Chapter 186: Intelligent Civilizations All Live Underground!?

Inside the lecture hall.

Professor Hua Yunfeng, Old Feng, and other astronomers and geologists were startled by Jiang Zhe's attitude.

Jiang Zhe was exceptionally rigorous when it came to science; he would even question certain authorities, believing that only what he had personally seen and calculated could be definitively true.

Professor Hua Yunfeng looked at Old Feng and asked in a low voice, "Is that news from Edward Snowden true? I didn't even know about this."

Old Feng leaned in and whispered an explanation, "When Edward Snowden spoke about that in 2013, he was talking about aliens, but it wasn't actually aliens—it was the 'aliens' spread by folklore. The other civilizations Edward Snowden referred to were the underground civilizations beneath Earth, excluding humanity. Edward Snowden is a traitor to the United States, so his words hold a certain degree of truth."

"Furthermore, if there really were Inner Earth people living inside the Earth, the pressure in the place where they lived would be even higher than inside the Kola Superdeep Borehole. Under such ultra-high pressure, it would be very difficult for living organisms to survive."

"Previously, when the former Russia was drilling, they ended the project after reaching 12,262 meters."

"The reason was that the deeper they dug into the Earth, the higher the temperature in the pit became, reaching 300-400°C. Besides that, the pressure here was also quite high, which caused the drilling probe to be damaged after not very long."

"So, many things are baseless. After that incident, some people online claimed that the former Russia had dug into hell and heard ghostly screams and other such trashy news, all of which were fake."

Upon hearing this, Professor Hua Yunfeng looked melancholy. "Ah? That means that things like the 1994 Jupiter distress signal and the news about Inner Earth people might not necessarily be 100% true?"

Old Feng shook his head. "There is no such thing as 100% true news. People at the Astronomical Bureau and the Geological Bureau knew about this matter long before we did. We haven't received any news about aliens or Inner Earth people from them in our entire lives. Do you think those people online are credible? Can you really conclude that something is the truth just based on a few papers and simple essays?"

"Hmm..."

Professor Hua Yunfeng thought for a moment and then nodded. "Now that I think about it, that makes sense. No wonder Teacher Jiang is so professional and possesses such scientific literacy."

...

At this moment, inside a dormitory building at Tsinghua University.

The eldest sister, Zhou Qing, asked, "Teacher, what about the 1994 Jupiter distress signal and the rumors about Inner Earth people living in the lower mantle?"

Professor Zhuang Zhou looked solemn. "The distress signal was real. The decoded message was: 'Call for help to the Inner Earth people and a warning to protect Earth.' This message had certain political motives. I am not an insider at NASA, so I cannot accurately guess whether NASA tampered with it. However, the signal was received by global observatories at the time, and the decoded information wasn't that exaggerated; it was just a normal distress signal."

"As for whether it was a coincidence or an accident, that is unclear."

"As for the rumors about Inner Earth people living in the lower mantle..."

"Well, during the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, theories like the 'Hollow Earth Theory' and the 'Flat Earth Theory' proposed by the ancient Greek Pythagoras were popular. But those theories were ultimately proven false due to the limitations of the era. Just like in Albert Einstein's time, he had no way of observing the massive galactic structure of the [Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall] in the universe that spans over 10 billion light-years."

"Oh right, there was another hypothesis that was very popular and widely circulated at the time—"

"Beneath the surface is sunlight and air; below this layer is the crust, and inside the crust lives an underground civilization. Then, below the crust, there is air and sunlight again, and so on, all the way to the center of the Earth..."

"This theory suggests that our Earth is actually an onion wrapped layer by layer, just like the [Onion Universe] proposed by Jiang Zhe. In this theory, our Earth is an [Onion Earth]. The mainstream view within that hypothesis is that the brilliant auroras on our Earth are only witnessed by us humans after being transmitted from underground."

"Now, looking at these historically proposed theories with your current scientific level, would you say they are true or false? Should you laugh at them or hold them in disdain?"

Upon hearing this, the younger sister, Zhou Qingqing, quickly spoke up, "Of course it's fake! How could there be air beneath the Earth, and how could auroras come out from underground? That's definitely fake!"

Professor Zhuang turned back and grinned. "Since you both know it's fake, do you still believe that the theories and cosmic models proposed by famous mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, and other big names in the past are accurate and unchanging?"

Once these words were spoken, the elder and younger sisters fell silent.

That's right!

Some famous people did indeed propose relevant theories.

They were sought after and even touted by people at the time.

But as time passed, those theories were one by one proven to be false.

Even Zeno's Turtle has long since been ended by [planck time].

Some people always trust authority, believing that what authorities say must be correct, but in fact, that is not the case!

Soon, the two women nodded quickly.

"That's right, the times are progressing, science is updating, and knowledge is also being refreshed."

"No wonder these circulating viewpoints appear; it turns out they are all just backward eras and backward knowledge that hasn't fully educated modern people. That's why a bunch of people tout the Flat Earth Theory, and even some domestic and foreign celebrities are touting these things."

"Also, also, just like how most people in ancient dynasties believed that the heavens and earth were created by Pangu; and others believed people were created by Nüwa. But no one has ever researched whether there was really a woman named Nüwa in the tribal era, and that Nüwa was just a mortal. It causes a group of people now to believe in all kinds of messy theories proposed in ancient times."

Professor Zhuang nodded slightly. "That is exactly right. Many of our country's ancient theories are very insightful, but they are not necessarily correct."

"So in my opinion—most people are actually ignorant; most people are only willing to believe what they think is true. Even I myself cannot accept things that are beyond my cognition."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's continue to watch how Jiang Zhe resolves the fermi paradox next."

The two women nodded repeatedly. Although these words might offend people, this was the truth.

They stopped speaking and stared fixedly at the mobile phone screen.

Just at this moment, Jiang Zhe's voice came through again.

"So, let's not consider whether these reports are true or false for now, but everyone who is in the know has at least heard of these reports, right?"

"Are these remarks extremely similar to my previous inferences?"

"We will not assume that Inner Earth people exist, nor will we assume that the signal from Jupiter aliens is real."

"We are only stating a fact: the more advanced a civilization is, when that civilization has enough capability to transform the Earth's environment, is it really possible that they would live on the disaster-prone surface? Why not transform the interior of the planet? At that time, using the surface as their roof and the planet's interior as their foundation—wouldn't that be better? If a disaster occurs, wouldn't it be better to have the planetary roof looking over them?"

Once these words were spoken, they once again caused the audience in the live stream to think deeply.

They nodded quickly to show their approval.

These reports were more or less known by some people, and among them, there were both truths and falsehoods.

But for professionals, many, many reports pointed to one thing: the planet's underground civilization.

Beneath the disaster-prone surface, there is a probability that a more advanced intelligent civilization than the planetary surface exists: because there are fewer disasters, as long as they focus on developing technology, they can survive in a harsh environment.

Only in this way are surface dwellers limited by technology and unable to contact the Inner Earth people.

But!

In this way, doesn't it mean that planets that look unsuitable for survival on the surface might actually have underground civilizations hidden inside?

Soon, a bullet comment asked the question that most people were confused about.

"Wait, wait, wait, could it be that the planets we see as unsuitable for survival might actually have underground civilizations hidden inside them?"

"Holy crap, this answer feels so sharp!"

"Could it be, could it be that there is such a possibility, that this is the answer to the fermi paradox?"

"..."

After Jiang Zhe heard the bullet comment broadcasted, Jiang Zhe grinned. "Exactly, this is actually one of the answers to the fermi paradox. However, hindered by technology, we cannot even explore the underground of the Earth, let alone the underground of extra-solar planets. Therefore, we can only treat it as one of the hypothetical answers to the fermi paradox."