
**[06:11] Higa Clone**
*I'm the same as ever!*
**[06:13] Higa Clone**
*If I'm a copy, then I should feel like one!
This... This isn't...*
**[06:17] Higa Clone**
*No! Let me out of here!
Let me out of this thing!*
**[06:20] Kikuoka**
You need to calm down.
**[06:22] Kikuoka**
You're aware of the danger to your Fluctlight
if you lose the capacity for rational thought.
**[06:26] Higa Clone**
*I am being rational!*
**[06:28] Higa Clone**
*All right, then why don't I race that imposter there
by reciting the digits of pi?*
**[06:32] Higa Clone**
*3.14159265358....*
**[06:44] Higa**
And he's collapsed. One minute, eight seconds.
**[06:48] Rinko**
There's a limit to bad taste.
**[06:50] Kikuoka**
I apologize for that.
**[06:52] Kikuoka**
But now you see
why I could only explain it by showing you.
**[06:58] Kikuoka**
Including myself,
we've copied the Fluctlights of over ten people,
**[07:03] Kikuoka**
and not a single one could bear the thought
of being a copy.
**[07:09] Kikuoka**
If full copies are out of the question,
what should we do?
**[07:12] Rinko**
What should you do?
**[07:14] Rinko**
Raise them from the start?
**[07:17] Asuna**
Could it be...
**[07:18] Kikuoka**
That's right.
**[07:20] Kikuoka**
Copy the souls of newborn infants and raise them.
**[07:24] Rinko**
But what kind of environment
would you raise them in?
**[07:28] Rinko**
You can't create an exact copy of the real world.
**[07:31] Kikuoka**
Yes, that's impossible. But we realized something.
**[07:35] Kikuoka**
Plenty of perfect solutions
already exist on the network.
**[07:39] Asuna**
VRMMO worlds.
**[07:41] Higa**
You got that right.
**[07:43] Higa**
Using the Seed, we created small villages
and surrounding landscapes,
**[07:48] Higa**
and converted them for STL use.
**[07:50] Kikuoka**
In the very first town we created,
**[07:52] Kikuoka**
four members of the Rath staff raised 16 soul archetypes,
that is, AI infants, to the age of 18.
**[08:02] Kikuoka**
These 16 youths grew up quickly.
**[08:05] Kikuoka**
Although we call them artificial Fluctlights
for convenience,
**[08:08] Kikuoka**
the way they turned out
was more than satisfactory.
**[08:12] Kikuoka**
They were all very obedient and upstanding.
**[08:15] Kikuoka**
When they were joined in marriage,
we gave them babies,
**[08:18] Kikuoka**
in other words,
new soul archetypes for them to raise.
**[08:21] Kikuoka**
And after accelerating time in their world by 5,000,
there were more and more generations,
**[08:28] Kikuoka**
and by the time 3 weeks,
or 300 years in their world, had elapsed,
**[08:33] Kikuoka**
a massive society
with a population of 80,000 had emerged.
**[08:37] Rinko**
But at that level, that's a civilization simulation.
**[08:41] Kikuoka**
That's true, huh?
**[08:43] Kikuoka**
At this time, 480 years have already passed
in that world,
**[08:46] Kikuoka**
and the population of the capital, Centoria,
has reached 20,000.
**[08:49] Higa**
At this time, the artificial Fluctlights have matured
into the bottom-up AIs that we'd hoped for.
**[08:55] Higa**
So we were thrilled
to be able to move on to the next phase.
**[08:59] Higa**
However...
**[09:00] Kikuoka**
That's when we noticed a certain major issue.
**[09:04] Rinko**
Issue?
**[09:05] Kikuoka**
A governing body called the Axiom Church
had created laws known as the Taboo Index.
**[09:10] Asuna**
Taboo Index?
**[09:12] Kikuoka**
It contained, for example, a law forbidding murder,
like we have in the real world.
**[09:17] Kikuoka**
But just by watching the news,
it's clear how often humans violate such laws.
**[09:23] Kikuoka**
However, the Fluctlights obey those laws.
**[09:26] Kikuoka**
Obey them excessively, you could say.
**[09:29] Kikuoka**
This town is beautiful, and far too perfect.
**[09:31] Kikuoka**
There isn't a piece of garbage on the streets,
and not a single thief.
**[09:35] Kikuoka**
Needless to say,
no murder has ever been committed.
**[09:39] Rinko**
And how is that an issue?
**[09:43] Asuna**
Could it be that your objective...
**[09:46] Asuna**
...is to create AIs capable of murder?
**[09:50] Asuna**
Both Kirito and I guessed that
the reason for your interest in VRMMOs
**[09:55] Asuna**
was because the technology could be applied
to police work and SDF training. But...
**[10:02] Asuna**
This project is far too ambitious.
**[10:04] Asuna**
For an SDF official like yourself
to attempt something of this scale...
**[10:08] Asuna**
What you want is to build AIs capable
of killing enemy soldiers in battle.
**[10:13] Asuna**
Isn't that the reason?
**[10:16] Rinko**
Is that true, Mr. Kikuoka?
**[10:20] Kikuoka**
Five years ago,
**[10:22] Kikuoka**
when the NerveGear was announced,
**[10:24] Kikuoka**
it struck me.
**[10:26] Kikuoka**
This technology had the potential
to upend the very notion of war.
***SIGN*** Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications
**[10:33] Kikuoka**
When the SAO incident occurred,
**[10:35] Kikuoka**
I volunteered to transfer to the Ministry,
and joined the task force.
**[10:40] Kikuoka**
I did all that
so I could get this project off the ground.
**[10:44] Kikuoka**
It took me five years to finally get to this point.
**[10:48] Rinko**
Why did you decide to take part in this project, Higa?
**[10:51] Higa**
Well, actually,
my motive was a bit more personal.
**[10:56] Higa**
I was friends with this guy
when I was a student at a college in Korea.
**[11:00] Higa**
And he died while serving in the army.
**[11:03] Higa**
And so I thought...
even if this world is never rid of war,
**[11:08] Higa**
at least if people never had to die anymore, then...
**[11:12] Higa**
I know it's a pretty childish reason.
**[11:15] Asuna**
But you haven't spoken a word of this to Kirito.
**[11:19] Kikuoka**
What makes you think that?
**[11:21] Asuna**
If you had talked to him about it,
he never would've agreed to help you.
**[11:25] Asuna**
There's one crucial point of view
missing from your story.
**[11:29] Kikuoka**
And that is?
**[11:31] Asuna**
The rights of the artificial intelligences.
**[11:34] Asuna**
These so-called artificial Fluctlights
have the same cognitive abilities as humans, right?
**[11:39] Kikuoka**
It's not as if they have physical bodies.
**[11:42] Asuna**
But they're no different than living beings.
**[11:45] Asuna**
Forcing them to kill or be killed as tools of war...
**[11:48] Asuna**
Kirito would never play a part in that!
**[11:51] Asuna**
Never.
**[11:52] Kikuoka**
It's not like I don't understand
what you're saying.
**[11:55] Kikuoka**
But to me, the lives of 100,000 artificial intelligences
are worth far less than a single SDF soldier's.
**[12:05] Rinko**
Anyway, why did you need Kirigaya?
**[12:09] Rinko**
Why would you use him at the risk
of leaking something so highly confidential?
**[12:13] Kikuoka**
Oh, right. I was telling you all this
to help me explain that.
**[12:19] Kikuoka**
Why are the artificial Fluctlights
unable to disobey the Taboo Index?
**[12:24] Kikuoka**
That's when I came up with a certain experiment.
**[12:27] Kikuoka**
If we were to block all of a real human's memories,
**[12:30] Kikuoka**
revert him to childhood
and have him grow up in the virtual world,
**[12:34] Kikuoka**
would the subject be able
to disobey the Taboo Index?
**[12:38] Kikuoka**
To carry out this experiment, we needed a subject
who was used to moving in a virtual world.
**[12:42] Kikuoka**
And not just a week or a month's worth,
but experience amounting to years.
**[12:49] Kikuoka**
You understand now, don't you?
**[12:53] Leafa**
I can't believe
my brother got involved in something like that.
***SIGN*** Sunday, July 5, 2026 Sylvain
**[12:58] Silica**
Do you think it's okay to trust Mr. Kikuoka?
**[13:01] Lisbeth**
I really hope he's not hiding anything else.
**[13:05] Sinon**
So we're just going to have to trust
that the STL treatment will work, huh?
**[13:11] Lisbeth**
Hey, so about Kirito and this... uh...
this Taboo Index? What happened with that?
**[13:18] Asuna**
There was a boy and girl
who used to play with Kirito,
**[13:22] Asuna**
and it seems like it was the girl
who broke the Taboo Index.
**[13:26] Sinon**
You mean she was influenced by Kirito?
**[13:29] Asuna**
Yes.
**[13:30] Asuna**
And what she broke
was "accessing a restricted address."
**[13:36] Higa**
We confirmed the death of another Fluctlight
in the girl's view in the restricted address.
**[13:43] Higa**
Most likely, she tried to help him.
**[13:45] Kikuoka**
In other words, this girl prioritized
someone else's life over the Taboo Index.
**[13:51] Kikuoka**
That's precisely what we've been seeking.
**[13:56] Silica**
That's a lovely story, but...
**[13:59] Lisbeth**
If only it wasn't a study on weapons to kill people.
**[14:03] Asuna**
I agree. But I'm amazed by what that girl did.
**[14:07] Asuna**
After all, it's not easy to overcome yourself.
**[14:10] Leafa**
Does that girl have a name?
**[14:13] Asuna**
Yes.
**[14:16] Asuna**
Alice?
**[14:17] Kikuoka**
Right. That was the name of the girl in question.
**[14:21] Kikuoka**
I was blown away by the staggering coincidence.
**[14:24] Kikuoka**
Because "Alice" is also the name of the concept
that became the foundation of the overall project.
**[14:31] Asuna**
Concept?
**[14:32] Kikuoka**
A highly-adaptive autonomous artificial intelligence.
**[14:36] Kikuoka**
In English, that would be Artificial Labile
Intelligence Cybernated Existence.
**[14:41] Kikuoka**
The initials form the acronym ALICE.
**[14:44] Kikuoka**
Our ultimate goal was
to convert an artificial Fluctlight into an ALICE.
**[14:52] Kikuoka**
Welcome to our Project Alicization.
**[14:58] Leafa**
That sounds so complicated.
**[15:00] Asuna**
I don't quite understand everything, either,
**[15:03] Asuna**
but they said that if they had saved
the Fluctlight of this girl, Alice,
**[15:06] Asuna**
their research would've made huge advances.
**[15:09] Lisbeth**
Meaning that...
**[15:11] Asuna**
Remember how I said that in the virtual world,
time passes at an amazing speed?
**[15:16] Lisbeth**
Yeah.
**[15:17] Asuna**
So by the time they noticed,
two days had gone by in the virtual world,
**[15:21] Asuna**
and that girl's Fluctlight had already been corrected
by the Axiom Church.
**[15:25] Sinon**
Corrected?
**[15:27] Sinon**
I thought the Fluctlights only observed each other,
but they were given that kind of authority?
**[15:32] Asuna**
They said that, normally,
it wouldn't have been possible.
**[15:34] Asuna**
But a number of the artificial Fluctlights
wield the "sacred arts,"
**[15:38] Asuna**
which are system access rights
in the form of magic,
**[15:42] Asuna**
so they think
they might've found some kind of loophole.
**[15:46] Asuna**
Sorry! I have to go back.
**[15:48] Leafa**
You have something to do?
**[15:50] Asuna**
They said that they'd let me see Kirito sleeping.
It's almost time for that.
**[15:55] Lisbeth**
Tell us later how he looked, all right?
**[15:59] Asuna**
He's inside a machine,
so I might not get to see his face.
**[16:13] Rinko**
This one's unit four.
**[16:15] Rinko**
And that one's unit five.
**[16:17] Aki**
Prototype one and unit six, now under construction,
are at the Roppongi branch,
**[16:23] Aki**
while two and three are installed
in the lower shaft.
**[16:27] Asuna**
Ms. Aki!
**[16:29] Asuna**
What are you doing here?
**[16:31] Aki**
Taking care of Kirigaya, of course.
**[16:33] Asuna**
But I thought you were a nurse
at a hospital in Chiyoda Ward.
**[16:37] Asuna**
Were you pretending, just like Mr. Kikuoka?
**[16:40] Aki**
Of course not.
**[16:42] Aki**
Unlike that old man, I'm an actual nurse.
**[16:45] Aki**
It's just that the school I graduated from
**[16:47] Aki**
is the Tokyo Self-Defense Force
Higher School of Nursing.
**[16:53] Aki**
I am Sergeant First Class Natsuki Aki.
**[16:55] Aki**
I pledge to protect young Kirigaya, life and limb,
with full responsibility!
**[16:59] Aki**
And so on!
**[17:03] Asuna**
I'm counting on you, then.
**[17:05] Aki**
Right. Just leave it to me.
**[17:12] Asuna**
Kirito is coming back, isn't he?
**[17:15] Aki**
Of course.
**[17:17] Aki**
Kirito's Fluctlight is vital and active
inside the treatment program, even as we speak.
**[17:23] Aki**
And besides, we're talking about the hero
who cleared SAO, right?
**[17:37] Rinko**
Ms. Asuna?
**[17:41] Rinko**
There's something I need to tell you.
**[17:45] Rinko**
No... not just you.
**[17:49] Rinko**
It's something I should confess
to all former SAO players.
**[17:54] Rinko**
You already know that
during the SAO incident,
**[17:58] Rinko**
Akihiko Kayaba and I were hiding
in the mountains of Nagano?
**[18:04] Rinko**
I had a micro-bomb implanted in my chest.
**[18:09] Rinko**
Because of that, for two years,
**[18:11] Rinko**
I was forced to collaborate with him
on his terrifying project.
**[18:15] Rinko**
But that wasn't really true.
**[18:17] Rinko**
I was well aware
that the bomb would never go off.
**[18:22] Rinko**
The weapon he implanted in me was a deception
so I wouldn't be charged with any crimes.
**[18:28] Rinko**
It was the only present he gave me.
**[18:34] Rinko**
Apparently, by the time he got into
Toto Institute of Technology,
**[18:36] Rinko**
Kayaba was already
the head of development at Argus,
**[18:40] Rinko**
but I didn't know anything about that,
**[18:42] Rinko**
all I could see was a scrawny kid who was a shut-in,
immersed in his research.
**[18:51] Rinko**
You gotta step outside once in a while,
or no ideas'll ever come to ya!
**[18:59] Kayaba**
I need to come up with a way
to emulate the feeling of natural light on the skin.
**[19:05] Rinko**
Although I began dating Kayaba,
**[19:11] Rinko**
I couldn't figure out
why he never pushed me away.
**[19:18] Rinko**
Well, from the start...
**[19:21] Rinko**
...I was the one who...
***SIGN*** Mass Murder in Popular VRMMO Game?
***SIGN*** Akihiko Kayaba (30) Suspect
**[19:26] Rinko**
...didn't know anything about him.
**[19:29] Rinko**
When I went to his mountain lodge,
it wasn't because I wanted to be his accomplice.
**[19:36] Rinko**
I...
**[19:38] Rinko**
...intended to kill Kayaba.
**[19:44] Rinko**
But... I'm sorry, Ms. Asuna.
**[19:47] Rinko**
I...
**[19:50] Rinko**
...couldn't kill him.
**[19:52] Rinko**
Kayaba knew I was armed with a knife.
**[19:57] Rinko**
He only said, "What am I going to do with you?"
like he always did,
**[20:02] Rinko**
and then he went back to Aincrad.
**[20:09] Rinko**
I... I...
**[20:14] Asuna**
Neither Kirito nor I have ever blamed you for that.
**[20:19] Asuna**
In fact, I'm not even sure if I really bear a grudge
against the commander, Akihiko Kayaba.
**[20:32] Asuna**
It's true that a lot of lives were lost
in that incident.
**[20:36] Asuna**
The commander's crime isn't something
that can ever be forgiven.
**[20:40] Asuna**
But... I know it sounds really selfish...
**[20:44] Asuna**
but that short time I spent living with Kirito
in that world...
**[20:50] Asuna**
I'm sure I'll always look back on it
as the best days of my life.
**[20:56] Asuna**
Just as the commander did something wrong,
so have I, and Kirito, too...
**[21:00] Asuna**
And Ms. Rinko,
you've also done something wrong.
**[21:04] Asuna**
But it's not as if we can make amends,
even if we're punished for it.
**[21:08] Asuna**
It could be that
we'll never see the day we're forgiven.
**[21:12] Asuna**
Even still, we have to continue to face
what we've done.
**[21:28] Kayaba**
Really, what am I going to do with you?
**[21:30] Kayaba**
Coming all the way here?
**[21:36] Rinko**
What's going on?
It's still early in the morning...
**[21:55] Rinko**
Was that...
**[21:57] Rinko**
...a dream?
**[23:36] Kirito**
Next time: Swordcraft Academy.