Chapter 149: Occam's Razor

Looking at Jiang Zhe's unusually serious expression, they all felt that something bad was about to happen.

"Why would it be shaken? I don't quite understand."

"Hypothetically: if we are living in a Cloud World right now, and all the people in the world are surviving within this Cloud World while the Earth outside is long gone, would we even be able to realize it?"

"Right, and then?"

"There is no 'and then.' In other words, if anything is possible, following Murphy's Law, then this thing must have a possibility of happening, or may have even already happened, and we would simply never realize it!"

"Holy crap, I see. It means there's a probability we're living in a 'Cloud World' with tampered memories, and our real Earth might have been gone long ago. To prevent us from realizing this, the global government deprived all of humanity of any news regarding the world's destruction. Are we, our grandfathers, our ancestors, and everyone in history potentially part of a pseudo-world simulated by the [Cloud World]?"

"Yes, that massive [Cloud World] also has a probability of simulating our current state of technology: we cannot exceed the speed of light, we cannot synthesize more elements, and our quantum computers haven't been popularized."

"This simulation might have even lasted for over 4 billion years—the age of the Earth itself. Perhaps the nations of the real world outside finished simulating this [Massive Cloud World] 4 billion years ago. To save on operating memory, those nations set fixed elements for our Earth and made it so the speed of light cannot be exceeded. Since then, generation after generation has lived within this [Prison]."

"Holy sh*t; so it's possible we've restricted ourselves within [this prison]?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Wait, if that's really the case, wouldn't every known bug in the world right now be explained?"

"I regret to tell the person above that it is indeed possible."

"Damn, the more I think about it, the more terrifying it gets!"

"..."

At this moment, inside the lecture hall of Kyoto University of Science.

The place had already fallen into a dead silence.

The physicists, led by Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng, all realized the gravity of this answer.

Even though Jiang Zhe hadn't continued, they knew this matter seemed extremely significant!

If it were truly as the live stream comments suggested—current humanity, the current Earth, and everything else had unknowingly become a [Brain in a Vat] under a [Dark Directive].

If, countless years ago, a world-ending crisis occurred on the real Earth.

And it so happened that during that crisis, real human civilization possessed the scientific technology to control the fate of their civilization.

That technology would inevitably be a [Cloud Network].

Professor Hua Yunfeng pondered. If he were the leader of the real world...

He would surely mobilize global resources before the disaster arrived to use that massive quantum computer to collect all of humanity's Quantum Consciousness Information into a network space.

Then, before the world-ending crisis arrived, he would leave a group of people behind in the crisis to launch this massive computer into space.

Once all electronic humans entered space, the Earth would face total destruction.

In that scenario, by sacrificing only a few people, the Earth's civilization would be saved.

As for where the quantum computer and the space capsule launched into space would drift, that would be left to fate.

For the human civilization inside the quantum computer—they would have no memory of the real world outside being destroyed.

They would simply live peacefully within this virtual world.

Becoming a human civilization forced into a Dark Directive, forced to be brains in a vat.

If...

Things were even worse...

If humanity hadn't encountered a world-ending crisis, but rather, Earth's civilization had been implanted by an alien civilization years ago.

Then today, the people living in the electronic world would have long since become a human civilization being observed by aliens.

However, the idea of being kept as livestock by aliens had a low probability.

If that were truly the case, there would only be one possibility—

When an alien civilization reaches a bottleneck and their technology cannot break through, they would naturally keep or even create a new intelligent civilization.

Then the alien civilization would send some difficult-to-solve scientific technologies to the human civilization in the form of a [Dark Directive] to be witnessed by human scientists.

Once human scientists cracked the [Directive], it would fulfill one of the original purposes for the aliens creating the [Human Cage].

After a long time, Professor Hua Yunfeng scanned the silent audience and lamented, "This is possible to achieve. No wonder Little Jiang stopped talking; even he felt shaken by that middle schooler's answer."

Professor Feng Zhiyuan's expression was extremely grave. "If this is the case, the irrationalities in the universe can be explained. Why the speed of light cannot be exceeded, why no new natural elements appear... the reason for everything is based on the fact that human civilization is enclosed, rather than the universe enclosing us. Perhaps in the universe of the real world, the speed of light can be exceeded, and there are more than just 118 elements."

As soon as these words were spoken, the physicists, mathematicians, and astronomers in the audience couldn't help but chime in.

"Yeah, if it's the first possibility, then it's okay because it's the real human civilization's self-preservation. If it's the second, then we'll forever be living as livestock under an alien civilization, unable to escape."

"In that case, dark energy would also be explained, and the way the Microscopic World operates would be explained too."

"The operation of the Microscopic World? How do you mean?"

"It's simple. The computer keeping human civilization has an upper limit. Like the emergence of Quantum Mechanics and probability clouds, or humans being unable to make multiple choices simultaneously—it's all controlled by the computer, simply because the computer has an operational limit."

"Hiss~~ If that's the case, no wonder that lady said [humans always get Emo late at night]. Now it's making me think this world isn't quite real. Maybe the real world is long gone."

"How is this getting more and more like science fiction? It's making everyone panic."

"..."

...

At this time, inside the professor's dormitory building at Huaqing University.

Professor Zhuang looked at the empty live stream room; not a single comment was appearing, which was clearly abnormal!

After a while, he couldn't help but grin. "Jiang Zhe's hypothesis is very sharp, but it's just sharp, nothing more!"

Hearing this, the two women beside him spoke up one after another.

"Teacher, what do you mean?"

"I also feel this hypothesis is very frustrating. A sense of powerlessness is washing over me."

Professor Zhuang explained without turning his head:

"Because this hypothesis cannot be falsified, nor can it be proven!"

"It's an excellent sci-fi setting, and there is such a possibility, but the probability is very low!"

"First: according to Murphy's Law, this situation is possible, but not right now. At the very least, we have to wait until quantum computers are fully mature before we can find the possibility of this hypothesis."

"Second: according to the law of Occam's Razor, there's no need to propose this situation."

"Why is there no need to propose it? Because it's truly unnecessary. Once proposed, it requires a massive amount of evidence to prove its existence. If an event appears that is of no help to human civilization and will not bring positive influence, then all negative theories and concepts have no need to be introduced to the world."

"This concept would only have a positive impact on a small group of scientists, making it easier for them to explore the truth of the world."

"But in the end, how can those within the box control things outside the box?"

"So it's completely unnecessary for it to appear!"

Hearing this, the two women had a look of realization and stopped speaking.

Just then, on the big screen, the trembling voice of the middle schooler came through.

"Teacher Jiang, I saw what the older brothers and sisters in the live stream said. The truth of this answer seems a bit terrifying. I won't ask anymore, I won't ask anymore. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!"

The words of apology woke Jiang Zhe from his deep thought.

He shook his head and smiled, "There's nothing to be sorry for. According to Occam's Razor, there was no need for this answer to appear, as it doesn't advance our human technology one bit; instead, it only adds to the sadness."

"It's also thanks to you that I'll likely earn a few million more."

As soon as he said this, the entire audience was stunned, and the middle schooler on the other end was also dumbfounded. "What? Teacher, what are you saying? What do you mean earn a few million more?"

Jiang Zhe suddenly grinned. "Nothing. In any case, I'll start by thanking this little brother. Alright, audience, today's hosting ends here. See you next week!"

As he finished speaking, he raised his hand and waved at the camera, after which the live stream cut to an advertisement page.

The music of 'A Scripture Hard to Recite' started playing!