Chapter 174: Earth's Technology Tree Has Gone Astray

Listening to the classification rules provided by Jiang Zhe.

All the geography experts watching the live stream used the available data to analyze and categorize it in detail.

Currently, the energy sources that humans on Earth can utilize include coal, oil, natural gas, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, and some renewable energy sources.

Then there are energies that cannot be fully utilized, such as geothermal energy, tidal energy, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, the Earth's core, lightning, biogas, and so on.

In fact, a large portion of the energy currently being used is still wasted, such as wind and solar energy.

The sun consumes approximately 4 million tons of hydrogen fuel per second, converting it into energy and radiating it into space; only a tiny fraction of this energy eventually reaches Earth.

According to their estimates, this portion of energy is pitifully small, amounting to only one in 2.2 billion of the total solar radiation energy.

Even of this small fraction of energy, humans are only able to directly utilize one ten-thousandth; the rest is completely wasted due to underdeveloped science and technology.

If all the sunlight could be collected, humans would never need to worry about energy again!

Apart from vehicles, human consumption of energy is currently mainly reflected in electricity.

After some simple thinking and calculations, the relevant scholars suddenly realized that human civilization is indeed as Jiang Zhe described — many natural resource energies cannot be utilized, and solar energy is being used in an extremely rudimentary way!

They even felt that Jiang Zhe's assessment of a 0.78-level civilization was overestimating Earth.

Soon, inside the lecture hall, the voices of those scholars kept rising.

"Jiang Zhe's classification table seems very professional!"

"Please remove the word 'seems'; we simply cannot utilize these; his 0.78-level civilization is an overestimation of us."

"Yeah, if we could fully utilize them, how great that would be!"

"Am I the only one curious about how long it will take for us to reach a Level 1 civilization?"

"..."

At this moment, the experts also realized that the more they learn, the more they feel in awe of nature.

Ignorance is indeed bliss!

So, Jiang Zhe must be quite unhappy, right?

...

In the faculty dormitory building of Tsinghua University.

Professor Zhuang performed some simple calculations and also obtained the relevant series of data.

"If some of the natural disasters currently on Earth could be completely stopped or even harnessed to generate energy, then our human civilization would reach Level 0.9."

"Only when we explore the interior of the Earth and finish that exploration, will our civilization barely enter Level 1."

"The strictness of Jiang Zhe's civilization level classification table is not based on wild imagination, but really provides precise indicators and data."

"Level 1 is called a Planetary Civilization; if my guess is correct, the next one should be [ Stellar Civilization ], right?"

"Then, according to current science and technology, how long will it take for humans to reach a Level 1 civilization?"

The two women beside him also looked at the phone screen thoughtfully.

"Could it be in another 50 years?"

"50 years is not enough. Currently, the strongest science and technology in the world is in the United States and Europe. Our country's research environment has some problems; unless those problems are solved, we won't be able to enter a Level 1 civilization domestically."

Sure enough, Professor Zhuang guessed correctly.

On the screen, Jiang Zhe spoke and gave the answer directly:

"As you all can see, a Level 1 civilization is one that utilizes everything on Earth, from dust to the whole. We still have a long way to go, and a Level 2 civilization is naturally a [ Stellar Civilization ]!"

"However, before talking about [ Level 2 Civilization ], I received many barrage messages and private messages from netizens."

"Many people are curious about how long it will take to reach a Level 1 civilization."

"Hmm... According to my prediction, there is a prerequisite that will influence the upgrade of civilization."

"That is: war, large-scale war."

"When war comes, the civilization level will accelerate rapidly."

"If a war happens one day in the future, the first to bear the brunt will be the world's top three: the United States, Russia, and our China, with the three of them in chaos."

"At that time, to reach a Level 1 civilization, it would only take this number!"

Jiang Zhe held up two fingers, and the audience began to guess.

"20 years?" "20 years is too short, maybe 200 years?" "200 years is too long, isn't it?" "..."

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently and denied it, "It's not 20 years, nor is it 200 years, but 2000 years!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the experts and audience members looked stunned; they felt that Jiang Zhe had made a mistake.

2000 years is really too long, isn't it?

"Everyone, don't rush to refute yet. Even if you bring out precise data, it would indeed result in about 200 years, reaching a Level 1 civilization within 200 years."

"However, what you don't know is: human technology is currently stagnant."

"What does that mean?"

"In our current scientific community, many theories are derived from the basic theories of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries."

"Like the 'Big Bang Theory' that appeared in 1948, much of it has now been proven wrong, but the scientific community is still using it; why? Because there is no more suitable or widely accepted cosmological model!"

"In other words: the trajectory of human technology has actually gone astray. Weapons are not the top priority; the top priority has always been the livelihood and mindset of the people, first solving the factors of [ violence ] and [ conflict ] among global humanity. But because humans love to fight, we have been in civil wars since ancient times, and foreign countries have been fighting as well; so naturally, countries around the world have put all their points into the technology tree for weapons."

"To get back on the right path, it will take decades, or even centuries, for another batch of masters like Schrödinger, Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei, and Gamow to appear."

"And then, relying on their theories, we humans can achieve a Level 1 civilization."

At this point in his explanation, Jiang Zhe's expression was extremely serious.

"Everyone, I am not talking nonsense, but speaking with scientific evidence; humans indeed need to re-climb the technology tree."

"We Earthlings cannot even leave the Solar System, yet we can create technology capable of destroying planets; a nuclear bomb with a large enough yield, if drilled into the surface of a planet, could completely destroy it. This is, in fact, already astray."

"According to the normal technology in my view; of course, this is the ideal development of the technology tree, humans would first focus on medicine, solving intractable diseases, and achieving a significant increase in lifespan."

In fact, at this point in the lecture, the medical experts in the hall were nodding excitedly, and they highly approved of Jiang Zhe's remarks.

They were even more convinced that the technology tree had gone as astray as it possibly could!

"When lifespans are increased and life is guaranteed, human scientists must focus entirely on technologies to resist natural disasters."

"For example, in the event of an earthquake, we cannot rely only on early warnings; we must fully master technical devices to resist or utilize earthquakes: [ Ground Protective Shield ]."

"For example, when a volcano erupts, we cannot just rely on early warnings; we must fully overcome the disasters caused by volcanic eruptions. A volcanic eruption is nature venting its anger; it cannot hold it in, it has to release the fire; therefore, we must manufacture technical devices to quickly extinguish the aftereffects of volcanoes: [ Disaster Gas Conversion Device ], converting harmful gases into gases harmless to humans."

"Only after a series of natural disasters have been appropriately resolved can we humans focus on space; the prerequisite is that we must not enter so-called [ Virtual Reality ]."

"What is the essence of [ Virtual Reality ]?"

He held up a finger, "Entertainment; the essence of virtual reality is useless; it just makes people immerse themselves in a virtual world and waste time."

"Some might say that virtual reality can be applied in the medical field!"

"But what I want to say is, after a significant increase in human lifespan, diseases will have been solved, so what [ Virtual Reality ] would we humans need? To provide the state with taxes from the gaming industry to improve the economy?"

"Wrong, it's not needed; after human lifespans increase, related industries will naturally be sublimated; so-called [ Virtual Reality ] is actually unnecessary!"

"Of course, there is a fallback life-saving path: when humans encounter natural disasters that are completely impossible to resist, virtual reality can upload human consciousness into this place."

"But this view also conflicts with the science and technology of [ Resisting Natural Disasters ] that I mentioned earlier; therefore, in my ideal sequence, virtual reality can exist, but it doesn't need to be focused on too much!"

"..."

"Therefore, the sequence must have priorities; we cannot advance on all fronts and let a hundred flowers bloom."

"We cannot go on to do physics homework before finishing math homework, or go on to do chemistry before finishing physics, or do weapons engineering homework before finishing chemistry, and so on."

"We must prioritize medicine first, significantly increasing lifespans to facilitate longer knowledge inheritance for humanity."

"Then proceed to natural energy utilization."

"Then livelihood and stability, and finally advance on all fronts... Of course, what I am talking about is within the ideal scope."

"But in reality, the situation does not allow for this; once done, it might accelerate the demise of a country or lead to other kinds of man-made disasters."

Jiang Zhe's expression was extremely serious; every word of his was a scrutiny and critique.

All the experts had extremely solemn expressions; they could not deny it.

Currently, countries around the world are advancing on all fronts in every discipline, consuming countless funds.

If a definite sequence and priority could be provided, humanity would have attained longevity long ago; once longevity is attained, would there be any fear that knowledge could not be inherited for longer?

As everyone knows, the inheritance of knowledge is an important factor in the speed of technological development.

Much of the knowledge of predecessors has disappeared into the historical process with their deaths; if those people could live longer, the various theories they brought could also develop more powerful technologies!

This is not nonsense; it is what is truly happening in reality!

Soon, in the live stream, the barrage of comments flew rapidly.

"Yeah, listening to him say this, it seems we really did point the technology tree the wrong way. We can't even leave Earth, yet we can blow Earth to pieces. Hearing him say this, I feel like humanity is so violent."

"Actually, I can understand; it's mainly because countries around the world are developing too fast; if we followed the steps, we wouldn't even be able to get into space now. But there is a benefit: our lifespans would be significantly increased, and hundreds or thousands of years are f***ing possible!"

"Yeah, it's exactly because we went into space that Earth's resources haven't been fully utilized, so there's no real necessity. All that so-called searching for new elements—damn it, wouldn't it be better to first understand our own bodies and the Earth we live on? We can't even understand our bodies or brains, yet we go to study something extraterrestrial. Is that what they should be studying, or is it that those scientists just can't understand it at all?"

"It's not that they can't understand it; actually, they can, but it requires huge amounts of money. It's like when I play a game: the main quest is too hard, and it blocks my progress, so I have no choice but to do side quests!"

"But after completing the main quest, you can level up and get more rewards; side quests have little money and poor rewards, you can't level up, and the process is tedious!"

"The guy above has such a fresh perspective, damn it, I can't even refute it!"

"..."