Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 625 - 621: Speculations About the Future

From an individual’s perspective, making money, obtaining honor and status, entertainment, and reproduction are the main goals of human life.

These goals are vast and chaotic, with everyone harboring their own ideas. In an isolated system, entropy naturally increases, making it difficult to form a lasting and consistent centripetal force.

"...Cosmic Governance is a great way to create cohesion! Because the universe is so vast, even a single Milky Way is enough to keep a Level 5 Civilization busy for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years... After playing with the Milky Way, there’s the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Andromeda Galaxy, almost an endless amount, so such a civilization would not degenerate!"

"But Cosmic Governance isn’t the only way."

"If a civilization sharpens its ideology too much, it easily conflicts with other Level 5 Civilizations."

"What I mean is..."

The concept of "Endless Surprise" was something that Zhang Yuan had slowly conceived during his time on the spaceship, which is to explore "events in the universe that are surprising."

Whether it’s Science or humanities and history, both are "events that are surprising."

This goal is lofty and has similarities to the approach of "Cosmic Governance."

In the universe, there’s an endless array of novelties—just in the Milky Way, with its hundreds of billions of Constant Stars, countless civilizations rise and fall, heroes fade, beauties age, or certain beautiful astronomical phenomena...

These interesting things are enough to keep Humankind exploring for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.

But to discover these interesting stories, the current technology is far from sufficient. Furthermore, people’s intentions can extend not just to the Milky Way but the entire Virgo Cluster, and even the whole universe!

This means that one must climb the ladder of technology to achieve more far-reaching progress to accomplish this goal.

"So, through this goal, we can achieve the purpose of ceaselessly progressing forward... What do you all think?"

Everyone present began to silently ponder Zhang Yuan’s viewpoint.

Are Humans willing to become such a civilization?

It’s hard to say!

Modifying the fundamental drive of genes is no small matter; it means that a person’s thinking undergoes a major change! What one likes now, they might not like in the future; what one treasures now, might not be valued in the future.

It means that the New Human Civilization might discard everything current and become a brand new civilization.

The unknown always induces fear—this step is truly as difficult as reaching the heavens!

Even if a ready-made answer is laid before them to simply copy, Humans might not dare to copy it.

This is the chasm, the one between lower-level interstellar civilizations and higher-level ones.

"Faced with true freedom, it seems we are quite hesitant..."

Li Zhendong let out a strange laugh, "Then let it be so, I’ll be the first willing participant, you all can do as you please. If it really comes to that time, there’s no need to transform everyone; a few individuals can constitute a civilization."

"Those who wish to remain Humans can continue being Humans; those who want to progress can choose to transform—there’s no need to force it."

Zhang Yuan sighed deeply and ignored him, "In any case, the first step as we leave here can be to visit some civilizations that have already altered their Genetic Philosophy, to understand their way of life and gain further knowledge in this area."

"For example, the Half-sphere Civilization that traded this War Star to us—they’ve retained only a brain, discarding many hormone regulations... It’s very enlightening for us."

"Considering all these points, I still suggest that after fully developing the War Star, go out and see other worlds."

When Zhang Yuan laid out this grand blueprint before everyone, all were sweating profusely and then fell into deep thought...

Indeed, humanity had become a Fourth-level Civilization, and it was time to consider matters even further ahead.

If one thought that becoming a Fourth-level Civilization meant they could rest on their laurels, that would be a grave mistake!

No matter what, humans should not stop their progress; they needed to be vigilant against such risks.

Some scientists in this field had already begun to rack their brains.

After some discussion, they didn’t come to an immediate conclusion but decided to establish a separate department within the Unreal Laboratory, specifically responsible for the research of Genetic Philosophy, with Mr. Yamamoto Ichiro as the principal person in charge.

Yamamoto Ichiro, as a high-level scientific researcher who had designed the foundational architecture of the Virtual World, had a high awareness of the risks and importance of this field, and even if he couldn’t make any discoveries, there should be no danger of losing control.

Subsequently, the senior government officials essentially reached a consensus.

In the short term, humanity should still focus on building their own War Star first, to obtain a certain level of self-preservation ability.

The long-term goal was to "venture out," leave this place, collect more data, and refine their concept of becoming a Level 5 Civilization.

The philosophical concept described by Zhang Yuan was still too generic. To encode a goal into one’s genes was incredibly complex; every aspect must be clearly defined and regulated.

Thus, seeking out and referencing examples of civilizations that had already modified their Genetic Philosophy to perfect the entire theory was the right solution.

...

After the meeting concluded, Zhang Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

Regarding the future, "there’s so much to do."

Living in this world, there was always this and that to worry about, often before you’ve resolved one issue, the next one arrives unceasingly...

Especially in this era, without children, people’s attention generally shifted to all aspects of society, science, and more. The public had high expectations of the government, and any failing would be quickly criticized.

"With so many new devices purchased, everyone should be busy for quite a while."

Zhang Yuan was granted a two-day mini-vacation, which might be the only one for a long time to come.

Although various worries swayed in front of his eyes, overall, the situation was still relatively safe; there was no need to let some concerns spoil meals, and rest was important...

During this brief holiday, Zhang Yuan decided to take his wife on a climb up the "Mount Olympus" located atop the Planet Fortress.

This War Star had not been named, but curiously, one of its peaks was. It was quite special, extremely steep, totaling twenty-eight thousand meters in height, and at the very top was a large, flat plateau the size of several football fields, perfectly suitable for constructing a spaceship docking station.

And the original climbing project was very popular with many tourists.

"To preserve the purity of the geographical features, the Half-sphere Civilization specifically avoided this peak when developing the Planet Engine, showing they too must love mountain climbing... Ha-ha! Applause!"

"Maybe they just couldn’t be bothered to dig through this big mountain. Applause?! Where did you pick up that strange habit?"

"From the Half-sphere Civilization, of course. Applause!"

Zhang Yuan and Lin Xuanyuan joined a climbing team of five, with two robot guides leading the way in front and behind, and everyone was tied together with a rope to prevent falling off the cliff.

As this was a planet with a thin atmosphere and low gravity, everyone wore Power Armor, making the climb not as strenuous...