Chapter 213: Does His Popular Science Have a Brainwashing Effect?

Old John looked at the young engineer.

"Dark Directive... what does it refer to? I didn't pay much attention just now."

The engineer pondered and said, "Dark Directive is actually an artificial 'conspiracy directive' of the universe."

"This is a bit complicated to explain."

"This directive makes you believe that you are alive, but in reality, under this directive, you may have long ceased to exist."

"You, I, and he might even just be pieces of code, images, models, or lines of dialogue; overall, 'Dark Directive' is an advanced [universal version] of the 'Brain in a Vat' that we are familiar with."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the experts and professors turned serious.

Everyone present looked at each other; they were all familiar with the 'Brain in a Vat' thought experiment, and some professors even looked exceptionally grave—they had actually secretly conducted similar living brain experiments in their laboratories.

Naturally, they felt a stronger sense of immersion regarding the Dark Directive than ordinary people!

"The purpose of 'Brain in a Vat' is: a single brain creates an infinitely large pseudo-real universe and Earth. Once one escapes from that 'Brain in a Vat', does it really make the escapee believe that the world they escaped into is the world outside the vat?"

"And the purpose of the Dark Directive is: 8 billion brains create 8 billion different real universes and real Earths; when the directive is pulled, can we truly return to what we consider reality?"

"As the name implies: if our world truly has this directive, once it is removed, what we see before us now might very well be a post-apocalyptic world in ruins."

"In other words: all of us might already be dead, and it is only this directive that makes us believe that we are sitting in the meeting room of the academic lecture hall discussing this at this very moment."

"To put it more bluntly: you, Old John, and you, Kelly; even I, we might never have truly lived; it is just the appearance of this directive hovering over Earth that makes you, me, and him believe we are still alive."

At these words, the entire room gasped.

If the 'Brain in a Vat' was already terrifying and inconceivable enough.

Then Jiang Zhe's 'Dark Directive' was clearly playing with the entire world under an unfathomable conspiracy.

Many experts at the scene and Old John couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle, and they prayed continuously in their hearts that the world was not truly created under this Dark Directive.

Watching the reactions of the professors present, the engineer smiled and shook his head, "Don't overthink it; I'm just stating my opinion, it's not necessarily true."

When this was said, the tense atmosphere at the scene calmed down significantly.

Old John asked again, "And that 'Bright Forest', what state is the universe in? I didn't pay too much attention to Jiang Zhe's explanation video."

The young engineer continued to explain, "'Bright Forest', actually, it does fit the current status of Earth in the universe."

"The meaning is: all intelligent civilizations in the universe are peaceful. This is the only way to resolve why Earth has been invaded and visited by countless UFOs yet has not been destroyed."

"Of course, not all civilizations in the universe are peaceful, but civilizations that cannot leave their own star systems can be extremely volatile."

"Any civilization capable of leaving its star system has never engaged in large-scale war, otherwise, the resources would not be enough for the alien civilizations within their star systems to consume."

Old John looked confused, "I don't quite understand."

Helplessly, the engineer sighed, "It's actually very simple. Just like us humans on Earth; because we cannot leave the Solar System, we humans can only act like tyrants on Earth, where the strong bully the weak, which is essentially about plundering resources: things like oil."

"Especially our United States, which specializes in oppressing small countries; stealing their resources, then we enjoy the convenience stolen, and then shout: 'Make America Great Again', let the United States be great again?"

"Damn their greatness, I feel ashamed and embarrassed just hearing it; this is simply not the demeanor of a great nation!"

Speaking of this, the young engineer suddenly became somewhat emotional, "I feel ashamed that I am a descendant of robbers!!!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the experts and professors were stunned. They didn't expect that just a simple discussion of the relevant academic content appearing in Jiang Zhe's video would suddenly veer into this topic.

Could Jiang Zhe's popular science content have brainwashing effects?

Old John's mouth twitched, and he retorted, "It's a good thing our country is relatively free; if this were Xia, you would have been taken away and re-educated sooner or later. Besides, you are a citizen of the United States; is this something you should be saying?"

The young engineer looked indifferent and shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, the facts are indeed so, and everyone knows it in their hearts."

Old John quickly raised his hand, "Stop, don't say any more. Don't get brainwashed by that core of Xia's long-standing cultural thought that Jiang Zhe has; you continue."

The engineer said without hesitation, "Actually, there isn't much left to say. I mainly believe that Jiang Zhe's 'Bright Forest' hypothesis has realistic strategic and reference value."

"I even hope to apply the 'Bright Forest' principle to astronomy, which will further help astronomical progress—"

"Regardless of whether this hypothesis is influenced by Confucian culture or not, it's not important, because in my opinion, this hypothesis is correct!"

"Oh right, also, when searching for extraterrestrial civilizations, we don't always have to search for planets suitable for human habitation."

"I think that sentence from Jiang Zhe resonates deeply with me."

All the experts looked at this engineer and asked in unison, "Which sentence?"

The young engineer grinned and gave the answer, "[Who says that advanced civilizations must live on the surface? What if the surface is not suitable?]"

As the engineer finished speaking, the other experts at the scene fell into deep thought.

This also means that advanced civilizations, under the right conditions, would choose to live underground.

That the surface is prone to disasters is a visible fact...

The foreign professors who were originally not interested in Jiang Zhe now had to take the content Jiang Zhe was broadcasting seriously.

This one sentence almost opened up a new path and avenue for astronomy!

Furthermore, if one breaks down the idea of 'Bright Forest' as defined by Jiang Zhe, one can surprisingly discover that the universe is indeed like that—a vast, brilliant forest.

Every advanced civilization coexists peacefully—because alien civilizations know that civilization development is not easy, but destruction is difficult.

Even...

A long time ago, there were tragedies caused by collisions between civilizations, which only then created today's peaceful scene in the universe.

The reason why alien civilizations have not invaded Earth is naturally because advanced civilizations are peaceful; their vision is far from being as narrow as that of Earthlings.

In fact, the astronomers and sociologists at the scene all knew—most ordinary people on Earth are ignorant and stupid; they are puppets that can be manipulated at will by authority, lacking their own thoughts.

Even when they are sold out, a bunch of idiots will stand up and speak well for the seller.

Soon, professors from other disciplines at the scene began to praise.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed this detail."

"It really seems to be the case. If there is no war, it doesn't mean there is no war, but that aliens are not as evil as we imagined!"

"Although it has a bit of a hypothetical tone, it does indeed fit the current international situation."

"I am an astronomer, and I want to give this Jiang Zhe a like. I want to watch his live stream. His live stream has been crazily stepping on my aesthetic line; I really like this taste and feeling. Please let him ravage this old man to his heart's content; I crave new ideas and new knowledge!"

"Sorry, he can't ravage you, but I can ravage you; and we are in the United States, so we can't watch his live stream."

"You ravage me? Forget it then, you layman. Wait, what do you mean? Can't even use a VPN to get over the firewall?"

"No, you can use a VPN to watch other people from Xia's live streams, but you can't bypass the firewall for Jiang Zhe's live stream. I already tried, but it was useless."

"This... seems quite special!"

"..."

Watching the intense discussion at the scene, Old John felt completely numb.

Originally, he had gathered this group of professors to take a look and incidentally criticize Jiang Zhe; mainly, he wanted to see what kind of person it was who proposed the 'Universe Cyclic Theory' and many hypotheses, and whether he was worthy of the theories he proposed.

Who would have thought that as the experts and professors watched, the original criticism actually turned into praise?

However, it was learned from the side that Jiang Zhe's explanation had indeed deeply resonated with everyone present.

Old John shook his head, "It's a pity, it's just that we can't watch his live stream at the first opportunity, but we can only wait until he finishes before we watch it."

Although the live stream content was exciting, they didn't have that much time to spend on Jiang Zhe's live stream.

Soon, the meeting ended amidst everyone's enthusiastic discussion about Jiang Zhe.