Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 561 - 558

Zhang Yuan chatted idly with Li Zhendong for a few sentences, finding it a happy affair to have so many like-minded companions...

"Let’s meet up for a meal another time!"

"Definitely, definitely."

Due to both of them being busy, they quickly parted ways once more.

In this new era of human civilization, there was not only an imminent technological explosion but also a profound transformation in the humanities...

The emergence of so many Transcendents in this world, constituting 1.5% of the population—which amounted to 600,000 individuals—was now equivalent to the size of a small city. It was no longer the one in ten thousand or one in a thousand of the initial population.

A populace of 600,000 elites was more than enough to significantly impact the entire society, and they began trying to implement more radical systems, new legislations.

In this case, the New Human Civilization was bound to experience deeper changes in ideological trends.

Even Zhang Yuan himself found it difficult to grasp the complex changes in this aspect and could only try to adapt as best as possible to the entire new era.

However, it was very difficult for ordinary people to comprehend this rapid transformation, which might be an inherent downside of being "too close to the matter."

Especially for the younger crowd, who had not experienced that period of history, were generally insensitive to this aspect. Therefore, Zhang Yuan would often discuss current political issues with his students in his classes.

"...Social trends are views that form under certain societal environments or under the influence of significant societal events. This consensus of the vast majority of people, in turn, impacts the entire civilization."

The original "Escape Plan" had sparked a "Liberal" social trend among the general populace, which continues to linger in people’s minds to this day.

This trend towards freedom, especially in the years immediately following the completion of the "Escape Plan," caused quite a stir, with various small-scale strikes occurring one after another. Some people, unable to bear it any longer, wanted to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and escape.

But since human beings had only one Mother Ship, the "Kunlun," left for themselves, it was no longer possible to organize another escape plan for them. So what could they do?

Therefore, some even tried to revolt!

"It doesn’t quite count as a revolution, rather it should be termed as a riot..."

As expected, the riot was easily suppressed in the end; it was merely the struggle of a minority.

"Why did this series of phenomena occur? It was mainly because at a certain stage of social development, it created a common sense of confusion."

The "Forward" mentality, inherent to the large group of Transcendents, finally suppressed the ideal of "Freedom" after four hundred years, becoming the mainstream trend in society.

Zhang Yuan introduced in his classroom: "Of course, the ’Freedom’ trend that once arose will forever remain in our history, with the possibility of re-emerging at any time."

"We cannot say that the pursuit of personal freedom is a bad idea. It aligns more with human nature, focuses more on individual development, individual happiness, and is closer to human instincts.

"’Progress’, on the other hand, pays more attention to the development of the whole civilization. From the perspective of the entire civilization, ’Progressives’ undoubtedly align more with civilization development than ’Liberals’. Even if this overall development sometimes does not benefit individuals, it may at times sacrifice individual happiness."

"You should view the world with a diverse perspective. The real world isn’t just black and white; opposite of black could be grey, or even red, not necessarily white. We should reject any extreme way of thinking. Humans should indeed pursue freedom, but it’s impossible to seek unlimited freedom..."

Due to the lengthy duration of Zhang Yuan’s courses, which spanned half a day and were of extreme difficulty, with many clouded in obscure mathematics, students would easily become distracted over long lectures, so he often digressed into some more interesting societal content.

This segment of history wasn’t very distant, just a mere four centuries, and the crowd rather enjoyed listening to it.

Anyway, it was always more engaging than the abstruse and incomprehensible T-functions.

"So, Mr. Zhang, what should we take note of about the Progressives? Are there any negatives? Isn’t it said that every ideological trend has its extremes?"

In fact, these students had already had their values reoriented by the New Civilization School, represented by the "Progressives."

Being born later, they hadn’t experienced the events of the past and naturally couldn’t feel the atmosphere of those times.

Zhang Yuan reflected for a while before replying, "Progressive thought comes in many kinds. If I were to use colors as an example, I’d liken it to ’blue.’ After our civilization left Earth, under the guidance of the New Civilization School for the past several millennia, it has been light blue."

"Everyone felt that civilization needed to progress and that it was acceptable to sacrifice a certain degree of personal cost for the sake of overall advancement; this was a societal consensus. But this consensus never reached a certain height—the so-called ’certain degree of cost’ was not precisely defined, hence it was only light blue."

"However, during the long-term construction project of the Planet Engine, this light blue gradually faded, personal happiness declined, and other thoughts emerged. As a result, the mainstream thought in society changed, becoming another color, such as green. People increasingly longed for individual freedom."

"The green became more intense, from light green to deep green, and so the two sides could no longer coexist, splitting the civilization in two."

"Those of the deep green ideology took the Radiant Galaxy and fled; what was left was the coexistence of light blue and light green, neither able to defeat the other, hence the remaining civilization experienced this and that kind of internal chaos."

"The return of numerous Transcendents brought deep blue, and in the ideological warfare of the past four hundred years, the light green was almost completely eradicated, shrinking to a corner."

"But the price paid was that the entire New Human Civilization also slowly transformed from light blue to deep blue. Light blue was a general consciousness, whereas deep blue radicalized it, taking it to the extreme, believing that the progress of civilization was far greater than the individual."

"I believe this change warrants careful consideration; too much of anything is not good, humans are not machines, and we must maintain the right balance—that is the lesson history has left us. Light blue and light green can coexist in the same society, whereas deep blue and deep green will lead to social conflicts."

"Emphasizing the greater good of civilization too much is an unsustainable product of the era’s influence."

Zhang Yuan explained the changes in social trends in simple terms.

Another student raised a hand, asking, "Do you think there is still a possibility of integration after we meet each other?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "There probably isn’t any longer. Although we’re still one family, it’s best for everyone to develop separately. There will likely be exchanges between individuals, or between cultures."

"The starry sky is so vast, we surely won’t annihilate each other just because of different ideas, right?"

Many quickly shook their heads. In their hearts, they all looked somewhat down on those from the escape faction and didn’t really want to engage with them, but they didn’t feel the need to harbor hatred to the extent of wanting to destroy them...

Zhang Yuan sighed inwardly. Judging the past from the modern perspective seemed quite relaxed and easy, it was just that these students were born in a better era.

In truth, ideological warfare had always been a very cruel affair. When Zhang Yuan was younger, he had thought that debates could solve many problems...

But that wasn’t the case. Once a person’s core values formed, very few could be changed through mere words. Only being harshly disillusioned by reality could truly bring about change.

Thus, following the departure of the Radiant Galaxy, there was a very brief period of turmoil and internal suppression... However, this part of history had never been mentioned in textbooks...