Chapter 182: The Limits of Human Civilization

Inside the studio.

Jiang Zhe faced the camera, tapped on the desk, and offered a reminder:

"Everyone, there is actually a concept you should know that is very helpful for understanding the [fermi paradox]."

"The main crux of the [fermi paradox] is: if there are aliens, then where are they?"

"Before providing the truth, we must first understand how long human life actually exists, or rather, how long our civilization can continue!"

As soon as he said this, many relevant anthropologists in the lecture hall provided a definitive answer.

"No more than 10,000 years, because with the rapid and ever-changing development of technology, future resources will certainly be insufficient; 10,000 years is the currently predictable limit."

"Does that mean that after 10,000 years, human civilization will go extinct like the dinosaurs? But the dinosaurs survived for 165 million years!"

"Dinosaurs are dinosaurs, and humans are humans. The natural resources consumed by dinosaurs were negligible; they lived off green plants and other animals. But our human technological development is digging our own graves, provided there are no new energy sources."

"Then what if there were no wars, and in a situation with abundant resources, how long could we exist?"

"In that case, if all technology continues to progress, Darwin's grandson gave an answer in the last century: 1 million years."

"1 million years, that would be enough."

"..."

While the experts were having a heated discussion, Jiang Zhe continued:

"The answers currently provided by the scientific community are actually inconsistent."

"Some say our human civilization can last 10,000 years, others say 1 million years, and some even give an answer of 10 million years."

Speaking to this point, he shook his head seriously at the camera, "Actually, none of them are correct."

As soon as he said this, the experts in the lecture hall, who had been so confident, were confused.

Incorrect. What is incorrect?

"Perhaps you have all overlooked an important factor."

"Under the premise that technology does not develop at all, meaning that humanities, technology, and nothing else makes any progress."

"If we always remained like ancient feudal dynasties, without the emergence of a republican era, and humans maintained an ancient lifestyle, then we could survive for millions of years at the very least."

"But with the development of technology, the speed of human resource consumption far exceeds that of ancient feudal dynasties. Once consumption becomes too rapid, global wars will occur to fight for resources, which will naturally accelerate the extinction of human civilization."

In fact, experts in many industries within the current scientific community have provided the same answer.

That is why everyone is going all out on new energy!

Just then, Jiang Zhe suddenly asked a rhetorical question: "As time passes, humans will eventually head down the road to death one day in the future."

"But have you ever considered a question: are humans all idiots? Are there no smart people left?"

As his words fell, the experts and the audience shook their heads.

There is no shortage of smart people among humans, but there is also no lack of idiots and self-righteous fools.

However, the catastrophe is war, which is something that can be seen with one's own eyes; how should that be solved?

Can the balance of resource allocation be maintained simply by having no wars globally?

That would require what kind of renewable energy!

Jiang Zhe suddenly grinned and began to speak: "Yes, the smart people among humans are capable of discovering their own flaws. To live for ten thousand years with the human body and the inferior nature of humans is actually not very realistic. You can absolutely say that we humans, in a state where spirit and body coexist, are actually very low-level!"

"This low-level state manifests as: the human body is the culprit."

"When the body is hungry, it tells you that you need to eat. If you cannot afford to eat and need to survive, you will go out to rob, kill, and plunder."

"When the body is sick, it tells you that you need treatment. If you cannot afford it, you will blame society—of course, society can be blamed—but who you should blame is that small group of people who stole the wealth that originally belonged to you. Alright, next, if you have a bit of guts, you will take some evil rich people with you to the grave before you die, and maybe some commoners will even erect a monument for you."

As soon as he said this, it quietly stirred up the expectations of some terminally ill patients in the live stream.

Vaguely, an aura of sin in some cities began to spread abruptly.

"Therefore, as the desires of the body increase, you will try your best to satisfy them, and thus all kinds of dirty, bottomless behaviors that break through morality will happen to you."

"I won't say too much about this, but it mostly happens among the middle-aged and elderly groups, while it is less common among the younger generation."

"Therefore, if we want to build a human civilization that can truly last for generations."

"The body can exist, and it can also not exist."

"What does 'can exist' mean?"

"It means that when you all want to engage in human affairs, you can re-enter the body."

"What does 'can not exist' mean? When there is no need to satisfy certain desires, humans must leave this body and go elsewhere."

"Perhaps you think my words are a bit fantasy-like, but think carefully, what have I popularized in previous episodes?"

As soon as he said this, the audience in the live stream, the lecture hall, and the experts all began to frown and recall.

In previous episodes, Jiang Zhe had mentioned: Consciousness Transfer Station.

Uploading human consciousness completely into a giant computer, and surviving in a computer world.

Regardless of whether the one who returns is still the original self, that is not the main topic of discussion today.

"Is it a quantum computer?"

"You talked about the [Cloud World] before, where human consciousness enters the [Cloud World]."

"Yes, yes, yes, the resources in the [Cloud World] are infinite. As long as the computer memory is large enough, then humans won't need to struggle anymore."

"Holy crap, is this really coming out of the mouth of a TV host? Won't this really destabilize society?"

"I wanted to say it before, he seems to be inciting some terminally ill patients to act as vigilantes... I don't even know if this will get him banned."

"It won't, his background is huge, he won't be banned!"

"..."

Obviously, the audience's worries were unnecessary.

If things were really to proceed in this way, the social phenomenologist in the lecture hall frowned in thought, then suddenly said with a realization.

"Wait, wait, this actually seems to work!"

On the podium, Professor Hua Yunfeng looked puzzled, "My old classmate, what do you mean? Is this actually feasible?"

The elderly sociologist nodded excitedly, "Yes, Old Hua, this is actually feasible; I have previously visited some patients who came back from the brink of death."

"Their state of mind after being near death underwent significant changes."

"They used to be greedy for money and wanted everything; after recovering from their serious illness, they became devoid of desires, just wanting to live peacefully and happily."

"Later, I wrote a report and a paper and published them in the academic world. I discovered that — the spirit of every person is actually clean and pure; that kind of cleanness is not mixed with any worldly or social desires."

"They do not belong to this social framework. The principle that the top of society currently tells people is: [You must work hard to make money and contribute to the nation's economy]."

"But why should we contribute to the nation? When I was making contributions, they didn't care whether I lived or died. Moreover, in the eyes of the nation, we ordinary people are just a string of cold numbers, numbers that can be sacrificed and consumed, and so on—such words came from their mouths. It cannot be said that they are wrong, but it cannot be said that they are right either."

"Regarding this point, I discovered in those who came back from the gates of hell — they have absolutely no worldly demands. They are satisfied just by being warm and well-fed. 80% of them do not love our country. They have no patriotism. They only love their own families; as long as their families are safe, that is enough. They have no other messy thoughts — it is equivalent to saying that after returning from the gates of hell, the messy worldly emotions in their heads were all cleared out, and everything in the world seems to have nothing to do with them."

"Even if they fall seriously ill again, their answer is: death is just death; you can't take anything with you when you come, and you can't take anything with you when you die."

"I later discovered that in a constantly progressing society, people gradually lose themselves; that is, we hide the true [ourselves] deep within our consciousness."

"The [us] that is currently displayed, this kind of [us] struggles in the secular world, wanting good things, wearing good things; wanting to crazily compare ourselves with others to gain satisfaction and a sense of existence; in short, we want everything. This is actually not the real [us]. In the psychology of the scientific community, this is called the [Ego]."

"And we have always been dominated by the [Ego] — I want to become powerful, I want to be stronger than others, I don't want to be looked at differently, I want everyone to envy me. These thoughts are all empty, false [Ego]. At the same time, the [Ego] tells us — the world is like this; if you don't become like them, you will be abandoned by the times."

"Therefore, Old Hua, Jiang Zhe is right; separating the body and the soul can largely avoid these unnecessary things, thereby improving the progress of civilization and increasing the lifespan of human civilization."