188: Chapter 188: A Desperate Cosmic Civilization

Jiang Zhe heard this, smiled, took a sip of black tea, and said, "This question..."

"I haven't reached the next core topic yet: the Law of Cosmic Civilizations."

"It involves interstellar communication, civilization intent, technological generational observation, and even the universe itself. Today, my lesson plan hasn't reached that point yet."

Xiaoyu felt a bit disappointed, but at the same time, her curiosity was piqued even more. The Law of Cosmic Civilizations...

There was no such concept anywhere in the world. Could it be that he had even more powerful original theories?

She had no choice but to nod slightly, then she thought of something else and asked excitedly, "Then, Jiang Zhe, since Formula J can calculate the Milky Way, can it also be used to estimate... how many intelligent civilizations there are within the entire observable universe?"

Jiang Zhe's eyebrows twitched slightly. He was very satisfied with Xiaoyu's ability to draw inferences, but he shook his head. "Theoretically, yes, but the significance of the calculated number as a reference would be greatly diminished."

"Why?"

"Because within the Milky Way, we have a unique reference sample—humanity itself."

He began to explain slowly, "We can base our well-founded speculations for those probability factors—DEFG—on the history of life's evolution on Earth and the development history of human civilization."

"Once I expand the scale to the entire observable universe, the physical environments, potential subtle differences in constants, and completely unknown paths of life evolution would make those calculations based on 'Earth experience' unreliable."

"The resulting number would become a numbers game."

"Besides..."

Speaking of which, his eyes flickered, glancing towards the bottom left corner as if lost in thought.

"What's wrong?"

"Based on my speculations about cosmic civilizations, the conclusion is that some life forms can exist without human bodies; for example, energy states, silicon-based states, electromagnetic states... and even superhuman states..."

At this point, he nodded slightly. "Xiaoyu, you know that even on Earth, the upper limits of some life forms are higher than ours. If any such life form develops an intelligent civilization, and combining that with their own nature..."

"For example, if a primitive race were a humanoid creature similar to an electric eel, after years of development, they might gradually evolve hands and feet."

"Then, they would naturally master electric currents, and the civilization they develop would have a higher ceiling than ours!"

Hearing this, Xiaoyu and the viewers in the chat were filled with astonishment...

It seemed that was indeed the case!

"Oh~~" Xiaoyu nodded in realization, her expression of longing growing stronger. "But even if it's not accurate, let's calculate it anyway. I'm curious. If the 100,000-light-year Milky Way could be calculated to have at least 20 optimistic civilizations, then with so many galaxies in the entire observable universe, how many must there be?"

"Just thinking about it feels incredibly shocking, even nine-tenths inconceivable!"

Seeing the look of curiosity on Xiaoyu's face, Jiang Zhe nodded in compromise.

"Alright." He picked up the brush again, his gaze falling back to the simple formula on the wallpaper.

"Since you want to know..."

"Then let's try to use Formula J to measure the probability of civilizations across the entire observable universe!"

"I'll state this in advance: the results are for reference only. This is just a conceptual game to demonstrate the order of magnitude!"

As soon as he said this, the viewers' emotions surged.

"It's here, it's here, the cosmic-level math class!"

"I'm interested! Seeds and stools are ready!"

"Although I know it won't be very accurate, just thinking about the order of magnitude makes me excited!"

"Calculate it quickly! I'm already prepared to shout 'Holy crap!'"

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Professor Zhang Qinian frowned upon seeing this. "Nonsense. The Milky Way estimation at least uses our own civilization as a vague reference frame. Once you expand it to the entire observable universe, are the physical constants even completely unified?"

"You yourself said that life forms aren't unique. If these fundamental assumptions cannot be confirmed, any calculation loses its foundation and becomes a pure numbers game."

Celestial Master Zhang, who was standing nearby, spoke up, which was rare. "Relax. Just treat it as looking at a line of reasoning or for the novelty. Even if the result isn't accurate, watching how he extrapolates from the Milky Way to the universe—this reasoning process itself is quite interesting. After all, having a reference is better than imagining things completely out of thin air."

Zheng Ming also rarely refrained from refuting. He had to admit that Jiang Zhe's level was indeed very high; it was too diversified!

And at this moment, he was actually intrigued as well.

He looked at the screen with curiosity.

On the big screen, in the living room.

Jiang Zhe walked over to the wallpaper, picked up the brush from next to the TV, and explained as he wrote:

"Xiaoyu, we will continue with the two sets of parameter ideas from the Milky Way calculation, but we need to scale up A's star formation rate and base number to the cosmic scale."

"First, we need to know how much raw material the observable universe has."

So, he wrote down the first piece of data.

"Current estimates suggest that there are about 2 trillion galaxies similar to the Milky Way in the observable universe."

As soon as this number appeared, Xiaoyu subconsciously covered her mouth.

The live chat was flooded with comments saying [So many].

"The number of stars in each galaxy varies greatly, so I will take a relatively conservative average. The Milky Way has about 200 to 400 billion stars. Now, let's take the smaller value of 200 billion as the average number of stars per galaxy!"

"Then, the total number of stars in the observable universe is approximately:"

He gave the calculation answer almost on the spot. "2 trillion galaxies x 200 billion stars per galaxy equals 4 x 10^23 stars."

"The result is 400 sextillion stars!"

When writing down this massive astronomical figure, Jiang Zhe's tone was very calm, yet it made Xiaoyu and countless viewers who were unfamiliar with the universe feel dizzy.

400 sextillion stars...

While the viewers were shocked by the number of stars in the observable universe, Jiang Zhe continued writing.

"Next, I will apply Formula J: N_universe = A_universe_total_stars x B x C x D x E x F x G."

"Xiaoyu, note that here, A has been replaced by the total number of stars, not the formation rate. Next, for factors B through G, we can temporarily use the two sets of parameters from the Milky Way estimation—the pessimistic group and the optimistic group—to see what kind of numbers we get."

He first wrote down the words "Pessimistic Group."

"Pessimistic parameters: B = 0.5; C = 0.2; D = 0.01; E = 0.001; F = 0.1; G = 200 years."

"Then N_universe: Pessimistic Group = 4 x 10^23 x 0.5 x 0.2 x 0.01 x 0.001 x 0.1 x 200."

Jiang Zhe raised his hand without looking back, signaling to Xiaoyu that she could use her phone, but he had already mentally calculated the order of magnitude.

"The result of this multiplication is, ultimately, an answer: 1,600!"

He wrote down the number with the brush and continued to explain:

"Yes, Xiaoyu, even under the most rigorous and pessimistic assumptions, compressing the civilization's technological window to only 200 years, with the unimaginably huge base of the observable universe, we could still see thousands of intelligent civilizations—signals that were, are, or will be detectable."

"Of course, because G is only 200 years, the probability of them existing simultaneously is extremely low. By the time we see the vast majority of these signals, the civilization that originated them may have long since vanished into the time of the universe."

With the appearance of the pessimistic result of 1,600, many viewers were left dumbfounded.

Countless civilizations have been annihilated in the long river of time and space. When you were born, I did not exist; when I was born, you did not exist...

It's equivalent to saying that we... almost cannot exist at the same time.

For some reason, Xiaoyu and countless viewers were deeply shaken by this result.

An inexplicable sadness washed over them.

That was not just a number, but countless civilizations that might have bloomed brilliantly only to silently fade away.

It was like residents in a house, coming and going. Some moved in at 1:00 AM and silently vanished and left at 1:02 AM.

And some moved in at 1:03 AM, only to silently vanish the next minute.

Back and forth, in an endless cycle...

Everyone is unable to meet one another!

Before long, some heavy comments drifted across the live chat.

"Born at the wrong time; you were born before I existed, and by the time I was born, you had already passed!"

"We, and they, are on opposite banks of time. My voice, they cannot hear; their voices, we have never heard."

"Perhaps we can hear them, but what we hear is the echo of despair, and what we see are the tombstones of civilizations!"

"The universe seems to be a pasture of death!"

Yes, at this moment, a sadness transcending time and space quietly gripped the hearts of Xiaoyu and countless viewers.